Hill West Primary School Issue 4, June 2012
Pedagogical Newsletter – June 2012 National Curriculum Did you know that the Government have been carrying out a National Curriculum Review. The aim of the review is to “provide heads with a clear sense of high expectations in the essential subjects of mathematics, science and English” (Gove, June 2012). Find out more overleaf.
In this issue: National Curriculum Review Times Tables Challenge at Hill West
Times Table Challenge Academy Trust Wired on Technology Pupil Premium Take Over Days
Reminders: Reports Live to parents on Friday 6th July 12pm Parents Evening Monday 9th July 5pm – 7pm
As you know we have been reviewing the way we teach and challenge children to learn, use and apply their times table knowledge. We have now launched our new reward incentive which sees every child issued with a times tables challenge card. The children can then collect wrist bands when they are able to prove that they can recall their multiplication
facts at speed. Your child can potentially collect 3 wrist bands (bronze, silver and gold) that celebrate their proficiency with particular times tables e.g. 2, 5 and 10. There is also a platinum category to enable some of our pupils to truly excel. The National Curriculum Review currently taking place suggests that all children should be secure in the use of their times tables to 12x12 by the end of Year 4.
Academy Trust The Academy Alliance with Arthur Terry is gaining momentum. We have now received our Academy Order from the DfE. This is the first part of the conversion process. Consultation with a variety of stakeholders has already began and this will include parents, staff, the Local Authority, Professional Associations and the wider school community. As a group of Head Teachers we are beginning to meet regularly
to shape the vision, values and systems unique to the learning partnership. This week we have focused on our shared vision: That is what underpins and drives the academy’s strategy including our ethos, values and ambition. Discussions also took place around some standard systems that we may like to employ across the alliance including behaviour, target setting and staff appraisal.
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Glossary of Terms Pedagogy – the craft of teaching
Phonics – sounds
Academies – schools independent from the LA and funded directly by DfE
Pupil Premium – money allocated to school budgets based on the number of children entitled to (past and present) free school meals
Programmes of Study – outline of teaching content
Wired on Technology Today’s children have an unhealthy dependency on electronic media. Dr Aric Sigman says pull the plug. Do you agree? An article in the TES on 8th June caught my attention. The paper suggested that in a recent international study The World Unplugged asked university students in 10 countries to abstain from using electronic media, excluding landline phones, for a full day. A clear majority in every country apparently failed. The researchers noted that many pupils employed the rhetoric of addiction, dependency and depression. The reports goes on to say that whether children are formally addicted to screen technology or not, many of them overuse technology and have developed an unhealthy dependency on it. This is potentially bad for their health, well-being and education the report suggests. High levels of early screen time appear to be more likely to lead to a longterm lifestyle of the same, which is considered an independent risk factor for disease, irrespective of the educational value of it. In the UK by the age of 10 children apparently have regular access to an average of five different screens at home, regularly engaging in two or more forms of screen-viewing at the same time. By the age of 7 the average child born today will have watched the equivalent of a full year of screen media. By the age of 80 they will have spent 17.6 years doing the same. There is good evidence the report suggests to show that children’s screen time can be reduced through simple, obvious measures: raising parental awareness, raising teacher awareness and introducing limits. www.aricsigman.com
The Pupil Premium As you will know from the National Press each school is allocated money for children who are either currently entitled to or have previously been entitled to free school meals. This money is called the Pupil Premium and is purposefully designed to accelerate the progress of these children. If a school’s Pupil Premium children fail, then it will “more likely than not” be judged to be failing as a whole, the Deputy Prime
Minster has warned. Nick Clegg revealed that Ofsted will be providing him with regular reports of the effect that the funding is having on the ground in schools. He said that inspectors will be “looking forensically” at how well Pupil Premium children do in schools. Mr Clegg said that schools were free to decide how to spend the money but added “We will
be watching you achieve”.
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TAKEOVER DAYS This year for the first time we have had 3 whole school takeover days where the pupils in Year 6 have been members of the staff for a day. These days are designed to give our pupils a real insight into the world or work.
Takeover Day is a national event that happens once a year in the Autumn Term. At Hill West we decide to take part three times a year meaning that all of our children in Year 6 who wish to take part are given the opportunity. Takeover Day offers children and young people across the country the chance to work alongside adults and get involved in decision-making in a wide range of organisations. All the children in year 6 were invited to apply for their chosen post; Head Teacher, Deputy Head, Admin Staff, Building Site Supervisor; Class Teachers. The standard of the candidates was exceptionally high and congratulations go to all those involved.
National Curriculum Review The Coalition Government are in the process of publishing new Programmes of Study for primary mathematics, science and English. The purpose of the curriculum review suggests Gove, is to give parents clarity over content and assurance that their children are making proper progress, safeguarding each child’s entitlement to a secure foundation on which they can build. It is also designed to help teachers in each primary year ensure that the necessary knowledge has been mastered before moving on to more stretching content. The review body suggest that it will be for each school to specify in its own way the year-by-year detail of its own curriculum in every subject. But in order to ensure that children in England master the essential core knowledge which other nations pass on to their pupils, the Governing are publishing Programmes of Study which they explain are explicitly more ambitious than ever before. Children will be expected to be more proficient in arithmetic, including knowing number bonds to 20 by 20 by Year 2 and times tables up to 12x12 by the end of Year 4. The development of written methods – including long multiplication and division – will be given greater emphasis, and pupils will be taught more challenging content using fractions, decimals and negative numbers. Science will focus more on the… (continued adjacent in green box)
THE CLUSTER HUB A wide range of services currently make use of the Cluster Hub located next to Mere Green Library.
National Curriculum Review Continued… acquisition of scientific knowledge. In English the Government intend to strengthen the focus on the fundamentals of phonics, grammar and spelling. There will also be a much stronger emphasis on reading widely for pleasure. The importance of spoken language in supporting the development of reading and writing will be emphasised, and there will be an expectation that pupils master formal English through poetry recitation, debate and presentation. While it will be for school to shape their own curricular, there will remain the requirement for the teaching of art and design, design and technology, geography, history, ICT, music and physical education across all the primary years. Programmes of Study in these subjects will, however, be much shorter.
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