Project content and resources
Each project contains a wide range of content, resources and tools to help personalise your planning.
Within each project, you can view the content by the pedagogical Stage - the order in which it should be taught to ensure correct lesson sequence and therefore optimise learning - or by Subject, by using the grey button at the top of the screen to toggle between the two views. To read more about the Cornerstones pedagogy and to understand how the four Cornerstones of learning work, see: The Cornerstones Pedagogy.
Check if the project has any companion projects and the content of those mini complementary projects by clicking on the 'companion projects' button.
To view the parent information, click the 'View parent information' button. This will open a modal with information about the project that you can copy and paste into a Word document or similar to share with parents. For more information, see: What can I publish online?
To see the lessons in each stage, click on the Stage tab required (Introductory knowledge, Engage, Develop, Innovate, Express) or use the subject tabs if in the subject view, then:
- Click 'Reveal lesson content' or the lesson title to see the lesson details.
- Underneath the lesson title, the subject and the Concepts/Aspects are displayed.
- Clicking the blue 'View progression' link opens a modal that enables teachers to see expected, prior, or future learning.
- The skills that will be learned in the lesson are highlighted in orange.
- The Core knowledge that will be learned in that lesson is highlighted in blue.
- Click on the 'Additional information' link to also view the Big Ideas, any linked Hinterland and Broad knowledge objectives, the programme of study from the national curriculum, and the number of times each programme of study is taught in your curriculum (green lozenge next to the programme of study).
- Click on the blue text link within each lesson brief to see the lesson-specific resources.
- To add 'school adaptations', click on the 'Add notes' link or just start typing into the text box any information that is required. Click the 'Save' button to save your adaptations. Your adaptations can be viewed by other teachers in your school.
- Lessons can be printed/downloaded, if required, by clicking on Open print view and then the print icon in the top right corner.

Tip: If you decide there are lessons within a project that do not need to be taught, Maestro admins and SLT users can officially 'exclude' lessons. This will ensure these lessons do not show when adding lessons to My planner. This may affect your intended coverage if the activities are not taught or fully excluded from your curriculum. Please read the Checking and analysing coverage article to find out more.
Other tabs across the top of the project include:
Enhanced provision - (Nursery, Reception, Y1 and Y2) A selection of activities that continue children's learning, linked to the theme of the project.
Story pack/Book study/Novel study - A recommended text that is linked to the theme of the project with additional age-appropriate resources. These are more structured for Reception with lesson and enhanced provision ideas - please see the teacher guidance within the top box for support on how to use these. For KS1 and KS2, there is a book/novel organiser that contains an overview, key vocabulary and details about the author and a comprehension question booklet with a mark-scheme.
Book lists - A list of age-appropriate books, linked to the theme of the project. Click on the blue store link to view on Waterstones or Amazon websites. Use the print button to create a PDF that can be emailed/printed off as required.
Practical resources - A list of all suggested practical resources needed for each lesson in the project, organised by stage. Use the print button to create a PDF that can be emailed/printed off as required.
Resources - All the resources from the lessons and other useful documents to support teaching and learning can be found in this tab, organised by generic first, then stage. The generic section includes book covers, Did you know? (Early years), knowledge organisers (Y1-Y6), display banners, home learning ideas, plus others depending on the project type.
Additional programmes of study - (not in every project) Lists programmes of study covered implicitly while teaching the lessons contained in this project.
Lesson builder - Teachers can add their own lessons to projects using the 'Create Lesson' button. Choose the year group, subject and whether to view all programmes of study or just gaps in coverage, using the filters. Choose the > button to the right of the required statement and click in the small check box to select the relevant skill/s. Click 'Create Lesson' to add the lesson. The lesson can be edited by clicking the pencil icon. This opens a modal, where the lesson title, duration, focus and description can be edited. It is also possible to add further objectives to the lesson by clicking the tab and selecting 'Add objective'. The lesson can be deleted by clicking the small cross, next to the pencil icon. Additional lessons can then be added by repeating this process and moved around into the correct sequence by using the four way arrow on the far left of the lesson.
Once lessons have been added to the lesson builder, a new tab called School lessons will appear. The lessons in this tab operate in the same way as the main lessons in the project. If the lesson/s are deleted from the lesson builder, this extra tab will automatically be removed.
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