St Vincent's Catholic Primary School

“Caritas Christi Urget Nos –

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

KS1 Southend Trip

On Friday, our KS1 children had an unforgettable day out in Southend as part of our project based learning driving question, “What is it like at the seaside?” The trip brought our learning to life and gave the children the chance to explore the key features of a British seaside town.

We began our adventure with a walk along the beach, where the children experienced the sights, sounds, and feel of the seaside. Many of them collected shells, observed the tide, and explored the wildlife. It was a fantastic opportunity to deepen their understanding through real-life exploration.

A real highlight of the day was our visit to the longest pleasure pier in the world – Southend Pier. We took the special train down the 1.33-mile stretch, which gave the children a sense of just how vast the structure is. Despite the wind giving us a very “authentic” seaside lunch experience, the children loved eating their sandwiches with a view of the sea all around them.

We also visited the Southend Pier Museum, where we stepped back in time to learn all about the pier’s history. The children had the chance to try out vintage penny arcade machines, examine old pier trains, and even explore the inside of a traditional signal box. It was wonderful to see their excitement as they connected what they were seeing with what we’ve been discussing in the classroom.

Our Southend trip was filled with discovery, learning, and laughter – and we are so proud of how brilliantly the children represented our school. They came back with sandy shoes, happy hearts, and a deeper understanding of seaside life past and present.

A huge thank you to all the staff, volunteers, and the Southend Pier Museum team who made this trip so special!

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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 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.