Cantonian is excited to embrace the Curriculum for Wales. The Curriculum has been designed to enthuse learners aged 3 to 16 and give them the foundations they need to succeed in an ever-changing world.
Our curriculum vision has been designed to allow pupils to achieve the four core purposes. We believe that learners should engage with and understand the purpose of their learning. We want our learners to achieve their potential and become independent life-long learners. Our ambition is the best from each, success for all and we believe our curriculum vision will help support us to deliver on this ambition for the learners at Cantonian.
The Cantonian Curriculum Vision
Relationships
At Cantonian, we have put relationships at the heart of our curriculum because we strongly believe that developing good relationships and encouraging positive behaviour in the classroom, playground and wider community is essential for creating the right environment for effective teaching and learning. Where children and young people feel included, respected, safe and secure and when their achievements and contributions are valued and celebrated, they are more likely to develop selfconfidence, resilience and positive views about themselves.
We make the commitment that each learner is known well by at least one adult within the school. One structure our curriculum has embraced to help develop relationships and support learners socially, emotionally, and academically is Criw.
The structure of Criw allows for relationship building, academic progress monitoring, and character development. We commit to focusing on relationships and developing Criw to ensure every learner feels seen, heard and valued.
Wellbeing
At Cantonian we promote an inclusive environment to ensure “The best for each, success for all”. We believe that a happy learner is a successful one and we are committed to providing a positive, safe, and stimulating environment for pupils to learn and where all feel valued. Central to our curriculum vision is wellbeing, and the driving ambition to develop learners’ resilience and self-worth which will enable our learners to thrive, progress and succeed in school and in life.
Culture
As a school we put wellbeing and relationships as central to our curriculum vision and to support this we also strive to promote a culture of high aspiration #brighter future. We look to provide our students with the support, experiences, knowledge and skills to raise aspirations.
Character – The Three R’s
The cornerstone of the Cantonian curriculum is the 3R’s that underpin the essential characteristics we want our learners to display which are ready, respectful and responsible.
Ready: We want all our learners to be ready to embrace their learning, ready to face challenges and ready to engage in work.
Respectful: We promote respect within and outside the classroom and work with learners to understand the importance creating a respectful community within and outside our school, where everyone is respected and valued.
Responsible: We believe it is important to promote responsibility and encourage students to act in a responsible manner within school and their wider community.
We also encourage learners to take responsibility for their work and encourage them to always try to work to the best of their ability. At Cantonian, we promote social responsibility, and our learners are encouraged to take responsibility for their actions.
The Four C’s – Community, Creativity, Communication, Curiosity
The Four C’s are threaded throughout our curriculum and are key to supporting our pupils towards the Four Purposes.
Community – Providing our pupils with a sense of belonging, supporting them to understand their role within their local community and the wider community. Supporting our pupils to becoming more active citizens.
Curiosity – Providing pupils opportunities to ask and investigate big questions, promoting problem solving, logical thinking and research opportunities.
Creativity – Providing opportunities for pupils to create, make, design and use their imaginations.
Communication – Providing opportunities for our pupils to develop their communication skills. Supporting pupils to consider and develop how they articulate their thoughts and ideas, how they communicate with others via a variety of different means and how they listen to others and engage in debate.
Skills
Throughout the Cantonian Curriculum pupils will have the opportunity to develop their mandatory Cross Curricular Skills alongside their Integral Skills.
At Cantonian, our curriculum has been designed by working with a number of stakeholders. Teachers have been guided by the ‘statements of what matter’ and the ‘four purposes’ when identifying what knowledge, skills and understanding pupils need, and how this can be developed and deepened as pupils move from Year 7 to Year 11.
To support the curriculum careful consideration has been placed on pedagogy and The Cantonian Craft is central to our approach to learning and teaching.
The Cantonian Craft allows staff to think about how they teach and the pedagogical approach that is most effective. The Cantonian Craft ensures that lessons are planned to a high quality and allow pupils to progress and understand where they are within their learning journey. The Cantonian Craft encourages staff to think about the following when planning lessons:
- Challenge
- Explanation and modelling
- Questioning
- Deliberate practice
- Review of learning (AFL approaches)
- Feedback
The ultimate goal of our curriculum s to support our pupils towards the Four Purposes, these are the shared vision and aspiration for every child and young person. In fulfilling these, we set high expectations for all, promote individual and national wellbeing, tackle ignorance and misinformation, and encourage critical and civic engagement. Through our curriculum, we strive to ensure pupils make progress in the four purposes and we support them in becoming:
- Ambitious, capable learners, ready to learn throughout their lives
- Enterprising, creative contributors, ready to play a full part in life and work
- Ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world
- Healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society
Our vision is driven by our ambition to ensure ‘The best for each, success for all’ which will help our pupils in their journeys to successful futures.