Welcome to Our Curriculum

At St John’s Church of England Primary School, our curriculum is rooted in our vision: Learn Together, Achieve Together, Celebrate Together – “And let your light shine.” (Matthew 5:16). We believe that every child has unique gifts, strengths and potential, and our curriculum is designed to help every pupil discover these, develop them and let their light shine.

We provide a broad, balanced and ambitious curriculum which gives children the knowledge, skills and experiences they need to succeed, both at St John’s and beyond. Our curriculum reflects our high expectations for every child while recognising that children have different starting points and needs. We are committed to ensuring that learning is accessible to all, so that every pupil, including those with SEND or additional needs, is supported and challenged to achieve their potential.

Our curriculum has been carefully planned to ensure that learning builds progressively from EYFS to Year 6. Across each subject, we have identified the essential knowledge, skills and vocabulary that we want children to learn. New learning builds deliberately upon what has come before, allowing children to revisit important ideas, make meaningful connections and develop increasingly secure and sophisticated understanding as they move through the school.

We want our children not simply to encounter knowledge, but to know more, remember more and be able to do more. Our curriculum therefore provides clear progression while giving teachers opportunities to bring learning to life through high-quality texts, practical experiences, discussion, creativity, enquiry and purposeful links between subjects. Where meaningful, we make use of our Danbury locality, community and environment to enrich children's learning and help them understand their place within the wider world. St John’s itself describes its Danbury setting as providing wonderful areas to explore and support learning “right on our doorstep”.

Our Christian character is woven throughout school life and our curriculum. Our values of Respect, Responsibility, Kindness, Truthfulness and Perseverance help children to develop not only academically, but socially, morally, culturally and spiritually. We encourage children to ask questions, listen to and respect different viewpoints, care for others and the world around them, take responsibility for their choices and persevere when learning is challenging.

Reading and communication sit at the heart of our curriculum. We want every child to become a confident reader, writer and communicator, with access to a rich range of texts, language and vocabulary. Across the wider curriculum, children are encouraged to speak thoughtfully, question, explain, reason, create and reflect, developing the confidence to express their ideas and make their voices heard.

Above all, we want learning at St John’s to be meaningful, memorable and enjoyable. We want our children to be curious about the world, proud of their achievements and excited by what they can accomplish. Through learning together, achieving together and celebrating together, we aim for every child to leave St John’s with strong foundations for their next stage of education, a love of learning and the confidence, character and knowledge to let their light shine.

Our Curriculum in Practice

Our curriculum is built around a number of key principles:

• Ambitious for all – every child is entitled to a rich and challenging curriculum.
• Carefully sequenced – knowledge, skills and vocabulary build progressively from EYFS to Year 6.
• Inclusive and accessible – teaching is adapted so that all children can participate, learn and succeed.
• Knowledge-rich – children develop secure subject knowledge and are supported to remember and apply what they have learned.
• Language-rich – reading, vocabulary, speaking and listening are prioritised throughout the curriculum.
• Rooted in our community – our local area, including the rich environment around Danbury, provides meaningful opportunities to enhance learning.
• Enriched by experience – texts, visitors, visits, practical activities and wider opportunities bring learning to life.
• Shaped by our Christian vision and values – our curriculum develops the whole child and prepares pupils to contribute positively to their community and wider world.

Explore Our Curriculum

At St John’s, we have carefully designed our curriculum to ensure that children’s learning builds year on year, developing their knowledge, skills and vocabulary as they progress through the school.

You can explore each area of our curriculum in greater detail by using the subject links down the side of this page. Each subject page provides further information about what we teach and how learning develops and progresses from EYFS through to Year 6.

Together, these pages show how we provide a broad, balanced and ambitious curriculum, rooted in our Christian vision and values and designed to enable every child to learn, achieve and let their light shine.

What Will My Child Be Learning?

Our termly curriculum overviews give families a snapshot of the learning taking place in each year group. They show the topics and key areas of learning children will encounter across the curriculum each term, from English and maths to the wider foundation subjects. These overviews are designed to help parents and carers see what their child is learning in school and provide a useful starting point for talking about and supporting learning at home.