Our Curriculum
What is the intent of our curriculum?
The intent of our curriculum at St Meryl is to:
1. Enable children to see themselves as learners, to love learning, to take risks with their learning and to challenge themselves.
What does this look like in practice?
On entry to school in our Nursery or Reception class children are told that they are learners and taught how to interact with their peers effectively. They talk with their teachers about what they are learning and how. This continues during their time at the school. We teach them about 'learning powers' and how to ignore distractions. Pupils learn how they learn best. We use choice of challenge to ensure that pupils take responsibility for their own learning. We teach them about the importance of having a growth mindset and that if we aren't feeling challenged we aren't really learning. Right from the start children are invited to contribute to the planning process and be involved in curriculum design. Mechanisms such as 'Pupil Voice' surveys ensure that children always have a voice. Our teachers are positive and enthusiastic about learning themselves and as such provide great role-models for their students.
2. Ensure that children are taught both skills and knowledge.
What does this look like in practice?
We believe that both are important and necessary in order for children to make great progress and be successful in their learning in and outside of school. To this end the schemes of work for each subject have been carefully planned and place an equal emphasis on skills and subject content. Skills are re-visited so that they become embedded. Excellent cross-curricular links mean that children are able to use and apply skills within and across different subjects so that they become embedded. We have very clear expectations in terms of what children should achieve at the end of each year group and key stage and assess pupils against these expectations.
3. Teach children to and support them in developing their speech and language skills. We do this because we know that the ability to articulate oneself is a vital life-skill.
What does this look like in practice?
On entry to Nursery and Reception there is a heavy emphasis placed on developing speech. Practitioners model language and expose children to lots of talk and discussion. We guide and support children to talk in sentences and verbalise their thoughts. As children progress through the school they are given lots of opportunities to present their learning verbally and to talk about what they are doing. Our schemes of work reflect this commitment to developing speech and language with opportunities for talk and oral communication built-in to curriculum plans.
4. Ensure that pupils receive a broad and rich curriculum offer that enables them to be creative and develop their talents and abilities in the arts as well as in the core subjects of English, Maths, Science and Computing.
What does this look like in practice?
Teachers place as much emphasis on planning for the arts, cultural learning and physical activity as they do on the core subjects. Through the arts curriculum we teach children about artists and artforms. We integrate art, music, dance and drama into other subjects. We believe that children should be exposed to beautiful things and learn to appreciate the creative process and this is reflected in the wide range of extra-curricular opportunities we plan for them. We plan a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) week every year which helps to maintain the profile of these subjects and provides opportunities for pupils to engage in sustained projects covering these subjects. Our arts ambassadors take a lead on arts projects within the school.
5. Teach children to respect their rights and those of others, to be tolerant and respect and value diversity.
What does this look like in practice?
The children develop their own class charters based on these rights and this means that there is a clear understanding of how we behave and interact with one another at school. Much thought has gone in to our RSHE (Relationships, Sex and Health Education) policy and scheme of work so that we can be sure we are teaching children about how to keep themselves safe including on-line and how to form and maintain positive and supportive friendships and relationships. Our diverse community is reflected in in assemblies, circle time, RSHE lessons and the wider curriculum. Respect also forms one of our 6 core values. Every other year we plan a Diversity Week so that we can learn more about and celebrate the rich and varied cultures and faiths represented by our pupils.
6. Equip children with the skills, qualities and mindsets they will need in order to be successful and navigate their way successfully in life.
What does this look like in practice?
We teach children to be resilient. We believe that every opportunity is a learning experience and we teach our children to think this way too. We teach children that mistakes are learning opportunities. We want our children to be independent and so we allow them to make choices about their learning and to consider different choices and actions. Resilience is also one of our 6 core values.
More information about each subject can be found under the relevant subject heading and schemes of work can be accessed below:
Curriculum Maps for Key Stage 1 and 2 year groups can be found below:
Growth Mindsets
At St Meryl we teach children to have a growth mindset and about the power of 'yet.'
We believe that children need to be resilient and to enjoy being challenged. We teach them that's it's ok to make mistakes as long as we learn from them. We teach them that it's good to be 'stuck' because that means we are exercising our brains and learning!
We explore with children the difference between having a 'fixed mindset' and a 'growth mindset.' The characteristics of each is listed below.
Fixed mindset
People with a fixed mindset:
- like their work to be easy
- don't like new challenges
- want people to praise them for how clever they are
- don't like making mistakes
- give up easily or only persevere with things they are good at
- don't respond well to feedback
- often believe that intelligence is fixed and that they can't change how clever they are
Growth mindset
People with a growth mindset:
- never give up
- bounce back from setbacks
- like their work to be difficult
- love challenges
- respond well to being praised about the effort they have put in to something
- believe they can get more intelligent by working hard
- learn from mistakes
- respond well to feedback and use it to get even better at things
So we teach children that by having a growth mindset they can grow their brains and intelligence.
Click on the links below to find out more about this approach and how we are teaching growth mindsets at St Meryl.
Growth Mindsets at St Meryl

Mindfulness at St Meryl
At St Meryl we recognise that in order to learn well we have to be happy on the inside as well as on the outside. That's why we take moments throughout the day to stop, be quiet and take notice of our surroundings. We call these 'Mindful Moments.'
We teach the children techniques and strategies that they can use to help them be calm and manage any anxiety they may have.
Learning to Learn and Philosophy for Children
At our school we are committed to developing life-long learners equipped with the skills they need to be good citizens. To this end we have embedded the principles of 'Learning to Learn' in our provision. All teachers are trained to teach philosophy which is taught discretely as a subject in its own right but also woven through other areas of the curriculum.
Click on the links below to find out more.