Curriculum Lead Role

Depending on how your school sets up its leadership structure, this might mean working with:

• Leads for multiple subjects

• A single leader responsible for specific groups of subjects or themes

• Phase or Key Stage leaders

You're not expected to be a curriculum expert, to judge the subject the same way an inspector would, or to know as much as the Principal.

You need to work closely with school leaders to get the insights you need to help the board hold staff to account and drive improvement.

Remit for this role is:

to act as the link between the academy committee and staff and to report to the Academy Committee on things like:

• Subject/curriculum delivery

• The impact of interventions

• Use of resources

You can help other academy committee members understand what aspects of teaching and learning look like in practice, and also bring your more detailed knowledge of the curriculum to important decisions (for instance, about school improvement priorities or policy approval). 

The focus for each visit should be linked to any curriculum priorities on your school improvement plan (SIP).

If there are no curriculum (or specific topics/themes) on the SIP, work with school leaders to decide a focus for the visit based on their action plans or the curriculum map. 

Key things to monitor might include:

• Subject improvement plans

• The quality of resources

• Pupil and parent engagement with the subject

• The curriculum (what you teach, why you teach it, and how you teach it)

• To be aware of the organisation of trips and visits to enhance the subject provision 

When agreeing your focus, consider:

• Your school improvement plan (SIP) – if curriculum features as a key objective, you'll need to make sure you monitor how school leaders are working to achieve the objective

• Any adjustments your school’s made for recovery or catch-up – you should consider how you’ll monitor any use of the catch-up premium and school-led tutoring grant this year 

• Your school’s remote education provision – this’ll be part of your school’s contingency plan

Ways to monitor

You might do this through:

• Meetings with the subject lead

• Visits to the school to see the curriculum in action

• Talking to pupils, parents and staff (or conducting a survey)

• Reports from the subject lead

We recommend you either meet your subject lead, or visit your school, at least once a term. 

You should report to the committee on what you’ve been monitoring. Remember to cover:

• What was included in reports from the subject lead(s)

• What questions you’ve asked (see examples below)

• How the school is using specific grants, like the catch-up premium/school-led tutoring grant

Questions a Curriculum Lead Academy Committee member might ask during their visit: 

You don't need to, and shouldn't, ask all these questions in one meeting. Ask these questions in meetings and visits throughout the year.

Catch-up questions

• How are we supporting pupils to catch up? How do we know this support is working?

• How are you using/proposing to use the catch-up premium and school-led tutoring grant to support pupils?

• How are various pupil groups supported with the catch-up premium/school-led tutoring grant? Pupil groups include:

  • • • • • Pupils with special educational needs (SEN)

          • Pupils eligible for pupil premium/free school meals (FSM)

          • Vulnerable pupils

• How does your plan for using the catch-up premium fit with our catch-up priorities?

• How does the curriculum support pupils to reach their full potential?

Curriculum/topic strategy questions

• Tell me about the curriculum plan for these topics/subjects

• How do the subjects fit together in the wider curriculum?

• Are different members of staff responsible for different parts of the curriculum plan?

• How will these topics develop across the school? What are the plans and how will you do this?

• How are you monitoring these topics/subjects across the school? How often do you do this? What's the impact of monitoring?

• A lead should have time to monitor their subject. If the lead says they don’t have time, bring this up in your feedback to the board

• Are there any barriers to meeting the improvements/objectives/targets?

• Is our updated relationships and sex education (RSE) curriculum having a positive impact in school? (all schools were required to implement the new RSE curriculum by Summer Term 2021 - leaders should be able to explain what impact it's had on the school e.g. have instances of bullying, hate speech decreased?)

Other questions to consider

• Have you changed classroom displays to reflect what our focus is? How do displays support learning?

• What resources are we using? Are they effective?

• How are we working with parents to support these subjects? Do they know what our focus is?

• How are we helping children take responsibility for their own learning?

• Do staff have the right knowledge and skills to deliver the curriculum really well? Are there any gaps where we need to provide additional training?

• How are we supporting the staff who work with the weakest readers?

• Do you feel supported by senior leaders?

• What impact has the Sports Premium had on the provision of PE?

Teaching and learning

• How are we supporting children who aren't on track with our curriculum? Do we know this support is working?

• How do we assess this subject? How do we know pupils are making good progress?

• How well are the skills taught through these subjects taught across the whole curriculum?

Pupil groups

• How do the progress and attainment of different groups of pupils compare – for example, girls compared with boys, children on free school meals (FSM) compared with others?

• How are our children with special educational needs (SEN) challenged and supported to reach their individual potential?

• How might the experience of a pupil with SEN differ from one without?

• How are high-attaining children challenged to reach their individual potential?