ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I want to look at three very different secondary schools all of which have planned the curriculum on the basis of mixed-ability groupings of pupils and a basic common core curriculum for all pupils. None of the schools would wish, of course, to restrict or limit their pupils’ achievement to some kind of lowest common denominator. They see the essence of a common culture curriculum as one which stipulates a basic minimum curriculum that should be covered, but never the maximum that could be covered—it is completely open-ended for individuals.
