Curriculum Guide for Middle Leaders

Richard Steward is an educational consultant with extensive experience as a teacher and headteacher. He has taught in a variety of schools in a thirty-year career and has worked as a part-time lecturer with The Open University. He has worked with the National College for Teaching and Learning and been involved in a wide range of national educational research projects. His previous books include The Gradual Art of School Improvement and The Toxic Classroom.

• IntroductionPART 1 INTENT 1 What is meant by ‘intent’? 2 Do I have a vision for my subject? 3 How do I work within the context of the whole school and address whole school priorities? 4 What do I want pupils to be able to do by the endof the year? 5 How do I identify areas for improvement? 6 How do I write a curriculum statement? 7 How do I create a curriculum plan? 8 How do I make my curriculum plans visible? 9 How do I choose what to teach? 10 What is meant by sequencing? 11 What is interleaving? 12 How do I plan for progression? 13 How important is transition to my planning? 14 How do I meet the needs of SEND and disadvantaged pupils? 15 What about differentiation? 16 From intent to implementation. PART 2 IMPLEMENTATION 17 What is meant by implementation? 18 How important is subject knowledge? 19 Are knowledge organisers the answer? 20 How should pupils be assessed? 21 How do I fill gaps in pupils’ learning? 22 How do I close the gap? 23 What is really meant by ‘challenge’? 24 What does good teaching look like in a lesson? 25 How do I monitor the quality of teaching? 26 What do I do if my department is underperforming? 27 Why is consistency so important? 28 Should I insist on detailed lesson plans, and what about objectives? 29 How important are seating plans? 30 How important is questioning? 31 What should I look for in pupils’ books? 32 What does good feedback look like? 33 How important is pupil voice?34 I am not the head of English, so how important is literacy to me? 35 I am a subject leader; should I be responsible for behaviour? 36 How do I plan effective CPD? 37 Are visits to other schools an appropriate use of my time? 38 What do I do when I am not happy with changes to the curriculum? 39 Do I need timetabling skills to understand curriculum implementation? 40 Am I a leader or a manager? 41 How do I plan for public examinations? 42 How important is cross-curricular work? 43 What about pastoral leadership? 44 How do I lead in uncertain times? PART 3 IMPACT 45 What is meant by impact? 46 How do I measure pupil performance? 47 How do I analyse data and pupil outcomes? 48 How do I ensure accurate predictions and assessments? 49 How do I measure impact in the classroom? 50 How do I evaluate impact on pupil groups – especially SEND and disadvantaged pupils? 51 How do I provide evidence of impact for inspectors? 52 How do I handle the annual review with SLT and/or governors? 53 Finally, how do I know if I am doing a good job? APPENDICES A. Example curriculum statement: primary reading B. Example curriculum statement: secondary English C. Example curriculum plan: Y6 Maths D. Example curriculum plan: Y7 Maths E. Guidance: marking and feedback F. Guidance: knowledge organisers G. Guidance: department self-evaluation H. Guidance: line management I. Guidance: how to prepare for a deep dive J. Guidance: deep dive questions K. Guidance: work scrutiny