We thought a knowledge-rich curriculum would help our children learn more. We didn't expect it to give our teachers added confidence too.

Back in 2021, our curriculum was topic-based, creative and our children enjoyed it. As an approach, it had served us well, but we had begun to sense it had taken us as far as it could.

In a topic-based model, the subject is often a servant to the theme. You start with "The Rainforest" or "The Victorians" and build activities around it. It looks coherent on a planning grid, but it doesn't ask teachers to interrogate what they need to know to teach the subject well. You don't know what you don't know and the curriculum doesn't prompt you to find out.

Our Ofsted inspection in June 2021 brought this into focus. Geography was selected for a deep dive. Finding purposeful geographical learning in topic books was harder than it should have been and children struggled to talk about the subject or articulate what they were learning and why. The inspectors confirmed what we had already sensed and a curriculum overhaul became our clear priority.

We turned to the Primary Knowledge Curriculum. We wanted our children to be genuinely challenged and to write with precision and speak with knowledge. We also wanted to give subject leaders ownership of their areas. What we didn't fully anticipate was what it would do to teacher confidence.

The PKC is built on the principle that teachers should know more than they teach. Every lesson plan includes subject knowledge that goes beyond what children study in lessons, providing context, depth and the kind of understanding that lets you field an unexpected question without hesitation. For teachers who had spent years planning activities rather than developing knowledge, this asked something genuinely different of them.

When we had the option of a phased rollout, starting with one subject and gradually introducing others, we chose to go all in from September 2021. That caused some initial anxiety. We enrolled in a full programme of CPD with PKC covering curriculum structure, subject-specific knowledge development and quality assurance. We gave subject leaders time, training and a clear message that we believed in them as experts within the primary phase.

Our teachers began to sound different. When they talked about their subjects, in the classroom and to visiting leaders, there was more authority and enthusiasm in how they spoke. They were proud of what they were teaching and how they were teaching it.

Our children changed too. Pupil voice activities showed them talking with precision and knowledge about subjects. Their books showed genuine progression and high-level vocabulary across their writing. Our Key Stage Two outcomes have been above the national average for three consecutive years.

The Government's recent White Paper champions a knowledge-rich curriculum and that framing is right, but schools need to understand what implementation actually demands. It is not a light-touch intervention. Workload around resourcing lessons was significant and had to be managed carefully. Making space for subject leaders to quality-assure and develop their roles took deliberate planning. Trips and enrichment needed rethinking to sit purposefully within units, rather than alongside them.

My advice to any primary leader is simple - don't look for a quick win because there isn't one. Commit fully and use every element of support available. For us, making the change has been worth every difficult conversation along the way.