Product reviews for A Curious Curriculum

You might have thought that snakes and ladders is a children’s board game, first played in ancient India in the thirteenth century. It turns out that snakes and ladders is, in fact, the narrative structure behind Olympus Trust’s journey towards a curious curriculum – five years of ups and downs towards a curriculum and a pedagogy that is genuinely changing children’s lives through their learning.

Starting at the bottom of the metaphorical board, where school leaders could see that what was going on in their primary classrooms was not securing the sort of learning they wanted, this book charts the journey towards the top left square. Acknowledging that curricular and pedagogical development is a living thing and not a start-and-finish activity, the curriculum that has been developed is ‘curious’ for both teachers and pupils, and showcases the fascination of learning seen through the eyes of the children.

This is an honest account, and an entertaining read, which resonates with experience, humour (do you know if chickens have belly buttons? Read on to find out), and a genuine understanding of the reality for teachers and head teachers working to do better in schools – both the snakes and the ladders they face in trying to find a way to avoid the morning rigour and afternoon muddle that often characterises primary timetables.

A Curious Curriculum doesn’t offer an off-the-shelf solution (although QR codes link directly to resources for readers), but rather a lively buffet of what a curriculum could be – for those brave enough, and curious enough, to try.