This event will now take place online.

The Curriculum Excellence best practice conference is organised by SecEd & HeadTeacher Update and offers 18 practical sessions – all of which will deliver ideas and strategies that can be adapted and implemented in your school or schools.

Taking place online from Tuesday 17th to Thursday 19th January 2023, this event builds on the notable success and popularity of our previous curriculum design events.

The conference brings together senior leaders and teachers as well as experts in curriculum design, inspection, and diversity and inclusion to help you discover evidence-based and practical interventions and strategies for raising attainment, overcoming key barriers to learning and achievement, and narrowing the gap for disadvantaged pupils.

Themes for this event include evidence-led practice, curriculum design and delivery, quality assurance, diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI), as well as preparation for Ofsted under the new intent, implementation, impact approach to inspection.

When it comes to DEI across curriculum design and delivery, the event has a dedicated stream for delegates, with 8 of the 18 sessions focused on aspects of DEI ranging from decolonisation and diversification to intersectionality and belonging.

Keynote Presentations 

For our opening keynote , we are delighted to welcome Bennie Kara, a deputy headteacher, co-founder of Diverse Educators and the author of Diversity in Schools.

Bennie’s hour-long keynote will offer a practical guide to diversifying your curriculum.

In this session, Bennie will examine how in diversifying the curriculum we can avoid tokenism and align with curriculum theory and research. Bennie will look at the process of diversifying the curriculum, offering practical tips for how to evaluate your current curriculum (including conducting curriculum reviews or audits) and the key steps in the process. Bennie will discuss clear, defined and cross-phase/subject strategies that can be applied in adapting the curriculum. The session will be relevant to all primary and secondary colleagues, including key stage 5.

Our afternoon keynote – entitled Curriculum design: Improving on previous best – welcomes the renowned Sir Tim Brighouse and Professor Mick Water.

In the session, they will highlight the range of ways that professionals in schools can help the curriculum to have impact in their subject, phase, department, school or trust. There will be practical discussion and reflection as well as some clear advice and ideas for those leading curriculum design and delivery to consider and use in school.

 

Practical workshops

The conference will also offer 16 practical, 50-minute workshops aimed at primary, secondary or both phases. Seven of these workshops will have a specific DEI theme (highlighted below)

It means that both primary and secondary colleagues attending the event will have a choice of 10 different workshops.

  

     Primary workshop topics include:

  • Our Curious Curriculum: Teaching foundation subjects well
  • Addressing the elephant in the room: Decentring whiteness in the classroom (DEI stream)
  • Case study: Diversifying the pupil and staff experience (DEI stream)
  • Placing values at the heart of curriculum design
  • Does your curriculum whisper 'you belong'? (DEI stream)
  • Decolonising assessment practices (DEI stream)

     Secondary workshop topics include:

  • Creating, reviewing, and maintaining your curriculum: A case study from the English department
  • Time well spent: Extending the school day
  • A culture of belonging within a KS3 skills-based curriculum: A roadmap for success (DEI stream)
  • The South Wirral Way: Improving the quality and consistency of curriculum implementation across the whole school
  • Intersectionality in the curriculum and the classroom (DEI stream)
  • Moving to 100-minute lessons: Planning, delivering & evaluating curriculum redesign
   

 Cross-phase workshop topics include:

  • The Meta Curriculum: A research-led approach to curriculum design
  • Curriculum, disadvantage, and misconceptions
  • SEMH & SEN: Ensuring inclusive curriculum delivery (DEI stream)
  • Can you tell me about your curriculum? Developing an outstanding curriculum narrative

WHO SHOULD ATTEND:

This event is designed for those working within the primary or secondary education sectors and is relevant to those involved in leading, designing, delivering and evaluating the curriculum, including:

  • Headteachers
  • Senior leadership team
  • Curriculum leaders
  • Heads of department or subject leads
  • Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion leads
  • Classroom teachers
  • Education advisors
  • Governors

 

 
 

SecEd is the established, trusted, termly publication with daily online content, dedicated exclusively to secondary education. The SecEd brand aims to provide all those teaching in secondary education with news, analysis, best practice guidance, and research-based content.

 

To learn more about SecEd please click here.
   
 

Headteacher Update is a termly publication with daily online content and is distributed free to every primary headteacher in the UK. Packed with updates on policy and legislation as well as practical, applicable guidance for school management, curriculum change, Ofsted guidance and much more, Headteacher Update is the dependable, professional read for the primary school leader.

To find out more about Headteacher Update, click here.