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Our Wider Curriculum
Our Wider Curriculum
Community Week
Love thy neighbour as thy self.
Mark 12:31
Based around our call as Catholics to act for the Common Good, every year we dedicate a week to living out our Gospel Values, by doing good in our community.
We consider the idea of our school, parish, local, national and global community and try to act at each level. Our children appreciate that our ‘neighbour’ includes all humankind. ‘Setting the World on Fire’ includes using our skills, talents and abilities to improve our community.
Our learning focuses: social responsibility, ecological awareness, PSHE, appreciation of others and sense of comminity.
Christmas Craft Fayre
One of the highlights of every academic cycle, the Christmas Craft Fayre (CCF) gets bigger and better every year! During this half-term, children take charge of their learning: planning, researching, designing and creating crafts to sell at the Fayre.
There are too many learning opportunities to list and the children are so absorbed in the fun of CCF, that they don’t feel like they are taking part in lessons!
On the CCF day itself, pupils utilise their persuasive skills to sell their wares! Every child has a slot on the stall and must use their mental maths ability to total bills and give correct change. It is wonderful to see our children blossom and their confidence grow throughout the CCF!
Each year, we invite members of our elderly community to share in a special Christmas lunch, cooked and served by the St Catherine’s staff. These VIPs are well fed, watered (with a glass or three of mulled wine), entertained and provided with a ‘goodie bag’ of craft treats. Seeing our children and the elderly in our community talk, laugh and be together is what Christmas is really about.
If you know anyone who would benefit from sharing in CCF 2021, please email admin@st-catherine.herts.sch.uk – we will arrange all transport and meals are free to over 65s.
Learning focuses: D&T skills, teamwork, maths, persuasion.
Art Gallery
During Art Week, each class studies a famous artist and emulates their work. The culmination of Art Week is an Art Gallery, where parents come and view the amazing work our pupils have produced.
Learning focuses: art skills, evaluation, editing and improving pieces and self-expression.
The Jungle Library
‘I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library.’
Jorge Luis Borges
At St Catherine’s we are passionate about promoting a love of reading in our pupils. We wanted to create a library which inspires children, immerses them in another world and allows their imagination to run free! Welcome to our ‘Jungle Library’…
Take a look at some of our amazing books in our Jungle library!
As with all our projects, our library was created with sustainability in mind. It is made using recycled materials (old pallets) and designed and built by our staff.
It is a safe space for our pupils and as well as being a library it is used by them as a quiet area and a nurture room.
The Farm
As stewards of God’s creation, we are called to make the earth a beautiful garden for the human family.
– Pope Francis
We are blessed to have an amazing Farm on site, created by the school community and funded by the PTA.
As well as teaching children: about their role as Stewards of Creation; responsibility and how to take care of others; about their natural environment and practical life-skills, research has shown that animals in educational settings can have an indirect effect on improving learning. The relationship between humans and animals has been shown to directly affect motivation, engagement, self-regulation, and human social interaction. All our children benefit from using the Farm, but it is particularly beneficial to younger, developing children and those with Special Educational Needs. Spending time with the animals reduces stress and anxiety, improves social interactions and enhances motivation, engagement, and learning.
Cross-curricular Learning
The Farm is a daily part of life at St Catherine’s. Each class has a dedicated day on a two-weekly rota, where they let out and put away, feed, clean out, groom and look after our animals. The kids absolutely love it when it is their ‘turn on the Farm’! It is also used as part of our cross-curricular, practical, skills-based learning-approach. Why calculate area and perimeter in a classroom, when you could do it in the Farm? Why solve made-up maths problems, when you could calculate the amount and cost of food for the chickens? Why write instructions for how to make a cheese sandwich, when you could write instructions on how to care for our guinea pigs? It’s all about real-life learning!
Cross-curricular learning and real-life skills
Farm Rangers
We take responsibility seriously at St Catherine’s. The adults don’t run the Farm, that is the job of our pupils, especially our ‘Farm Rangers’.
As part of our Mission to enable children to ‘Be who God created them to be’, we encourage children to find and explore their own talents. Our Farm Rangers are KS2 pupils who have formerly applied, been interviewed and selected to oversee our Farm. These Farm Rangers than undertake Farm Training and supervise the work carried out by all the other pupils.
It has been amazing to see these pupils flourish outside the classroom. They are chosen for their practicality, maturity, willingness to get stuck in and dedication to learning about and caring for our animals. I have been astonished by the animal husbandry displayed by the Farm Rangers, as they go beyond the knowledge of the staff – even down to correctly ‘sexing’ our chickens, ducks, rabbits and guinea pigs!