Leading curriculum in a small primary school
Wednesday 20th March, 3:45pm to 4:45pm
20
Mar
This programme is designed to support small schools to sustain their development of a good quality curriculum. It is being delivered by HART Alliance in partnership with Red Kite Education to assist small schools in North Yorkshire.
In its inspection process, OFSTED acknowledges the importance of small schools’ unique contexts and the need for flexibility when evaluating their curriculum design. This CPD programme supports small school leaders to ensure the adjustments made to their curriculum still meet the essential principles for a strong and effective school curriculum.
Audience: Headteachers, leaders and teachers of small schools and those with mixed-aged classes.
The DFE/OFSTED definition of small schools is a school with 150 pupils or fewer and our programme will focus on a range of school sizes, all fewer than 150 pupils.
The programme will consist of four one-hour sessions, delivered online starting at 3.45pm.
Session 1 - Wednesday 20 March
- What are the essential learning and assessment principles from cognitive science that are at the heart of a small school’s strong and effective curriculum.
- Examples of a small school’s curriculum design and planning that builds systematically in small learning steps.
- When to use commercial schemes and how to ensure they are used effectively and aligned to your overall curriculum design.
- How to ensure your curriculum design meets all pupils’ needs and the context of your school e.g. considering pupil numbers, SEND, class arrangements and teaching spaces etc.
Session 2 - Monday 22 April
- How to ensure your teaching and assessment strategies are aligned effectively to your school’s intended curriculum.
- Ensuring your curriculum is connected within and across all subjects.
Session 3 - Tuesday 21 May
- Establish monitoring systems that are practical and effective for small schools and reduce workload.
- How to keep the focus on impact, whatever your context, of your school’s monitoring systems and materials.
Session 4 - Thursday 20 June
- Summary for meeting the challenges of mixed-aged classes.
- Summary of what makes a strong curriculum and examples of when it goes wrong.
- Effective CPD used by leaders of small schools.
- Next opportunities for small-school leaders’ training and CPD.
Cost
The total cost for all four sessions is just £60 per participant. This price reflects our commitment to supporting small schools and understanding of the challenging financial context you are working within.
Delivered by Jo Robinson, Elaine Nayler and Don Parker (Curriculum and School Improvement Leaders of the HART Alliance) with inputs and resources from small-school colleagues.
The programme will provide all participants with a notebook including all course content and resources that can easily be adapted for use in participants’ schools.