Research School Network: Applying cognitive science approaches to redesigning the curriculum by Hannah Boag, Head Teacher of Surlingham and Rockland Primary School and Nursery

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Applying cognitive science approaches to redesigning the curriculum

by Hannah Boag, Head Teacher of Surlingham and Rockland Primary School and Nursery

Recently, our team of inspiring subject leaders has completely redesigned our curriculum, grounding it in the principles of cognitive science. We asked ourselves: What are the implications of cognitive science for curriculum planning? How can we apply these principles meaningfully to enhance children’s learning?

We are two small village schools with subject leaders working across both schools on a shared curriculum. The exploration and preparation stages of this journey took nearly two years and involved extensive reflection. We are now implementing the new curriculum. Early evaluations — through book scrutiny, teaching observations, and pupil voice — show that children are gaining a deeper understanding of curriculum areas. They are developing knowledge, skills, and understanding that will stick’ year after year.

Why cognitive science?


Developing teaching skills based on cognitive science must be at the heart of our practice. Recent research has improved our understanding of how the brain supports learning. Understanding how we learn has implications right across our practice: pedagogy, routines, curriculum design and relationships. The more we learn about the brain, the more we understand about what children need in order to succeed at school.

Taking the opportunity to rethink our curriculum has allowed us to consider the basic foundations of curriculum design and development. We wanted our curriculum to be built upon a rigorous understanding about the science of long-term memory, cognitive load theory and ideas about spacing and interleaving to promote learning and retention.

A vision rooted in our community


However, when we set off on our journey, we realised that the basic underpinning principles of our current curriculum were unclear and confusing. Our vision and values needed to be more succinct, to enable each subject leader to design their curriculum within an overarching idea that belonged to us: our schools, our communities, and our pupils. This rethinking of the curriculum intent would allow us to reduce the extraneous load of the curriculum and ensure we focused on the core knowledge that mattered.

To support the development of our curriculum, we asked the parents, the children and the staff what was special and unique about our schools. We held focus groups and conducted surveys. The answers were unequivocal: enjoyment of learning; appreciation of the natural world and the environment; a passionate commitment to taking children on trips and visits; and optimising every opportunity to enrich children’s learning. We discussed our unique identity as small village schools at the heart of village communities; we recognised that our schools serve these communities and provide a unique education.

Children flourish when they are offered inspiring and creative learning experiences within a supportive and engaging environment


From this work we identified our core vision: Children flourish when they are offered inspiring and creative learning experiences within a supportive and engaging environment. Our children leave school with confidence and self-belief. They are kind, caring, and make a difference to their community. We provide a wide range of exciting learning opportunities which promote engagement, and a love of learning. Our children are curious, creative, and imaginative. We are proud of our learners; we challenge them to strive for excellence and do their very best.

Putting our vision into practice


Once we had distilled this vision and felt that it belonged to us, subject leaders wrote their subject curriculum intent which supported the vision of the school.

They incorporated strategies like spacing and interleaving to enhance learning. We organised dedicated days to redesign topic sequencing, identifying meaningful cross-subject links to reduce cognitive load and deepen understanding. David Ausubel’s research emphasises how connecting learning makes it meaningful. By breaking information into manageable chunks, we help students absorb new knowledge. Subject leaders created opportunities for students to build schemas by linking prior learning to new concepts.

The brain needs to make sense of new information by connecting it to prior knowledge. Subject leaders ensured core knowledge developed progressively from EYFS to Year 6, using regular retrieval practice. Sequencing was carefully planned so content built logically, supporting skill and knowledge progression.

To ensure we remained focused, we decided to use knowledge organisers each half term to ensure that the core knowledge for each subject is clear. Teachers use subject progression maps to see the journey that children have been on since year 1, or even earlier, and use this to help them design knowledge organisers. The knowledge organisers give us the foundation on which to assess the children’s understanding and enables our subject leaders to have a really clear understanding of what the children know allowing them to quality assure the subject provision children are receiving in each lesson.

Cognitive Science approaches embedded into the curriculum


We discussed retrieval and learnt about the ways in which information is first encoded into short-term memory, the relevant neurons in the brain forming new connections and pathways. These initial connections are relatively weak, and the memory traces are fragile. This led to discussion (debates!) on how frequently pupils should return to core knowledge – when it is appropriate to remember what we learnt last week, last month, last year. The Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve demonstrates how information is lost over time when there is no attempt to retain it. The rate of forgetting can be reduced through several techniques: spaced repetition (reviewing information at increasing intervals); active recall (testing yourself rather than just re-reading); and meaningful learning (connecting new information to existing knowledge). Teachers have trialled and shared different approaches to retrieval practice in each lesson which consolidate learning over time, as well as being engaging (and fun) for pupils.

Context significantly impacts retention and application of learning. Subject leaders enhanced the curriculum with enrichment activities — both beyond the classroom and through engaging classroom-based projects. Some experiences were cross-curricular, such as visits to the Sainsbury Centre for Art, which also supported History and Geography objectives. These memorable, exciting experiences help build children’s schemas across subjects.

Our curriculum redesign took about two years, but this careful, reflective approach built strong foundations and secured team-wide commitment. Now, as we implement the new curriculum, we are seeing its positive impact on pupils. Knowledge organisers are popular, with children enjoying demonstrating their knowledge during pupil voice sessions. Enrichment activities remain engaging but are now more purposeful within the structured curriculum. Progression maps are thoughtfully designed, and subject leaders have deepened their subject knowledge and understanding.

The collaborative process involving our team and wider school community has been transformative. Our understanding of how cognitive science informs curriculum development and pedagogy has grown. We are proud of the work we have done, and we are looking forward to continuing to implement our new curriculum and celebrating its impact on pupils.



Cognitive Science Approaches in the Classroom EEF
Cognitive science approaches in the classroom | EEF

Why don’t children like school?
, Daniel Willingham, 2010

The Curriculum
– Gallimaufry to Coherence, Mary Myatt, 2018

Theory of Meaningful Learning
, Ausubel,1968

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