EDUCATION secretary Michael Gove has announced a major review of the National Curriculum for schools.
But Shepley First School is one step ahead of him.
The review is led by the Department for Education and supported by a panel of experts including teachers, academics, and business representatives.
It plans to overhaul the current system which has seen Britain plummet in international league tables.
It aims to replace the current curriculum with one based on the best school systems in the world and provide a world-class resource for teachers and children.
The review will consider what subjects should be compulsory at what age and consider what children should be taught in the main subjects at what age.
The review also aims to give schools greater freedom to develop their curriculums to meet the needs of their pupils – and that’s what has been done at Shepley.
The school started its own curriculum review in September and adopted the International Primary Curriculum (IPC), which is proving a big hit with pupils and staff alike.
Sarah Crozier, deputy headteacher at Shepley, said the IPC was more suited to the children because it gave them a global view on the world, which is essential for later life.
She said: “It is packed full of fun activities and we all know children learn best when they are having fun!”
Classes at the school have been re-named after capital cities of the world and children are learning through a series of units which aim to focus on a combination of academic, personal and international learning.
The IPC was launched in 2000 and units studied last between four and eight weeks.
Examples include Treasure, Rainforest, Mission to Mars and Beyond, and Fit for Life.
At Shepley, children from year five in Class Nairobi have already enjoyed a visit from Carl, the Minister of Chocolate, who helped them explore where it came from, when it first became popular and Fair Trade issues.
They learned about Cacao pods and beans and used tempered chocolate at the right temperature to make a personalised bar of their own.
Parents and children were enthralled by the topic. One said: “It was fun but educational. I loved the bit where we got to taste the chocolate.”
A parent said: “It was lovely to watch how engaged the children were and how much knowledge they had soaked up in such a short time.”
Year two children in Washington DC class have been learning about the circus, making juggling balls and learning to juggle, creating oil pastel clown faces and finding out how circuses began in Roman times.
They finished the topic in style by being entertained by professional clown Pepe Roni, the crazy Italian chef.
Children from years three and four chose fashion as their topic and learned about style in the 60s, 70s and 80s, including flower power, flares and punks and miniskirts and legwarmers.
They also got close up and personal to history in their dinosaurs theme by becoming paleontologists for the day, digging up bones in the school garden and making fossils.
