A curriculum should be more than a document that sits on a shelf. It should support practitioners to understand what they want children to learn, why it matters and how this can be reflected through everyday practice.

This course will support early years leaders and practitioners to understand what a curriculum is, where to begin and how to build a curriculum that reflects the children, families and community they serve. It will explore how your ethos, values and pedagogy shape your curriculum and how to move beyond a written document to something that can be clearly seen through teaching, interactions, routines, environments and experiences.

Participants will consider how to embed the curriculum across the setting, support practitioners to use it confidently and ensure that it is understood consistently by the whole team. The course will also explore how a clear and well-embedded curriculum supports settings to meet the expectations of the Ofsted Early Years Inspection Toolkit, without creating unnecessary paperwork or developing a curriculum simply for inspection.

Course objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Understand what an early years curriculum is and what it is not.
• Identify where to begin when building or reviewing a curriculum.
• Understand how ethos, values and pedagogy influence curriculum decisions.
• Consider the knowledge, skills and experiences that are important for the children attending their setting.
• Develop a curriculum that is clear, relevant and practical.
• Understand how to embed the curriculum across the setting.
• Support practitioners to use the curriculum confidently in everyday practice.
• Recognise how the curriculum should be reflected through teaching, interactions, routines, environments and experiences.
• Consider how leaders can monitor whether the curriculum is understood and used consistently.
• Understand how the curriculum links to the Ofsted Early Years Inspection Toolkit.
• Build confidence in explaining and discussing the setting’s curriculum.