Golden Threads

St Mary's Curriculum

St. Mary's curriculum is designed to be both carefully planned and immersive, ensuring that students' learning experiences are interconnected and engaging.

What our our Golden Threads?

Integrating gender, culture, and careers into a bespoke curriculum is crucial, especially for a school serving a community with high deprivation, high unemployment, and low aspirations. Here's why:

1. Gender Equality: Addressing gender in the curriculum helps challenge stereotypes and promotes equality. It ensures that all students, regardless of gender, have equal opportunities and feel valued, which can boost their confidence and aspirations.

2. Cultural Relevance: Including cultural elements makes the curriculum more relatable and engaging for students. It helps them see the value in their own backgrounds and fosters a sense of pride and identity, which can be particularly empowering in communities facing deprivation.

3. Career Awareness: Introducing career education early on helps students understand the range of opportunities available to them. It can inspire them to set goals and work towards a future they might not have considered otherwise, addressing issues of low aspiration and unemployment.

By weaving these threads into the curriculum, the school can create a more inclusive, motivating, and supportive learning environment that addresses the specific needs and challenges of its community. 

The concept of golden threads running through the curriculum means that there are key themes or principles that are consistently woven throughout all subjects and activities. Here's how this works:

1. Integrated Learning: By having golden threads, different subjects are not taught in isolation. Instead, they are connected through common themes, making learning more cohesive and helping students see the relevance of what they are learning across different areas.

2. Engagement: An immersive curriculum means that students are actively involved in their learning. The golden threads help create a rich, engaging environment where students can explore topics in depth and from multiple perspectives.

3. Reinforcement: Key concepts and values are reinforced throughout the curriculum. For example, themes like respect, resilience, and curiosity might be emphasized in various subjects, helping students internalize these important qualities.

4. Personalization: The curriculum is tailored to meet the needs and interests of the students. Golden threads ensure that the learning experiences are relevant to the students' lives and backgrounds, making education more meaningful and motivating.

5. Skill Development: Through the consistent application of golden threads, students develop essential skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving, which are crucial for their future success.

In summary, the golden threads in St. Mary's curriculum ensure that learning is not only comprehensive and connected but also deeply engaging and relevant to the students' lives.