Resource design in the primary humanities

Jemima Rhys-Evans, HEAD OF PRIMARY CURRICULUM AND STANDARDS, THE CHARTER SCHOOLS EDUCATIONAL TRUST; DIRECTOR, CHARLES DICKENS RESEARCH SCHOOL, UK Just over five years ago, Charles Dickens Primary School moved from being one-and-a-half-form entry, with mixed year groups, to two-form entry. With mixed classes, we had worked on a two-year rolling curriculum, making sequencing of skills and knowledge a challenge. The move to two-form entry gave us the opportunity to re-evaluate our curriculum and to build a more rigorous progression model. At around the same time, we had redefined our ethos in a collaborative process with the whole staff team, and three core values had emerged: academic excellence, creativity, and social and emotional intelligence. However, a review of the curriculum in place also made it clear that, in science and humanities subjects in particular, students were not being supported to be academically excellent. Lessons were planned in a slightly ad-hoc fashion, with a