skip to main content
NEW! Tongue Fu Talking - A fully-resourced Oracy Framework

The Essentials Curriculum

This short course is for schools who use, or are considering using, our Essentials Curriculum and need a refresher on its key principles.

chris_cutout
Created and Led by
Chris Quigley
Duration
2 hours
Venue
Online or in-person
Target Audience
Teachers, Senior & Middle Leaders

Overview:

Designed for schools who use, or are considering using, our Essentials Curriculum and need a refresher on its key principles.

Many schools had input when they first embarked on the Essentials journey.  Since then staff changes and, of course, new requirements from Ofsted mean that a refresher would be valuable CPD.

  • Introduction or refresher into The Essentials Curriculum
  • Plan for End Points
  • Suggestions on how to use Essentials to plan your school curriculum.

Learn about:

  • The key principles that are the foundations of  The Essentials Curriculum
  • The curriculum’s structure, including progression through the Milestones
  • How The Essentials Curriculum may be used to establish breadthdepth and retention of learning
  • New materials we have produced to support you in reaching the goals within The Essentials Curriculum.

Why this course is important:

  • It is vital that schools know how to plan end-points in their curriculum
  • It is also vital that schools differentiate between end-points and the specific knowledge needed to reach them.

Take away:

  • A clear understanding of the principles of The Essentials Curriculum
  • Practical ways to use it to develop your school curriculum.

Enquire about a consultant delivering this course to your school/cluster

* means required field

    Can't find your school? Enter the address manually
  1. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Booking Options

What would you like to do?

  1. Book now for Chris to deliver this course online
  2. Enquire about one of our team delivering this course in-person at your school

Enquire
Evidence Informed
Evidence Informed
All our courses are based on peer-reviewed research.
Practical and inspiring
Practical and inspiring
We bridge the gap between evidence and practice.
Versatile environments
Versatile environments
We offer a choice between on-demand and live courses.

This event was part of a really important piece of work in our 3 trust schools beginning to collaborate on curricular development and staff felt Chris delivered a really useful session in cementing their understanding of the fundamentals. It gave opportunity for staff to link back to the design of the Essentials Curriculum and how to effectively use the Curriculum Companion products that each school has access to. I would rate my booking as excellent. Good communication throughout the process from booking to delivery. Many thanks for your support.

Sasha Furze
Enrich Learning Trust, Norwich

Great feedback from Ofsted for one of the schools we work with. The school also uses our Essentials Curriculum:

The school has established a well-designed, broad and ambitious curriculum. It
clearly sets out and sequences the important information that pupils need to know
in all subjects from the early years to Year 6. This helps pupils to build on what they
already know. Ofsted School Report November 2023

Thank you for all your support in helping me get our curriculum off the ground.  Couldn't have done it without Chris Quigley Associates. The curriculum comments are about the Essentials Curriculum. 

 

Ellie Rowe, Headteacher
The Grove Primary School, Cambridge

Latest from the Blog

The Six Tests of a Serious Oracy Curriculum
The Six Tests of a Serious Oracy Curriculum
14th Jun 2026
Much of the current discussion about oracy focuses on creating a culture of talk, increasing discussion opportunities and encouraging student participation. This article argues that these are not curricula. A serious oracy curriculum must first specify what students are expected to learn. It proposes six tests: defining a body of communication knowledge, rooting talk in meaningful content, teaching knowledge about communication itself, developing metacognition, specifying progression and making assessment possible through exemplification. Using Tongue Fu TalkingĀ® as an example, the article argues that effective oracy education depends not on more talk, but on a clearly defined, progressive and assessable communication curriculum.
Does your school have a planned vocabulary spine?
Does your school have a planned vocabulary spine?
19th May 2026
A planned vocabulary spine can transform the way students think, speak and learn.This blog explores why carefully sequenced vocabulary teaching matters, how Tongue Fu TalkingĀ® brings vocabulary, metacognition and oracy together through the Five-a-Week Vocabulary Spine, and how students can move beyond simply learning definitions to using words to reason, explain and communicate with increasing precision.
Oracy and Metacognition: Why Talk Is Thinking Made Visible
Oracy and Metacognition: Why Talk Is Thinking Made Visible
24th Apr 2026
There is a persistent misconception in schools that oracy is about performance. Clear voice. Confident delivery. Polished presentation.That is part of it.But it comes later.Before students can present ideas, they have to form them. And that process is not silent. It is shaped through talk.This is where oracy and metacognition meet.
Tongue Fu Brand Mark