As teachers and leaders we are well-versed saying we want to provide a ‘broad and balanced’ curriculum for all children in our schools. We want children to experience a rich, engaging, well-planned and sequenced curriculum, that builds in both knowledge and skills. In fact, I’ve yet to meet someone who says they don’t want children to have this. But we also know that there are several hurdles on the way to feeling like we have accomplished this aim;
- the National Curriculum is quite brief in many foundation subjects. For example the requirements for art and design at KS1 and KS2 fit on less than 2 pages, and is made up of just a handful of attainment targets for each key stage (however these statements encapsulate a large amount of knowledge and skill that take time to develop).
- as primary school teachers we teach a wide range of subjects, many of which we may not feel specialist in and as subject leaders we may take on subjects but not feel like ‘an expert’ in the subject/s we lead when we take them on.
- but we know we have a moral imperative to enable all pupils to feel success in their learning. We want to reflect our local context and value the families in our community in the curriculum we offer, whilst also giving pupils experiences beyond their immediate locality.
- we also have the framework in which Ofsted inspect schools. Ofsted’s handbook states that inspectors will look at ‘… how carefully leaders have thought about what end points the curriculum is building towards… how leaders have broken down the content into components and sequenced that content…’
The full paragraph 211 from the current Ofsted handbook (Sept 2022) is given below.
211. Inspectors will consider the knowledge and skills that pupils will gain at each stage through the school’s curriculum (we call this ‘intent’). They will look at the scope of the curriculum, including how carefully leaders have thought about what end points the curriculum is building towards (with reference to the national curriculum and, where relevant, the EYFS). They will also look at how leaders have broken down the content into components and sequenced that content in a logical progression, systematically and explicitly, for all pupils to acquire the intended knowledge and skills. Inspectors will also consider the rigour of subject-specific planning.
Paragraphs 212 and 213 go on to outline implementation and impact.
Supporting schools to manage these hurdles
Aware of this, HFL Education has developed it’s primary offer to include ‘Beyond the core’ curriculum. HFL has long been known for it’s support for schools and is a respected provider of resources, training and consultancy for primary English, maths, science, languages, computing and assessment. We are expanding this offer to include the rest of the primary foundation subjects and more general subject leadership support.
We understand that with the National Curriculum for foundation subjects slimmed down and the more recent focus from OFSTED on the coherence of the curriculum, schools have needed to think more deeply about their curriculum offer. We also respect the moral imperative schools feel to have sequences of learning that are well-planned and relevant in all subjects, reflecting and valuing our communities whilst also giving children broad and meaningful experiences.
Knowing that that not all teachers and subject leaders feel like they have the expertise in all the foundation subjects, we will be able to offer subject leadership and subject knowledge support, both in the form of a central training offer and in bespoke consultancy, staff meetings and INSETs for individual schools and MATs. We will also develop our blogs, of which this is the first and our regular newsletters.
Questions schools might want to consider, reflecting on your curriculum:
- which subjects do you feel are (already) well planned and sequenced, so that the learning builds towards defined end points?
- would any subjects benefit from further support, training or consultancy to develop the planning and sequencing, to allow learning to build towards your defined end points?
- which subjects do you feel are well led, with a leader who feels able to provide subject specific support, and evaluate whether provision enables pupils to learn effectively?
- would any leaders benefit from further support, training or consultancy to develop their understanding of subject leadership, evaluation and action planning?
- would teachers benefit from training and CPD to develop their subject knowledge further, to enable them to better understand and sequence key learning?
We are looking forward to exploring the above questions further with teachers, leaders, schools and MATs, as we shape our offer.
Our training flyer for the coming term can be found here:
The courses can also be found here on CPD Hub: Beyond the Core – training for spring 2023
Our ‘beyond the core’ team look forward to championing the foundation subjects – providing support, blogs, training and consultancy to schools and MATs (in Hertfordshire and beyond).
Get in touch: beyondthecore@hfleducation.org
Kate Kellner-Dilks
