Last updated: 23rd September 2011
The Ashington Learning Partnership (ALP) was formed in September 2007. Staff in the 5 schools comprising the ALP, with pupils ranging from 3 to 19, agreed that there were issues about skills acquisition and independent learning which were having a detrimental impact on overall standards.
Through discussion between staff in schools and the work of cross phase groups the following issues were identified:
- Our curriculum was too content-driven
- Not enough attention was given to skills development
- Much of our curriculum offering was not inspiring to children
- Our curriculum was overly structured
- There was insufficient opportunity to develop independent learning
- The National Curriculum was too prescriptive
- There was too much segmentation of the curriculum – across schools /
- year groups / subjects / topics
- There was a lack of cross-curricular opportunities
- There was a lack of creativity
We found that we were in a position where it was appropriate to make major changes to the way the curriculum was structured and delivered and we set ourselves the following aims:
- To devise a curriculum structure across the 5 schools which would give opportunities for thematic, cross-curricular learning which would be co-ordinated and progressive across Key Stages
- To devise a matrix of those skills which we believe to be most lacking in our pupils and which would improve learning. To identify, Key Stage by Key Stage, descriptors which would show progress in the acquisition of those skills
Research showed that there was no existing package to meet our needs and we therefore needed to create our own skills matrix and descriptors. Working groups representing all schools began this work in 2007. The descriptors are grouped in 6 categories: Personal; Physical; Social; Learning; Creative; Communication.
At Central we deliver the curriculum by weaving the skills through cross curricular topics wherever possible. They are identified by a separate learning objective. We discuss their relevance and importance at the start of the lesson and highlight what we will be seeing and hearing if these skills are being used well. These become our success criteria. At the end of the lesson we assess how we think we used these skills and where else they may be useful.
We also teach some skills through stand alone activities. Turn taking, collaborating, listening to each other and compromising, for example, are often taught through problem solving. This highlights their value and importance in a fun context. We can then apply these skills to a range of other situations.
The descriptors (which, along with the six categories, may be subject to revision as we evaluate their impact) can be viewed by following these links:
More information about curriculum content can be found on the Year Group pages.