Case Studies

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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

In this session, we will be looking at how coherence is woven into the new fully resourced and adaptable 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.

This session is designed to share our story, leading a school from a judgement of inadequate, derived from its curriculum delivery, to creating a learning environment reflective of the students and their needs, focused on outcomes. It looks beyond mere curriculum content and delivery to explore the process of leading change; from vision and school structure to classroom practice.

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.

In this session, Kathleen will introduce the Voice 21 approach to oracy education sharing how schools can equip students with the skills to learn to, through and about talk. This approach supports schools to unlock the power of deliberate planning for oracy across the curriculum, ensuring that every voice is valued and that all students have opportunities to develop transformative speaking, listening and communication skills as part of everyday teaching and learning. 

Inspired by the work of Clare Sealy, this session equips teachers with practical tools to adapt tasks, talk, and play for all learners. Grounded in Sealy’s principles of accessibility, manageability, and cognitive challenge, the session introduces what is considered an appropriate adaptation to tasks and work. Additionally, participants will explore a sliding scale of adaptations, ranging from full independence to full support. Bringing the theory to life through examples, teachers will develop strategies for implementing adaptive teaching practices that maintain high expectations while addressing diverse learning needs.

For leaders, the session will provide a framework to evaluate and support adaptive practices across teams, ensuring consistency and ambition within curriculum design and delivery. Leaders will leave with actionable insights to foster a culture of high expectations and inclusivity across their schools.

We often think of children’s ability as a limiting factor in what kind of curriculum experience they will have, but what if ability is the consequence rather than the cause of children’s experiences in school? The curriculum can – and should – aim to make children cleverer. This talk will outline some of steps needed to ensure all children can become more successful as a result of their experience of the curriculum.

Dr Vanessa Ogden CBE (CEO of Mulberry Schools Trust) is a panel member for the National Curriculum Review. The National Curriculum and Assessment Review was established by the Secretary of State for Education in July led by Prof Becky Francis.

The Terms of Reference can be found here:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6699698f49b9c0597fdb0010/Curriculum_and_assessment_review_-_aims_terms_of_reference_and_working_principles.pdf 

Since then, the panel launched an extensive call for evidence during the autumn, along with regional roadshows across the country to talk directly to stakeholders – including pupils, parents, employers and teachers. The panel has considered extensive research and held round tables with smaller specialist sector groups. The aim of the review is to evolve the current curriculum, building on its many strengths and diving deep into areas that have not been so successful. Vanessa will give an account of this period of the panel’s work, along with some broader curriculum themes to consider.