We are able to provide bespoke curriculum review and/or INSET depending on your needs. Our aim would be to work collaboratively and developmentally with you to develop a well-planned and coherent school curriculum which supports your school aims and local context.
Whatever school you lead, the curriculum defines the education which your pupils receive, indeed an effective curriculum is fundamental to impactful teaching and learning, and helping everyone to make progress in life.
The focus on continually reviewing the structure and delivery of your curriculum offering is the hallmark of an effective school.
Schools should not however adopt a narrow focus on the curriculum: the curriculum is the holistic education that pupils are exposed to and when reviewing the curriculum should look beyond the taught academic curriculum and also consider extracurricular activities, sport and pastoral provision.
Curriculum Review – what we can offer
Each school is different and has its own local context and school aims. Our consultants will listen carefully to your needs and tailor the review accordingly, and agree the outcomes that you wish to achieve.
‘Curriculum content, pedagogy and assessment – three key components of students’ educational experience that influence their learning – are not independent of each other, but closely interrelated. In consequence, we need to consider implications for all three elements when we review and revise any one of them.’
Education Endowment Fund, Wynn Harlem 2017
Whole school curriculum review
It may be that you would like us to have a broad remit and provide a holistic review of your whole school curriculum to provide recommendations, advice and support to enable your curriculum to develop to further meet the needs of your pupils.
This might typically involve:
A top-level review with senior leaders to explore:
- What is on offer, to whom and when
- How the school day and timetable is structured
- How the curriculum is kept broad and balanced
- How the academic curriculum is balanced with sport and extracurricular activities
Departmental review to evaluate the extent to which the intent of the curriculum is being implemented:
- Discussions with middle leaders
- Lesson observation
- Book review
Additional evidence gathering
- Staff discussions
- Pupil discussions
- Evaluating the support provided by the SENCo
‘Curriculum matters, as it defines the knowledge and experiences that learners will receive beyond their home environment. To this extent, what is taught and how, and who is included, appear to be the key principles in curriculum design’
Ofsted EIF: overview of research January 2019
Departmental Curriculum Review
You may wish us to have a more narrow focus. For example, you may need us to work with subject leads and Heads of Department to review the curriculum in specific subjects, ensuring that there are clear starting and end points and that the curriculum is coherently structured, sequenced, resourced and assessed appropriately.
This might typically involve:
- Discussion with subject lead
- Review of subject curriculum overview and schemes of work
- Policy review
- Review of resources
- Staff discussions
- Pupil discussions
- Work scrutiny
- Lesson observation
Curriculum efficiency review
It may be that you need help reviewing your curriculum structure to determine where efficiencies may be made.
This might typically involve:
- Reviewing the subjects offered at each Key Stage
- Understanding your class size and teacher: pupil ratio policy
- Understanding the school day structure and curriculum map (periods allocated to each subject)
- Analysing staff supply and demand
- Evaluating the data to better understand where efficiencies may be possible and make recommendations.
Pastoral curriculum review
You may wish us to work with you to determine the extent to which your curriculum supports personal development and wellbeing to build resilience and promote good mental health whilst equipping students with the life skills to enable them to make progress in their lives.
This might typically involve:
- Meetings with senior leaders and pastoral leads
- Pupil discussions
- Review of PSHE/RSE curriculum
- Discussions to better understand how EDI has been embedded in school culture and how it has been threaded throughout the curriculum
- An evaluation of the school culture and climate
- A review of the mental health and wellbeing strategy
Whatever your requirements, we will listen carefully and help you achieve the agreed area of focus.
Curriculum INSET
“Their direct, pragmatic approach to education is contemporary and promotes the use of evidence informed pedagogy resulting in an excellent learning environment.”
Kiri Gore, Deputy Head, Bury Grammar School
You may need us to lead whole school Teaching & learning INSET. Such INSET would be discussed in detail with you and tailored to your needs. It is important to us that INSET is not something which is done to your staff but a collaborative and interactive process. Key is that leaders and teachers leave with sensible and pragmatic ideas they feel confident to implement immediately with their pupils.
Such INSET might typically involve:
- Consultant led whole staff delivery sessions
- Interactive sessions with staff working in department to agree, for example, aspects of subject specific pedagogy
- Sharing feedback
- Planning for future implementation
Why not arrange an INSET for your staff on some of the most effective practices for improving pupil outcomes?
Find out more about training on active learning, metacognition and using feedback
Curriculum Review visit
The team will seek to work collaboratively with leaders to enable them to have the skills to take any recommendations forward.
Throughout the visit ongoing feedback will be provided and at its conclusion, a report will be produced together with any recommendations. Should you need this to be put into a detailed action plan we would be happy to do so.
All reports are quality assured by our central team this ensures accuracy and relevance, as well as ensuring that the report covers the areas of focus agreed during the pre visit audit and meeting.
All of our work can be carried out remotely, on-site, or a combination of both. Tell us what works for you and we will meet those preferences.
Use of Evidence
The report and recommendations will normally be based on evidence obtained from:
- Discussions with leaders / governors
- Staff discussions
- Pupil interviews
- Findings and recommendations from previous inspection
- School improvement plan / strategic plan
- Review of curriculum policies, plans and schemes of work
- Classroom observations (depending on focus)
- Reviewing the work of pupils
How much will it cost?
This depends on four key factors:
- Agreed areas(s) of focus
- Number of days
- Breadth and scope of the review
- Remote or on-site visit
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