Rachel Taylor, Headteacher, Brook Field Primary School 

As part of our ongoing commitment to ensuring high-quality teaching and learning, staff at Brook Field Primary School recently engaged in NACE’s on-demand training, focusing on the Creating Cognitively Challenging Classrooms course. A central element of this training for us was the “Planning to the Top” module, which focuses on developing classroom environments and learning opportunities that support deeper thinking and intellectual challenge for all pupils – not just the most able. 

Following this valuable training, time was provided for dissemination across the teaching team. Subject leaders then worked collaboratively to produce subject-specific guides aimed at supporting staff in planning and delivering lessons that consistently include high-quality, cognitively demanding tasks. These guides – referred to as “Planning to the Top Pro Formas” – are now in use across the school and have become a key tool in maintaining high expectations and academic challenge within every subject. 

To create these documents, subject leaders drew on a wide range of sources. These included:

• The revised Bloom’s Taxonomy question and activity templates, previously developed by staff. 
• Insights and strategies from prior professional development sessions within their subject areas. 
• Resources from NACE and other organisations, including identification criteria and provision guidance for more able learners. 

This thoughtful synthesis of resources ensures that the Planning to the Top Pro Formas are not only research-informed, but also practical, user-friendly, and tailored to the needs of our pupils. They provide structured support for teachers when designing tasks that require deeper levels of thinking – such as analysis, evaluation and creation – ensuring that lessons are not only accessible, but ambitious. 

Importantly, these documents are not static. As part of their ongoing subject leadership responsibilities, subject leaders regularly use the pro formas during monitoring activities, including lesson visits and planning scrutiny. This helps ensure that high-level challenge is embedded across the curriculum and that the use of the documents remains purposeful and relevant. Furthermore, as leaders continue to build their expertise, they are encouraged to adapt and enhance the pro formas with new ideas and best practices. This dynamic approach ensures the documents stay ‘live’ and reflective of our evolving understanding of effective pedagogy. 

As highlighted by Rosenthal and Jacobsen in their influential research: “When teachers have high expectations of their students’ abilities, they are likely to achieve higher.” This belief is at the heart of the “planning to the top” approach. By expecting all pupils to engage in complex, meaningful learning tasks, we are cultivating an environment where every child is challenged and supported to reach their full potential. 

The introduction and use of Planning to the Top Pro Formas marks an exciting step forward in our teaching practice. Through them, we are reinforcing a culture of high expectations, deep thinking, and continuous professional learning – ensuring that every lesson provides rich opportunities for all children to think hard and learn deeply. 

View the current versions here: art / English / geography / history / maths / modern languages / music / PE / science