PYP Transition Guide for UK Primary Schools

The PYP organises learning through concept-driven, transdisciplinary inquiry. UK schools must still protect explicit subject teaching and meet the curriculum, assessment, phonics, safeguarding and SEND duties that apply to them.

The PYP is an IB curriculum framework for learners aged 3 to 12. It does not provide one UK timetable, replace national or statutory requirements, or prescribe a universal implementation period. Leaders need the current IB authorisation and programme requirements alongside the rules for their school type and jurisdiction.

Jurisdiction note: the National Curriculum, phonics and Ofsted material used below applies to England. Education is devolved, and maintained schools, academies and independent schools do not all have identical duties. Schools in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland should use their own current curriculum, assessment and inspection authorities.

What changes when a school adopts the PYP?

The PYP organises learning through a school-designed programme of inquiry framed by six transdisciplinary themes. The IB describes the model as inquiry-based, concept-driven and transdisciplinary, with learner agency and responsible action at its core. Pupils connect knowledge, concepts, skills and learner-profile attributes across and beyond subject boundaries.

This changes planning conversations. A year team might begin with a central idea about how communities use shared resources, then identify the science, geography, literacy and mathematical knowledge needed to investigate it. The connection should strengthen each subject contribution. It should not turn a precise subject sequence into a loose topic.

The PYP also gives pupils opportunities to ask questions, make choices and act on learning. Agency does not mean that pupils decide everything or that teachers stop setting goals. Teachers still select important content, model expert thinking, diagnose misconceptions and plan checks for understanding. The separate guide to the inquiry cycle shows how questions and explicit instruction can work together.

What must remain secure?

A transition is only credible when the school can name the practices it will retain. These usually include a sequenced curriculum, explicit teaching of foundational knowledge, reliable assessment, safeguarding, SEND provision and subject leadership. In England, maintained schools must follow the National Curriculum; academies are not required to follow it but must provide a broad and balanced curriculum and meet the terms of their funding agreements.

Write these boundaries into the transition brief. For example: “Reception and key stage 1 will continue the agreed systematic synthetic phonics programme with fidelity. Decodable books will match the programme progression. Inquiry texts may extend knowledge and vocabulary, but they will not replace controlled reading practice.” That is clearer than saying phonics will be “embedded” somewhere in a topic.

The same principle applies to mathematics and other subjects. Protect the knowledge sequence and practice pupils need, then decide where a transdisciplinary context adds meaning. An inquiry link is optional when it distorts the subject or increases cognitive load.

Build a school-specific obligations map

Before designing a programme of inquiry, the leadership team should complete one shared map. Use current official documents, name an owner and record the review date. The table is a starting structure, not a substitute for legal or regulatory advice.

Protect early reading and phonics

In England, current DfE guidance emphasises a rigorous, systematic approach to synthetic phonics used with fidelity. The DfE maintains a list of validated programmes, but it also states that schools are not legally required to choose one from that list and that Ofsted does not prefer a named programme. The important tests are coherence, fidelity and outcomes for pupils.

The 2025–26 phonics-screening arrangements apply differently by school type and set out who participates. Leaders should use the current assessment and reporting arrangements rather than assuming that every UK primary school follows the same check. The literacy pedagogy guide provides the teaching context; the official DfE documents remain the source for current requirements.

A safe classroom design separates instruction from application. The teacher follows the phonics programme sequence and uses matched decodable texts for practice. Later, a PYP inquiry may supply oral language, knowledge, vocabulary and a reason to write. Do not force pupils to decode inquiry texts containing correspondences they have not learned, and do not replace systematic teaching with incidental word discovery.

Design a programme of inquiry without losing subject progression

Each PYP school collaboratively develops its programme of inquiry around the six transdisciplinary themes: who we are; where we are in place and time; how we express ourselves; how the world works; how we organise ourselves; and sharing the planet. A useful planning sequence is:

1. Specify the important understanding. Write a central idea that expresses a relationship pupils can investigate.
2. Name the subject knowledge. Identify the facts, vocabulary, concepts and procedures pupils need before open exploration.
3. Check progression. Confirm where the learning sits in each subject sequence and what prior knowledge it assumes.
4. Plan assessment. Decide what pupils will say, write, make or do to show the intended learning.
5. Choose inquiry opportunities. Invite questions and choices where they deepen the planned understanding.
6. Review coherence. Remove links that are decorative, confusing or likely to weaken a subject.

The guides to PYP key concepts and the IB learner profile explain those parts of the framework. This page remains responsible for the transition and governance decisions.

Use both formative and summative assessment appropriately

The IB says the PYP does not offer formal IB assessment and that feedback, self-assessment and reflection are important. That does not mean a PYP school cannot use summative tasks, curriculum tests or statutory assessments. Schools still need dependable evidence of what pupils know, remember and can apply.

Start with the intended learning rather than a generic label such as “Inquirer” or “Communicator”. If Year 4 pupils are studying electrical circuits, assess whether they can construct and explain a complete circuit using the required scientific vocabulary. Learner-profile attributes may enrich reflection, but they should not replace subject-specific criteria.

During the unit, use short retrieval questions, observation, discussion and work samples to identify misconceptions. At an appropriate point, use an independent task to test whether pupils can apply the knowledge without the planning scaffold. The formative assessment guide offers practical routines.

A worked primary example

Consider a Year 2 inquiry about how the design of a local place reflects its purpose. The geography sequence requires pupils to use simple fieldwork and identify human and physical features. English requires relevant vocabulary and sentence construction. Mathematics may include position and direction.

The teacher first teaches the vocabulary and map symbols pupils need. During a local walk, pupils record evidence with a simple key. Back in class, they compare two spaces and answer: “How does each design help people use the place?” Pupils may choose which feature to explain, but the knowledge and success criteria remain explicit.

For a pupil who finds the language demand difficult, the teacher pre-teaches vocabulary, supplies symbol-supported choices and accepts an oral explanation before independent writing. The adjustment changes access, not the core geographical understanding. The broader SEND guide covers planning with the SENCO and relevant specialists.

Implement through readiness gates, not invented month ranges

The IB does not set one universal duration for authorisation or implementation. School size, programme readiness, staffing and the quality of existing curriculum systems all affect the work. A fixed “12–18 month transition” may be a local project estimate, but it is not an IB rule or a guaranteed point at which culture becomes embedded.

Use readiness gates instead:

1. Decision gate: governors or trustees understand the educational case, obligations, cost and opportunity cost.
2. Design gate: leaders have mapped the programme of inquiry against applicable curriculum and assessment requirements.
3. Capacity gate: staff have the required programme-specific development, planning time and access to support.
4. Pilot gate: a small number of units demonstrate subject coherence, accessible participation and usable assessment evidence.
5. Scale gate: the school expands only after reviewing pupil learning, workload, gaps, family understanding and implementation problems.

Keep authorisation milestones separate from local curriculum improvement milestones. The current IB authorisation process and programme-specific requirements are the authority for candidacy and verification.

Protect workload and inclusive participation

Transdisciplinary planning creates coordination work. If leaders add meetings, documentation and new assessment formats without removing anything, teachers carry two systems at once. Record the present planning hours, decide which legacy documents will stop, and give each subject and year team a clear decision owner.

Accessibility needs the same attention. Inquiry can increase language, executive-function and social demands. Provide prior knowledge, vocabulary, worked examples, predictable routines and alternative ways to contribute. A pupil should not have to speak publicly, navigate an unstructured group or infer a hidden task merely to demonstrate subject knowledge.

Involve the SENCO and relevant staff while units are designed, not after difficulties appear. Review whether adaptations preserve the intended learning and whether pupils become more independent over time.

Prepare for inspection without making Ofsted claims

Ofsted does not approve the PYP as a brand. In England, inspectors use the current state-funded schools inspection toolkit and related operating guidance to discuss the quality of provision. Leaders should therefore explain their curriculum clearly and show its effects rather than claim that an international framework guarantees a favourable judgement.

Keep a concise evidence trail: the curriculum rationale, subject and programme-of-inquiry maps, early-reading provision, assessment examples, work from different pupil groups, staff-development decisions and evidence that leaders respond to identified weaknesses. Avoid manufacturing folders solely for inspection; retain evidence that the school already uses to improve teaching.

Questions for governors and school leaders

• Which pupil need or curriculum problem is the PYP expected to address?
• Which legal, regulatory and funding-agreement duties apply to this school?
• Where will each subject's important knowledge and progression remain visible?
• How will early reading, mathematical fluency and other foundations be protected?
• What will leaders remove to create genuine planning capacity?
• How will pupils with SEND and pupils still developing academic language access inquiry?
• What evidence would cause the school to adapt, pause or stop the transition?

A credible business case gives these questions named owners, evidence sources and review dates. It does not promise guaranteed engagement, attainment or inspection outcomes.

Official guidance and next reading

• IB: PYP curriculum framework
• IB: how the PYP works
• IB: assessment across its programmes
• Department for Education: National Curriculum overview for England
• Standards and Testing Agency: current phonics-screening arrangements
• Department for Education: choosing a phonics programme
• Department for Education: the reading framework
• Ofsted: current and forthcoming inspection guidance
• Welsh Government: Curriculum for Wales
• Education Scotland: Curriculum for Excellence
• Department of Education: Northern Ireland statutory curriculum

For the programme itself, continue with the PYP overview. Use this transition guide to decide whether the school has the evidence, capacity and safeguards to move forward.