top of page
Along with being a primary school teacher and leader, blogging is where this all started for Aidan. If it wasn't for his passion for writing and sharing his learning and experiences, he wouldn't be working as an education consultant with schools across the country today. Shared best practice should be available to all and here on the Aidan Severs Consulting blog you can get ideas for making a difference in your own school. The blog is also a great place to learn exactly the kind of work that Aidan can partner with your school on.


From SEND To Greater Depth: Taking Everyone On The Journey (And Getting Them All To The Destination)
Imagine your next unit of work as a journey into a city centre. In this post I'll use a journey into the centre of London because it was when working with a school there that I started to use this analogy. You want all your pupils to experience a visit to Buckingham Palace, so you plan a route on the tube. You plan the best route - its economical, its efficient, and, after checking the tube map for stops with wheelchair access, its accessible to all pupils. But you know there

Aidan Severs
Dec 10, 20245 min read
Â
Â


Case Study: Revolutionising Curriculum Delivery in KS2
Explore how a UK primary school transformed its KS2 curriculum delivery, emphasizing open-ended challenges, same-day interventions, and more

Aidan Severs
Nov 12, 20246 min read
Â
Â


New Download Available: History Primary Disciplinary Knowledge - Characteristics and Curriculum Statements
You've been wanting to add some history disciplinary knowledge statements to your curriculum, but if you're honest you're not sure exactly what they should be or how to write them and, quite frankly, you've not had time to work it out. Well, I've done it for you: Included in this download is everything you need to get your curriculum updated with some disciplinary knowledge statements which are all based on the key characteristics of a historian. The images below give a brie

Aidan Severs
Jul 11, 20241 min read
Â
Â


What Can Go Wrong When Writing Your Own Curriculum?
I've seen first-hand what can go wrong in developing curricula, and the additional time and resources that are wasted as a result. Here are a few things to avoid: Forgetting to start with vision and values You have to start with something which is going to underpin all of your curriculum decision-making. Many schools these days have outlined their vision and values, but are not so far along the journey of actually embedding these into everything they do, which should include

Aidan Severs
Jul 2, 20243 min read
Â
Â


What Is A Concept-Based Curriculum?
A while ago I wrote about how to develop a concept-based curriculum ( you can read that here ) and I now just want to take a step back to thinking about what one is and why you might want it. What is a concept? A concept is an idea or a theme. These ideas or themes might be found throughout a subject, or even across different subjects. Take the concept of 'survival' for example: we talk about survival in geography when we are thinking about why a place exists where it is ; we

Aidan Severs
Jun 25, 20244 min read
Â
Â


Starter for 10: Curriculum Development
On the face of it, curriculum development and design appears simple. All you have to do is work out what needs teaching and in what order, right? Well, yeah, kind of. But to have a really excellent curriculum there's much more to it than that. I often get called to help leaders to untangle their curriculum development work and have seen plenty of curriculum documents that have tied their creators up in knots! Over the years I've tried to provide school leaders, and inded anyo

Aidan Severs
Jun 20, 20243 min read
Â
Â


What Even Is A Curriculum Driver?
Let's keep this short and sweet. What is a curriculum driver? A curriculum driver is a principle that guides the development and delivery of that which is to be learned by the children . 'Principle': a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behaviour or for a chain of reasoning' Curriculum drivers can also be thought of as foundations - that which we build the whole curriculum on. Did you know I offer a remote curriculum revie

Aidan Severs
Jun 18, 20242 min read
Â
Â


Primary D&T: Teaching The Iterative Design Process
I wrote this article a while back when I was a deputy head with responsibility for curriculum, teaching and learning, and was in the throws of re-developing a Design & Technology ~(D&T) curriculum I'd only developed a couple of years before. It was published in HWRK Magazine and can be read on their website here . The whole of the issue it appeared in can also be downloaded here . Did you know I offer a remote curriculum review service? Curriculum development benefits from an

Aidan Severs
Jun 6, 20241 min read
Â
Â


The 4 Ps Of The Design & Technology Curriculum
Discover how to revolutionize your design technology curriculum with the 4 Ps approach and learn to teach DT effectively.

Aidan Severs
May 28, 20243 min read
Â
Â


What is substantive knowledge?
Discover exactly what substantive knowledge is. Check out some examples of disciplinary knowledge.

Aidan Severs
May 23, 20242 min read
Â
Â


What is procedural knowledge?
Discover exactly what procedural knowledge is. Check out some examples of disciplinary knowledge.

Aidan Severs
May 23, 20242 min read
Â
Â


What is disciplinary knowledge?
Discover exactly what disciplinary knowledge is. Check out some examples of disciplinary knowledge.

Aidan Severs
May 23, 20242 min read
Â
Â


Curriculum: What Is The Best Kind Of 'Big Question'?
Unlock the secret to crafting the perfect 'Big Question Curriculum' with the ultimate guide. Learn the best question types and their impact.

Aidan Severs
May 21, 20246 min read
Â
Â


How To Write Good Curriculum Statements (And Why I'm Not Calling Them Objectives)
Learn how to craft effective curriculum statements and why they are more than just objectives.

Aidan Severs
May 13, 20244 min read
Â
Â


Curriculum Drivers and Disciplinary Knowledge - What's The Link?
Uncover the vital link between curriculum drivers and disciplinary knowledge.

Aidan Severs
May 7, 20244 min read
Â
Â


Knowledge vs. Skills: What's More Important?
"Skills are a kind of knowledge - a knowledge of how to do something. Different subjects require the teaching of a different balance of know

Aidan Severs
Apr 30, 20244 min read
Â
Â


Featured Article: Interleaving: What Is It And How Can It Improve Memory And Learning In The Maths Classroom?
Here's an article I wrote for Third Space Learning about interleaving. It was fascinating to read the research on this strategy and to think through its implications for the classroom. You can read the whole thing here: https://thirdspacelearning.com/blog/interleaving/ If you would like Aidan to work with your school or organisation, you can get in touch here , or by using the links below:

Aidan Severs
Feb 19, 20241 min read
Â
Â


S1 E5 - Setting Objectives, the National Curriculum & Developing DT Knowledge with Sarah Haigh
The Subject Leaders Podcast S1 E5 - Setting Objectives, the National Curriculum & Developing Teachers' DT Subject Knowledge with Sarah Haigh

Aidan Severs
May 18, 202319 min read
Â
Â


S1 E4: Contextualising Curriculum, Implementation & Teaching Primary History with Vinay Verma
In the fourth episode of The Subject Leaders Podcast we talk to Vinay Verma, an early career teacher and primary history leader. In this episode Vinay and Aidan explore how subject leaders might go about contextualising a school's curriculum in any subject and how to be sensitive to the needs of the school when implementing change. Vinay also shares teaching strategies for teaching the primary history curriculum, answering these three questions: How can subject leaders make s

Aidan Severs
May 11, 20231 min read
Â
Â


What Is A Spiral Curriculum?
I've written a new article for Third Space Learning entitled 'What Is A Spiral Curriculum: A Teacher’s Guide to What, How And When To...

Aidan Severs
May 3, 20231 min read
Â
Â
bottom of page
