Engaging & Inclusive Curriculum

Engaging & Inclusive Curriculum

Our first step is the curriculum - the ‘what’ of learning in relation to knowledge and skills. Each school community should develop a bespoke rationale for its curriculum, one not only based on the seven principles of curriculum design across the four contexts for learning, but also on the values and needs of those who make up the community.

In order to meet the needs of those who make up the community, adapting and enhancing the curriculum is core. Including all learners means that adaptations to the curriculum may be necessary and should be based on information provided through careful observation and assessment, as well as staff knowledge of learners and curricular content.

Adaptations to the curriculum should support learners to move forwards from their specific starting points, strengthening understanding as they go. Staff should identify opportunities to capitalise on strengths they find whilst identifying areas that might need revisiting — understanding what foundations already exist is key if we are to build on them with new knowledge and skills.

For example, a child may demonstrate their confidence in recall of times tables having practised them numerous times but have gaps in their understanding of addition and subtraction of fractions. The teacher can support them to build on this fluency by planning in ways they can explicitly use their times tables, when reviewing addition and subtraction of fractions.

Curriculum adaptation is best seen as an ongoing process, one which ensures that any modifications are agile and responsive to children and young people’s needs. It is important to consider long-term retention of key knowledge and skills and how learners can be helped to make links between ideas and topics.

It is valuable for staff to look for ways of reinforcing key knowledge and skills across the curriculum, capitalising on any crossover between topics and subjects where appropriate.