{"id":8774,"date":"2024-08-28T10:20:03","date_gmt":"2024-08-28T09:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cornerstoneseducation.co.uk\/?post_type=case-studies&p=8774"},"modified":"2025-01-03T13:31:06","modified_gmt":"2025-01-03T13:31:06","slug":"queen-emmas-primary-school","status":"publish","type":"case-studies","link":"https:\/\/cornerstoneseducation.co.uk\/case-studies\/queen-emmas-primary-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Queen Emma\u2019s Primary School"},"content":{"rendered":"
Getting started<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

The headteacher at Queen Emma\u2019s Primary<\/a>, Vicky Musson, was one of the first school leaders to trial Maestro<\/a> back in summer 2019 and recognised its potential right from the start. \u2018When I first saw Maestro, I was incredibly excited, but I don\u2019t think I was expecting what it looks like now. I didn\u2019t realise the functions were going to develop and be as advanced as they are.\u2019<\/p>\n\n

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Curriculum intent<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Vicky kickstarted her curriculum plan using the curriculum statement and principles section on Maestro. Here, she defined the school\u2019s curriculum intent based on its context and inclusive approach: \u2018It\u2019s a Mary Myatt phrase: \u2018Our curriculum is an explicit and deliberate guarantor of equality.\u2019 So, whatever we do is to ensure that we secure equity and equality.\u2019 To support this, Vicky wanted the curriculum<\/a> to have a well-designed structure. \u2018Our curriculum is coherently planned and sequenced<\/a> towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge and skills for the next stage of education.\u2019<\/p>\n\n

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Sharing the vision<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Vicky then worked quickly to make sure that staff shared the curriculum vision. \u2018You need to reassure everybody, remind everybody and share the rationale behind why we\u2019re doing what we are doing.\u2019 She also ensured that teachers had logged in and were using Maestro<\/a> in their day to day planning, teaching and assessment to deliver the school\u2019s intended curriculum programme. <\/p>\n\n

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Accessing content and resources<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Having taught the Cornerstones Curriculum<\/a> for over three years, Queen Emma\u2019s was already familiar with most of the projects<\/a> housed on Maestro. However, Vicky is excited by the subject depth offered by the new sequenced projects<\/a> which will be added to Maestro over the coming months: \u2018The new sequenced projects support our curriculum intent and we\u2019re incredibly excited to add them to our curriculum. We know that to be creative, we need knowledge. The children definitely have more knowledge now and are very, very confident.\u2019<\/p>\n\n

The teaching resources are valued by staff and are easily accessible now, on Maestro<\/a>, within each lesson area. Vicky is impressed with the new knowledge organisers<\/a> and says that they are particularly helpful for teaching assistants. \u2018We\u2019re expecting them to support those children in their learning and they need to know that knowledge as well.\u2019 The glossaries and word mats are also helping to extend children\u2019s vocabulary, as reading is a top priority in the school.<\/p>\n\n

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Ensuring coverage and progression<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

With their curriculum projects<\/a> in place, Maestro gives Vicky and her team the ability to see actual, not just intended, coverage and progression in school. This is one of Vicky\u2019s favourite features, as it helps staff to quickly spot and fill in any gaps in coverage. The whole task of subject leadership<\/a> has been made much smoother since using it. \u2018We don\u2019t have subject leaders at our school, because it\u2019s all on Maestro. Instead, we have assistant school leaders that oversee each Key Stage. We\u2019ve had discussions in past meetings, that intended coverage doesn\u2019t necessarily mean actual coverage, so making sure that there\u2019s some consistency across the Key Stage is important.\u2019<\/p>\n\n

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Ofsted\u2019s curriculum focus<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

The school\u2019s last inspection was in September 2018, where they were judged as \u2018good\u2019 after many years of dedicated school improvement work. Vicky is confident that Queen Emma\u2019s Primary School is more than meeting the new inspection requirements, particularly as the focus has shifted towards the quality of education and curriculum. \u2018All of your teachers need to know what went before and what\u2019s coming after in the curriculum. Maestro<\/a> enables teachers to log on and see that, so I\u2019m really excited. I\u2019m quite looking forward to Ofsted coming back in.\u2019<\/p>\n\n

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A consistent approach<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

As well as being the headteacher at Queen Emma\u2019s, Vicky is the Director of Education across the Mill Academy Trust and has ensured that both primary sites are using Maestro for a joined-up approach. Staff regularly plan together, and the subject leaders from the linked secondary, The Henry Box School<\/a>, also get involved. School leaders are as excited about Maestro as Vicky. \u2018They are really interested in the lesson builder, which allows teachers to adapt and edit lesson content and sequencing.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Vicky has also shared Maestro with the educational leadership expert, Professor John West-Burnham, who is Chair of Board at the Mill Academy Trust, \u2018He was so impressed with it and likened it to great education systems abroad. He spoke about how it standardises and raises the expectation, creating consistency across schools.\u2019<\/p>\n\n

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Making it right for the school<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Like many primary schools, Queen Emma\u2019s teaches classes with children from mixed-age groups<\/a>. Vicky finds that the functionality of Maestro supports age-related teaching. \u2018Maestro enables us to give each year group a different diet within the curriculum. It helps us to do that when we look at the intended progression of the programmes of study.\u2019<\/p>\n\n

Vicky finds the curriculum gap identifying feature very useful, along with the flexibility to add in bespoke projects written for the school. \u2018We\u2019ve already put the Daily Mile onto Maestro, because that meets some of the gaps that we may have. It\u2019s really exciting.\u2019<\/p>\n\n

As the school has prioritised reading, wellbeing and inclusion, Vicky wanted to ensure consistency and reliability in the curriculum. Maestro helps to give her that reassurance. To meet the children\u2019s diverse needs, there are many important interventions in place that need to run smoothly. \u2018The Cornerstones Curriculum<\/a> is just one part of the wider curriculum offered at Queen Emma\u2019s Primary School.\u2019<\/p>\n\n

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Looking to the future<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Vicky and her staff have been impressed with the amount of time and workload that Maestro<\/a> has saved them. They look forward to seeing their curriculum go from strength to strength, supporting all children, whatever their backgrounds or needs, to learn and grow.  <\/p>\n\n

\u2018Our success is a testament to everybody\u2019s work here. It\u2019s such a great team and we have worked incredibly hard, but we\u2019ve worked hard on the right things for our context.\u2019 says Vicky.  <\/p>\n\n

We wish Vicky, her staff and the children continued success and happiness for the future. <\/p>\n\n

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About the school<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Queen Emma\u2019s Primary School is a community school in Witney, Oxfordshire. The school is part of the Mill Academy Trust, which includes The Henry Box School and a small rural school, Finstock Church of England Primary School<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n\n

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\"Enquire<\/a><\/figure>\n\n
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<\/div>\n <\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Making the most of Maestro.<\/p>\n

Queen Emma\u2019s Primary School in Witney, Oxfordshire, adopted the Cornerstones Curriculum in 2016. Last year, the school began using the new online platform, Maestro, to design, deliver and manage their curriculum and are already seeing significant benefits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":8942,"template":"","class_list":["post-8774","case-studies","type-case-studies","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nQueen Emma's Primary School | Case Study<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vicky Musson, Headteacher, was one of the first school leaders to trial Maestro in 2019 and recognised it's potential right from the start.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cornerstoneseducation.co.uk\/case-studies\/queen-emmas-primary-school\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Queen Emma\u2019s Primary 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