1. If you have worked through some of the early activities
in this pack, you should already have a clear picture of
what you want to achieve for your learners.
You will know the sort of things you need to teach each
year group based on the national curriculum content.
But have you tried to make the connection between
the two? How are you going to achieve the outcomes
you want through the different elements of the
national curriculum programmes of study?
You may find it helpful to think of:
• the national curriculum content as the leaves of a
tree; and
• the skills, attitudes and attributes you want to
develop in learners as the roots.
The curriculum tree picture (resource B)
shows how this might look. Many schools
focus their planning on the leaves (the
curriculum content), but it is important that
learning experiences are organised that will also
develop strong roots (the skills, attitudes and
attributes).
The challenge is to look at both the leaves and the
roots – what you have to teach and the outcomes you
want to achieve – and to see how you can make the
connection between the two by designing effective
learning experiences. These learning experiences
form the trunk of the tree: the activities, lessons and
events that link the leaves to the roots.
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HOW will you organise learning?A
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Connecting leaves to roots
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© Qualifications and Curriculum Authority

2. PRACTICAL ACTION: Designing effective
learning experiences (sturdy tree trunks)
Encourage colleagues from different year groups
to work together to design learning experiences
that make a connection between the curriculum
content they need to include and the outcomes
they want to achieve for learners.
To begin, give them a copy of resource C
and ask them to fill in the leaves and
roots for their year group.
Then ask them to take one leaf and one or two
roots and to think creatively about what
learning activity they could design to
connect the two. They could use a copy
of resource D to make notes on:
• the leaves (content) – what are the key
learning objectives?
• the roots (outcomes) – what wider skills do they
want to promote?
• the trunk (learning experiences) – what learning
activity are they going to plan? How long will this
take and how will time be organised? Who
needs to be involved? Where will the learning
take place? How does this link to other subjects
or prior learning?
Take a look at resource E for inspiration,
which gives three examples of how one
school connected the leaves to the roots
when teaching the Victorians to year 6
learners.
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TALKING POINT: How does your
school approach planning?
Share the curriculum tree picture with
colleagues.
• As a school, are you clear about both the leaves
you need to cover and the roots you want to
achieve?
• At the moment, do you tend to start planning
from the leaves or the roots?
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