Hill West Primary School Issue 2, March 2012
Pedagogical Newsletter – March 2012 Levels Explained National Expectations are as follows: End of Reception – 6 points in all areas of learning End of Year 1 – 1A End of Year 2 – 2B End of Year 4 – 3B End of Year 6 – 4B Do you know how your child is performing against these expectations?
In this issue: Levels Explained Times Tables Planning Outstanding Teaching SIP Academies Forest Schools Creative Curriculum
Times Tables As you will probably remember from your days at primary school one of the necessary mathematical skills is rapid recall of multiplication fact; 6x3, 9x8, 7x6 etc. To try and encourage children to learn their times tables we are going to be introducing a reward scheme throughout school which will recognise their efforts. We need your help however as learning times tables has to be a collaborative venture between home and school.
Children learn at different rates and although the learning of times tables will take place in school this may not be enough to ensure that your child has a secure knowledge of them. Please support your child at home to learn their times tables and test them regularly on their rapid recall. By the end of Year 2 children should be secure with 2, 5 and 10 and by the end of Year 4 we would like all children to be secure on all times tables.
Planning Reminders: Summer Term starts for children on Tuesday 17th April
Having received a number of request from parents asking for more information about what your child is learning in school we have uploaded the teachers’ medium term plans onto Moodle. The parent council representatives thought that these would provide
you with useful information and give you a clear overview of the National Curriculum skills being taught. We hope that you have found this useful and would urge those who don’t have access to the internet at home to request copies from school.
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Glossary of Terms Pedagogy – the craft of teaching
SIP – School Improvement Plan
DfE – Department for Education
Moodle – our virtual learning environment
Academies – schools independent from the LA and funded directly by DfE
Ofsted Their description of Outstanding Teaching Much of the teaching in all key stages and most subjects is outstanding and never less than consistently good. As a result, almost all pupils are making rapid and sustained progress. All teachers have consistently high expectations of all pupils. Drawing on excellent subject knowledge, teachers plan astutely and set challenging tasks based on systematic, accurate assessment of pupils’ prior skills, knowledge and understanding. They use well judged and often imaginative teaching strategies that, together with sharply focused and timely support and intervention, match individual needs accurately. Consequently, pupils learn exceptionally well across the curriculum. The teaching of reading, writing, communication and mathematics is highly effective. Teachers and other adults generate high levels of enthusiasm for, participation in, and commitment to learning. Teaching promotes pupils’ high levels of resilience, confidence and independence when they tackle challenging activities. Teachers systematically and effectively check pupils’ understanding throughout lessons, anticipating where they may need to intervene and doing so with notable impact on the quality of learning. Time is used very well and every opportunity is taken to successfully develop crucial skills, including being able to use their literacy and numeracy skills in other subjects. Appropriate and regular homework contributes very well to pupils’ learning. Marking and constructive feedback from teachers and pupils are frequent and of a consistently high quality, leading to high levels of engagement and interest.
School Improvement Plan Ofsted Framework our School curriculum
We write Improvement Plan in line with the Financial Year rather than the school year as this helps us to budget more efficiently for resources and staffing. At present our SIP targets for 2012-2013 are still in draft and will not be ratified until the Governors Meeting at the end of this term. However they currently are: To consult with staff, pupils and parent to re-design effective learning spaces and
plans school boundaries;
across
To narrow the achievement gap for specific groups of pupils measured against ALL children nationally; To increase the proportion of outstanding teaching to 50%; To support children to become highly adept at managing their own behaviour in social
situations.
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THE CLUSTER HUB A wide range of services currently make use of the Cluster Hub located next to Mere Green Library. The Hub is a small building with three meeting rooms that is shared by all the schools and preschool settings in the Four Oaks Cluster. Community Services at the Hub include: Breastfeeding Network Relate Counseling Malachi Counseling Children’s Centre Stay and Play Young Parent’s Group Grandparent’s Group Childminder Committee and Network Autism Support Group for parents Baby massage Baby signing Parenting courses Hot-desk and drop in
Academies Academies are high on the political agenda but what are they and how do they change current arrangements? In the view of the DfE academies provide a teaching and learning environment that is in line with the best in the maintained sector and offer a broad and balanced curriculum to pupils of all abilities. Last year the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, announced legislation that actively encouraged all schools to consider converting to Academy Status through a simplified streamlined process. This signaled a key change in Academies Policy which previously focused on the worst performing secondary schools. Now schools deemed outstanding and good could convert to Academy Status meaning that they become independent from the Local Authority and directly accountable to the DfE. More than one-in-10 state secondary schools in England are now academies, outside of local authority control. The majority of secondary schools in Sutton Coldfield have now converted are in the process of converting to Academy Status. The Education Secretary Michael Gove said the change amounted to the "fastest rate of education reform in English history". Academies have greater control over their budgets and use of resources. There is also an expectation for successful academy schools to set up partnerships with other schools in order to ensure that by working together standards continue to rise for all pupils.
Forest
Schools
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Miss Sophie Roberts is now a training Forest Schools Teacher. This means that she will be able to teach groups of children outdoor and adventurous activities. Forest School is an inspirational process that offers children, regular opportunities to achieve, and develop confidence and self-esteem through hands on learning experiences in a local woodland environment
THE CREATIVE CURRICULUM… Over the last 3 years we have moved away from teaching discrete subjects for one hour per day or one hour per week and now plan the children’s learning through a key question that drives and guides the work. This means that much of the work is cross-curricular in nature and far more purposeful for the children. During the course of a half term the children may focus on a number of key questions and this will vary according to their learning needs and abilities. This move has been in response to ensuring that the children enjoy their learning and are able to use and apply their knowledge and skills in a range of subjects and situations. For more information see ; designing a creative contextualised primary curriculum published Spring 2012
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