ABSTRACT
OUTSTANDING SCHOOLS, WE ARE told, are characterised by high standards in literacy and numeracy and a broad, rich and balanced curriculum. They offer a rich, exciting programme of learning across the full curriculum. They have a distinct identity and ethos and work in close partnership with parents and the community (QCA 2003a: 9-10) and network between schools (p. 71). In order to achieve this, schools are encouraged to take ownership of the curriculum, to shape it and make it their own through cross-curricular links. They can decide which aspects of a subject to emphasise (p. 17), managing time in innovative ways. Apparently rich creative experiences across the curriculum have been found to raise standards of numeracy and literacy! The use of support staff will free you to plan collaboratively with your colleagues; plans can take any format as long as they have clear learning and assessment opportunities and will be judged by their impact on teaching and learning. There is frequent mention of 'creativity'. Blow me down! We consider each of these dimensions in this and the following chapter.
