Inspection Continued from page 1 “One question that took us a little by surprise was: ‘What are your plans to improve your subject in the future?’ ... it was one line of enquiry that we’d not been prepared for” can become wobbly”. This concept is what is driving the way in which inspectors are evaluating schools’ curriculum work. Inspectors wanted subject leaders to tell the story of their subject. They were looking for connections, sequencing and enriching. Ms Harris continued: “As a staff we’d also talked about subject pedagogy. What is specific about the teaching of your subject? How important is it in your subject? Some subjects have more distinct pedagogy than others. They were able to explain this. Inspectors were also interested in our SEND students, and it helped us that subject leaders could refer to our SEND toolkit for the strategies they use.” Inspectors listened to children read with their banded book to make sure the correct level had been allocated and they questioned them about their reading. “Inspectors asked (pupils) about their favourite book and if they had finished every book. Older children were asked about their reading in the previous year.” What has caused some schools to stumble during their inspection has been the questions posed to pupils about their learning. Inspectors asked the children questions such as: “Can you tell me what you learnt today?” and some were asked about what they had learnt last week and how that helped them in their current classes. Others asked about what they had learnt last year. The school already builds-in to its day-to-day lesson plans reinforcement and reminders of the learning journey that the pupils are engaged in. At the beginning of lessons, pupils see their progress journey on screen, they can see where they have been and where they are going. This reminds them about what they have learnt over the course of a term’s learning. The learning and the intent are made explicit. “This was one of our strongest aspects,” Ms Harris added. Readers’ views If you would like to comment on any article in Headteacher Update , get in touch by emailing the editor (address below). Free weekly ebulletin Register to get weekly, free email updates from Headteacher Update via www.headteacher-update.com/register Free online archive For an archive of our best practice and other articles, digital editions and free downloads, visit www.headteacher-update.com Get social Find updates from Headteacher Update on Twitter @headteachernews Get in touch Editor: Pete Henshaw pete.henshaw@markallengroup.com 020 7501 6771 Sales: 0207 501 6729 Circulation Manager: Chris Jones circulation@findlay.co.uk Publishing Director: Tom Curtiss Chief Executive Officer: Ben Allen UK Personal subscription rates Quarterly Direct Debit £13 Annual Direct Debit £51 Annual Credit Card £54 Two year Annual Credit Card £92 Three year Annual Credit Card £130 Subscribe online: www.magsubscriptions.com, Subscribe by phone: +44 (0) 1722 716997 part of www.markallengroup.com Headteacher Update is published by MA Education Ltd St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Rd, London, SE24 0PB www.markallengroup.com MA Education Ltd also publishes SecEd, Early Years Educator and Children and Young People Now © MA Education Ltd, 2022. All rights reserved. No part of Headteacher Update may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means elec-tronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission of the Managing Director. The views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the editor or Headteacher Update . Advertisements in the journal do not imply endorsement of the products or services advertised Please read our privacy policy, by visiting http://privacypolicy.markallengroup.com. This will explain how we process, use & safeguard your data. ISSN 1478-5307. applied. However, there is anxiety, particularly among small schools where subject leadership is shared between a limited number of people whose specialist knowledge is spread thinly. A recent update from Ofsted appears to recognise the pressure that small schools can feel under the deep dive system. Entitled Curriculum: Keeping it simple (Ofsted, 2021), it confirms that subject deep dives will “explore whether pupils have been taught and have learned the curriculum content they need (in order) to achieve the goals that schools have for their education”. But how can a small school with teachers who have multiple subjects to oversee fulfil the expectations of inspectors? The blog acknowledges that it might not be possible or realistic to be an expert in all the subjects you are responsible for, but adds: “What is important is that, as a collective, staff give careful thought to the content they want pupils to be taught and to remember.” In order to help with this they suggest that subject leaders might work with other local schools on designing their curriculum or use schemes of work developed by subject specialists elsewhere: “Ofsted does not consider it necessary for schools to design their curriculums themselves ... your curriculum just needs to be ambitious and coherent.” Having said this, anecdotally we hear that some schools have reported inspectors being dubious about their using an “imported” or bought-in curriculum. These schools have found it necessary to show how they have adapted the curriculum to fit their own context, the preferences of their pupils, and their catchments. Subject leaders do not have to be specialists but they must: n Know what they want the pupils to learn and why. n Show how the curriculum matches the scope and ambition of the national curriculum. n Demonstrate that there are clear end-points and that content is broken down into manageable chunks that lead up to them. n Show that the chunks are logically sequenced and prepare pupils for future learning. The thinking behind all this is of building blocks layered one on top of another – the basic knowledge providing the basis for future learning. The Ofsted blog refers to it as a Jenga tower – “when bits of knowledge are missing, the tower Monega’s deep dives At the time of their inspection in January 2022 Monega Primary had 615 pupils on roll with an above-average number of speakers of English as an additional language. In 2017, the school had been judged “inadequate” so the outstanding verdict is a great achievement. The inspectors took a deep dive in early reading, maths, geography, science, art, and RE – focusing on these on day one. They completed four observations for English and maths and they talked to pupils during these observations and after the lessons. The framework refers to components and composite goals and so did the inspectors. The school was prepared for this and subject leaders were ready to answer inspectors’ questions. Subject leaders were also prepared for talking about “cultural capital” and had already been thinking about which aspects of their subject contributed to this and to enrichment. Inspectors were interested in the sequencing of the curriculum and wanted subject leaders to talk about the progress journey for a year 2 pupil, for example. Ms Harris said: “All our subject leaders had worked through this, considering the progress for every year group and across year groups too.” Some inspectors referred to a narrower period of time and others across the key stage: “We’ve been very clear about what our expectations are. For example, in year 1 children focus on immediate geography, looking at local area landmarks, school maps and London.” Subject leaders were clear on the big messages of their subject and the big celebrations: “One question that took us a little by surprise was: ‘What are your plans to improve your subject in the future?’ It wasn’t a problem to answer this, but it was one line of enquiry that we’d not been prepared for.” Further information n Ofsted: Inspecting the curriculum, May 2019: http://bit.ly/2P3QDQI n Ofsted Blog: Curriculum: Keeping it simple, December 2021: https://bit.ly/3ECRu2K 3
Head Teacher Update Summer Term 2022: Page 3
