A New 'Creative Curriculum' - is your school doing this?

[carocaro]

Any thoughts and/or experiences?

Our school is just about to introduce this, am in two minds about it all, as it is so new.

What is it?

DS and DD's school is. We had an information evening about it last week. From what I gathered there will be more topic based working but some subjects will still be taught separately.

We have been following a creative curriculum for four or five years.

Works well at our school. Can I ask why you're in two minds?

Possibly. HT mentioned other day that a new much less prescriptive curriculum is coming in... September?

It isn't really new like everything in education and fashion wait long enough and everything makes a comeback.

curriculum.qcda.gov.uk/new-primary-curriculum/index.aspx

We've also been doing it for 4-5 years. Love it! Much more child friendly to link ideas than to 'study' discrete subjects. The children suggest our programme of study and we plan from their suggestions. For instance, we're basing this half term's work on 'The Tunnel' by Anthony Browne, and the children have suggested we find out about hobbies, look at friendships, write about tunnels into imaginary lands, make rubbish tips (giving us a perfect vehicle for our materials topic in science and recycling) and to do some non-fiction work on animals (which they'd seen hiding in the pictures).

By the way, copies of new curriculum were received in schools last week.

I'm very nervous what will happen to all this when the new government is elected, particularly after some of the things I read at the w/e.

At the junior school I work at we're now in our first full year of a creative curriculum that puts a major emphasis on finding out what the children want to learn about our chosen theme.

The curriculum co-ordinator starts by deciding the subject drivers for each half term, to make sure the whole curriculum is covered over the year, then the theme is chosen (this half term the drivers are Science, Design & Technology & the theme is Space) We then consult the children by holding an 'Inspiration morning' where we fill the hall with resources which are related to the upcoming theme.

The children get the opportunity to feedback what they have seen that has interested them, questions they would like answered and activities they would like to participate in. It's then up to the teachers to make sure that the necessary skills and objectives are covered in their schemes of work, and that there is progression over theschool as a whole, from Year 3 to Year 6, but doing it this way makes the children feel involved in their learning and they are far more enthusiastic - it's bringing back a lot of the spontaneity that I remember from my school days.

Maths and Literacy, MFL and ICT are still taught separately, though the theme is reflected in them in the activities & texts used to teach the skills.

Aha!
Cross-curricular teaching?

At my dd's school they are following the IPC www.internationalprimarycurriculum.com

She is in reception and they only started it in September but it seems to be going very well.