The Christ-Centred Curriculum

The Christian sees God revealing Himself to man in creation as Romans 1v20 says,

“since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.”

To understand the world then we need to see it as an expression of who He is. In addition, we see Christ in everything as the unifying force in all of creation, as Colossians 1v17 puts it

“in Him all things hold together.”

It is as if in Him we put all the pieces of the jigsaw together and the collection of random pieces suddenly becomes a meaningful whole, and so makes it so much easier to study and remember. Studying then becomes more than a gathering of useful or less useful facts, but an exploration of our closest friend who is there in every aspect of life. Laying out the world in this way enables children to develop a coherent world view that relates together: study, family life, morals, employment, friendship, worship and every area of life. This involves more than the intellect, it involves body, mind, soul and spirit. It also involved other people: family, Church, nation and the world. It is vital for such a curriculum to be effective that the teacher also can demonstrate a holistic approach to life. This is dealt with in more detail in the teaching section of the policy. The Character of God

The Christ Centred Curriculum therefore takes the character of God as its starting point since this is the underlying meaning. When each attribute of God is considered many curriculum areas come to mind. Many areas of study could be looked at in various projects pulling out different aspects of God’s character but areas are chosen so that the whole curriculum is covered in a coherent way. Having started from the character of God and chosen areas to study, these areas must be allowed their own integrity and not straight jacketed into a preconceived plan. The greatness of God will come across as we study His great creation – if we seek to be open to what He is saying through each area of our teaching. The character attributes of God have been collected into fifteen projects. These are taught on a three year cycle, with one project to each half term. Only one project is studied in the summer term since it does not have a half term break and is the shortest term. The whole school will study the same character attribute of God, but will look at different curriculum areas appropriate to their age. This enables whole school assemblies to be relevant to every class, and can sometimes lead to the whole school working on something together. The project outlines are checked against relevant national guidelines to ensure a thorough coverage of the curriculum. Projects

The cycle of projects is as shown below:

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
1. Creator 6. Provider, Resourceful 11. Patience, Self-control
2. Light, Joy 7. Peace 12. Humble, Servant
3. Faithful, Personal 8. Holy, Lord, King 13. Healer, Preserver
4. Love, Father 9. Shepherd 14. Truth, Justice, Mercy
5.Truth, Wisdom 10. Protector 15. Kindness, Gentleness
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