The recently published Curriculum and Assessment Review (CAR) Final Report confirms that ambition must lie at the heart of a new system of education. It sets out a vision whereby every pupil should have access to “a rich, aspirational and challenging offer” – that is, a curriculum designed not just for many, but for all. 

The review emphasises that ambition for every learner means more than raising the bar – it means ensuring no pupil is left behind, and that ambition is realised through curriculum design, teaching, and assessment working in harmony. 

As we respond to this agenda in our schools, the question becomes: how do we keep our curriculum ambitious for every learner, especially as change looms? In this piece, we outline six practical levers to help school leaders, middle leaders and teachers embed ambition for all – drawing on the research and practice we explored in How Do They Do It?.

1. Ambition begins with clarity of purpose

Every ambitious curriculum starts with this question: what do we want every pupil to know, understand, and be able to do? In our book, we make the point that ambition is not simply a display on a wall but is visible in the quality of pupils’ work.

The CAR underlines that schools need to articulate an entitlement: the national curriculum must be for all children and young people, and should be inclusive in design.

Without clarity of purpose, ambition becomes a slogan rather than a coherent practice.

To act on this:

• Review your curriculum intent statements: do they specify outcomes for all learners – including those with disrupted learning, special educational needs or disadvantage?
• When planning units, ask: can teachers articulate the ambitious end-point for each learner group?
• Use professional development to bring teachers together to examine examples of strong pupil work and discuss: was this ambitious? Why? How might we raise it further?

2. Ambition demands intelligent sequencing

Ambitious work isn’t about giving the hardest material first, nor about revisiting the same material without progression. It’s about building a staircase, not erecting a wall. In our research, we saw two common mistakes: one, ambition set too low (re-visiting rather than deepening); two, ambition set too high (introducing content before pupils are ready).

The CAR emphasises coherence and progression. It signals that linking prior learning, increasing complexity and ensuring curriculum continuity across key stages are vital. 

Actions to support this:

• Audit schemes of work: check that each unit connects to prior learning and shows how pupils will progress to something more challenging.
• Plan for learners who may need scaffolded or bridge units so they are ready for ambitious work.
• Create opportunities to revisit, consolidate and then apply knowledge in increasingly complex contexts.
  

3. Ambition is outward-looking

If ambition is entirely internalised, it can become complacent. The most ambitious schools maintain a habit of looking outwards: to exemplar practice, to strong pupil work elsewhere, to what disciplines expect beyond school.

The CAR highlights that the national curriculum should reflect the diversities of our society and prepare young people for work and life. That requires schools to benchmark against high expectations everywhere. 

How to embed this:

• Ask teachers to bring in examples of strong curriculum design, assessment tasks and pupil work from other schools/contexts.
• Use subject networks, external visits or trust collaboration to compare what ambitious work looks like in your phase/subject.
• Regularly ask: what would this look like if we were at our best? What would pupils be producing?
  

4. Ambition must be inclusive by design

Ambition for some pupils is not ambition at all. The CAR is explicit that the curriculum and assessment system must provide for all children and young people, including those who face barriers. 

This is why we argue that ambition must be non-negotiable but flexible: entitlement to high-quality knowledge and rich tasks, with scaffolding and support built in for access.

Practical steps:

• At curriculum planning stage ask: how will this ambitious aim be accessible to all learners without lowering the bar?
• For pupils with SEND or interrupted learning, build in bridge tasks, retrieval opportunities and scaffolds.
• Celebrate ambitious outcomes from all learner groups – shift the narrative so ambition is seen as universal, not exclusive.
  

5. Ambition shows up in assessment and the final product

Ambition isn’t fulfilled when a lesson ends or when pupils complete worksheets. It is fulfilled when pupils produce something significant: an extended essay, a fieldwork project, a creative performance, a reasoned debate. In our work we observed too many schools focus on content coverage and then skip the phase where pupils use that knowledge to do something ambitious.

The CAR emphasises that assessment systems should capture the breadth of the curriculum and reflect rich outcomes – not narrow measures only.

Actions for this:

• Construct assessment tasks which require pupils to apply and reason, not merely recall.
• Provide time for pupils to revisit and refine work so ambition is realised.
• Use pupils’ outcomes as diagnostic data: did the ambitious task yield the expected quality? What adjustments to curriculum or pedagogy are needed?
  

6. Ambition is sustained through reflection and iteration

Curriculum design and teaching are not one-off achievements. The CAR recognises that the system must evolve, and that ambition requires ongoing review: “Why are we doing this? Are we achieving what we set out to? How do we know?” are questions we emphasise in How Do They Do It?

How to make this a habit:

• At the end of each unit, hold a short review: did pupils’ work reach our ambitious end-point? What blockers emerged? What support was most effective?
• Maintain a departmental ambition tracker: track the quality of pupil outcomes across learner groups, identify where ambition may be slipping, and intervene.
• Support teacher professional learning around ambition: hold collaborative workshops, peer-review sessions or book group discussions on what ambitious means in practice.
  

Final thoughts

The Curriculum and Assessment Review has given us a timely prompt: ambition is more than a goal. It is a design factor, built into curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, and school culture. For ambition to become reality, it must be clear, sequenced, outward-looking, inclusive, visible in assessment, and sustained through review.

In our busy schools, it can be tempting to focus on operational change – new content lists, new assessment formats – but without anchoring these in an ambition-for-all mindset we risk reforming the system without transforming it.

So let us ask: what does ambitious mean in our context? What will pupils be producing when we succeed? How will we know that all learners, including those facing the steepest barriers, have done ambitious work and are ready for what comes next?

If we keep that focus at the centre of our curriculum redesign, we will ensure that ambition for all is not just rhetoric but daily reality.

Mark Enser and Zoe Enser were teachers and school leaders, ex-HMIs in Ofsted’s Curriculum Unit, and are the authors of How Do They Do It? What can we learn from amazing schools, leaders and teachers? (Crown House, 2025).

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