Thread on Workbooks & Knowledge Organisers

Both are incredible tools of the curriculum BUT do not just download them or take them from another school.

You should first & foremost map your curriculum out, ideally as a progression model.

Then....

Make powerful knowledge based decisions

Sequence your curriculum

Consider carefully the end points you want

Build habitual curricular routines

Train train and train staff some more in the curriculum & their subject knowledge

Then

Begin to consider how these tools can be implemented & used

They should be written by staff for YOUR school’s curriculum. Then they are bespoke, the staff understand them & have invested in them

Then

Realise they take time to write. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Staff will need time & space to make them. Then the security to know mistakes will be made and again the time to reflect, rewrite & refine them

They are not a quick fix. The download them approach is like buying a Ferrari without an engine. It looks lovely but is essentially useless. This leads to the claim they’re a rubbish pair of tools.

They need time investing, training in how to write & use them. If schools want these tools then what will you remove to allow them to succeed?

Three years on I can safely say both tools are now saving hugely on workload & have seriously enhanced our delivery BUT initially there was a pain barrier to get through in writing them.

Ultimately, make your own. Use others as a referral not a sugar coated iceberg.