Cornerstones Curriculum 22: a fully sequenced and interconnected primary curriculum

Curriculum

Ofsted

05th July 2021

Cornerstones Curriculum 22: a fully sequenced and interconnected primary curriculum
Cornerstones Curriculum 22: a fully sequenced and interconnected primary curriculum

Our fully sequenced, connected curriculum puts you ahead of the game for meeting current educational expectations.

There’s no avoiding it; having a well-sequenced, ambitious and connected curriculum is one of the most critical priorities for primary schools in England. It’s central to Ofsted’s quality of education judgement, so your curriculum needs to be expertly constructed to enable your children to know and do more, particularly if you’re due an inspection.

Correctly sequencing your curriculum and deciding which concepts, knowledge and skills to include, is a complex, time-consuming task that demands curriculum and subject expertise. Our curriculum has everything you need to achieve this, saving you time, money, and unnecessary stress and workload.

Primary school in Wales? Read our tips on using Cwricwlwm Maestro to implement your curriculum here.

What is Curriculum 22?

Curriculum 22 is a fully sequenced and interconnected curriculum that begins in Nursery and develops across the key stages to Year 6. Available on our online platform, Curriculum Maestro, the curriculum is ambitious in content and expertly crafted, with stringent sequencing and a web of multidisciplinary and subject-concept connections. The curriculum is specially designed to help children build and sequence knowledge and skills without cognitive overload. In short, we’ve done all the structural work for you, so you’re free to focus on personalising the finer details to reflect the unique character of your school.

What is the structure of Curriculum 22?

Curriculum 22 is carefully designed to help children build and retain the required subject knowledge and skills to help them build their understanding of the concepts of the curriculum. Built on the national curriculum programmes of study, the curriculum begins with Big Ideas or macro concepts that steer the whole curriculum. These Big Ideas are broken down into smaller subject-specific concepts and aspects. These are further broken down to form a robust knowledge and skills framework that underpins the whole curriculum. The framework provides you with clear endpoints and curriculum-related expectations, from the Early Years to Year 6.

Our curriculum terminology
big ideaHigher-level, larger concepts that link subjects and connect the whole curriculum.
aspectKey concepts and smaller component parts of larger concepts.
knowledgeSpecific facts or truth components that include substantive, declarative or explicit statements.
skillUse and application of composite knowledge. A skill statement will often contain implicit, procedural and disciplinary knowledge.

View the Curriculum 22 overview

Curriculum 22 Booklet

View the history subject overview sample

How is curriculum 22 sequenced? 

Curriculum sequencing is the most critically important part of your curriculum. Without the correct sequencing, children will not have the building blocks to create a robust subject or concept schema. An effective curriculum needs correct sequencing within and across the subjects. This is so that concepts that span multiple subjects are cohesively mapped for maximum cognitive impact.

For example, the diagram in the download below demonstrates how the concept of climate is constructed and sequenced across our curriculum.

View curriculum sequencing example

Listen to our podcast episode on curriculum sequencing

Sequencing subject-specific vocabulary

Subject-specific vocabulary is a crucial part of a well sequenced curriculum. Vocabulary should be carefully mapped out across your curriculum to clarify when technical vocabulary phrases are introduced and revisited. In our curriculum, vocabulary is clearly mapped to ensure that children learn the correct words and phrases in the right order. This enables children to articulate their learning with confidence.

Organisation of content

The content of our curriculum is broad, varied and engaging and covers all statutory content set out in the subject programmes of study. In Years 1 to 6, curriculum content is organised into a range of main and mini subject-driven projects. Main projects span a whole term and are focused on geography and history. The main curriculum projects also include English packs and a book or novel study. Mini projects can be taught over a term or half term and are subject-focused for science, art and design, and design technology. The curriculum also includes White Rose Maths termly projects.

Our Early Years projects are carefully sequenced into half-termly main and mini projects for Nursery and Reception.

Download the Cornerstones Curriculum 22 overviews below.

View Cornerstones Curriculum 22 overview (single age)

View Cornerstones Curriculum 22 overview (mixed age)

Adaptable and flexible

Our curriculum and supporting resources live in one place on our online platform, Curriculum Maestro. Maestro allows all your curriculum documentation, planning, timetabling and assessments to be stored and organised so that they are easy to edit, adapt and share across the school. Sharing your curriculum amongst all stakeholders is incredibly easy.  Moreover, the flexibility and functionality of Maestro enable you to adapt and edit lesson and project content and take account of your school’s needs, strengths and context.

‘We’re strong advocates of Maestro: it’s allowed our teachers to focus on how to teach, not just what to teach.’  Justin Cowley, Deputy Headteacher, Mendell Primary School

Book a demo of the curriculum and platform

A brand-new area on Maestro 

All schools who implement Curriculum 22 will be able to access a brand-new area of Curriculum Maestro called CurriculumPRO. CurriculumPRO enables you to view and demonstrate the sequencing and connectivity of this curriculum at the click of a button. We’re confident CurriculumPRO will become an invaluable tool for all school and curriculum leaders wanting to demonstrate their curriculum provision, both internally and externally.

Want to find out more?

Book a demo of the curriculum and platform

Curriculum 22 information booklet

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    Reviews Book a Demo Reviews
    10/12/2021

    We are in a much better place with CM than with our old curriculum. We will be making it more bespoke in the second year.

    Conrad Fox – Headteacher, Hunmanby Primary School, England

    16/11/2021

    I have used Cornerstones from its first launch. The product has been refined over time as it is driven by feedback from schools and teachers delivering the content. The company is also responsive to a school's needs.

    Lindsey Wain – Deputy headteacher, Hartburn Primary School, England

    04/11/2021

    Maestro is a real time saver, particularly for leadership teams and subject leaders. There is a wealth of information and resources which can be used and adapted by creative skills teachers. The way the curriculum is mapped is excellent and was commented on in a very recent Ofsted inspection.

    Charlotte Gibbins – Thurlstone Primary School, England

    17/09/2021

    I have recommended and told many other schools and school staff about it. I would always though suggest that they need to ensure it is right for their school setting and the needs of their staff and pupils.

    Kathryn – Teacher, Langton Primary School

    20/01/2021

    It has been a revelation. Staff are finding their way through it and if we have any questions, the support from Cornerstones is amazing. We always get answers to our questions. It is now our one-stop-shop for curriculum with linked up thinking and approach through an intuitive and user-friendly system.

    Moira Cross – Executive head, Dordon Primary School