Case Study: Creative approaches to thematic or topic based whole school curriculum planning

Creative curricular planning
With the National Curriculum under review, it seems that more schools are taking a creative approach to planning by delivering the curriculum through a focused theme or topic. This has allowed schools to take more ownership of the curriculum and has helped teachers become more innovative in their planning by providing rich experiences that go beyond the minimal entitlement of the current prescribed National Curriculum.

Subject disciplinary issues
There is a danger however, that with this approach, we are at risk of losing the integrity of the separate subjects and in history, the key historical skills and concepts that underpin the discipline. Traditionally, many teachers have used the QCA units of work to support teaching and learning. As a teacher in an inner city school in Manchester, I found that they did not always support our aim to adopt a creative approach to teaching and learning and did not always reflect the needs of the children in our school...