Our Curriculum

At St. Wilfrid’s, at the heart of our curriculum, and all aspects of school life, we aim to ensure that our children feel loved, as part of a school family, and know that their God given talents are valued and celebrated. We endeavour to develop within our children, a Faith that will grow with our children, inform their choices and sustain them into adult life.

We aim to provide a Catholic Christian education based on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, in which the values of the Gospel underpin all aspects of school life. To provide an environment in which the dignity of each person as a child of God is recognised and developed and to promote the full potential of each child through a curriculum which develops spiritual, academic, social and emotional growth. To provide a curriculum which is enriching and challenging, where children experience the opportunity to learn in a wide range of contexts.

Our Principles for Learning and Teaching

All children are entitled to be engaged in their learning and to be active learners; discovering and finding out.
All children are entitled to understand what they have achieved and know what to do to make progress.
All children are entitled to be independent, enthusiastic and self-motivated learners; raising their own questions.
All children are entitled to time to evaluate and reflect on their learning.
All children are entitled to have their different learning styles recognised.
All children are entitled to teaching that inspires their learning.
All children are entitled to teaching that encourages them to be creative.
All children are entitled to be challenged and enjoy learning, as well as encouraging problem solving.
All children are entitled to develop spiritually, morally and as members of their community and the wider community.

Our Curriculum Aims

• To provide a welcoming school, where children feel safe, happy and eager to learn.
• To nurture children’s self-esteem and sense of aspiration.
• To deliver a curriculum that allows our children to progress in skills, knowledge and understanding across a broad and balanced range of subjects.
• To provide our children with a range of experiences beyond the classroom and school setting, that enhances both their understanding of the curriculum, and their personal development.
• To foster a love of learning, and interest in our locality, our history and our heritage in Bishop Auckland.
• To develop our children’s skills as enquiring, problem solving and expressive learners.
• To support our children and their families in sharing life-long learning opportunities.
• To reveal to children an understanding of how scripture and Faith tradition influence people’s actions, morals and ethical choices, in our own communities and the wider world.

Our curriculum incorporates the following subject areas:- R.E., English, Mathematics, Science, Computing, Design Technology, Geography, History, Music, Art, Physical Education, French and Philosophy.

We try to make links across subjects and widen children’s understanding through class excursions and visiting experts, as well as learning about our local history and heritage in Bishop Auckland. We encourage children to become independent learners by nurturing and developing their investigative and problem solving ability, so that they gain learning skills that will be of value throughout their lives.

Children are regularly assessed to ensure their individual targets are appropriate and they are continually stretched to achieve their best.

Religious Education

Our School uses the Come and See programme to deliver Religious Education from Nursery to Year 6.

The programme has been developed to respond to the needs of children today in their faith journey, to enable them to grow in their religious literacy and understanding in a way that is coherent with current educational principles.

At the heart of the programme is the mystery of God’s self-revelation of love through Jesus Christ. Come and See gives pupils the opportunity to explore the mystery of faith through Scripture and Tradition. We try to be creative in our R.E lessons and work hard to provide the children with varied activities which are designed to ensure that their lessons are enjoyable.