Why does Curriculum Enhancement matter?

What is Curriculum Enhancement? After years of working with schools on efficiency, affordability and recovery I found myself asking a common question when reviewing and analysing a school’s curriculum planning: “Is this curriculum plan the right size for the children that are currently in the building?” For many years schools have used a set of […]

Why would ICFP matter for us? Part 1

I recently wrote an article for online journal the headteacher, ‘Getting to Grips with ICFP’ focused on why ICFP is different in its application within the primary context. Do have a look. https://www.primaryleaders.com/school-procurement/data-administration/getting-to-grips-with-icfp

Primary ICFP

I was recently asked to write an article for the PSM magazine to discuss the application of Integrated Curriculum and Finance Planning within the primary sector. Here is a taster of what I discussed.

Timetable Recovery – a post pandemic response

In recent conversations with many schools it seems that people are taking seriously the changes in circumstances that have opened their eyes to alternative methodologies in putting their schools together.

School Financial Management Made Simple

Join School Finance Specialist and founder of Effervesce Susan Fielden to demystify the sometimes fear-inspiring arena of school finances. This free webinar is discursive and designed to answer the most significant issues attendees have. The session began with a poll to gauge which topics were most important to attendees. Susan then focussed on what they […]

Designing Primary Curriculum

Your curriculum design has never been more important as we find ourselves in uncharted waters. Find out how one school’s chosen approach can be moulded to address the significant issues facing school, pupils and communities at this time. Through courageous leadership and with creativity and flexibility, pupil needs can be met through a cross-curricular approach […]

Mind the Gap – Bridge the Gap

Within the education world, to the educators, the driver is that education is for the good of the learner. Within the business world the key is efficiency- the best we can get for the least investment, the ratio of output to input within any system. The educator and the business leader narratives and purposes apparently opposed and there lies a difficulty.

The three Es of curriculum modelling

Over the past 10 years of reviewing curriculum design, I have tried to make a clear distinction between curriculum design in terms of the elements that make a broad and balanced curriculum, teaching and learning strategies and structural analysis. All are important but each should not be confused with the other. SMARTcurriculum® focuses on is […]

Travelling Light?

When creating curriculum models for September 2020, Chris Jones discusses the system wide impact of over-staffing strategies and the impact for us all.

Curriculum Enhancement

Why does Curriculum Enhancement (CE) matter? Contact Ratios and Pupil Teacher Ratios are familiar to most school leaders as measures of classroom resourcing. At the most simplistic level, given that they have been around for a long time and the problems of funding that are now facing schools, one could ask whether the majority of […]

Academy Ambassadors – Fundamentals of Education

SMARTcurriculum featured in the Academy Ambassadors Fundamentals of Education resources.

​Pack them in?

When we talk about class size it becomes a really contentious issue. Ministers are criticised for an agenda of raising them; Education Endowment Fund (EEF) curate research evidence that suggests that reducing class size is costly and has little impact on outcomes for learners (1); and teachers will say that in certain contexts ‘big’ classes are unmanageable […]