Open Futures offers senior leaders a strategic framework to achieve their vision. Involvement in the programme, gives ‘permission’ and lots of support to adopt the Open Futures approach to learning and teaching which connects with deeply held values amongst teachers and school leaders. Open Futures sits at the heart of curriculum development, underpinning it both in ethos and in practice.
In engaging with the four strands of Open Futures, schools can involve pupils in fresh, motivating, highly practical learning experiences which:
- fulfil the aims of the new Primary Curriculum – successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens
- fully support its essentials for learning and life – literacy, numeracy and ICT, skills and attitudes, personal development
- offer exciting ways of developing all six of the six areas of learning with an increased emphasis on first-hand experiences or ‘learning by doing’
- deliver the outcomes of Every Child Matters
- help to develop partnerships between schools and their communities, drawing in skilled adults to work alongside teachers in providing and delivering the curriculum. By encouraging community involvement it also supports community cohesion.
However, Open Futures recognises that the needs and circumstances of each school are unique. This is where Open Futures comes into its own. It is not a rigid prescription, but an adaptable and responsive scheme designed to let individual schools make the most of their situation by personalising their approach. It achieves this in a fun, alternative and creative way, enhancing the curriculum and helping schools work towards other nationally-defined goals, such as becoming sustainable and encouraging good health.
Find out more in the Open Futures curriculum section.
Open Futures has supported schools’ visions for “new, relevant and different ways of engaging with and being excited by learning, in order to raise aspirations and self-confidence in learning”.
