Curriculum Implementation
Curriculum Implementation
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Six global learning themes underpin our curriculum and each theme is broken down into knowledge and understanding, skills and attitudes:
Social justice and equity
Identity and diversity
Sustainable development
Peace and conflict
Human rights
Power and governance
In order to achieve depth of thinking and learning we plan for children to focus on three of these themes per year. Across each year a number of high-quality core texts are used to bring the themes to life for our children and to promote a connectedness with the learning.
To allow for deep seeking meaning we ensure that our curriculum promotes learning for both their cognitive domain and affective domain (see visual). Through our knowledge, understanding and skills we aim to develop our children’s cognitive capacity including application, synthesising and evaluating. Equal focus is given to the affective domain through our focus on values, motivations and attitudes towards learning. The values, motivations and attitudes need to be modelled and taught explicitly alongside curriculum content. We share, celebrate and pay attention to the specific learning dispositions that need to be nurtured and developed within our children.
The six global themes outlined above are explored through all areas of the curriculum and across the subject disciplines.
Sequences of lessons are carefully crafted around a final project outcome which allows children to become agents of change. The learning journeys are active, engaging and inspiring leading to a deeper understanding of the global themes and curriculum areas. The projects drive motivation, determination and commitment within our children. Carefully crafted sequences promote the affective and cognitive domain whilst allowing children the opportunity to develop 21st century skills such as research, collaboration, innovation, presentation, evaluation and reflection.
The curriculum promotes critical thinking skills so that children are taught to leave behind perfectly logical answers that are not solving the problem. Instead of persevering, trying to force-fit a round solution, children are able to explore a different approach and ultimately become risk takers.
When designing sequences of learning across the curriculum, we use a teaching backwards approach. At the heart of teaching backwards is a thinking process that enables our teachers to plan and teach from a clear and well-defined destination. We believe that teaching backwards is a journey that starts with the end very clearly in mind. With this knowledge, our staff design learning that focuses on small steps of progression. By slowing learning down we ensure that our focus remains on depth. Our journeys are supported at all times by high expectations.
In his book ‘The Talent Code’ - Daniel Coyle argues that deliberate practice, alongside struggle promotes the growth of myelin in our brains. Struggle and practice are both key components of our teaching sequences. Well-structured modelling, highly effective questioning and carefully designed learning tasks enable children to both struggle and practice. Multiple opportunities to fail and learn from these mistakes are also central to our practice and encourage a growth mindset.
We help children remember what they have learnt through regular reviews of learning, rehearsing and connecting background knowledge and by providing a good deal of instructional support. Teachers activate pupils’ relevant prior knowledge through regular retrieval practice, teach new material in small amounts, model processes, guide pupil practice to the point of independent practice, ensure a high success rate and provide immediate feedback to help pupils when they make errors.
Learning is inherently a social experience. Therefore, our teaching sequences promote richly dialogic contexts that support co-construction and collaboration. Discussion, debate and communication are all valuable currency in an increasing complex world and so we plan opportunities for children to express a point of view, understanding that people have different points of view and engaging with these. Children are able to consider different perspectives and points of view on global issues and we explore the potential of being able to change one’s point of view.
Metacognition plays a pivotal role within our sequences through explaining and reasoning, thinking about evidence, evaluating and making judgements or decisions. Through deeper thinking and reflection children are able to make links between topics so they are learning to think systematically. Teaching children how to reflect, explain, justify, question is key to lesson design.
Feedback is integrated into our curriculum design and a range of feedback types are provided throughout the sequences. Provocative prompts are used to deepen the connection with the learning and encourage children to reflect at a deeper level.
The spaces in which we spend most of our time convey important messages about what we value most. Within our schools, the learning environment is planned for in fine detail. There is a shared understanding that excellence is prized and interconnected with our school values. We do not separate the environment from our curriculum, teaching and learning or planning. We use the learning environment to communicate more than just the learning content. It represents the blending of content and pedagogy so that an understanding of how learning is organised, represented and adapted is made visible.
Assessment for learning is used routinely in the classrooms to inform teaching sessions and sequences with both knowledge acquisition and application being well balanced. The curriculum is planned and taught rigorously supporting children to deepen their understanding of key skills and knowledge so that they can be recalled and applied in varied contexts. Learning intentions are broken down into precise learning that is clearly modelled and scaffolded, supporting children to transition from novice to expert. Classes are given opportunities to revise, practise and apply key skills and knowledge overtime. Through responsive assessment, misconceptions are used routinely as starting points for learning ensuring that barriers are addressed at the point of learning and ensuring gaps in learning do not widen.
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