Evolve your curriculum
The 2019 OfSTED framework places much greater emphasis on the curriculum, ensuring that children are getting the right skills and knowledge to meet their needs. This much needed change has meant that pretty much every school in the country is reviewing, reigniting or rewriting their curriculum offer.
Your curriculum is the ‘diet’ that you offer your children as they progress through your school, and we need to make sure that it meets the needs of your school community, as well as OfSTED.
I absolutely love working with schools to create a bespoke curriculum that is relevant, purposeful and engaging. I love the big strategic thinking, looking across the whole 7+ years that children are in primary school. I love exploring each subject and seeing how it needs to be tailored to your children and your circumstances. I love planning what a learning sequence might look like over the year/term or few weeks. I love pondering over the detail of what exactly we want the children to learn, the vocabulary, skills and knowledge they will need and what that might look like on a Tuesday afternoon.
If you are looking for a non-judgemental space, with someone who is passionate about learning, knows the National Curriculum really well and is interested in your school, your circumstances, and your children, who doesn’t want to sell you a quick fix, but will challenge you to think, imagine and explore, then I’m the person for you.
Wherever you are on your curriculum journey, I can help.
Which level is right for you and your school?
Review – Spend a day with me reflecting on how well your current provision meets your children’s needs. Identify things that you do really well, things you want to get better at, and the next steps to ensure your curriculum is ambitious, challenging and engaging for all.
Reignite – Maybe you feel that your curriculum is doing a pretty good job, but perhaps there’s an area that needs some development and would benefit from a bit of energy or focus. I work alongside your curriculum leader or subject leaders to craft their vision and review current practice. Through exploring opportunities and ideas, we will clarify what you want your children to learn, and consider rich experiences and outcomes that lead to engagement and challenge for all.
Rewrite – Your school’s curriculum is old, tired and not meeting the needs of your children. You need to make a change, but don’t know where to start. Should you buy something? Should you write something? I firmly believe that getting the right curriculum is long term investment in the future success of your children and your school. I can lead you through this process from start to finish to help you create a bespoke curriculum that addresses the needs of your community, empowers your staff and meets OfSTED requirements.
Costs can vary depending on the size and scope of the project
What people are saying
Helen Khinich, Deputy Headteacher at Kilburn Grange School
“Claire’s common sense approach to planning is accessible and inspiring. She has reshaped my thinking about the science curriculum, as she challenges you to think about the WHY not just the HOW. Claire has a very clear insight into developing a school’s curriculum and has a wealth of ideas to bring the science curriculum to life. She works with the ethos of the school and personalises the curriculum for the needs of the school. Claire thinks outside the box and finds creative ways to make teaching and learning cross-curricular, practical and engaging. I wholeheartedly recommend Claire if your school is on a journey to developing your curriculum.”
Kathryn Law, Headteacher
“Claire has challenged us to think about our curriculum in a different way, drawing on her wealth of experience and passion for STEM. All staff – from teachers to Senior Leadership team – have found her inspirational to work with and able to offer incisive feedback that has really helped move our teaching and thinking techniques along. Claire’s ability to coach the staff she has worked with has led to them being able to make reflective and insightful comments about their own areas for development, which has led to much longer lasting impact from our CPD. Claire really worked hard to understand what the vision of our school was and what all staff wanted it to be and has helped us with realising this – particularly leading to our last OfSTED, which successfully endorsed the changes we have made. We are looking forward to working with Claire again to take this even further!”
Chris Tolson, Headteacher at Academy St James
“I have worked with Claire for a number of years. She is inspiring, thoughtful and creative and puts outcomes for children at the heart of what she does. She thinks outside the box and offers creative solutions to a wide variety of problems; her great gift is being able to empower others to see solutions for themselves. She has listened to us, challenged our thinking and understood that all the children at our school needed a curriculum special to them. As leaders we need to be challenged, nourished and guided. Claire does all three of these exceptionally well! She believes that rigour and structure are the key to success yet at the same time understands that we must never stop remembering that we are here for children and that there should be no ceiling placed on them achieving their potential!”
Ignite Your Vision
Often initiatives fail or stall because we dive straight into action before we have thought about what we want to achieve and why.
Sometimes subject leaders lack inspiration or motivation to lead their colleagues through successful change.
By taking time to think about how your subject/area can empower and enrich your students, and what you want it to look like throughout school, you empower your leaders to define and shape their way forward.
My 90 minute 1:1 ‘Ignite your vision’ session is perfect for leaders at any level who want to clarify their thoughts and ideas and create a powerful vision to share with others.
You will leave with a clear vision written down in a way that is easy to understand and ready to share, and a do-able set of next steps.
Cost: £150
What people are saying
Lynsay, Music leader
“Many thanks Claire for helping re-ignite my love for music again. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it until I started this journey and although it has felt massively out of my comfort zone, I genuinely feel like I can succeed at some point in the future”
Naseem, RE leader
“I love you Claire! You’ve made RE fun again which has always been the whole point of learning. Thank you for simplifying it, but still getting the correct learning outcome for our children.”
Ed, Curriculum leader
“I really like talking things through in a way that there’s no right answer. It was an open conversation where I didn’t feel judged. I felt free to say what I wanted. The session has made me think a lot! It’s confirmed a lot of my thoughts and somethings others have told me. I feel confident that I’m doing the right thing.”
“Staff are actually buzzing about this, and it’s the best thing we’ve done in ages!”
– Malcolm, Headteacher Denholme Primary School
Communicate with clarity
Poorly written communications within a school can lead to disengaged staff, inconsistencies in practice and performance, variable outcomes for children, low morale and conflict.
On the other hand, communications that are clear and effective provide purpose, avoid confusion, build a positive school culture and create accountability.
My Communicate with Clarity offer transforms lifeless subject policy documents into dynamic presentations that are simple, memorable and effective, ready to share and easy to integrate.
Using PowerPoint to create a unique guide that brings together your vision, principles, approaches, teaching strategies, and assessment criteria into one holistic, dynamic document that can be returned to again and again. Leaders, staff and governors will love these guides as they provide a ‘go to’ reference point for any subject, when clarification, support or guidance are needed.
Which level is right for you and your school?
Bronze – You are happy with your current policy and practice, but your document is lifeless and never really used. Send me this document and I’ll transform it into a clear, colourful guide that is easy to read and digest. Perfect to share with colleagues and governors. From £500*
Silver – You’ve already a policy, but staff don’t refer to it; it doesn’t reflect your future vision for the subject; or staff need a refresh. We can work together to get to the heart of your strategy, identify key messages, and create a guide that is simple, effective and easy to understand. From £1000*
Gold – Perhaps you are new to the subject; don’t have a policy document that reflects the work you are doing; or trying to tweak your current policy is holding you back. We can work together to get to the heart of your strategy, identify key messages, and create a guide that is simple, effective and easy to understand. This is deep work. It not only helps create a guide but is a powerful 1:1 CPD process. It takes the subject leader on journey that transforms their understanding of the subject, how it is delivered and the impact it has on the children. From £1500*
*costs can vary depending on the size and scope of the project
What people are saying
“Claire helped me make sense of a jumble of ideas in my head and I have left these sessions with a better understanding of my next steps and how to achieve them. Claire has helped me simplify tasks that seemed daunting. It has been useful talking these through with her and using her knowledge and expertise to keep things clear, visual and simple to understand. These are useful skills I will continue to apply within other areas of my subject leadership.“
– Ella, Writing Leader – Silver: reworking a current writing policy
