The GES scheme of work format
The scheme of work (in the standards-based curriculum, officially the scheme of learning) is the term's map: which strand, sub-strand and indicators you'll treat in each of the roughly 12 teaching weeks. Your weekly lesson notes then expand one row of the scheme into full lessons, which is why vetting usually checks the two documents against each other.
The weekly breakdown
A scheme is one table for the term, one row per week. The columns GES expects:
| Week | Strand | Sub-strand | Content Standard | Indicator(s) | Resources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Number | Number and Numeration Systems | B7.1.1.1 | B7.1.1.1.1 | Counters, place-value charts |
| 2 | Number | Number and Numeration Systems | B7.1.1.1 | B7.1.1.1.2 — B7.1.1.1.3 | Number cards, worksheets |
| … | one row per week through to revision and examination weeks | ||||
- Week: teaching weeks in order, with revision and exam weeks at the end of the term.
- Strand and Sub-strand: the curriculum's own structure, copied exactly. Pacing across the term should cover the strands in a balanced way, not front-load one.
- Content Standard and Indicator(s): the codes for the week. This is the column your weekly lesson notes must match.
- Resources: the teaching and learning materials you'll need, flagged early so you can prepare.
How it relates to your lesson notes
The scheme answers when; the lesson notes answer how. Week 8 of the scheme might carry indicator B7.3.1.1.1 on measuring angles; the week-8 lesson notes take that indicator through the three phases, day by day. When a headteacher vets your file, mismatched codes between the two documents are the first thing that gets flagged.
Adopting one mid-term
A scheme isn't all-or-nothing. If it's week 5 and your term is already moving, you draw the scheme from week 5 forward rather than reconstructing the past. The point is a workable map, not a backdated one.
In teache today, you plan straight from the curriculum: pick a week, a topic and its indicators, and the full lesson-note format fills itself. You can also download a blank scheme-of-work template. Scheme-of-work generation is on the roadmap, built to adopt mid-term from day one.