Key curriculum concepts | Whole – part

An anchoring concept for the infant years The whole-part concept is fundamental to children’s learning in Reception and KS1. It has such value that it is not just in maths where it is useful, but across a number of subjects. Maths There is of course the concrete counters on a 5 and 10 frame that…

The stories we tell | curriculum design

Daniel Willingham tells us that stories are psychologically privileged and two of the reasons that it is useful for leaders to tell stories is that they are easier to understand and they are easier to remember. Daniel Coyle tells us that to establish purpose, we should ‘fill the windscreen with stories’ because this can help…

Establishing effective curriculum leadership

If you’re a senior leader it is likely that you’ll have some responsibility that involves the the curriculum. It is also likely that, at least in part, you’re aiming to meet the headteacher standards. Here’s the standard to do with curriculum and assessment: That second statement is the focus of our attention in this post….

Curriculum leadership checklists

Whether a senior leader in charge of the curriculum or a subject leader in charge of one or a number of individual subjects, the challenge is the same. A high quality education provided at scale by multiple colleagues. To do this well, leaders need good systems and checklists help systems to become established run smoothly….

Curriculum leadership: the spotlight and the guardian

The spotlight Every subject leader rightly thinks that their subject is important. And every subject requires colleagues’ attention to build subject knowledge and to understand the discipline of the subject as well as the key concepts that make up subject specific study. The standard of primary education set by the national curriculum is high and…

Designing your history curriculum

Availability of expertise, time and the juggling of many responsibilities all make it very difficult to meet the high subject specific expectations in the foundation subjects. One solution is to buy into a scheme and this can be a great starting point. But adapting plans (whether they’re from a publisher or not) and continual review…

What leaders need to know about the curriculum

This post, a follow on from previous in the same vein on cultural leadership and impact, aims to identify the knowledge needed by leaders to lead the curriculum. This knowledge is important because it contributes to leaders’ mental models – what they know and how it informs meaningful action. National curriculum requirements The national curriculum…

Curriculum coherence – threads of key concepts

One way of creating coherence in a curriculum is to pay close attention to the key concepts for each subject.  These key concepts go by other names such as big ideas or threshold concepts.  Whatever they are referred to, they are concepts that, once understood, transform a child’s understanding of that subject.  They can also…

9 ways to put sentences at the heart of the curriculum

This post leans heavily upon the great work by Judith Hochman and Natalie Wexler in The Writing Revolution.  In my school, the least advantaged children are not as competent as their advantaged peers at crafting accurate and effective sentences.  To combat this, we aim to put sentences at the heart of the curriculum, with a…

Strategic curriculum leadership phase 3: what’s been learned?

This post, the third of three, details the process carried out to reform the curriculum upon taking up my Headship back in July 2018.  Every school’s needs are different so it is important to set the process I carried out into context.  The school I took over was judged as requires improvement in March 2017. …