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Andy Edwards: Curriculum Review Leader Response: 16/09/2015

Half of St Julians School students leave


without the skills to positively impact on our
economy, society and the lives of people
across the country!
A headline to strike fear into the hearts of teachers, parents and students alike! Yet over the last
three years an average of 53% of our students have completed their compulsory education,
without achieving the level 2 threshold including English and Maths. Around 170 students1 have
completed 11 years of education without gaining the threshold at all. Consider too the average
FSM gap of 34%! 2 We can say, without contention, that our curriculum does not engage the
majority, nor does it offer life chances commensurate with ability, allowing for social mobility, to
an acceptable proportion of our students.
The results of the National Reading and Numeracy tests show that over 80% 3 of our students
standardised scores are within or greater than the expected outcomes for their ages. However
our (KS3) CSI scores indicate that only 56% of our students achieve the expectation. There will
be a degree of error but nevertheless this is a disparity of nearly of the cohort. The tests
further suggest that we are losing students interest in year 9. In the current year 10 only 15% of
the group scored lower than expected when they sat the reading tests in year 8, but that figure
grew to 37% of the group when they took the test in year 9. If the curriculum was appealing to,
and satisfying the needs of our students, it would be unlikely for the number in one year group,
not achieving the expectation, to more than double in one academic year.
The statistical data is irrefutable. However, anecdotally, behaviour is a hotly debated topic and
recurring theme at all meetings. If we wish to hold our students attention and reduce
misbehaviour in the classroom we need to consider the diversity of the current arrangements to
ensure a balanced curriculum personalised to the needs of the individual, at all key stages. We
have a tendency to a defensive tribalism of our own subject area and as a result we miss
opportunities to develop cross-curricular collaborative learning, which would allow our students
to develop skills and experiences far more relevant to the real world. No profession, or project
within a profession, functions in subject specific isolation, rather drawing on skills from a number
of subject areas. We often need (subject specific) knowledge to successfully complete tasks
and it is here where subject specialism should be concentrated. While recommendations cannot
be made before a curriculum review, I believe that working more closely as clusters of
1 Assuming an average of 250 per year group
2 Summer 2013 - 2015 (L2 inc English and Maths)
3 Average 2013 - 2015

Andy Edwards: Curriculum Review Leader Response: 16/09/2015


departments would allow us to build a powerful curriculum, with opportunities for students to
seek the expertise we wish them to gain, as well as the knowledge they desire to learn.
The Donaldson Report must influence our decisions on how we rebuild our curriculum, not only
because the recommendations have been accepted by the Welsh Government in full, but also
because they could provide the vehicle to elevate education in Wales to world leader status.
The four purposes encapsulate the aspirations every teacher surely has for their students; and
it is evident (from the above) that I am clearly in favour of the six areas of learning rather than
distinct departments operating in isolation. Our existing system based on the chronological
learning development of the average child only serves to discourage the least able and stifle the
most able. If we could implement the suggested system of progressive steps with a
personalised road map it would facilitate the realisation of potential for all, including MAT
students. It has been shown in research and practice that driving up the standards of the most
able acts as a catalyst to stimulate the aspirations of others and this could be a powerful part of
the solution.
I have tried and tested experience of curriculum change at departmental level. My ethos is a
simple one: evolve or die! It would be comfortable and easy for my department to rely on a
traditional model, based on the teachers musical preferences, but I have chosen not to do this.
Students are engaged in music lessons, which has been noted in successful lesson
observations by LT, from inspectors and visitors from other schools and organisations. The
curriculum at all key stages is monitored and discussed, openly and honestly, and is flexible so
that we know we are getting it right for our learners.
I believe that I am among the most capable of staff members in the use and promotion of IT for
learning and I am in full agreement with the Donaldson report that digital competences should
be cross-curriculum responsibilities for all teachers. This is fundamental to the success of our
students in their future lives, especially as reports suggest that within two decades artificial
intelligence may replace many workers. I envisage that our review will reveal the need for even
greater emphasis on new technologies for learning.
The Professor Dai Smith report4 highlights that the arts are a successful enabler to drive up
academic priorities including those of literacy and numeracy and that schools need to deliver
more imaginative approaches to cross-curricular creative activity. Music has presented me
with opportunities that were not always available to my peers. This curriculum review will give us
the chance to develop creativity, across the curriculum and my creative skills and thinking will be
invaluable to this process, opening doors for our students that a simple academic restructuring
will not be able to match.
My democratic leadership style means that my department staff are fully supportive of my
decisions because they have shared ownership of them and I believe these coupled with my
soft skills are those which are required to galvanise the review team, leading to the unification
4 Arts in Education in the Schools of Wales: September 2013

Andy Edwards: Curriculum Review Leader Response: 16/09/2015


of the whole staff to drive our proposals forward, to achieve an aspirational curriculum where
we expect our students to achieve and one that really does provide the route to success.

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