Enriched Curriculum

At Our Lady of Lourdes we provide a highly challenging core curriculum, while also recognising the importance of providing our children with memorable learning opportunities outside of the classroom routine. We aim to stimulate creativity and imagination and provide children with opportunities to develop their skills and knowledge. Throughout the year, art displays, school presentations, and performances are organised to celebrate the achievements in all areas of the curriculum.

Educational Visits

Each class undertakes educational visits throughout the academic year focused on extending their learning outside the classroom. Visits range from science and art to history and geography.

The school currently holds the Arts mark, highlighting our creative art and music curriculum.

Music

We pride ourselves, as a school, on the quality of our music provision. Our school choir are well respected and perform regularly within the local community. They take part in the bi-annual Redbridge Schools Music Festival, held at the Royal Albert Hall. Normally, this is available for Year 5 and 6 pupils.

Our school orchestra is open to all pupils from Year 2 upwards who have been learning an instrument for a year, either at school or with a private teacher, and who has a grasp of reading music notation. For pupils who do not have lessons but show great focus and commitment during class music tuition, there may be opportunities to play percussion.

All pupils get the opportunity to learn the descant recorder free of charge as part of the current Year 4 class music curriculum. Pupils who show great aptitude and enthusiasm can then be considered for a place in the school orchestra to continue their learning.

Instrumental tuition, provided by the London Borough of Redbridge Music Service (RMS), is available on request.  Selection depends on availability of places and priority is given to Key Stage 2 pupils. Lessons currently on offer are piano, violin, cello, double bass, brass, woodwind and guitar.  All lessons take place during school time and invoicing for these lessons is undertaken by RMS. It is possible to hire instruments from RMS for the duration of the tuition at an additional cost. Pupils can be added to the waiting list by contacting Redbridge Music Service directly using the following link.

https://visionrcl.org.uk/music-service-sign-up/

Art

Art and design embody some of the highest forms of human creativity.  At Our Lady of Lourdes, we deliver a rich and varied art and design education.  We have had our curriculum design and embedded art processes recognised with a gold Artsmark award.   

All children have a series of art lessons every term.  With these we aim to inspire, challenge and build artistic skills and knowledge enabling pupils to create their own works of art and talk confidently about art and design from the past and present.  In addition to this, there are workshops led by local artists and visits to galleries help children think critically and develop a rigorous understanding of art and design.

EYFS and Key Stage One - Children are able to use and experiment with a range of materials such as pencil, pen, collage, 3D modelling and clay. They are encouraged to talk about their work and the work of others.  From Year 2 children start a sketchbook, which they add to throughout their art learning.

Lower Key Stage Two – Children develop their use of a sketchbook to collect ideas. They build and expand on their previous experience of materials with additional mastery of their skills and knowledge in painting, drawing and sculpting.  The children learn about the work of famous artists and how to adapt their own work.

Upper Key Stage Two – Children expand their skills to confidently give opinions and express emotions through their artwork.  Sketchbooks are used to plan work and experiment with ideas.  They are continually building on their skills to use variety of applications and a range of materials including printing, charcoal, clay and pen.

Physical Education

At Our Lady of Lourdes, it is our vision to develop an engaging, high quality Physical Education Curriculum, rich with activities that will inspire all pupils to be physically confident in a way that supports their health and fitness. We provide opportunities for our pupils to compete in sport and other activities and embed values, such as fairness and respect which can be carried into later life.

Using the National Curriculum, pupils receive a minimum of 2 hours of physical education a week which are provided through lessons, lunchtime clubs and after school clubs. Pupils also have the opportunity take part in competitions along with other schools in the area.

In the Early Years the pupils are provided with opportunities to be active and interactive and to develop their co-ordination, control, and movement. Pupils are helped to understand the importance of physical activity, and to make healthy choices in relation to food.

In Key Stage 1, pupils develop fundamental movement skills. Across the key stage, pupils become increasingly competent and confident and begin to access a broad range of opportunities to extend their agility, balance and coordination, individually and with others.

They begin to engage in competitive and co-operative physical activities, in a range of increasingly challenging situations.

Pupils are taught to:  master basic movements including running, jumping, throwing and catching, as well as developing balance, agility and co-ordination, and they begin to apply these in a range of activities, such as performing dances using simple movement patterns. By participating in team games, pupils will develop simple tactics for attacking and defending.

In Key Stage 2, our pupils will continue to apply and develop a broader range of skills, learning how to use them in different ways and to link them to make actions and sequences of movement.

In Year 4, it is our aim that pupils will be taught to swim competently over a distance of at least 25 metres. Pupils are taught to use a range of strokes effectively (for example, front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke).

The children can enjoy communicating, collaborating and competing with each other. They begin to develop an understanding of how to improve in different physical activities and sports and learn how to evaluate and recognise their own successes.

Pupils are taught to: use running, jumping, throwing and catching in isolation and in combination, play competitive games, modified where appropriate (for example, badminton, basketball, cricket, football, hockey, netball, rounders and tennis), and apply basic principles suitable for attacking and defending. They develop flexibility, strength, technique, control and balance (for example, through athletics and gymnastics), perform dances using a range of movement patterns, take part in outdoor and adventurous activity challenges both individually and within a team. Pupils will compare their performances with previous ones and be given to opportunity to demonstrate improvement to achieve their personal best.