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What is Statutory?

The statutory curriculum – what we have to cover in our schools – is set out in the CAPS. For each subject there are objectives. The objectives need to be divided up so that all aspects are covered at some point. It does not require repetition, but schools may choose to repeat some aspects if they wish. The program of study comprises the essential knowledge, skills, and understanding within subjects. It does require repetition, as it’s this part of the curriculum that leads to progress.

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IMAGINATION
The planning for how the curriculum is to be delivered is key to engaging and inspiring children. We must ensure that all the skills that the children need to acquire are covered.

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Principles for creative themes

When planning your creative themes it’s useful to keep certain principles in mind. These principles can be used to assess your themes once they’ve been created to ensure the consistency of principles across the school.

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Make it real

The more real the learning experience, the more likely it is that children will engage. Try to make the theme real to children – it should not be abstract or too far removed from their experience. If something is based on the past, for example, try to think of the legacy it has left and start with that.

Try a stimulus of some description: a visit, visitors, artifacts, books, videos, situations, plays, etc. The wider the range of stimuli, the more likely it is that children will engage with the theme.

 

Provoke

By planning a ‘skeleton’ theme based on our curriculum map, we ensure educational purpose, but the content needs also to be steered by children.  We need to provoke children into taking an interest in both what we’ve planned for them, and related things that they find interesting along the way. This is not the same as asking children what they would like to learn. When children don’t know what they want to learn or what they can’t do, it can be a pointless exercise. Asking children what they want to learn also assumes that they can articulate it. Most worryingly, though, asking children what they want to learn may lead to a situation that keeps children in a world that they’ve already experienced and not into the new worlds teachers can take children based on their needs rather than their wants. Having said this, we do want children to feel part of the process. We give lots of provocation to stimulate their interest and imagination and allow children to steer rather than lead learning.

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We use a stimulus at the beginning of the theme to provoke lines of inquiry from the start. We allow the children’s inquiries to steer the theme’s direction. We respond to lines of inquiry that come up later in the theme – not all children will be provoked at the same time.

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Allow time and space

If we are to provoke lines of inquiry, then children need space and time to follow them.

• Try planning for about half of the time you expect your plan to last.

• Try to allow time for children to explore their chosen lines of inquiry.

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Be Flexible

Don’t let timetables get in the way, especially at the ‘launch’ of a theme.

• Try collapsing the timetable at the beginning of a theme.
  Try to hook the interest of children and secure their commitment through a dramatic start.

• Try to pull the theme together at the end.

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PLANNING FOR MEASURABLE  EDUCATIONAL VALUE

Some schools make a mistake in thinking that planning a purposeful and engaging curriculum will raise standards. It won’t.  To ensure the content is right and that children are engaged, another step is needed – that is to plan for what you want children to accomplish as a result of this purposeful and engaging curriculum.