St Vincent's Catholic Primary School

“How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!”
Psalm 133.1

Curriculum Intent

Curriculum Intent

Our School Mission Statement encompasses our ultimate intention for all members of our school community:

“Caritas Christi Urget Nos –

The love of Christ urges us to care for each other and strive for excellence in everything we do.”

Our fervent desire for anyone leaving our school family, whether they are moving onto a new school, a new job, a new home or retiring, is that they care for all around them in the world and never stop trying to excel at bringing the Vincentian Values to all they meet; those values are our Gospel values and at one with our British values.

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Curriculum Context

St Vincent’s is a 1.5 form entry school with 285 children ranging from 4 -11. Children come predominantly from the parishes of Sacred Heart in Mill Hill and St Anthony’s in Edgware.

Children come from a diverse range of socio-economic backgrounds, speak 17 different languages and hail from 26 different ethnic groups. The curriculum we present, and promote, to the children is an endeavour to reflect these differences by providing opportunities to explore the different countries, languages and customs our children are part of through the projects they investigate. We have looked closely at the context of our school, the backgrounds of the children and how life is for a child growing up in North London today. We have used the underlying principles of our Catholic Faith and the example of our namesake St Vincent to create a set of values which lie at the heart of our curriculum.

We are aware of the changing nature of society and the pressures faced by young children as they enter the next stage of their education. The rise in Mental Health related issues has been widely documented across the media. Therefore, issues such as internet safety and the enormous impact across society of social media are at the forefront of our minds when planning our curriculum. With the current worldwide concerns relating to Covid 19, racial justice, equality and diversity, as well as gender and economic background, we feel it is our duty to prepare the children through a concerted focus on building independence, resilience and communication skills linked to our Vincentian Values.

Curriculum Intent

At St Vincent’s it is our INTENT is to enable ALL children to thrive through the opportunities we provide them with, in order to:

  • Live their lives by the Gospel and Vincentian values instilled in them at school.
  • Understand that everyone has the right and responsibility to live in our world constructively and ensure that we leave it in a better state than when we entered it by living and working through the principles of Catholic Social Teaching in line with the UNCRC (United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child)
  • Experience creativity across the curriculum through specialist art and dance lessons and opportunities to take part in art, music, dance and creative writing competitions.
  • Know the joy of outdoor learning, the rich biodiversity within our school grounds and locality and develop a responsibility for the environment we share as stewards.
  • Understand their place in the world, globally and locally, knowing the history of our school, Mill Hill and the Daughters of Charity and knowing where our diverse community members have their roots across the world.
  • Be ready and well-prepared for their next steps in life, having high aspirations for themselves and for others because they have experienced success and a belief in learning from mistakes.
  • Have a life-long curiosity, stimulated by the driving questions of Project Based Learning approach to the curriculum fostering inquiry and independent learning skills, which give confidence to ask big questions about the world.
  • Be literate and numerate having experienced a rich variety of texts to stimulate and excite the mind while developing skills in investigating and problem solving to enable them to excel in their future passions.
  • Be confident and happy young people that have a broad understanding and tolerance of the world and others around them with excellent communication skills honed by their experience of Restorative Justice and respect of the dignity and wishes of the individual.

Curriculum Implementation

Our CURRICULUM is delivered through a Project Based Learning approach central to which are our Vincentian Values. Each term focuses on a different value across the school over a two year period (Reception classes cover all 6 values throughout the year). The National Curriculum and EYFS curriculum requirements are carefully mapped onto the projects that the children investigate, ensuring that their learning is broad, knowledge based and progressive in skills as well as being purposeful and meaningful.

The sequence of curriculum content has been carefully planned by subject leaders and phase groups to ensure that learning builds on what has gone before. An emphasis on key vocabulary development is in place with a view to children remembering more over time.

Whilst the skills and knowledge are mapped for the children, the projects and curriculum in general are not rigid as we recognise that the needs of children differ and can change. Teachers are sensitive towards this and make changes to project planning depending on the class, school, local and world context to ensure that it meets ALL our children’s needs. Children with SEND are well supported and engaged in their learning through a curriculum that is inclusive and accessible to all.

Curriculum Impact

The impact of our curriculum is monitored at all times by all staff through a triangulation of formative and summative assessment, evidence of the children’s learning journey in Tapestry (EYFS), books, folders, displays, Google Classroom etc and the voice of the pupils.

Ultimately our mission statement underpins all we do, including our curriculum design and planning. We believe that through a Project Based Learning approach focusing on the Vincentian Values, the impact of our curriculum will be that:

Children will be able to look back on their time at St Vincent’s knowing that they had tried to make a practical, positive difference to the world. They will be able to remember specific outcomes and products that they were involved in producing for the greater good, and know that this was because ultimately that is what it means to be a Christian and a Vincentian.

Project Based Learning

Project Based Learning is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge.

PBL requires critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and various forms of communication. To answer a Driving Question and create high-quality work, students need to do much more than remember information. They need to use higher-order thinking skills and learn to work as a team. (PBLworks.org).

To find out more about our projects, please visit:

Project Based Learning

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