Curriculum Libraries help your school organise teaching resources into shared, structured libraries that teachers can quickly access and use in their classes.
Curriculum Library Roles and Requirements
There are two roles within a Curriculum Library:
Editors who can create, organize, and update library content.
Viewers who can browse the library and copy resources into their own classes but cannot make changes to the library itself.
Before creating your libraries, take some time to plan who will manage them and how you'd like to organize your curriculum content:
Who will create the initial library structure?
Who is responsible for approving curriculum resources?
Who should be able to add or update content?
Who only needs to access and copy resources into their classes?
💡Consider assigning Library Editor access to curriculum leads, department heads, or year-group leads. This distributes ownership, encourages collaboration, and keeps resources current without relying on a single administrator.
Planning your Library's Folder Structure
Curriculum Libraries help bridge curriculum content and daily instructional delivery. Library Editors are able to create folder structures within your Curriculum Libraries to organize resources in a way that supports teachers with day-to-day teaching and learning, aligned to your school's instructional plans and sequencing.
This means that library structures should be planned ahead of time and communicated with your Library Editors so that a consistent structure is maintained across your curriculum libraries.
A good structure should:
be easy to navigate
remain consistent across year groups
match how your curriculum is delivered
scale as new resources are added
✍️ Using Assessment Libraries too?
Curriculum Libraries and Assessment Libraries are a powerful combination when used together. Consider using a similar naming convention and structure across both Curriculum and Assessment Libraries to streamline navigation and maximise impact.
Assessment Insights also rely on consistent quiz names to assist with filtering and analysis. Consider including the subject and year group in assessment titles.
Recommended Folder Structures
Choose the approach that best matches how your curriculum is managed, maintained and delivered. This section demonstrates how varying organisation strategies can facilitate specific curriculum goals.
Advice for Primary Schools
As primary teachers tend to teach multiple subjects to a single year group, having a single primary school library with year groups as top-level folders ensures that all teachers have access to the lessons they need, even if the year group they are teaching changes. This also gives all teachers visibility on what pupils should have learned in previous years to scaffold their lessons accordingly.
Sample Library Structure A
Likely best if your curriculum is organised around academic terms.
Structure teaching and learning for each year group by subject and term, where the year group folder would model a class structure in Showbie.
Example hierarchy: Year Group → Subject → Term → Lessons → Assignments
Sample Library Structure B
Likely best if your curriculum is delivered through thematic units or topics, or if you have more flexibility over when different units are delivered.
Structure teaching and learning information for each year group by subject and topic, where the year group folder would model a class structure in Showbie.
Example hierarchy: Year Group → Subject → Topics → Lessons → Assignments
Guidance for Upper Years & Secondary Schools
Since secondary teachers tend to have subject specialties, having subject-specific libraries allows subject leads or teams to curate content as Library Editors. Having year group folders within the library ensures teachers have access to the lessons they need if they are teaching the same subject to various year groups. This structure requires slightly more member management, but makes it easier for teachers to focus on the content relevant to them.
Sample Library Structure C
Structuring content for each year group by term and topic, where the year group folder would model a class structure in Showbie.
Example hierarchy: Year Group → Term → Topics → Lessons → Assignments
How Many Curriculum Libraries Should We Have?
This is completely up to you! You may choose one Curriculum Library for your entire organization or separate libraries by subject or department. The important thing is to carefully consider your Curriculum Library structure so it stays organised and accessible.
Once Your Library Has Been Created
You can continue adding content as needed and inviting teachers. Before inviting teachers we recommend confirming the following:
Folder structure has been finalized and communicated with your team.
Naming conventions have been agreed.
Initial curriculum resources have been added.
Best Practices for Maintaining Folder Structure
Create the folder structure before adding resources.
Agree on naming conventions.
Keep folder names consistent across year groups.
Copy top-level folders when creating additional libraries
✍️ Consistent folder structure is important for ease of use. You can simply create the folder structure once, then copy the top level folder with your library or across libraries.
Ready to Create Your Curriculum Libraries?
Submit an Import Service Request in the Admin Dashboard to have your Curriculum Libraries created.
💡 Curriculum Libraries are available exclusively on the web with Showbie Insights. If your school or district is interested in accessing Curriculum Libraries, ask your Showbie Administrators to contact their Account Manager to learn more!