ABSTRACT
Managing to cover the learning objectives and to offer children quality experiences will remain a major problem for teachers for some time to come. An effective way for coordinators to support colleagues is to ensure the development of high quality medium-term planning (which in some ways is synonymous with a scheme of work). In many schools the medium-term planning covers two, three or four years, with each year divided into; two week, half term or termly blocks-depending on the traditional work pattern within the school. The most effective medium-term plans are then easily read in time units that the teacher feels comfortable about managing. The learning objectives identified in each planning block need to be achievable in the time given. At present, we are all learning about how to get this right. Modifications are inevitable in the light of experience. Teachers in Year 2 and Year 6 have special problems because SATs are introduced at the beginning of the summer term, so these classes have much less than a year in which to cover new work. It follows that in both key stages, the order in which topics are covered is crucial: you can’t leave important aspects of the number work until the summer term in Year 2 or Year 6! Some schools are using most of Year 2 and Year 6 to revise-a consequence of what is in effect a public examination at the end of each Key Stage.
