The 2027/2028 curriculum reform is coming, and school leaders are responding to it in different ways. Some are already energised, ready to use this moment to sharpen what they have built. Others are taking stock, working out what it means before they move. Most are doing a bit of both.
Whatever your starting point, one thing holds true: the leaders who will navigate this best are the ones who know their curriculum clearly. More than just the broad strokes, but the specific detail. What’s working, what’s solid and where the genuine gaps are.
This self-audit is designed to help with that. This isn’t meant to be used as an Ofsted checklist, but as a thinking tool for school leaders who want a clear picture of where they stand before the pace of change picks up. Work through it with your deputy or a trusted colleague if you can. Two perspectives on the same school tend to surface things that a solo read-through misses.
How to use this audit
Work through each section honestly. ‘Yes’ means this is embedded and you could evidence it. ‘Partly’ means it’s in progress or inconsistent. ‘Not yet’ means it’s either absent or you’re genuinely not sure.
At the end of each section there are two short reflection questions. They are worth sitting with before you move on. The audit is most useful when it generates thinking, not just a column of ticks.
Section 1: Curriculum vision and coherence
A curriculum that’s not held together by a clear vision tends to accumulate rather than connect. Accumulated content is much harder to adapt intelligently than a curriculum with a clear rationale behind it. This section asks how clearly your vision is understood across the school, not just documented.
| Vision and coherence | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
| We have a clear, articulated curriculum vision that staff can describe in their own words. | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
| Our curriculum is designed around what we want students to know and be able to do at each stage, not just what needs to be covered. | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
| We can explain how our subjects connect, not just what each one covers. | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
| Senior leaders and subject leads share a common language around curriculum design. | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
| You can see our curriculum vision in lessons, not just in our curriculum documents. | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
Reflect: Where in this section are you most confident? If you have ‘partly’ or ‘not yet’ responses, which one would make the biggest difference to address first?
Next step: If vision and coherence is an area to develop, start with a conversation with your subject leads. Ask them to describe the school’s curriculum vision in their own words. The gap between what you expect to hear and what you hear is the work.
Section 2: Subject leadership
Curriculum reform lands on subject leaders. How they are set up right now will determine how effectively your school responds when the guidance arrives. This section is worth reading as a proxy for the professional development investment you have made in your subject leads, not just their current knowledge.
| Subject leadership | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
| SLs know why their curriculum is designed as it is, what it looks like in classrooms and what impact it is having? | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
| Subject leads have had dedicated time this year to review and develop their curriculum, not just manage their department. | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
| Subject leads feel confident in their subject knowledge, including the Disciplinary literacy aspects of it. | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
| There’s a consistent approach to curriculum planning , with enough flexibility for subject specificity. | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
| Subject leads know what ‘good’ looks like in their subject and can articulate it to their teams. | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
Reflect: Which of your subject leads are well set up for what is coming? Which ones need more support before the reform detail lands?
Next step: Have a direct conversation with each subject lead about how ready they feel. Ask them what they need, not what you think they need. The answers will shape your professional development priorities for this year.
Section 3: Literacy and oracy
The 2027/28 curriculum places a stronger emphasis on disciplinary literacy and oracy across all subjects. For many schools this will mean formalising practice that’s already happening rather than starting from scratch. The question is how consistently it’s embedded and how well subject leads understand what it means in their specific discipline.
| Literacy and oracy | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
| Subject leaders can describe how reading, writing and talk look in their subject. | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
| Oracy is planned for explicitly, not just hoped for, in lessons across key stages. | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
| Subject leads understand how to develop reading and writing within their specific discipline. | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
| Students can read the subject specific texts and understand them. | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
| Subject leaders take responsibility for the vocabulary of their subject. As it comes up every year in SATs, GCSEs and A levels as issues in subjects. | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
Reflect: Is literacy and oracy something your subject leads feel ownership of, or does it still feel like someone else’s responsibility?
Next step: Look at how literacy and oracy feature in your current curriculum planning documentation. If they appear as add-ons rather than integral design features, that is the conversation to have with subject leads this term.
Section 4: Knowledge sequencing
One of the clearest areas of focus in the new curriculum is knowledge sequencing: the deliberate building of knowledge over time so that students are genuinely prepared for what comes next. It’s worth checking how intentional this is across your school, particularly whether subject leads can explain why content appears in the order it does.
| Knowledge sequencing | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
| Our curriculum is sequenced deliberately, with each unit or topic building on what came before. | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
| Subject leads can explain why content appears in the order it does, not just what is taught when. | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
| We revisit and reinforce key knowledge over time rather than treating topics as complete once taught. | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
| We know what our pupils are expected to arrive with, and what the next phase expects of them. | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
| What assessment tells us feeds back into curriculum design, not just into intervention. | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
Reflect: Could your subject leads walk you through the sequencing rationale for their curriculum from memory? If not, is that because the rationale is not there, or because it has not been made explicit?
Next step: Ask two or three subject leads to walk you through the sequencing of a unit of work. Listen for whether they can explain the ‘why’ behind the order, not just the ‘what’. That conversation will tell you more than any documentation review.
Section 5: Readiness for change
Finally, a set of questions about your school’s capacity to respond. Curriculum reform is a leadership challenge as much as a curriculum one. How your school is structured to receive and act on new information matters as much as what your curriculum currently looks like.
| Readiness for change | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
| Subject leads have been briefed on the direction of change and what it’s likely to mean for their subject. | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
| We have protected time for curriculum development built into our planning for 2026/27. | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
| There’s a clear process for cascading new guidance from SLT to subject leads to classroom teachers. | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
| We know which parts of our curriculum are strong foundations, and which are most likely to need attention. | Yes | Partly | Not yet |
Reflect: Does your school have a clear process for moving from ‘new guidance arrives’ to ‘teachers know what to do’? If that process is fuzzy, this is the year to sort it.
Next step: Map out how curriculum change guidance would travel through your school right now. From DfE announcement to SLT, from SLT to subject leads, from subject leads to teams. If there are gaps or bottlenecks in that chain, they are worth addressing before you need to move quickly.
What your answers tell you
If most of your responses were ‘yes’s’ across all five sections, you’re in a strong position. The work ahead is about staying informed, adapting thoughtfully, and making sure your subject leads are as well-equipped as you are as the detail emerges.
A cluster of ‘partly’ responses in one or two sections gives you a clear sense of where to focus this year. Those are not weaknesses to worry about. They are your development priorities and having them named is useful.
If ‘not yet’ appeared regularly in a particular section, that tells you where the groundwork needs to happen before the full curriculum guidance lands. Earlier is better, as the schools that build the foundations now will have more options when the pace picks up.
Whatever your results, the most important thing is to share what you found with the people who can help you act on it. A conversation with your deputy, your subject leads, or your wider SLT will turn this audit from a snapshot into a plan.
Getting structured support with what comes next
PiXL’s Curriculum Ready Programme 2026/27 is built for school leaders and subject leads who want expert support with exactly this work. Working with Dr Alex Fairlamb and Professor Mick Waters, the programme gives school leaders a framework for leading curriculum change and gives subject leads the knowledge, confidence, and peer community to do the same in their own subject areas.
It runs from 15 October 2026 to March 2027, online, across five sessions. It’s open to PiXL member schools.
If this audit has surfaced areas you want to work through with expert support alongside other school leaders doing the same, speak to your PiXL Specialist or get in touch with us directly.
2026/27 is the year to get clear on what you have. There’s more to build on than you might think. Find out more here.
