Many schools take the schemes of work as the starting point for their plans. They make their own decisions about how to make best use of this resource, remembering that the schemes are not statutory. Schools can use as much or as little as they wish and are free to devise their own ways of meeting the requirements of the national curriculum. For further guidance see Designing and timetabling the primary curriculum and Designing the key stage 3 curriculum.
You could use the whole scheme or individual units, customising them so that they are better suited to your school's circumstances and to your pupils' needs and abilities.
In this section you can find information on:
- planning with the schemes
- adapting units from a scheme
- combining units from different subjects
- getting around the schemes.
Using the schemes when planning
This site provides information about planning with the schemes in two places: the general planning section and within the scheme of work for each subject.
The general planning section contains guidance about long-, medium- and short-term planning along with examples of the different ways teachers use the schemes in their planning.
The section within each subject called 'Using this scheme' provides information on a range of issues including progression, inclusion and links with other subjects and aspects of the curriculum. There is also a section called 'Sequencing the units', which suggests ways to organise a subject scheme across a year and key stage.
Adapting units from a subject scheme
All units are aimed at pupils' attaining at the levels broadly appropriate for their ages. You can adapt the units to better meet the needs of your pupils and to reflect characteristics such as your school's location and the resources available to you.
The 'Adapting units' section provides general information about making changes to units as well as examples of units adapted by teachers. For each example unit, we have included information about why and how it was adapted and how well it worked. To give you more of an idea of how things worked in practice, there is also an example of a short-term plan for part the unit and some pupils' work.
The examples are for key stages 1 and 2 only but the information about adapting units will also be useful to teachers at key stage 3.
To help you adapt units to reflect your school's needs, we have provided downloadable Word files of every scheme of work unit. You can download these onto your own computer and edit them as you wish. To access these files, go to a scheme and click on the 'Print/download unit' link on the left of the page.
Combining units from different subjects
Many schools have identified significant links between subjects and developed their planning to make the most of powerful links that can enhance pupils' learning. Combining units from two schemes of work is one way of doing this.
The 'Combining units' section provides guidance on identifying links between subjects. There are also examples of how teachers have combined two units from different subjects. For each example unit, we have included information about why and how the two existing units were combined and how well the combined unit worked. To give you more of an idea of how things worked in practice, there is an overview of the lesson sequence showing how each subject was integrated into the new combined unit. There are also two examples of short-term plans for different lessons in the unit and some pupils' work.
The examples are for key stages 1 and 2 only but the information about combining units will also be useful to teachers at key stage 3.
To help you produce your own combined units, we have provided downloadable Word files of every scheme of work unit. You can download these onto your own computer and edit them as you wish. To access these files, go to a scheme and click on the 'Print/download unit' link on the left of the page.
Getting around the schemes
In this section you can find out:
- what each scheme contains
- what a unit contains
- what a section contains.
What each scheme contains
Each scheme is made up of a number of units and supporting information about planning and teaching the subject.
The supporting information covers:
- teaching the subject - the aims of the subject and an overview of the units
- principles of constructing a scheme of work
- using this scheme - information on a range of issues including progression, inclusion and links with other subjects and aspects of the curriculum
- sequencing the units - suggestions for the order in which to deliver the units and time allocations
- useful organisations and websites
- download all units - access to files in PDF and Word formats. The PDF files show the units as they appear in print. The Word files can be downloaded onto your computer for you to edit as you wish.
What a unit contains
The units in a scheme show how the programme of study or non-statutory framework for the stated key stage can be translated into units. Each unit can be used as a medium-term plan.
Every unit is presented in the same way.
This information for each unit tells you:
- how the unit can build on work that has gone before and how it can link to other subjects and aspects of the curriculum;
- the vocabulary that pupils are likely to use;
- the resources needed to teach the unit;
- what knowledge, skills and understanding you can expect most pupils to have acquired by the end of the unit.
To make it easier to view and work with the schemes, each unit has been organised into sections. You can view the unit by moving through the sections or print/download the whole unit.
What a section contains
Each section consists of a lesson or series of lessons. It contains:
- learning objectives - these outline the small steps necessary to build up the knowledge and understanding that are the focus of the unit
- possible teaching activities - these are designed to enable pupils to develop the knowledge and skills outlined in the objectives. Teachers may want to substitute other activities through which the learning objectives can be achieved. Activities take different lengths of time and you will need to judge which activities to emphasise for particular pupils
- learning outcomes - these specific outcomes from the teaching activities provide indications of pupils' progress. They can be used when deciding whether pupils are ready to move on to the next activity as well as when reviewing work with pupils. You are not expected to keep detailed records of each pupil's progress in relation to the learning outcomes
- points to note - these include additional information about teaching and learning, class management issues, health and safety, homework and links with other units or subjects.
|
