A long term map that you’ll actually use

I used to have a long-term plan that ran to eleven pages. I looked at it in September, and again when someone asked for it. That was it.

Now it fits on one side of A3, and it lives on the wall above my desk.

• The half terms across the top
• Key texts for each half term
• The big experiences: the farm trip, Diwali, planting beans
• Two or three skills per area of learning, not every single statement

Weekly detail, themes for the sake of themes, and anything that depends on what the children are interested in. That's what your short-term planning is for.

At the end of each half term I scribble on it: what worked, what didn't, what I'd move. Next year's map writes itself. I talk more about this in my CPD session on curriculum.