Curriculum Journey: Driven by Subject Leaders

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT PROJECT LEADER

  Mr Taylor

'ALWAYS START WITH WHY' & MAKE THAT REFLECT THE CHANGED STARTING POINT FROM COVID-19 TIMES

When refreshing our core intent through our 'Start with Why' work way back in September 2019, shortly after the appointment of Mr Denton as headteacher, it was clear that our curriculum needed personalising to meet the needs and aspirations of our children. Three immediate aspects rose prominently to mind.

1) Ensure every subject has an equal position and is created with the subject leaders. They must play a pivotal role in design and its implementation. 

2) Give oracy a much greater position by creating a central active purpose for children's learning each term. Make sure our children can build vocabulary, speak, listen and present at every possible opportunity and using diagnostic assessment tools at the start of units, themes and sessions to help foster this. 

3) Build a wider curriculum that has a 'creative, cultural, enquirer and sporting capital' at the heart of its philosophy, so that we can aim for our children to attain more aspirational goals in line with their greatest individual strengths and show greater aspirational parity across all subjects.

We have moved from Stage One: What We Learn into Stage Two: How We Learn into Stage Three: Sustainable Growth. This is now all about the smaller adaptations, revisions and enhancements that we can make to planned activities and approaches to learning and most notably focusing strongly upon the continued growth of our subject leaders.

Alongside this, we have had to constantly be aware of the need to reflect the real starting points that include the gaps in learning lost due to partial closure and the limitations of remote learning for two prolonged periods. This effectively meant we added a fourth aspect:

4) Leaders must ensure that the current curriculum reflects the necessary revisions to 'fill in' identified gaps in knowledge and skills and teach to the real starting points rather than the expected/planned starting points of pupils. 

WHEN I GROW UP - 'A Curriculum for Mayfield' is now in full flight. It is an exciting time of discovery as we study as we continued to analyse what works well and what will need revision as we move forward. This is a new 'good' Mayfield for a new time and, as Mr Denton says in his welcome message, lets turn the page together and dare to do. 

In this section of the website, you will see how every leader has contributed to, and continues to contribute to, our current position and story. Giving important rationale at every stage and outling why we have moved in the direction we have. 

Read on through these next two website sections for the full unfolding, continuing story...