How Amazing People
Schools Supports
the National
Curriculum for
England
Advice on using our resources
HOW AMAZING PEOPLE SCHOOLS SUPPORTS
THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM FOR ENGLAND
AND MEETS THE OFSTED FRAMEWORK
REQUIREMENTS 2019
The national curriculum for England states the intended
purpose of study for each subject. Each purpose of
study, as referenced below, mentions not only subjectspecific material, but also how students’ character
can be developed. Each purpose of study recognises
the essential characteristics needed to succeed in that
subject.
Amazing People Schools agrees that character education
is something which should be explicitly taught across
the whole curriculum. This document outlines how our
Amazing People Schools materials can support the stated
purpose and aims of each area of study.
The education inspection framework from September
2019 requires Ofsted inspectors to include ‘Personal
Development’ as one of the areas of inspection. Inspectors
are looking for evidence that “provides for learners’
broader development, enabling them to develop and
discover their interests and talents. The curriculum and
the provider’s wider work support learners to develop
their character – including their resilience, confidence
and independence”. Amazing People Schools is ideally
placed to enhance all learners personal development in
an inspiring, cross-curricular way.
PURPOSE OF STUDY
WITHIN THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM FOR ENGLAND
Purpose of Study
Every state-funded school
in England must offer a
curriculum which is balanced,
broadly-based and which
promotes the spiritual, moral,
cultural, mental and physical
development of pupils at the
school and as part of society.
It should prepare pupils at the
school for the opportunities,
responsibilities and
experiences of later life.
How Amazing People Schools
Supports This Purpose
Preparing students for life beyond school
involves so much more than passing
exams or academic attainment.
Helping students develop their curiosity,
enthusiasm and optimism for life and
learning, is key to their future success.
Teaching them the benefits of kindness,
gratitude, perseverance, tolerance and
empathy, can bring untold benefits to
their future lives. Through learning about
amazing people in history, and spending
time thinking about the characteristics
that helped them succeed, students can
develop a sense of who they want to be. By
developing the students’ character, we are
truly preparing them for life.
Education is also about
the practical business of ensuring
that young people receive the
preparation they need to secure
a good job and a fulfilling career,
and have the resilience and moral
character to overcome challenges
and succeed.
Nick Gibb
SCHOOLS MINISTER
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Purpose of Study
English has a pre-eminent
place in education and
society. A high quality
education in English will
teach pupils to speak and
write fluently so that they can
communicate their ideas and
emotions to others. Through
their reading and listening,
others can communicate
with them. Through reading
in particular, pupils have a
chance to develop culturally,
emotionally, intellectually,
socially and spiritually.
Literature, especially, plays a
key role in such development.
(Reading also enables pupils
to both acquire knowledge
and to build on what they
already know. All the skills
of language are essential
to participating fully as a
member of society; pupils,
therefore, who do not learn
to speak, read and write
fluently and confidently are
effectively disenfranchised).
How Amazing People Schools
Supports This Purpose
All of our resources support the purpose
of study for English. Students are asked
to read the stories of amazing people
and answer quiz questions, as well as
think about the characteristics these
inspirational individuals possessed.
In addition, our teaching resources ask
students to discuss and debate different
aspects of character and the amazing
people themselves. The teaching resources
are full of differentiated and diverse
activities, such as role-playing, interviewing,
diary and report writing and hot-seating,
all of which require students to develop the
essential skills of language.
Specific UK literary characters such as
Charlotte Brontë and William Shakespeare
are included as part of our collection.
We also feature Mark Twain, a leading
American writer and humourist.
By learning about the life stories of these
characters, students can discover the
challenges and difficulties that these
people needed to overcome.
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AND AMAZING PEOPLE SCHOOLS
Purpose of Study
A high-quality history
education will help pupils
gain a coherent knowledge
and understanding of Britain’s
past and also that of the
wider world. It should inspire
pupils’ curiosity to know more
about the past. Teaching
should equip pupils to ask
perceptive questions, think
critically, weigh evidence,
sift arguments, and develop
perspective and judgement.
History helps pupils to
understand the complexity of
people’s lives, the process of
change, the diversity of
societies and relationships
between different groups, as
well as their own identity and
the challenges of their time.
Aims: know and understand
significant aspects of the
history of the wider world,
and the achievements and
follies of mankind.
How Amazing People Schools
Supports This Purpose
Fundamental to teaching history, is
inspiring students’ curiosity to know more
about the past. This is one of the key
purposes of Amazing People Schools.
By using amazing people from history as
exemplars, we ask challenging questions
for students to debate and respond to, in a
more personal way.
There is substantial evidence to show that
students consume information in a more
engaged way when it is delivered through
stories. Our differentiated activities
encourage students of all abilities to think
critically, weigh the evidence, sift through
the arguments and develop their own good
sense and judgement.
Our entire story collection can be described
to represent the ‘achievements and
follies of mankind’. All of our characters
are historical and by using their stories,
students can explore Ancient China,
slavery, the American Civil War, India and
Nigeria’s independence, South America’s
battle to win independence from the
Spanish, the Suffragette movement and the
two World Wars.
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Purpose of Study
A high-quality mathematics
education provides a
foundation for understanding
the world, the ability to reason
mathematically, an
appreciation of the beauty
and power of mathematics,
and a sense of enjoyment
and curiosity about the
subject..
How Amazing People Schools
Supports This Purpose
Several of our key characters were amazing
mathematicians for example, Ada Lovelace
and Albert Einstein. By accessing their life
stories, students can find an alternative
route into maths, and begin to appreciate
its ‘power and beauty’.
In addition, by working on our related
characteristics curiosity, resilience and
perseverance, students can develop the
attitude and approach that is needed to
succeed in mathematics.
Amazing people life stories can make
certain subjects, which may have been a
challenge for students previously, more
accessible.
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Purpose of Study
A high-quality science
education provides the
foundations for understanding
the world through the
specific disciplines of Biology,
Chemistry and Physics.
Science has changed our
lives and is vital to the world’s
future prosperity, and all pupils
should be taught essential
aspects of the knowledge,
methods, processes and uses
of science. Through building
up a body of key foundational
knowledge and concepts,
pupils should be encouraged
to recognise the power of
rational explanation and
develop a sense of excitement
and curiosity about natural
phenomena, scientific
knowledge and conceptual
understanding: The social
and economic implications
of science are important.
Teachers like to use different
contexts to maximise their
pupils’ engagement with and
motivation to study science.
Teachers should feel free to
choose examples that serve
a variety of purposes, from
showing how scientific ideas
have developed historically,
to reflecting modern
developments in science.
How Amazing People Schools
Supports This Purpose
What are the characteristics essential to
budding scientists? The purpose of study
mentions the need for enthusiasm, as
well as curiosity in the world around us.
An understanding of the importance of
failure is also crucial. Young scientists need
to develop resilience, perseverance and
self-discipline to continue developing
experiments and ideas, most of which may
not be successful.
Learning from the life stories of famous
scientists and the challenges they faced,
can help bring these characteristics to life.
For example, Albert Einstein overcame
difficulties in his childhood and early life, to
become one of the most creative scientists
ever to have lived. Learning about other
women who have excelled in science is an
important motivator to encourage girls into
STEM. Our story library includes Marie Curie,
who worked so hard and in such difficult
circumstances that she nearly starved
herself; Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman
medical doctor registered in the US and UK,
showed incredible determination to never
give in. These characters and others can
help students understand how scientific
ideas developed historically.
Music
AND AMAZING PEOPLE SCHOOLS
Purpose of Study
Music is a universal language
that embodies one of the
highest forms of creativity. A
high quality music education
should engage and inspire
pupils to develop a love of
music and their talent as
musicians, and so increase
their self-confidence,
creativity and sense of
achievement.
Aims: The national curriculum
for music aims to ensure that
all pupils: perform, listen to,
review and evaluate music
across a range of historical
periods, genres, styles and
traditions, including the works
of the great composers and
musicians.
How Amazing People Schools
Supports This Purpose
Amazing People Schools can, not only help
develop self-confidence, creativity and a
sense of achievement generally, but also,
can introduce students to great musicians
and composers, such as Beethoven and
Louis Armstrong. By personalising the lives
of inspirational figures in music, we give
context to their achievements and provide
an excellent way for teachers to make
great musicians accessible to students.
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Purpose of Study
A high-quality geography
education should inspire
in pupils a curiosity and
fascination about the world
and its people that will
remain with them for the rest
of their lives.
How Amazing People Schools
Supports This Purpose
Ibn Battuta was a medieval explorer who
having visited Hajj, continued on his travels
for 29 years. He covered more miles than
Marco Polo and his endless curiosity and
enthusiasm is inspiring for students to
discover. Christopher Columbus’ travels
to the New World, Sacagawea, a native
American woman who played a key part
in the exploration of the Trans-Pacific, and
Makereti Papakura, a Maori guide, all help
inspire students’ fascination with the world.
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Design
AND AMAZING PEOPLE SCHOOLS
Purpose of Study
Design and technology is
an inspiring, rigorous and
practical subject. Using
creativity and imagination,
pupils design and create
products that solve real
and relevant problems
within a variety of contexts,
considering their own and
others’ needs, wants and
values. They acquire a broad
range of subject knowledge
and draw on disciplines
such as mathematics,
science, engineering,
computing and art. Pupils
learn how to take risks,
and become resourceful,
innovative, enterprising and
capable citizens. Through
the evaluation of past
and present design and
technology, they develop a
critical understanding of its
impact on daily life and the
wider world.
High-quality design and
technology education makes
an essential contribution to
the creativity, culture, wealth
and well-being of the nation.
How Amazing People Schools
Supports This Purpose
Recognising past innovators and
discovering the characteristics that helped
them achieve what they did, is key to the
Amazing People Schools programme.
Thomas Edison will likely be well-known
to students, while the inventions of Beulah
Henry and Madame CJ Walker are
perhaps less so. In addition, by looking at
characters such as Coco Chanel, students
gain an insight into how her innovation and
creativity transformed the way women
dressed. Amazing People Schools also
encourages students to become more
aware of creativity across the curriculum –
Shakespeare, Leonardo da Vinci and Albert
Einstein all demonstrated creativity, by
developing ideas which were entirely new
in their time.
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Purpose of Study
Learning a foreign
language is liberation from
insularity and provides an
opening to other cultures.
A high-quality languages
education should foster
pupils’ curiosity and deepen
their understanding of the
world. The teaching should
enable pupils to express
their ideas and thoughts in
another language and to
understand and respond to
its speakers, both in speech
and in writing. It should also
provide opportunities for
them to communicate for
practical purposes, learn new
ways of thinking, and read
great literature in the original
language.
How Amazing People Schools
Supports This Purpose
Using characters from different
countries can help bring language and
understanding of the world together.
Coco Chanel, for example, is a fascinating
character who can help to bring the French
language to life in the classroom, as is
Simón Bolívar for Spanish. Albert Einstein
and Ludwig van Beethoven were German
speakers, and students of Russian may
be keen to learn Dmitri Mendeleev’s story.
At Amazing People Schools, we believe
passionately about using role models from
all around the world. Diversity is a source
of strength and pride for us and we believe
that by using role models from around the
world, we can inspire students to gain a
deeper understanding of culture, ethnicity
as well as languages.
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Phy
AND AMAZING PEOPLE SCHOOLS
Purpose of Study
A high-quality physical
education curriculum
inspires all pupils to succeed
and excel in competitive
sport and other physically
demanding activities. It
should provide opportunities
for pupils to become
physically confident in a way
which supports their health
and fitness. Opportunities to
compete in sport and other
activities build character and
help to embed values such
as fairness and respect.
How Amazing People Schools
Supports This Purpose
Abebe Bikila was an inspirational
marathon runner from Ethiopia. Not only
was he the first person to win back-toback marathons, but he also continued
to compete after suffering a terrible car
crash that left him wheelchair-bound.
His resilience and perseverance are
inspirational for all budding athletes and,
indeed, for everyone. Jesse Owens is known
not only for winning four gold medals for
the USA in the Berlin 1936 Olympics, but
also, for his fight for fairness and respect.
It took many years for his achievements to
be acknowledged and today, he is widely
recognised as one of America’s greatest
ever athletes.
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Com
AND AMAZING PEOPLE SCHOOLS
Purpose of Study
A high-quality computing
education equips pupils to
use computational thinking
and creativity to understand
and change the world.
Computing has deep links
with mathematics, science,
and design and technology,
and provides insights into
both natural and artificial
systems.
Aims: The national curriculum
for computing aims to ensure
that all pupils: are responsible,
competent, confident and
creative users of information
and communication
technology.
How Amazing People Schools
Supports This Purpose
For students to fully engage with Amazing
People Schools, they need to immerse
themselves in the website by creating their
own personal profile/account. This allows
them to explore and consider who they
think is amazing and why, and make a
note of this in their avatar. By collecting the
cards of the amazing people, students can
adopt the assets from the amazing person.
This might be Albert Einstein’s wild hair or
Alfred Nobel’s golden Nobel Prizes. Ada
Lovelace is a key amazing person in the
collection and students can learn about her
amazing foresight in developing Charles’
Babbage’s counting machine, which was
the forerunner to the world’s first computer.
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Purpose of Study
They should also know how
art and design both reflect
and shape our history, and
contribute to the culture,
creativity and wealth of our
nation.
Aims: The national curriculum
for art and design aims to
ensure that all pupils know
about great artists, craft
makers and designers, and
understand the historical and
cultural development of their
art forms.
How Amazing People Schools
Supports This Purpose
Amazing People Schools is proud to include
Frida Kahlo, Michelangelo and Leonardo
da Vinci as artists who represent different
historical and cultural developments.