KS2 Continuous Provision: Ensuring Curriculum Coverage

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One of the key challenges when designing and delivering continuous provision to any age group, but particularly in KS2, is ensuring that there is curriculum coverage.

LA schools are required to cover the national curriculum, and most MATs choose to do so as they attempt to deliver a 'balanced and broadly based curriculum'. In these settings, there will always be a curriculum to be covered.

So, how do you allow children a degree of independence that is over and above a more traditional structure whilst still ensuring that they learn the things you want them to learn?

Masterclasses, Apprentice Tasks and Showcases

I've written about these before, so won't say too much here.

Masterclasses are a way of ensuring children are still being taught substantive, procedural and disciplinary knowledge by adults. Without this knowledge, they won't be able to complete apprentice tasks meaningfully, nor will they be able to engage with the resources provided in areas of continuous provision as productively as possible. Masterclasses may be taught to a whole class, but often work better when a smaller group is targeted.

Apprentice Tasks are a small number of open-ended tasks which are designed to be worked on over a long period of time - a project, if you will. Teachers may set a loose outcome, or task type, however it is up to the children to decide exactly what their final outcome will look like. It is also the goal that children manage their progress towards the goal.

Showcase events at the end of a term or half term (or any given time period - I'm more and more convinced that we shouldn't be shackled by arbitrary school calendars) provide children with some additional motivation, and a real audience and purpose for their work. These could be decided by teachers, or by teachers in collaboration with children. Examples might be art exhibitions, enterprise events, fashion shows, music or drama performances, readings and more. Parents, children, community members and governers can all be invited to these.

See the following blog post for more: Case Study: Revolutionising Curriculum Delivery in KS2

Routines and Scaffolds for Continuous Provision in KS2

As with anything in a primary school, continuous provision in KS2 runs more smoothly when routines are in place. Ultimately, you want children to know what they are supposed to be doing. Instilling particular ways of doing things is not indoctrination, it's actually the development of metacognitive strategies which children carry out with a degree of automaticity. And that automaticity is what allows them to apply their brain power to do new things with what they have learned.

Examples of routines that help with continuous provision in KS2 are: how to organise and tidy each area; how to carry out particular processes and use certain materials required in each area e.g. how to use a hacksaw (health and safety routines are necessary in some cases); how to prioritise tasks (a sequence of questions is useful here); having a limit on the number of children in each area.

One of the main aims of continuous provision is independence. There will be varying degrees of independence based on the tasks and the resources in areas of continuous provision. Children will be very familiar with some materials, processes and tasks because they have encountered them before. However, as the curriculum is progressive (you really need to make sure it is), there will be things they are less familiar with. For these things you can provide scaffolds. And remember, children will have different prior knowledge and experiences, some will remember certain things that others have forgotten - you will need to create scaffolds on an individual basis sometimes.

Examples of scaffolds that help with continuous provision in KS2 are: photographs of what a tidy area of provision looks like; success criteria checklists; planning frames; blank calendars so children can create long-term plans; sentence stems and vocabulary lists linked to specific tasks and generic tasks such as planning; prompts to accompany materials e.g. writing prompts in a writing are.

Conferencing and Check-ins

I've written before about the role of the adult when children are working. All that thinking and writing was completed with KS2 continuous provision in mind. Although the above are all useful in ensuring children are learning the curriculum, adult interaction is the key - the most crucial and critical part to get right.

Wanting children to work independently does not mean leaving them to it. There are two structured ways to ensure that children are learning what they should be learning when it comes to adult interaction:

Check-ins are the more informal of the two. This is akin to that circling of the classroom that you might do even in the most traditional of set-ups. This is where that non-stop formative assessment takes place. This is where you get the first idea that some children need something additional, something different or just a repeat of what has gone before - it's where responsive or adaptive teaching begins. Check-ins also help to ensure children are doing something and not just wasting time - if they know it won't be long until an adult is coming, they will be less tempted to do nothing (or the wrong thing).

Check-ins are an opportunity to prioritise certain children - the ones you've identified as being less independent in certain tasks, for example. They are also an opportunity to engage in questioning and sustained shared thinking which helps children to move on in their thinking and understanding.

Using check-ins in conjunction with some of the scaffolds mentioned above (e.g. success criteria checklists; planning frames; blank calendars so children can create long-term plans) can really help children to stay on track with their apprentice tasks. When used in combination, teachers can see at a glance how well pupils are working towards their goals.

During check-ins, teachers may collect evidence of children's work, if that is something required by the school.

Conferencing is more formal, takes longer and therefore happens less. Conferencing is 1:1 time spent with a child to find out how they are getting on and to help them with their goal- and action-setting. It can also be an opportunity to provide bespoke teaching, although it is more likely to provide a teacher with the information they need to respond in future teaching episodes (e.g. in masterclasses). Conferencing is aided by a simple list of pupils which the teacher works through (the order can be prioritised based on need) to ensure that they have spent formal 1:1 time with each pupil during the course of an period of time (e.g. two weeks - ideally conferencing will take place multiple times during the period that pupils are completing apprentice tasks).

Conferencing is a great opportunity for teachers to make notes and update any assessment systems they might have for the purposes of data collection and evidencing.

Although I'm biased, reading this blog post will be really useful if you are thinking of implementing continuous provision in KS2: What Should Adults Be Doing When Children Are Working?

Ensuring Curriculum Coverage in KS2 Continuous Provision

Although curriculum coverage is certainly a challenge when designing and delivering continuous provision in KS2, it isn't impossible. A combination of the above approaches allow for an adult-orchestrated approach to teaching and learning that still allows children a greater degree of autonomy and independence than in other curriculum delivery approaches.

If you're ready to make changes to the way your curriculum is delivered, here's your 3-step curriculum development plan:

1. Drop me an email

2. Have a phone call with me to talk about your school

3. We'll work together to empower you and your staff to enhance teaching and to enrich your pupils' lives

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KS2 Continuous Provision: Ensuring Curriculum Coverage

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