Case Study:
How Beijing Royal School Uses Atlas to Drive Continuous Improvement
Beijing, China
Upashna Simandan
For us, Atlas is much more than a place to document curriculum. It helps teachers learn from one another, build on years of shared experience, and make informed decisions about teaching and learning. Ultimately, our goal is to ensure that curriculum planning leads to meaningful, connected, and consistent learning experiences for every student.
Founded nearly 30 years ago, Beijing Royal School is one of China's pioneering international schools. Today, the school offers one of the country's broadest curriculum portfolios—including AP, IB, A Level, OSSD and the Chinese National Curriculum.
Managing so many programmes presents a unique challenge.
Each pathway follows different standards, learning outcomes and assessment requirements. Maintaining curriculum quality and consistency across all programmes requires much more than individual lesson planning—it requires a school-wide curriculum strategy.
For Beijing Royal School, Atlas has become the platform that makes this possible.
We spoke with Upashna Simandan, Director of International Accreditation and Atlas Coordinator, about how Atlas has helped the school strengthen curriculum planning, collaboration and continuous improvement.
From "suitcase curriculum" to shared curriculum hub
Prior to the implementation of Atlas, curriculum documentation was developed and maintained using a variety of established tools, including Word documents, spreadsheets, and shared digital folders, reflecting the school’s evolving approach to curriculum planning and organization.
As Upashna describes it:
We sometimes called this the "suitcase curriculum," as teachers brought their own teaching materials, ideas, and experience with them. When teachers moved on, some of that valuable knowledge went with them. We wanted to find a way to keep and share these resources so that future teachers could continue building on what had already been developed.
As the school continued to grow and expand its curriculum offerings, there was an opportunity to strengthen several areas:
- Establishing a shared platform for curriculum documentation
- Improving visibility across departments and grade levels
- Strengthening curriculum alignment and progression
- Preserving valuable curriculum knowledge as teaching teams evolved
- Creating more opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration
- Making curriculum evidence more accessible for school reviews and accreditation
Atlas provided a way to bring these areas together through a more connected and collaborative approach to curriculum planning.
Today, Atlas has become the place where teachers document, review and continuously improve curriculum together.
Atlas has become where our curriculum lives.
Teachers can review previous years' unit plans, build upon existing curriculum and collaborate across departments using the same platform.
Instead of losing the curriculum assets when teachers leave, curriculum remains within the school.
Now we have seven years of curriculum maps in Atlas. Teachers don’t have to start from zero because they can use and build on units developed by their colleagues over the years. This saves time, encourages collaboration, and allows teachers to focus on improving learning experiences for students.
A clearer picture of curriculum alignment
For Upashna, Atlas provides something that spreadsheets and folders never could—a complete picture of the curriculum.
Through curriculum mapping, we can see the curriculum as a whole and understand how learning connects across subjects and grade levels. This helps us identify gaps, strengthen connections, and plan more effectively for student learning.
Instead of reviewing isolated documents, curriculum leaders can now identify:
Curriculum gaps
Unnecessary duplication
Horizontal alignment across subjects
Vertical progression between grade levels
Skills development across programmes
Rather than relying on assumptions, school leaders use curriculum maps to guide discussion, identify priorities and make informed decisions about curriculum development.
Supporting accreditation
As Director of Accreditation, Upashna also sees Atlas as an important tool during accreditation.
She explains:
Atlas enabled us to present a comprehensive and coherent overview of our curriculum, clearly demonstrating curriculum alignment, progression, and documentation as part of the WASC accreditation process.
When Beijing Royal School completed its WASC Self-Study, the school used Atlas to organize curriculum evidence and documentation for visiting committee members.
We completed our entire WASC self-study in Atlas.
Reviewers were able to access curriculum documents, supporting evidence and reports directly through the platform.
Integrating curriculum mapping into daily practice
Implementing Atlas required more than software.
The school deliberately embedded curriculum documentation into teachers' professional expectations.
For the first several years, curriculum leaders reviewed every unit plan, provided detailed feedback and monitored curriculum quality regularly.
Teachers are expected to keep Atlas updated throughout the year.
Even when teachers leave the school, curriculum documentation must be completed before their departure.
We encouraged teachers to retain copies of their teaching resources for their own professional use, while establishing Atlas as the central platform for maintaining a consistent, accessible, and collaborative schoolwide curriculum.
This consistent leadership support helped Atlas become part of the school's everyday practice rather than another digital platform.
Building a culture of professional collaboration and data-informed improvement
In addition, we use Atlas to support our Professional Learning Community (PLC) discussions, creating a rich and growing record of collaborative reflections, assessment data analysis, and evidence-based decisions about teaching and learning. Over time, these documented discussions have become a valuable source of shared professional knowledge, allowing teachers to revisit previous conversations, build on their colleagues’ insights, track student progress, and continuously improve their teaching practices.
More than just a platform: professional learning first
One theme appeared repeatedly throughout the interview.
Upashna believes the success of Atlas was not simply because of the software, but because of Faria's implementation approach.
Rather than beginning with product demonstrations, the Atlas team first introduced Understanding by Design (UbD) and curriculum planning principles.
They started by helping us understand curriculum planning.
The school also received ongoing professional learning, implementation support and curriculum coaching.
According to Upashna, this made a significant difference.
We wanted a partner, not just a product provider.
She recalls attending Faria Curriculum Summit events and working closely with the implementation team throughout the rollout.
The trainers understood the realities schools face because they had been educators themselves.
Looking ahead
As curriculum continues to evolve alongside AI and new educational technologies, Beijing Royal School believes professional collaboration, curriculum documentation and institutional knowledge remain essential.
For schools managing multiple programmes—or seeking greater curriculum coherence—Atlas provides not only a platform, but a sustainable framework for continuous curriculum improvement.