Teach Primary - Issue 19.5

Matthew Roberts We don’t need to tear up the whole primary curriculum; instead we need to focus on working with what we’ve already got... Let’s encourage deeper, not broader study VO I C E S A s September 2025 draws ever closer, school leaders and teachers wait with bated breath for the final report from the Curriculum and Assessment Review, led by Professor Becky Francis. Whilst many educators would agree that something needs to change, there’s a looming concern: after seven years of intense work sequencing knowledge, building progression maps, and designing rich experiences, could this review risk throwing the baby out with the bathwater? You see, the answer to our curriculum troubles isn’t to tear the whole thing up. It’s to sharpen what’s already there. In short, our curriculum isn’t broken – it’s just bloated. It’s time to teach fewer things, better. Over the past few years, schools have worked hard to develop knowledge-rich curriculums with a clear progression of information and skills. In many cases, teachers now have far greater clarity about what content needs to be taught. The intent and approach are strong – a recognition that schools need well-defined objectives to enable pedagogical approaches such as retrieval practice and schema-building, so learners can deepen their understanding year after year. But the problem is curriculum creep. This has happened in two key ways. First, through the national curriculum itself. In subjects like maths, for example, content from Key Stage 3 has crept down into Key Stage 2. The curriculum is packed, and in some areas, concepts are introduced at a rapid pace. There are simply too many objectives in each year group to teach each of them well, and provide the necessary depth within one academic year. The curriculum simply isn’t designed to allow for the embedding that effective learning requires – especially if teachers are expected to cover these overpacked curriculums in every subject across the year. Second, many schools – eager to get it right – have added layer upon layer of explicit knowledge to their curriculum documentation; an extra objective here, a broader topic there. We’ve stretched, expanded and, in some cases, over-engineered our curriculums – often with the best intentions. But the result is a schedule bursting at the seams, and a workforce trying to deliver it all in just 32.5 hours a week. What’s needed from this Curriculum and Assessment Review isn’t a reset; it’s a reframe. Refinement, not reinvention. Encouragingly, the interim report published in March appears to acknowledge this, highlighting concerns around the volume and density of subject content. Schools now have the opportunity to streamline the hard work they’ve already done – to simplify what’s covered and deepen children’s understanding. At our school, we’ve been doing just that in mathematics. We’ve started using the NCETM’s curriculum prioritisation materials, and the shift has been powerful. The guidance has helped us strip things back to core concepts, identify key learning, and create space for pupils to think more deeply. Crucially, it hasn’t meant discarding the curriculum we’d already developed. It’s simply helped us teach it with more clarity and focus. Of course, we still cover all statutory objectives from the national curriculum, but we now give greater weighting and valuable time to the ‘ready-to-progress’ concepts. It’s early days, but feedback from staff has been overwhelmingly positive. Slowing down has empowered children to discuss ideas more confidently, explore concepts in greater depth, and embed learning – rather than racing through content in the name of ‘mastery’ under a bloated framework. Whatever direction the Curriculum Review takes, change is on the horizon. Here are three things school leaders can do now to prepare: • Audit with purpose – review which areas of your curriculum are truly essential. • Keep the best, let go of the rest – don’t be afraid to streamline content that’s non-essential. • Empower subject leads – subject leaders already have a strong vision and intent. Involve them in responding to curriculum changes and draw on their expertise to refine what matters most. This review doesn’t need to be something to fear. It’s a chance to make the curriculummore manageable, meaningful, and memorable – for both teachers and children. And that’s a goal worth focusing on. TP Matt Roberts is a deputy headteacher at Lowercroft Primary School in Bury, Greater Manchester. He is also the host of the Primary Education Voices podcast. primaryeducationvoices.wordpress.com @Mroberts90Matt 16 | www.teachwire.net