The vision of Emmanuel School is to see pupils who:

• Love the Lord God with all their heart, soul and strength

• Love others

• Are eager to learn and fulfil their academic potential

• Recognise their abilities, gifts and passions and are encouraged to develop them fully

• Go out and make a positive difference in the communities in which they live, work, worship and play.

As a Christian School, our aim is to pursue this vision by preparing our pupils as follows:

• Preparation for future learning

• Preparation for work

• Preparation for 21st Century society

• Preparation for a fulfilling life

• Preparation for eternity

Emmanuel School provides Christian Education for children from Nursery through until their GCSEs. Our pupils enter the school at the beginning of their childhood and leave 13 years later nearly at the end of their childhood. Therefore, we aim to provide our pupils with a broad, deep and rich curriculum that will give them the best start in life, enhance their childhood and prepare them for life beyond Emmanuel School. Our curriculum aims to recognise pupil’s prior learning, provide first hand learning experiences, allow pupils to develop confidence, interpersonal skills, build resilience and become creative, critical thinkers.

We have high aspirations for all our pupils.

Preparing for future learning

We believe that every child deserves the best possible start in life so our EYFS curriculum works towards achieving or exceeding the Good Level of Development at the end of Reception. Throughout the rest of the school, we build towards reaching or exceeding expected levels at the end of KS1 and KS2 and then towards GCSEs in Year 11. This is achieved by our pupils building on their knowledge and skills as they progress through the school. Our curriculum is made available to all pupils regardless of ability. We believe that, in order to prepare for future learning, our pupils need high levels of literacy and numeracy.

Preparing for work

Our academic curriculum is supplemented by our careers programme that is woven into the curriculum. We work closely with the Black Country Chamber of Commerce and the Impartial Advice and Guidance Careers team. This enables our pupils to have opportunities and experiences over and above qualifications alone. Our aim is to give our pupils an advantage when they leave our school.

Preparing for 21st Century society

In order to prepare our pupils to live as responsible and compassionate citizens in the 21st Century, fundamental British values are woven into the curriculum. We celebrate and welcome differences within our school community. Our practical citizenship strand also focuses on areas of safeguarding and well-being and this is supplemented by our use of ‘Votes for Schools’. ‘Votes for Schools’ provides resources for SMSC, British values, Prevent, Pupil Voice and supports our citizenship teaching.

Preparing for a fulfilling life

In order for our pupils to have a fulfilling life, we are eager to help them recognise their abilities, gifts and passions and then to encourage them to develop them. This is generally done through our 2020 (post 2pm) curriculum where we offer more specialised and individualised opportunities to our pupils.

Preparing for eternity

As a Christian School, our Bible citizenship is a vitally important part of our curriculum. We teach our pupils the importance of loving God and loving others. We also aim to teach our pupils how much they are loved by God. In today’s society, we believe that it has never been more important to impress upon our pupils the need to respect, love and show genuine tolerance towards all of mankind. We believe that our pupils will grow into loving, tolerant, effective, genuine and respectful adults when they truly grasp how much they are loved by God.

Alongside this, we also provide:

Pupil Enrichment (Cultural Capital)

In preparing our curriculum, we are aware of the socio-economics of the area. Emmanuel School is situated in the centre of Walsall. Although not all pupils live in Walsall, we are aware from local intelligence that deprivation is deeply entrenched in this area. The 2015 Index of Multiple Deprivation ranks Walsall as the 33rd most deprived English local authority (out of 326). Walsall fares particularly badly in terms of income, employment and also education, skills and training deprivation.

In helping our pupils prepare for life beyond school and to increase their aspirations and the quality of their lives, we aim to offer enrichment activities that extend their experiences. These activities include trips, off-site visits, external speakers, enrichment days or weeks (e.g. enterprise week) etc. Charitable links and service are also part of our enrichment opportunities.

Despite the socio-economics of the area, we are passionate about ensuring that all our pupils realise that God’s world is vast and wonderful and they can play an active and positive part in contributing to and experiencing it.

Pastoral care and well-being

Pastoral care is at the heart of our school. We believe it is vitally important to support the emotional and mental well-being of children and to provide signposting to parents where necessary. We believe that emotional and mental wellbeing is also greatly enhanced by sport and exercise. Sport is an important area of our curriculum that is enriched by our 2020 activities. We also aim to promote an active and healthy lifestyle through the A*STARS and School Nursing Champions programmes.

The school also strongly encourages:

Parental Involvement

We believe that a child’s education is enhanced by parental involvement. Therefore, we aim to involve parents in school life as much as possible. This includes parent workshops, parental engagement sessions and parent meetings.

Prayer

Prayer is a vital part of Emmanuel School. Staff members pray regularly for and with pupils and their families.