English and Maths Curriculum

"Following in the footsteps of God, the author of our life"

Here at St Dominic's we believe that reading unlocks and feeds the imagination- it offers new and exciting ways of making sense of our lives, learning new things and seeing the world around us. If we can teach a child to read, and keep them reading then opportunities are endless. 

Our aim is to instil a passion for reading and a confidence with words - written and spoken - in all our children.

English

Our English Curriculum uses a Text Based approach which sees children working with real texts from significant children’s authors. The planning and teaching is developed through a read, immerse analyse and write sequence. This engages the children in analysing real texts and writing for a purpose; sometimes from real first hand experiences linked to the Vehicle Curriculum. The writing in school has a sense of purpose and enthusiasm. 

At St. Dominic's, we use Power Maths as a basis of our maths lessons. This is an exciting class mastery approach, which has been recommended by the DFE, that works for every child. It is based upon the concrete, pictorial and abstract approach.

Every lesson is divided into sections that involve plenty of discovery, sharing, collaboration, practice and reflection. Children are encouraged to solve problems each day through the use of concrete resources, pictorial representations and abstract thinking. 

At the heart of this programme is the idea that all children can achieve and be successful mathematicians with the right growth mindset. It promotes five child friendly characters, each with their own positive skillset, to inspire and motivate the children. Here are the characters: 

Journaling

What is journaling?  Maybe your child has talked about ‘journaling’ or you may have noticed your child drawing Maths for fun.  Journaling is an integral part of each Maths lessons and is an opportunity for each child to independently explore and record their own learning and understanding of Maths for that day.  This may range from ‘How many ways can I show the number 7?’ in Year 1 to ‘Which method works best for me when solving this problem?’ in Year 6.

Journaling allows each child to create their own links between the practical resources we use in class and the abstract representations of mathematical concepts.  Encouraging children to visualise and draw their own understanding is essential, as well as developing their use of mathematical vocabulary when reasoning and explaining their understanding.