Our curriculum has taken three years to design. It has been designed in a way that reflects the best thinking and research that is available to us, and tailored to meet the precise needs and profile of our learning community. First and foremost the curriculum is underpinned by a number of principles that guide all decisions regarding the design. See below for the HBJS curriculum design principles.
Once these principles had been agreed upon we followed a curriculum design approach based on the support and expertise of people including Emma Turner, Christopher Such, Dylan Wiliam, Ruth Ashbee, Andrew Percival, Martin Robinson.
Subject leaders then read and analysed the purpose of study, aims, and the programmes of study in the National Curriculum to help create their Subject Vision Statement. This document captures the essence and spirit of the subject. It lays out the purpose of the subject, provides teacher and pupil friendly definitions of the subject, outlines the vision and ambition (the dream) and finally lists a five- point fingerprint which details essential academic indicators of that subject to ensure disciplinary fidelity is established and understood.
Following the creation of the Subject Vison statement, subject leaders carefully sequenced the units of work in their subject into a sensible and logical order that ensured progression from year 3 to year 6. This is called the Subject unit overview.
This took into consideration content maturity and child development stages. Subject leaders were the asked to justify to one another and to senior leaders why they had chosen to place units where they were in the subject unit overview. Why this, then? This helped subject leaders to be confident about their decisions and provided challenge where necessary. Once in place, year group overviews were collated. This document shows where each of the units across the 13 subjects are situated over the year in each year group.
To ensure that our curriculum is interconnected, senior leaders and year teams then used a process called Complimentary sequencing. This approach groups units that are academically stronger together into a coherent topic. This approach is only used where it is advantageous for two or more units to work alongside each other. Each subject is still taught discreetly through this approach. They are, however, taught in the same period of time. An example of this can be found in Year 5. The theme of Refugees that is taught through whole class reading, the class novel, writing and the respect in your community project working with the City of Sanctuary charity.
To ensure that our curriculum is driven by our school values, each year group delivers a Community project.
Next, the subject leaders created the Core knowledge and skill progression map. This progression document specifies the precise ‘sticky’ knowledge (substantive and disciplinary) , skills, big ideas and tier 3 vocabulary we want the children to know, remember and use through each individual subject over the four years through the junior school. Sticky knowledge is knowledge that we view to be the most important for all our learners to secure and retain over time.
Each unit has a knowledge organiser that outlines this knowledge. The order in which we sequence the content is critical to our learners, particularly our most disadvantaged who may have schemas that are not as developed as more advantaged learners. This provides equity for all learners by carefully building schemas in each subject so that no child gets left behind. This detailed and efficient approach helps children to move from shallow knowledge to deeper knowledge as they move through the subject.
We can therefore view the curriculum as the progression model. We know children are making progress because they are accessing each lesson successfully and show us they are remembering more, knowing more and doing more in that subject.
Now that the spine of the curriculum was in place, subject leaders designed each Curriculum Unit Plan (C.U.P.). This is equivalent to a medium term plan for each unit of work in each subject. For most subjects this involves a six lesson unit beginning with the activation of prior learning, the core stage of learning the new content, and a final assessment. The CUP is initially curated by the subject leader and then interpreted by year team teachers who plan each session from it. Through the CUP, the subject leader specifies the precise academic expectations of the unit including the sticky knowledge, skills and vocabulary to be taught and secured (the end points for the unit), the big ideas, links to previous units and previous big ideas, plus links to future content. It also gives suggestions and advice about how to teach each lesson.
The CUPs are monitored by subject leaders over the year to ensure that year groups are interpreting them with academic fidelity.
Year team planners write their lesson plans directly onto the CUPs to ensure that year teams and subject leaders have shared access and can regularly review the impact. We use the WWW and EBI evaluation approach after teaching a unit to help make improvements for the next time it is delivered
As year team planners design each individual session they ensure that the four pillars of Oracy, Reading, PSHE/ SEMH and vocabulary feature highly in each lesson to ensure we are using our greatest levers when implementing the curriculum.
End of unit assessments with answers are written into the CUP. These assessment are directly linked to the sticky knowledge and skills end points of the unit, as outlined on the knowledge organiser.
Progression looks different in each of the subjects. However there are some unifying and common features that can be seen across the HBJS curriculum:
For pupils to succeed, they need a solid base of facts, understand how these facts fit into bigger ideas, and organise this knowledge so they can easily remember and use it. Knowledge organisers can help children to achieve this.
A knowledge organiser (KO) sets out the important, useful and powerful knowledge on a unit on a single page. It is designed carefully by teachers and includes the following information:
KOs are used at the start of the unit and at the start of lessons to help focus children's attention on the core, sticky knowledge we want them to know, understand and use. They are stuck into children’s books to demarcate the start of a new unit and to be regularly referred to. Regular retrieval practice of these facts in the form of spaced out low stakes quizzing and other techniques is important, because active retrieval aids later retention.
Teachers also go deeper and help children to make connections between the sticky knowledge by linking their thinking to the big ideas and the wider knowledge base of the unit. Encouraging children to elaborate on the sticky knowledge helps children move their learning from shallow to deep understanding and builds up their schema in a robust and sustainable way.
Assessment across the curriculum comes in three forms:
A subject leader in HBJS is a teacher responsible for overseeing a specific subject area. Their role involves ensuring the quality and consistency of teaching and learning in that subject across the school. This includes developing and reviewing curriculum content, supporting colleagues with planning and resources, monitoring pupil progress, and leading professional development related to their subject. The subject leader also plays a key role in setting high standards, driving improvements, and ensuring that the subject is taught in line with school policies and educational best practices.
The impact of a subject leader’s work is evident in several key areas: the quality of lessons, the culture surrounding the subject, the outcomes produced by children, and pupils' attitudes toward the subject. Everything a subject leader does is ultimately aimed at directly impacting teaching and learning. Effective leaders continuously ask themselves, "How is this action going to lead to improvement in the classroom in my subject?"
The principles and processes of effective leadership can be broken down into 4 elements: knowing, Picture building, changing for improvement and supporting.