Ensuring curriculum continuity across Year 6 to 7 is a challenge; trying to establish a causal link to what has or hasn’t helped you be successful can be an even greater challenge. Part of our vision in establishing a cross phase Trust was to try to ensure continuity in teaching and learning across the primary secondary divide; what should be a gap, over the summer holidays, can be a huge chasm. Continue reading
Working in a cross phase Trust means we are better placed than most to understand and build a pupil’s learning journey going all the way from early years to Sixth Form. A number of staff are now working with each other, across the phases, to take transition to a different level. No longer a series of activities or events – part marketing, part social and part learning – but a coherent curriculum plan from Early Years to Year 8 and beyond. Continue reading
The fiddle and faff curriculum that plagues some schools in the early years of Key Stage 2 or Key Stage 3 can start with poor transition processes from the previous key stage or phase. Over the past few weeks hundreds of thousands of students have moved across a transition point, Ofsted raised concerns about “the wasted years” and St. Mary’s new Year 7s have enjoyed their “Friendship” Dynamic Day. Continue reading