Beyond teaching; experiencing a purposeful curriculum

Rachel Ford

At the centre of education lies the coexistence of core values and effective communication that ensure a shared vision within every educational establishment is achievable and sustainable. The key thing that drives practitioners in schools is the desire to make a difference for all children, to have a positive impact on families and to contribute to a community. In the face of ever changing policy and rapid movement in priorities, schools continue to aim for these successes while trying to maintain the equilibrium between new pressures and expectations. Schools are preparing children for life beyond the classroom. Through a clear commitment to a vision for all pupils’ futures, our school provides pupils with experience and values they can continue to aspire to after leaving school. So, rather than being compared to those of other schools, a more sobering judgement of success would be to understand the success of the life chances that our schools are offering children compared to their family members in the past. As schools, we can make strides towards the commitment and value that we place upon the whole curriculum for every child. If we can create a trusted and safe environment for children to feel cared for, then we are creating a support mechanism that allows children and staff to face new challenges head on without fear of making mistakes and with an unfaltering love for all things new and exciting. To be successful we need to be honest about the challenges that we face; we need to inspire and lead change without compromising our values. Change should be driven by self-evaluation, provided that the self-evaluation is realistic and takes account of economic and social changes. The school community is at the core of all we do to ensure that individual needs are met. Putting it onto paper is the easy part. The challenge comes in finding practical ways to raise standards whilst maintaining staff morale through respecting worklife balance. Positive communication is key to ensure that we emulate respect for the community alongside demonstrating a sense of determination to contribute to a sustainable future.

In these days where changes and challenges feel unending and where we wish we could do more to change a child’s story, there needs to be a moment of reflection, a time for perspective. Without faltering, the adults in our school strive for our children to have a voice and achieve their own true joy when they see the difference they can really make. Staff are proud that the children who leave here are the product of a school that was team based and pupil driven throughout the whole curriculum; creating a foundation for self-belief. The quality of schooling is vital in determining the life chances of children; we need to challenge their destinies and to narrate an enriching future for them. Consequently, our practitioners are always exploring new ways to prepare our

I believe that we have succeeded in our roles if the learning opportunity that we have given all children enables them to take our school values into their lives beyond our school.

children to function in a world beyond the classroom. Value is placed on the diversity of style and approach, so that our school embodies a culture where all effort is valued. Collaborative learning for the adults and children develops personal qualities of cooperation, resilience and confidence when faced with challenges. The school community thrives on learning through a relevant curriculum, a curriculum that is genuinely interesting and offers a depth to learning that comes from inquiry, investigation and a purposeful context of the ‘real’ world. The real world where staff are collecting children on their way into school to ensure that they attend; the real world where a worrying percentage of children have no fixed abode; the real world where staff volunteer their weekends to give respite to families and pupils, and a real school with pride that is so tangible it can be felt in every room and corridor Children need to have their curriculum connected with the ‘why’ embedded and a sense of belonging recognised for all children. Showcasing of abilities through a variety of accessible multimedia resources such as, video, music, photography, helps to draw children into a more creative way of approaching a subject. Children need to have a genuine voice to inform, change or feedback. Helping children to articulate their ideas is the key to building confidence and promoting independent learning skills. There naturally also develops joint thinking amongst the school community with purposeful learning opportunities and outcomes at the heart of the curriculum. Within our school we have sixteen Pupil Leadership Groups that represent the children’s voice and these change yearly in response to local and national initiatives. These currently include, Rights Respecting Group, Digital Leaders, Wellbeing Team, Community Champions and Values Team. By contributing to these leadership groups, all children in Reception to Year 6 develop the confidence to anticipate and adapt to change. Something which the current pandemic has certainly tested. Children and staff need to be given sufficient time to apply knowledge and skills, and to demonstrate active learning while exploring autonomy and independence for all learners and practitioners. Through effective assessment and review of learning, staff exercise their professional judgement in order to meet the diverse needs of our pupils. Assessment provides positive impact to children’s learning, allowing for the curriculum to be adapted and experiences extended where needed. As a school we place great value on practitioners assessing the whole curriculum and the whole child. All subjects are analysed for potential gaps in learning and the subject leaders regularly audit the provision in place for each subject. These reviews allow curriculum experiences to be responsive to children’s needs and serve to continually highlight the importance of the whole curriculum.

Extra-curricular clubs and visits/visitors develop experiences and collaboration, while also ensuring children gain further understanding through their own self-assessment and reflection. These opportunities also draw upon the school community for a clearly shared contribution to children’s learning. For example, our STEM club utilised the Premises Manager for how to change a plug and looking at electrical circuits (not using live electrics), Administrative Assistant for technical knowledge regarding photography, Teaching Assistant for Lego Town Planning, and senior leaders/teachers for tasks such as, newspaper bridge engineering and mini science investigations using everyday materials.

The voice of the school community ensures that the wider curriculum can be more fully met and is appropriate and relevant for the children within our school. The curriculum nurtures personal qualities of children and develops resilience through links to real life context and problem solving. Taking the whole school curriculum beyond the classroom enhances collaborative spirit in areas such as our House Teams, charity and community events. Children and adults work together to grow plants, flowers, fruit and vegetables with the latter being used within the daily school lunches. I have recently responded to letters from children, in Year 3, regarding a sustainable school, with the impact of this contributing to the future debate of ‘No Meat Mondays’, increased recycling bins in the playground, a greater number of cycling lessons to prevent the use of cars on the school drop off/ collection and the idea of an upcycling club for children to give new life to unwanted objects. I believe that we have succeeded in our roles if the learning opportunity that we have given all children enables them to take our school values into their lives beyond our school. For those children affected by community, family and previous teaching, I feel that we are here as educators for their future to allow them the opportunity to develop self-worth, success as a citizen and a real sense of determination to achieve their true potential through full access to an engaging curriculum. Children’s lives are not changed by data and limiting experiences to the core subject areas, but by the role models who show them how to respect and believe in their own community and by the educators who nurture the skills of resilience, creativity and confidence so that when they leave our school, children have empathy for others, curiosity about the world and the communication skills that will allow them to formulate a committed contribution to a sustainable future.

Rachel Ford is the headteacher at Bannockburn Primary School, in Plumstead, Royal Borough of Greenwich.