Redesigning a Key Stage 3 (KS3) curriculum across a school or trust is no small feat. It requires careful planning, collaboration, and a commitment to delivering quality education to students. Whether you're a school or a trust undertaking this task, here are essential steps to guide you through the process:

Begin by defining the attainment bands you wish to use to categorise students' progress. Consider how you'll split students and demonstrate their progress effectively. We've supported schools with a range of attainment bands approaches:

• 5-band model: Emerging, Developing, Securing, Advancing, mastering

• Age-related 9-1 grades: where getting a grade 5 in year 7 means a student is middle attainment and is on track for getting a grade 5 at the end of KS4

• Percentages: Often split in to percentage bands

• Quintiles - where students are split in to 5 equally sized attainment bands

In each subject, identify the key skills or topic areas that will be covered throughout Key Stage 3. This step lays the foundation for curriculum development and ensures alignment across subjects.

Decide whether your assessments will be "test-driven" or "criteria-driven". Criteria-driven assessments work well for projects, open-ended tasks, and practical subjects with a best fit marking grid, and tend to suit subjects like English, Drama, Art, PE. Test-driven assessments suit subjects with tight mark schemes and multiple-choice questions, like Maths, science and Geography.

Consider the frequency of assessments you want to conduct. Will you opt for more low-stakes assessments spread throughout the year or fewer assessments covering broader curriculum areas in more depth? The more frequent you set assessments, the less rigorous they are likely to be. The fewer assessments you do, the more you need to assess a broader body of skill and knowledge. Consider giving your subjects some flexibility or options so they can choose what fits their curriculum best to maximise meaningful assessments.

Do you need a minimum number of marks, number of assessment and the duration for each assessment. Are there skill domains that must be defined and tested? While consistency is beneficial, ensure flexibility to suit the needs of different subjects.

For each unit of work, be clear about the skills or strands being assessed. This clarity aids both teachers and students in understanding assessment expectations. Providing an easy to read assessment plan for each subject to helps communicate expectations for all teachers, leaders students and parents.

Create mark schemes and assessments tailored to your chosen approach that match the skills assessed. For criteria-driven subjects, consider using descriptive grading across the curriculum.

• Collect and analyse assessment data systematically.

• Ask key questions to ensure the validity of the data and adjust assessments accordingly.

• Identify students' progress and areas for improvement, providing support as needed.

• Compare assessments across teachers and departments to identify best practices and areas for development.

• Analyse data across multiple assessments to track progress over time and identify trends.

• Continuously refine assessments and teaching strategies based on data insights.

• View curriculum development as an iterative process, constantly evolving based on insights from assessment data.

• Adjust assessments and teaching strategies in response to student performance.

• Provide targeted support to address individual students' needs.

• Remove scaffolding gradually as students' skills develop.

• Regularly review and refine the curriculum to ensure it meets the needs of all learners.

Redesigning a Key Stage 3 curriculum requires careful consideration and ongoing evaluation. By following these steps and continually reflecting on assessment data, schools and trusts can create a curriculum that supports student progress and achievement effectively.

Remember, the key to success lies in flexibility, collaboration, and a commitment to continuous improvement - and our team of account managers are on hand to help. With dedication and strategic planning, schools and trusts can provide students with a rich and meaningful educational experience throughout their Key Stage 3 journey.