“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” – Pablo Picasso

Here at St John & St James’, we aim for all children to become confident and independent users of a range of software and hardware. We teach children to use their computational and creative thinking to solve problems; to use ICT to communicate effectively and to become digitally literate, preparing them for their future place in the twenty-first-century workplace. We take online safety very seriously and are constantly looking for ways to raise awareness in a bid to keep all our children safe online. Online safety is incorporated into all of our computing lessons in order to equip children with the best possible knowledge and skills to stay safe when working online. We promote digital citizenship through modelling how social media should be used responsibly with a strong focus on creating a good digital footprint.

Reading in our school aims to promote the love for reading and create fluent and confident readers by the end of year 6.

Intent At SJSJ, we aim to create a writing curriculum which enables children to express their creativity and provides them with the skills necessary to become independent writers, with strong authorial voices. We provide our writers with the tools to communicate and share their ideas with those around them and to do so by understanding the impact of powerful vocabulary and authorial choices. At SJSJ, we believe that carefully selected literature is vital to the development of young writers and we therefore use a variety of different text types and strong teacher and peer models to help shape our own writing.

Intent At St John & St James', our humanities curriculum is intended to deliver a breadth of knowledge through broad and varied content that shapes the students’ vision of how they perceive the world around them both past and present and how this shapes and impacts on their everyday lives. We also seek to provide a knowledge that takes children beyond their everyday experiences, regardless of their background, in order to promote social mobility for all our pupils. Through a rich exposure to stimulating history and geography topics, discovered through educational visits, visitors, enquiries, workshops and exploration, children develop a fascination about the world they live in. A clear and carefully thought out skills and knowledge progression across the key stages also allows for a rich understanding of concepts and vocabulary which are consolidated and developed as they advance through the school. By guiding the learning through key questions, children build on prior learning and are introduced to new knowledge every lesson that gradually increases their capacity to respond to the key question in a comprehensive manner by the end of the topic.

Oracy at St John St James' Oracy is the ability for students to articulate ideas and develop understanding and engagement with others through spoken language. It permits students to become effective speakers and listeners, whilst deepening their subject knowledge and understanding through carefully planned, designed, modelled and scaffolded talking opportunities across the curriculum. At St John St James CofE Primary School, we know that teaching oracy improves academic outcomes, through developing skills to think critically, reason together and have the vocabulary to express one’s knowledge and understanding. We also value the power of oracy education in increasing the confidence and wellbeing of our pupils, empowering them with the belief that their voice has a value and developing the ability to articulate thoughts that others will listen and respond to. Furthermore, oracy skills are pivotal for social mobility, equipping children to thrive in life beyond school and supporting them to progress and access employment.

Schools within the Primary Advantage Federation have a strong commitment to improving children’s maths. Daily maths lessons lay the foundations for this critical life skill as teachers follow the popular and effective PA Maths programme.

Intent Spanish learning at St John and St James is based on practical communication and instilling a passion for language learning. Learning a new language is key to becoming part of the global community and we ensure that pupils at St John and St James have a solid foundation for this journey.

Intent At St John and St James’ we believe every child is a musician. We help children develop their musicianship through high quality musical experiences both in and outside school. As well as weekly music lessons with a specialist teacher, we offer enrichment opportunities such as music projects and trips so that children can experience music in a variety of ways; with different musicians and at exciting London venues. As a church school, music forms an important part of our worship. We sing together in assembly every day and for special celebrations we gather together as a school community and sing at our local church.

Vision Physical Education is taught across the school by our very own specialist Sports Coach. Children are able to increase their knowledge regarding the rules of sports and understand the importance of team work and how fitness affects the body. We place a huge importance on children finding enjoyment in sports and that everyone displays high levels of sportsmanship when faced with challenges.

Intent Our vision is for all children to develop a deep understanding of scientific concepts through a curriculum where children can explore and question the world around them. We aim to provide them with the scientific knowledge and investigative skills to answer their questions. Our curriculum provides a rich variety of topics that cover all the core scientific disciplines. Practical experiences further strengthen our children’s scientific understanding, vocabulary and enquiry skills. This will ensure that our children become confident and curious scientists who have a secure basis for future scientific learning.

Intent Religious Education in a Church school should enable every child to flourish and to live life in all its fullness. (John 10:10). It will help educate for dignity and respect encouraging all to live well together, Statement of Entitlement (2019).Religious Education at St John & St James’ enables all children to explore religious beliefs and practises, some of which are located in the local community. Pupils will be encouraged to explore the fundamental questions of life raised by human experiences. Pupils will extend their thinking and analytical skills and their creative, imaginative and emotional development.Religious Education will foster mutual understanding between students of differing religious and cultural backgrounds. Pupils will be encouraged to develop a reflective approach to life in an atmosphere of openness, exploration and enquiry. Pupils will be encouraged to respect the differences and help in the promotion of a harmonious society.Supporting our intent is our Vision ‘Love your neighbour as yourself, Matthew 22:36’. By treating others how we wish to be treated, we promote a school culture ingrained in mutual respect, understanding and compassion for those around us. This Vision is at the heart of everything we do at St John & St James’ and enables the children to be successful learners and caring individuals.

Diversifying our Curriculum Our staff have been reflecting on our school as a place of belonging and somewhere where every member of our community feels as though they are confident and safe in their identity. We believe that the curriculum and culture that we foster should be inclusive to, represent, value and celebrate the individuals who shape the school community. This representation influences how our pupils think and feel about themselves today and how they see their future on our planet as global citizens. As a result, we have been looking at positive and purposeful interventions that are aimed at how our community perceives our school; what we do here and to what extent it is meaningful. Our intention is to centre our curriculum around equality and diversity through inclusive representation; reframing the traditional teaching of subjects through a western lens and explicit teaching about racism and anti-racism. In turn, we aim to nurture a sense of belonging, as well as embedding values of tolerance, acceptance and empathy within our school curriculum and culture.

Here at SJSJ, we strive for excellence by providing a safe, secure, caring family environment, where each individual is valued and respected as an individual, enabling them to reach their full potential.