Those Who Teach, Must Never Cease To Learn: Building Foundations: The Power of Knowledge Organisers

By Amanda Mair

There are moments in teaching when we sense the gaps; a concept not quite grasped, a key fact misremembered, a topic that was missed. For some of our students, especially those with SEND, EAL backgrounds, or disrupted schooling, those gaps can feel like walls.

That’s where knowledge organisers quietly change the game. When we strip learning back to its essentials; the key ideas, vocabulary, or the big picture. We’re not diluting the challenge, we’re clarifying the path.

For our EAL learners, visuals and concise definitions help unlock language and meaning. For our SEND students, clear structure and repeated knowledge retrieval reduce cognitive load. And for those who’ve missed chunks of education, it’s a lifeline; a way to re-enter learning without shame or confusion. Everyone knows what the core information is and everyone has access to it.

It supports teachers, too. With the core content set out, we plan more purposefully. We can focus on how to teach; because the what is already clear. It creates coherence across lessons, our units and our curriculums.

What does this look like in practice?

- In RS, we create our organisers or ‘coresheets’ whenever we create a new unit.

We identify the 30 most important pieces of information for the next six weeks by reviewing our unit plans, assessment criteria, and analysing common misconceptions and high-frequency errors.
Every Do Now and homework task is designed as a retrieval practice activity based on the coresheet. This reflects Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction, particularly ‘reviewing prior learning’ and ‘providing opportunities for practice and recall’, to strengthen long-term retention.
The coresheet is introduced at the start of the term, and students are explicitly taught how and when to use it (for example, when they are stuck, have missed a lesson, or need to check SPaG). This builds metacognitive awareness, helping students plan, monitor, and correct their own work.
Through regular retrieval tasks and formative assessment (AfL), we gradually encourage students to become less dependent on the coresheet, supporting greater independence and self-management over time.