Planning at whole school level involves the development of both curriculum plans and organisational policies.
Section 21 of the Education Act (1998) mandates that schools shall make arrangements for the preparation of a plan and shall ensure that the plan is regularly reviewed and updated. The Act also requires schools to plan in accordance with the most recent departmental updates and to communicate the plan to all stakeholders, including parents.
School planning therefore is based on the rationale that planning should address identified priorities from within the school itself, based on knowledge of the learning needs of the pupils and an on-going commitment on the part of the school community to continuously improve the provision for those pupils. Schools and teachers should decide on the best approach to planning based on their own individual contexts.
In planning for the implementation of the curriculum, schools will need to consider the nature and purpose of each curricular area. The whole school plan should be developed collaboratively and should provide information to support teacher planning. Curriculum plans should be available to all staff and parents and are often published on a schools website.
Planning at an organisational level is influenced by policy, guidelines and local arrangements. There are a number of mandated policies which a school must have in place. A list of these policies can be found here along with links to supporting resources. Schools may have additional policies in place to detail local arrangements and share protocol and procedure with school personnel and the wider school community.