What schools say
At the beginning of every theme we create 'I wonder' questions with the children by sharing the theme overview from Maestro with them. We revisit these questions every week.
We've had some amazing writing pieces result from the curriculum activities. We recently wrote to a dinosaur in a museum as part of the Dangerous Dinosaurs project, which the children were totally immersed in.
We're on a three year rolling programme with mixed-age groups working at different levels. The teacher takes a Cornerstones topic and adapts it to make it relevant for our children. There might be some children working at a year two level so they would just have to bring it down.
We adapted the projects to fit the needs of our children and locality.
As my staff are familiar with the Cornerstones curriculum, they're able to make those threaded cross-curricular links more explicitly.
The content was so much more than what we might have delivered ourselves, and the progression from year 1 to year 6 was just so clear in our learning walks and looking at books.
Cornerstones allowed us to add structure and sequence to our teaching and learning programme, but always with our school's own character at the heart.
I must admit, I had never taught the Shang Dynasty before, and it was my first time teaching it last year. But now I'm teaching it for a second time; I feel so much more knowledgeable about it already. A lot of people I know steer clear of the subject as they don't know anything about it, but not me.
One of the reasons we initially went with Cornerstones was because we wanted to build a complete picture of attainment for science and the foundation subjects across the wider curriculum. We feel we've got that now, so that's brilliant.
We have been able to offer the children a higher standard of curriculum than we might have developed. We would never have considered the range of artists that the children get to know about in Art.
Honestly, I think this is probably one of the best years we have had. Especially seeing the links throughout different subjects. While we study ancient Greeks, we're learning through dancing, arts, PE, maths, novel studies and more, and my class is absolutely obsessed with it.
I wouldn't work in a school that hasn't got it.
With Maestro we immediately felt at an advantage because we already had everything in one subscription.
My chair of board was so impressed with Maestro and likened it to great education systems abroad. He spoke about how it standardises and raises the expectation, creating consistency across schools.
An ECT shared with us how this has really helped him to adapt his way of thinking to improve his lessons and also gain time back for himself, rather than having to think of everything from scratch. Experienced staff have said they're impressed with how they can see the journey of learning taking place but now they have gained that precious time to really think about how they will teach the children.
I wanted to make sure that teachers spent more time adapting and teaching to the needs of the children in their class, not spending hours creating resources.
What we enjoy so much about Cornerstones is that it offers us flexibility. We can incorporate our own ideas and follow any lines of inquiry that have come from the children.
I say to my teachers 'look at the projects and tell me what you'd like to teach'. I then set the curriculum up on Maestro which tells me if I need to tweak anything. Teacher autonomy is really good. It's nice for them because if the teachers love what they're teaching, they do a better job. The enthusiasm comes out to the children then as well.
I love the Cornerstones values and how everything builds from EYFS, creative, fun and with lots of practical activities.
The four stage pedagogy aligns with our own thinking, and we loved the focus on experiential and creative learning. One of the reasons we went with Cornerstones in the first place was the structure of the projects. The engage, develop, innovate and express, four stage approach is really well structured for our children. We need a hook in, and we love the projects; they're really exciting and engaging.
The four stage process, the focus on problem solving, teamwork, application through the innovate stage. The focus on reflection and the communication through the express stage. It gives us the bit that we want to do more than just learning and educating.
We've been with Cornerstones since the very beginning. The whole curriculum has evolved and developed over that time in response to national changes and changes that schools have talked about to become the quality curriculum that it is now.
We have adapted the curriculum for our children, setting and packed timetable, but with the resourcing being all in one place, the curriculum constantly being updated and knowing that we will be supported through the changes ahead is very reassuring.
Cornerstones provided a great platform for us to build our new wider curriculum. It had a large enough content base for us to then cut and trim until we had the curriculum that we knew was right for our school. And Ofsted loved it too!
The feedback we've had from inspections and the children has been very positive. We've had two inspections when we've been using the Cornerstones curriculum and had really, really positive outcomes.
We recently had an Ofsted inspection and the inspector was very positive about our whole curriculum. This was good progress from our last inspection and Cornerstones has definitely helped us achieve this! Thank you.
The assessment side of Maestro is incredibly useful for us. For example, we can see if our year 4 girls are on a par with other year 4 children nationwide.
The 'lesson taught' feature is an invaluable formative tool, which teachers are finding meaningful to their teaching. We can see the journey the children are on, identify what they have achieved and what they need to do next. This tool is also useful for tracking children's absence from specific lessons.
It makes no sense to use a separate assessment tool, we are not overwhelming staff with workload and Maestro helps them understand how to move to the next step in teaching.
I really like the fact that assessment is tied in. We used a different assessment platform years ago. Maestro makes it simpler having it all on one platform and is a big selling point for me when I've got a really tight budget. I can say 'Instead of paying £6,000 for a tracking system and buying a curriculum, it's combined and cheaper'. It's value for money.
The Cornerstones four-stage pedagogy has given our teachers a clear and purposeful structure for every project. Our children are more engaged, more resilient, and far better at articulating their learning than ever before.
What I love most is how the local geography elements are woven in. It's not an add-on — it's part of the curriculum design. Our children can compare their own environment with places far away, and that makes the learning feel real and relevant.
Geography used to be one of those subjects where teachers would spend hours searching for resources. Now everything is in one place and the progression is so clear. The children are asking questions we've never heard before — they're genuinely curious about the world.
The Cornerstones geography curriculum has completely changed how we approach the subject. The fieldwork ideas are brilliant — our children are going out and genuinely discovering things. Teachers who used to find geography challenging now feel totally confident with the planning and resources in Maestro.
What I love most is the chronological narrative running through the whole curriculum. Children can see how periods connect and build on each other from Nursery to Year 6. That sense of historical coherence is something we've never had before, and it makes a real difference to how children talk about the past.
History used to be one of those subjects where teachers would spend hours trying to find quality sources and artefact images. Now everything is right there in Maestro. The children are genuinely fascinated — they love working with real historical evidence and building their own understanding of the past.
The Cornerstones history curriculum has given our teachers an incredible amount of confidence. The chronological framework is so clear, and the artefact resources are genuinely unlike anything else we've seen. Children are asking questions and making connections we've never seen before.
What I value most is the flexibility. Our SACRE has specific requirements and being able to adapt the curriculum in Maestro without losing the quality or sequencing has been invaluable. I can see at a glance what every year group is covering and feel confident that our RE provision is genuinely strong.
RE used to be the lesson I found hardest to plan with confidence. Now all the background knowledge and guidance is right there. I feel well-informed going into every lesson, the children ask brilliant questions and discussions feel genuinely open and respectful. It's become one of my favourite subjects to teach.
The Cornerstones RE curriculum has transformed how we teach religious education across the school. The breadth of coverage across six world religions, combined with the sensitivity and depth of the resources, means our children genuinely understand and respect the diversity of beliefs around them.
When Ofsted arrived we felt completely prepared, thanks to the strategic planning support from our Cornerstones adviser. Knowing we had that expert guidance behind us made a real difference to the whole team.
The in-school support we received was exceptional. Our adviser worked alongside our subject leads, building their confidence and giving them the tools to really lead their subjects with pride. It felt like genuine partnership.
Our curriculum adviser understood our school context immediately and gave us practical, tangible strategies that we could implement straight away. Having that direct line of support has been invaluable during our curriculum review.
Having all six types of enquiry built into the curriculum has made such a difference. Children are learning to think like scientists — they're asking their own questions and making their own predictions. And because assessment is woven into every lesson, I have a really clear picture of progress across the whole school.
Science used to be the subject I worried about most. Now everything I need is right there — clear lesson plans, step-by-step investigation guides and videos that show exactly how to run each activity safely. I spend less time preparing and more time actually teaching. The children love it.
The Cornerstones science curriculum has been a revelation for our school. The practical investigation resources and demo videos have completely transformed how our teachers approach science lessons — children are genuinely excited about experiments, and teachers feel confident delivering every lesson.
Cornerstones has supported our teachers in creating lessons that are engaging, enquiry-based and focused on real-world learning.