Why does your school need to be involved in this curriculum project?

When inspectors evaluate the impact of the education provided by the school, their focus will primarily be on what pupils have learned. Having a well-structured, well-taught curriculum will lead to good results because those results will reflect what pupils have learned.

It is important to remember that the word ‘impact’ is threefold:

To evaluate the effectiveness of the way in which the curriculum is designed.
To evaluate the effectiveness of the way in which the curriculum is taught.
To evaluate the pace of pupil progress, pupil outcomes, and provide readiness for the next stage in their education.

The impact of the curriculum lies in whether students have learnt the things you’ve taught them. How do you know whether pupils know what you think they know?

This project is intended for primary and secondary headteachers, senior and subject leaders who want to ensure that all pupils benefit from a good quality of education and optimise their learning and outcomes.

Our work with our project schools will be infused with evidence-informed practice and research from cognitive science, in order to offer schools, the architecture for excellence.

Project Outcomes

Delegates will understand how the identification of knowledge components leads into assessment.
Delegates will understand how to evaluate pupil progress through pupils’ work and discussions.
Delegates will know and understand how to use formative assessment strategies to check that pupils’ knowledge is being retained.
Delegates will know how to evaluate progress through discussion with subject leaders and teachers and how to check that pupils’ knowledge has been retained.

Project Structure

The project will start at a workshop at our conference on Friday 4 November 2022.
This will be followed by four interactive and practical online sessions led by VNET Associate, Maria Curry and Principal Consultant, Emma Adcock.

Session 1

Reviewing the Intent and Implementation of the curriculum for foundation subjects

In this session we will use a set of questions to evaluate the top level of each school’s curriculum. Through these questions we will consider the scope, sequencing and coherence of your intended curriculum.

Session 2

Getting to grips with knowledge composites and knowledge components

In this session, we will explore the importance of identifying a progression of knowledge in all foundation subjects. We will outline the importance of subject leaders supporting teachers in understanding the prior knowledge that pupils will need to have learned in order to access the new learning. This session will also include practical examples and delegates will leave this session with an understanding of how the identification of knowledge components, prior learning and future learning leads into assessment.

Session 3

Evaluating progress through discussion with subject leaders and teachers

In this session, we will look at how teachers use formative assessment at the start and end of units and crucially within day-to-day lessons to check that pupils’ knowledge is being retained and that pupils are making progress through the intended curriculum.

Session 4

Evaluating progress through pupils’ work and pupil discussions

In this session, we will support schools in how to use discussions with pupils and how to use scrutiny from books to verify what pupils have learned over time.

Join the Curriculum Project!

Dates

Evaluating the Impact of your Curriculum Project

VNET members can access projects using 6 of their membership credits or for £600+VAT
Non-members can access projects at £1000+VAT
We recommend that two delegates attend the project including a senior leader - the second delegate is free!
Access to the project includes access to an area on VNETCIC.com with all resources

Emma Adcock

Emma has just under twenty years of experience in the education sector, ten years of which she has spent working as an English Consultant for Norfolk Schools. She is a former head teacher, system leader and advanced skills teacher. She regularly provides additional leadership capacity for schools. This additional leadership has previously included: acting head positions, part-time assistant head roles and she has worked across schools as a teaching and learning coach to support Quality First Teaching. Emma is also an experienced trainer who regularly provides training for VNET schools on the following: curriculum design, subject leadership, Reading, Writing, Spelling and the explicit teaching of vocabulary.

Maria Curry

Maria worked for OFSTED as one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors for schools for the past five years. Prior to this she was a successful headteacher of two primary schools in Suffolk, judged Outstanding by OFSTED. She has been an inspector/adviser for Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk Local Authorities. Maria started her career in inner London, working in Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Newham. She has wide ranging experience of working with small and large schools, in rural and city regions, and in supporting leadership development and school improvement.

VNET EDUCATION CIC

Evaluating the Impact of your Curriculum Project 22/23