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Case Studies

Curriculum Conference 2025

Addressing Educational Disadvantage: going beyond labels to help children to thrive – Marc Rowland, Adviser for improving outcomes for disadvantaged learners, Unity Schools Partnership

In this session Marc will Share what we know about mitigating the impact of poverty, to help all pupils to thrive in all aspects of school life.

Edventures in AI: AI-powered tools for innovation and efficiency – Martin Bailey, Director, Animate 2 Educate Ltd

Join Martin Bailey on an Edventure in AI, exploring the transformative potential of artificial intelligence in education. Martin will guide you through a range of free AI tools designed to boost both creativity and efficiency in the classroom, supporting lesson planning, personalised learning, and streamlining administrative tasks—all at no cost.

Through practical examples, Martin will demonstrate how AI can save time on routine tasks, enhance student engagement, and foster creativity for learners of all ages and abilities. He’ll also cover how AI can free up valuable time, allowing educators to focus on meaningful interactions with their students. Whether you’re just starting with AI or looking to expand your toolkit, Edventures in AI offers practical tips and real-world applications that will leave you inspired.

With Martin’s guidance, you’ll see how AI can enhance education in impactful ways—empowering your teaching practice and enriching your students’ learning experiences.

‘The Most Improved School in England’: Curriculum at the Heart of School Transformation – David James & Terance Conway, Norham High School

This session will focus on Norham High School and its journey from the lowest performing school in the region in Special Measures, to an Ofsted Good School, a School of Sanctuary, a Secondary School of the Year finalist and being one of the top schools in the region for pupil progress. This session will focus on the cultural changes of the school and the leadership of this, the reception of these changes within the community, and how curriculum has been the golden thread which has permeated the transformation.

This session will showcase how Norham High School have developed the curriculum architecture to focus on cross curricular links and the embedding of contextualised cultural capital to enrich the often deprived lives of their pupils (between 60 and 70% Pupil Premium in each year group), alongside literacy and oracy which are fundamental barriers within the context of Norham High School. The session will explore the challenges of developing an appropriate curriculum for the complex intake, highlighting the rapid increase in EAL pupils from a starting point of almost zero, the incredibly high levels of SEND within the school (including 50% SEND in the Year 7 cohort), and how they have sought to overcome these barriers. This session will highlight the bespoke provisions we have created to support pupils with particular needs and how the curriculum is designed and enriched to support each specific provision in securing its ambitions for the young people they teach.

Developing SEND curriculum across a Multi-Academy Trust – Jennifer Duncan, Deputy CEO and Executive Head Teacher, Discovery Special Academy and SEND, Tees Valley Education

The session will focus on the development of curriculum for specialist provision and additionally resourced unit provisions in a trust to ensure consistency of entitlement, pedagogical adaptation, language of learning and access to therapies and life opportunities.  It will consider this from the perspective of inclusive curriculum design, needs pathways, building expertise within the trust and through partnerships with external professionals, working with the local authority and cross trust work on ensuring high expectation and outcomes for all. 

Leading the curriculum, looking into the future – David Bailey FCCT, School Improvement Director, Education Village Academy Trust 

The session will focus on:

  • Consider forthcoming changes to the curriculum
  • Lessons learnt from the past / curriculum reviews
  • The intended and unintended curriculum
  • Preparing the curriculum to meet the needs of all learners
Designing coherence across the Oak mathematics curriculum – Ed Southall, Maths Subject Lead, Oak National Academy

In this session, we will be looking at how coherence is woven into the new fully resourced and adaptable secondary maths curriculum produced by Oak National Academy in partnership with MEI. We will look at how the Oak curriculum developed singular concepts to connect multiple areas of maths, and dedicate time to explore how our resources were informed by the principles of NCETM’s Five Big Ideas.

Bespoke Curriculum Development – Specialist Settings and Beyond – Jo Kendrick, Deputy Head Teacher and Dr Mick Hutchinson, Head Teacher, Emily Wilding Davis School

This session explores the core principles at the heart of curriculum design, the wider journey of development the school went through alongside how leadership ensured staff were onboard with delivering change, resulting in the school moving from Special Measures to Good in all areas, within 18 months.

The Transformative Power of Curriculum for our Disadvantaged PupilsBishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust 

How can we truly change lives? How can we genuinely make a difference to reduce gaps in experiences and attainment for our most vulnerable pupils, particularly those who are disadvantaged?

Join Claire Brown, Senior Director of Performance and Standards and other colleagues from Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust to hear about their curriculum journey, including their partnership with Christine Counsell and Steve Mastin through Opening Worlds, the development of a bespoke English curriculum that builds strong foundational knowledge, the Trust’s strategic approach to intensive and high quality professional development for primary-phase teaching staff in the context of a tight financial climate, their work in partnership with Marc Rowland, and the impact their work has had on the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and in strong and improved inspection outcomes for the Trust’s schools.