The programme
Play, Deliberately Designed
A curriculum designed on purpose, not left to chance. A whole setting redesign across environment, pedagogy, resources, culture and assessment, delivered across an academic year.
Four days on site, working alongside your team rather than presenting at them. Then ten moderation reviews of one hour, six fortnightly through the term that follows the on-site work, then four monthly.
Most schools arrive here from the Audit or from The Enquiry. Neither commits you to this, and either fee credits against it.
How it runs
Four stages across the year
Each stage ends somewhere definite, so you always know what has changed and what comes next.
Review and reflect
Where the provision actually is, measured against a written standard rather than an impression.
Reimagine and plan
What it should become, designed with your team rather than handed to them.
Implement and trial
Environment, pedagogy, resources, culture and assessment, changed in sequence rather than all at once.
Embed and evaluate
Ten moderation reviews across the year. We moderate the work against the plan, write to your Head after each one, and hand the systems to your team.
The scope
Five things change, in sequence
Changing one without the others is why improvement work usually fades by February. These move together.
Environment
The room is the third teacher, never the first. What is within reach and what is protected, decided and revisited by adults who know what they are watching for.
Pedagogy
What the adults do. When to step in, when to step back, and how to name the learning in what they are watching.
Resources
What you buy, what you stop buying, and how materials are offered so children can use them without asking.
Culture
The shared definition of good, so that provision holds from room to room and survives the August staff change.
Assessment
Progress you can show, from play you did not have to interrupt. Light to run, moderated across the phase, and readable by a board member in five minutes.
Not every school changes all five. Some things are fixed by the group, or already working. The audit tells us which, and the proposal that follows covers what your school actually needs.
The outcome
What you are left with
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Play looks busy but nobody can explain the learning | Every adult can name the learning in any activity, on the spot |
| Nobody has agreed what good play means in this school | One shared definition, applied in every room |
| Assessment varies by teacher and by class | One system, moderated, consistent across the phase |
| Observations are filed and never used | Observation shapes the next step for the child |
| Planning is topic led and fixed weeks ahead | Planning follows the child |
| Quality depends on individual teachers | Quality is built into the system and survives staff turnover |
Where to start
Two ways in, and which one suits you depends on what you already know about your own provision. If you cannot see inside the phase, start with the Audit. If you already know what you want to change, start with The Enquiry.
If you know you want the whole setting designed, book a call and we will talk it through.
The fee is fixed and agreed in writing before any work begins. Fees exclude travel.
Whichever route you come in by, that fee credits against the programme.