Parkside Community Primary School, Heathfield Richard Blakeley - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Parkside Community Primary School, Heathfield Richard Blakeley

Context “I started a review of the curriculum – the main research project of my first year. This project is looking at curriculum practice in hundreds of schools across the country to see what is actually going on. ” “Once we have collected the first wave of evidence, we will look at whether routine inspection needs rebalancing in favour of the curriculum. If it does, we’ll be able to reflect this in the new inspection framework we are developing for 2019” Amanda Spielman's speech at the Festival of Education

Context I believe that in most schools today, the majority of the curriculum time is spent on teaching discreet maths and English lessons: all other subjects are being squeezed for the sake of higher results.

Context Don’t change your curriculum offer for Ofsted! Change your curriculum; doing so will provide the best we can for our children My schooling…

Parkside Community Primary School, Heathfield Richard Blakeley

National Curriculum vs Parkside Curriculum When the new curriculum came out we took the opportunity to revise our schools offer. We tried to make sure our curriculum is well balanced. We took a risk of teaching fewer discreet maths and English lessons. We considered how to encourage staff to actually do it.

National Curriculum vs Parkside Curriculum

Parkside Community Primary School, Heathfield Richard Blakeley

Designing an outstanding Curriculum Questions we considered: 1. Does it underpin the aims, values and purpose of the school? 2. Does it develop the whole person - knowledge, skills, understanding and attitudes? 3. Is it broad, balanced and have clear progression in subject knowledge and skills? 4. Is it filled with rich first-hand purposeful experiences? 5. Is it flexible and responsive to individual needs and interests? 6. Does it embed the principle of sustainability? 7. Does it have an eye on the future and the needs of future citizens? 8. Does it encourage the use of environments and expertise beyond the classroom? 9. Does it make meaningful links between areas of knowledge across the curriculum? 10.Does it have a local, national and international dimension?

Designing an outstanding Curriculum One of our core values is for children ‘To develop a sense of self worth.’ Is this something Independent Schools do differently?

Parkside Community Primary School, Heathfield Richard Blakeley

Cooking Parkside Curriculum Why enhance cookery provision? 1. Brings families together. 2. Builds self esteem. 3. Makes children more willing to try new foods. 4. Children who cook tend to eat more healthy food. 5. Teaches about the origins of food. 6. Cooking is an important lifelong skill.

Cooking Parkside Curriculum Maths, English, Science Skills • Writing instructions • Ratio • Measuring • Halving / doubling • Fractions • Solids, liquids etc

Forest School Parkside Curriculum Why do Forest School? 1. To build self esteem. 2. To make connections to food. 3. To make connections to the land. 4. To make connections to people. 5. To gain perspective. “Growing up near a park boosts children's attention spans, reveals first study of its kind” The Barcelona Institute for Global Health 2017

Forest School Parkside Curriculum Maths, English, Science Skills • Measuring • Halving / doubling • Solids, liquids etc • Habitats • Nature • Animals and plants

Parkside Curriculum French Why enhance language provision? 1. Builds self esteem. 2. Provides rich first hand experiences. 3. Meaningful links with the rest of the curriculum. 4. It has an global dimension 5. To make connections to people. 6. To gain perspective.

Parkside Curriculum French Maths, English, Science Skills • Working with others • Real writing experiences • Understanding others • Linking to previous learning

Farming Parkside Curriculum Why teach farming to children? 1. Builds self esteem. 2. They are interested. 3. To make connections to food. 4. To make connections to the land. 5. To make connections to people. 6. To gain perspective.

Farming Parkside Curriculum Maths, English, Science Skills • Healthy Lifestyles • Measuring • Real writing experiences • Habitats • Nature • Teamwork

Sport Parkside Curriculum Why enhance the sport curriculum? 1. Builds self esteem. 2. They are interested. 3. It’s good for you. 4. Helps develop high aspirations. 5. To make connections to people.

Sport Parkside Curriculum Maths, English, Science Skills etc • Distances • Measuring • Healthy life styles • Real writing experiences • Empathy • Team work

Parkside Community Primary School, Heathfield Richard Blakeley

Practicalities We talked loads about it. We tried the BLP approach focusing on: Resourcefulness, Reciprocity, Reflectiveness, Resilience However none of this made it happen. We had to think outside the box!

Fun Fridays Practicalities

Parkside Community Primary School, Heathfield Richard Blakeley

Staff The Waitrose principle The Partnership's ultimate purpose is the happiness of all its members, through their worthwhile and satisfying employment in a successful business. Because the Partnership is owned in trust for its members, they share the responsibilities of ownership as well as its rewards, profit, knowledge and power.

Staff “The headteacher rightly sees his staff as his greatest asset, and has made a significant investment in their training and development. As a result, teachers’ morale is high.” One member of staff who responded to Ofsted’s staff survey wrote: “Parkside is so much more than a school; it is a community. We all want to do the very best we can for our children and their learning.” Ofsted 2017

Staff How big is your staffroom teapot? How do we as leaders free up staff from unnecessary bureaucracy? How can we use the skills of our staff more effectively?

Parkside Community Primary School, Heathfield Richard Blakeley

Teach less, well “Pupils make exceptionally strong progress in their learning as a result of excellent teaching and a stimulating curriculum. “ “The school has patiently and systematically developed the school’s facilities and resources so that it now offers an exceptionally broad curriculum.” “Leaders have made imaginative use of the school’s extensive woods and small farm to enrich the curriculum. Carefully planned outdoor learning activities increase pupils’ understanding of their environment and complement their learning in other subjects.” Ofsted 2017

Teach less, well “A Bradford primary school wants the world to know its newfound Sats success is down to giving all children up to six hours of music a week” Feversham Primary Academy reported in the Guardian October 2017

Teach less, well Idrees, who became headteacher in 2013, admits the new approach was a “big risk” but he says he is now convinced it could transform other struggling schools. Headteacher at Feversham Primary Academy

Things to think about? How do we free up teachers to enable them to teach an outstanding curriculum? How can we use the skills of our staff more effectively? How can we inspire our staff to be more creative in their delivery of the curriculum? How can we ensure it happens?