Edenthorpe Hall Academy

A while back we made the decision to change our curriculum to have a focus on teaching discrete subjects as opposed to combined ‘topic’ lessons. We made this decision as we found that our pupils were often unsure of which subject was being taught and didn’t know the difference between the disciplines. We wanted to ensure we taught a broad and balanced curriculum which included a vocabulary-rich foundation. Therefore, we decided to reach out to the Primary Knowledge Curriculum team after being recommended by another member of our trust.  

To ensure that the PKC was implemented successfully in our school, curriculum maps were planned to incorporate previously taught knowledge so that within a few years, children would be able to draw from that knowledge and have a better understanding of the units taught. We trained all staff on the navigation of the website and looked at PKC from a whole school perspective. Since beginning working with the PKC team 2018, we have continued to attend regular professional development opportunities to keep up-to-date and ensure the curriculum is implemented effectively in our school.  

Initially, a new curriculum always has some resistance. However, it was clear from the start how well the lesson structures and prior knowledge supported with planning and helped to reduce teacher workload. The lesson overviews and unit rationales allow the teacher to see where the unit is going and what needs to be taught, as well as how it aligns with the National Curriculum.  

After seeing the success of PKC at our school, almost all our Astrea schools are now following it. This allows us to share our experiences and resources. Initially, it could be time-consuming sourcing local resources; however, we are developing a trust-wide collaborative to lighten the load with this. We have Teams groups for each subject, which is trust-wide, to share best practice and access PKC training across the trust.  

Now we have had a few years of planning and teaching the PKC, I feel that we have become much more confident curriculum teachers and the children are starting to see the benefit of previously taught knowledge. Feedback from children has been positive and there has been a real thirst for knowledge shown. 

We regularly share good examples of work on Twitter and Class Dojo and the feedback from our parents is always positive. This year, we are working on our essay writing skills and have begun to include them as part of a child’s portfolio of writing for SATs assessment. 

We love being part of the partnership and will continue to keep communication open with PKC and update our training. We hugely benefit from our shared practises across the trust and work together to make sure that the PKC works well for every child we teach.