A practical workshop for teachers and middle leaders to help you create, develop, and evaluation effective school curriculum.

An excellent subject curriculum is about far more than producing a scheme of work. Subject leaders need to ensure that what pupils learn is ambitious, coherently sequenced and intellectually engaging, while providing the breadth, challenge and enrichment expected within an excellent independent-school education.

This practical online workshop supports middle leaders in designing a vibrant subject offer that sets their department apart. By combining evidence-informed principles—such as memory models, intentional sequencing, and spacing—with rich subject content, participants will learn how to build schemes of work that make complex concepts stick while keeping pupils curious.

Moving beyond isolated extension activities, the session explores how to seamlessly weave enrichment, stretch, and real-world relevance into everyday teaching. Leaders will gain actionable strategies for curriculum mapping and assessment that nurture subject passion alongside academic rigor.

Participants will leave with tangible tools in the form of audits, template and action plans, feeling better equipped to evaluate the quality of your current curriculum, identify priorities for improvement and lead purposeful curriculum development.

For: Heads of Department, Heads of Faculty, Subject Leaders, Directors of Studies, Deputy Heads Academic and aspiring curriculum leaders in independent schools.

Course Outcomes

1. Evaluate current curriculum provision: Audit your department’s subject offer to identify areas for growth and differentiation.
2. Apply cognitive science in practice: Integrate core evidence-informed principles—such as memory models, spacing, and retrieval—into daily scheme design.
3. Sequence for long-term mastery: Structure subject concepts intentionally to build cumulative knowledge, fluency, and deep understanding over time.
4. Nurture subject passion: Design engaging learning journeys that inspire intellectual curiosity and a genuine, lifelong love for your subject.
5. Align assessment with curriculum goals: Create robust assessment strategies that accurately measure progress and inform responsive teaching.
6. Balance rigor with inclusivity: Ensure high expectations and academic challenge are accessible to all pupils across diverse learning needs.
7. Embed rich enrichment & stretch: Weave extension opportunities, co-curricular links, and real-world relevance directly into everyday learning.

Course Outline

• Vision: Establishing what an excellent curriculum looks like in an independent school
• Architecture: Building the core framework and sequencing learning effectively using cognitive principles
• Comfort Break and Virtual Networking
• Enactment: Turning plans into pupil experience, evaluating impact, and leading change
• Plenary & final Q&A

Presenter Profile

Shilpa Darbar is an experienced Head of History with 15+ years of expertise in independent schools, specialising in high-impact curriculum design, strategic leadership, and translating educational research into actionable, results-driven school practice.

Cost: £150 per delegate; £50 each for subsequent delegates from same school

Booking Form

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