This week I've been having conversations with the leadership team about the Maths curriculum. Our discussions were based on two questions:
1. To what extent does the subject leader and their department ensure that a high-quality subject curriculum exists for all pupils?
2. To what extent does the subject leader and other department responsibility holders assure themselves that there is a high-quality curriculum for all pupils?
Ensure
In our department we have an overall scheme of work that we follow. We've recently changed our Key Stage 3 scheme of work to focus mainly on Number in Year 7 and Algebra in Year 8. This has come from learning from some of the most successful, similar schools to us. It is also based from experience knowing how important and strong understanding of algebra and number is to everything else in Maths.
We then turn that larger scheme of work into smaller sub units e.g. multiplication, indices, fractions etc. These units have a number of objectives assigned to them that develop over time. We do set students by attainment however due to the nature of our scheme of work all students are studying the same topics at the same time. The difference in class will be the depth they are able to get to.
We utilise a weekly progress check test that is centrally planned so teachers understand the minimum level we need students to understand in order to succeed in this topic. These tests are not set in stone though, teachers are expected to adapt them to suit the needs of the students in front of them by either adding more challenging questions or more retrieval based questions or more accessible questions.
At our school we start every lesson with a retrieval quiz. In Maths six of the ten questions are centrally planned, the other four are up to the teachers discretion. I use the last four to test students knowledge from the last lesson. We centrally plan these quizzes so that it reduces workload but also ensures students are regularly retrieving key skills. For example, in Year 7 we have a focus on knowing our times tables fluently so every quiz has a times tables question in. This then leads teachers to chant the times tables with their class each lesson to help improve their fluency.
Another way we help ensure the curriculum is of a high standard for all is by the centrally planned resources/lessons that are shared. Questions, examples, representations etc are all shared across our department so that teachers, even non specialists, have a framework to build their lessons from. This isn't prescribing the exact lesson but instead giving a suggestion that includes rich tasks to develop depth of knowledge rather than pushing on to the next topic. Teachers will tweak these resources to better suit the students in front of them.
These are some off the ways we are ensuring our curriculum is of a high quality for all pupils. In next week's report I will talk about assuring it is being taught to all students.
📚 Read:
@Mr_Crome's recent blog post on thriving teams. There is loads of great content in the whole series of blog posts Sam has done on Thriving teams, his most recent post on debriefs is another great one. He talks about why they are important and how to lead a team debrief. Have a read here.
📚 Read:
David Perrells twitter thread on why writing online can accelerate your career. I would definitely recommend everyone to start writing and David brilliantly summarises why and how it can help. Read it here.
📚 Read:
Mr Gordons blog post on Quality assurance and how it can be done collaboratively. Taken loads from this in quality assuring our curriculum. Well worth a read.