WOODRUSH ACORN Mighty Oaks from little Acorns grow
Woodrush High School Shawhurst Lane, Wythall, Worcestershire, B47 5JW Tel: 08444 771814 Fax: 08444 771812 www.woodrushhigh.worcs.sch.uk
Welcome to the Woodrush Acorn Dear Colleague I am wri/ng to introduce you to the Woodrush Teaching School Alliance. Based on our founding school, Woodrush High School, (an academy for students aged 11 to 18) we are a new and recently designated Na/onal Teaching School alliance situated close to junc/on 3 of the M42 and on the south west edge of Birmingham. Whilst our alliance is growing and working predominantly in our locality, we are looking to gain partners from across the West Midlands, from likeminded schools, who are keen to develop effec/ve and engaging networks to further their own improvement. Our alliance offers access to high quality newly qualified teachers (including NQT’s in specialist and shortage subjects) through our university strategic partners. We also offer training programmes to support teachers through their careers. From a variety of ini/al routes into teaching, NQT support and teaching improvement programmes; through to accredited courses supported by the NCTL, our training covers the scope and breadth of professional development for teaching staff. This includes the research and development group, which works with a variety of funding agencies to develop prac/ce in our schools. All our teacher and leadership improvement programmes complement our aim of developing leadership poten/al and con/nued professional development for all staff, whilst also addressing the capacity for con/nued improvement within our alliance partners. In addi/on, we are increasingly providing and facilita/ng a variety of school-‐to-‐school support opportuni/es for our partner schools, which offer you the chance to share your current prac/ces and success with others. We hope you enjoy reading our latest edi/on of ‘Acorn’, an alliance publica/on with the aim of sharing prac/ce and topical issues around teaching and learning. Alterna/vely, please feel free to pass it on to the relevant person in your school. If you would like to know more about joining our network, or would like to ask us something specific, please email us at teachingschool@woodrushhigh.worcs.sch.uk or visit our web site at www.woodrushtsa.co.uk to register an interest with us. We can also be found on twiZer at @WoodrushTSA. Alterna/vely, feel free to let us have a contact email address for a relevant person in your school, so that we can send out subsequent ‘Acorn’ publica/ons and keep in touch regarding relevant CPD opportuni/es which might be of interest to you as a school. Thank you for taking the /me to look through our latest publica/on and we look forward to your poten/al interest in finding out more about our partnership
Chris King MSc, PGCE, NPQH Headteacher Woodrush High School Shawhurst Lane, Wythall, Worcestershire, B47 5JW Tel: 01564 823777 Fax: 01564 820092 www.woodrushhigh.worcs.sch.uk
TEACHER TRAINING
Woodrush High School Shawhurst Lane, Wythall, Worcestershire, B47 5JW Tel: 08444 771814 Fax: 08444 771812 www.woodrushhigh.worcs.sch.uk
Action / Reaction Stamper In July 2014 we completed a whole school assessment work scru/ny where we asked for a number of pupil premium students’ work from all their subject areas. This was incredibly powerful at clearly showing those subjects who were clearly showing the support and progress of students through assessment work and day to day AFL. On wri/ng a document about our findings (and sharing this with colleagues) I began to think about what had made those subject areas ‘stand out’ as clearly evidencing learning over /me. I also started to think about the success of the ‘what do you think?’ stamper, which had originally been launched in 2009, in response to the Ofsted 2008, which had referred to a need for dialogue between staff and students. The final piece in the jigsaw was my experience as a parent of a 2 year old and receiving a monthly ‘learning profile’ from my daughter’s nursery. This electronic document shows photos and describes key learning experiences which sign post her current aZainment and learning ‘that month’, and I par/cularly enjoy and value receiving this. I began to think about how this might be developed at Secondary level, for us at Woodrush. The stamper had worked well in encouraging a dialogue, and had been adapted by staff to create an effec/ve dialogue. In some lessons staff used it to pose an individual ques/on which then needed answering. It also gathered ‘feelings’ and aetudes to learning in the most effec/ve lessons. However, it was (from the work scru/ny) slightly flawed in that the dialogue ended at the point of ‘reply’ and needed a follow up of an ‘ac/on.’ I then worked to find a solu/on to this and, from finding some examples of words and symbols on line; I asked staff and students to vote for their favourite. This resulted in our ‘ac/on/ reac/on’ stamper, which has been launched in September 2014 and is currently being used by staff and students in school. The idea is that it’s another ‘open’ tool to encourage reflec/on (reac/on) but significantly, ac/on, which is for the teacher or indeed the student or peer to take steps to progress. In responding to the stamper and following the ‘Ac/on’, students can then increase their independence and ownership of their own learning. In addi/on, the symbol can be used effec/vely by all subjects in school -‐ for both the support of wriZen and prac/cal learning. It is s/ll early days in its development, but I am pleased with the start of its use and look forward to seeing the impact around school and in looking at students’ work. The ‘learning Journey’ concept also came from the work scru/ny and also will see each department ‘evidencing’ learning ‘over /me’ in different ways, suited to their department. E.g. PE will use I pads to film performance, whereas Science and English use assessment books. The power in this principle will be as the evidence builds over /me and this will be able to be shared with parents/ carers and students, to show just what great support our students receive at Woodrush.
PE Department The PE department have used the new ‘Ac/on/reac/on’ in many of their prac/cal and theory lessons so far this half term. It is a very effec/ve tool to help good clear communica/on between teacher and students encouraging excellent use of AFL in lessons.
AFL in Science AFL Kits The mission at the start of the 2013-‐14 academic year was to move as many science lessons as possible from the “good with outstanding features” to “outstanding” lessons. Feedback from the 2010 faculty review included a sugges/on to develop how AfL was used to support progress. At the end of the academic year 2012-‐13, Sarah Thomas began work on a set of resources that would make up our AfL kits and started trialling different ways of using the resources in lessons to check on progress and to demonstrate progress over /me a liZle more explicitly. The kits have a range of things inside them designed to engage and mo/vate pupils to demonstrate and recognise their progress in lessons, but also allowing staff to monitor progress and iden/fy pupils where interven/on or addi/onal challenge is required. The AfL kits were launched on the INSET day in September 2013. Staff reacted in such a posi/ve and enthusias/c manner that we were onto a winner from the start! Hardly a lesson goes by in science now where some aspect of the AfL kit is not in use. We regularly shared, and con/nue to share, new ways of using the resources in the AfL kit and powerpoint slides to deliver the ac/vi/es effec/vely. At the start of this academic year, on the September INSET day, we had a big evalua/on of the use of the AfL kits and shared more ideas about how to adapt and differen/ate lessons following progress checks so that all pupils are making excellent progress and interven/on can happen immediately for pupils showing they are not quite there yet.
Green Pen Time
Outstanding Idea of the Week
Another idea that was introduced at the start of 2013 in the September INSET day was the concept of Green pen /me. As part of our evalua/on, we were aware that pupil dialogue was not always as effec/ve as it could be and we wanted to raise the profile of its importance with both staff and pupils. A set of green biros was put into each classroom for use in pupil dialogue and self and peer assessment. Green was chosen as the colour stands out from the blue or black pen that we expect pupils to write in and is different to the red pen that we use to mark their work. It also matches to the colour of the stamper which is used to iden/fy where we want pupils to engage in dialogue or ac/ons. Again, we shared ideas for making this effec/ve, including specifically planning green pen /me into lessons when work has been marked. A powerpoint slide was generated for consistency so that pupils would recognise it as an important part of their learning. Staff shared ideas for prompts to help pupils respond effec/vely and we reflected on our progress in this area several /mes during the last academic year. We con/nue to push Green pen /me in the science department and there are some excellent examples of pupil dialogue evident in many of the pupils’ books and assessment folders. We are by no means “there” with this and our recent pupil premium work analysis iden/fied that this s/ll remains an area to develop. On TwiZer I have no/ced a lot of schools use “DIRT” /me (Dedicated Improvement and Reflec/on Time). I think the only way for our pupil dialogue to improve is to ensure we plan for this more…s/ll not sure about calling it DIRT /me though!
There is a board in the science office to share learning and teaching ac/vi/es and strategies that would contribute to outstanding classroom prac/ce. The ini/al idea was to share one a week that everyone could try, but aner some reflec/on we decided it was beZer to have about 5 ideas per half term so that teachers had /me to incorporate them into lessons and maybe try them a few /mes with different groups. We set up a FROG blog to share how we had used them and whether they had been successful or not. We found we had a lack of /me to engage with this properly, however, conversa/ons over lunch and break or feedback sessions during faculty mee/ngs provided plenty of opportuni/es for these discussions and reflec/ons. All ideas were linked to the Teachers’ Standards to allow staff to target areas that they had iden/fied as areas for improvement on Genie as part of the appraisal process.
English: Improving Reading Skills Recognising that reading successfully is an essen/al key to unlocking the learning poten/al of our students, Woodrush has commiZed to improving this skill star/ng with a focus on the new year 7 cohort. This term we have launched Accelerated Reader with every year 7 student. They have taken the ini/al test and this has provided each individual with a reading age. This data has been disseminated and used to inform interven/on and classroom differen/a/on. The results also guide the students towards a par/cular level of book from the library. Here books have been colour coded to enable easy selec/on. This ‘Zone of Proximal Development’ ensures that students choose a book that they can access and enjoy, while providing a suitable level of challenge to develop vocabulary and comprehension. Progress is monitored via quizzes completed aner every book. Students are being encouraged to read daily and to facilitate this, /me is being allocated to reading in Literacy and English lessons. To ins/l the importance of reading in every subject, we have also launched Drop Everything And Read which works on a rolling programme in the last twenty minutes of a lesson. Feedback has been extremely posi/ve from both staff and students. The Accelerated Reader programme also provides an effec/ve method of improving home / school dialogue as not only can regular reading reports be sent home but students reading habits can be monitored live via Home Connect. This allows parents and carers to see which books students have read and how they have achieved in the quizzes. To elicit con/nued parental support we held a ‘Reading Informa/on Evening’ and used the mee/ng to open further home / school links such as the discussion of future Literacy evenings, home book blogs, parents book clubs .... These strategies have focused on our yr7 cohort and this will roll into next year so that we will con/nue the programme with yr8 and the new yr7s.
English: Slow Writing We always welcome staff to Woodrush to share good prac/ce and during October we hosted teachers from Tudor Grange Academy, Solihull, as part of their training day. Aner an interes/ng session with CharloZe Burgess where she shared ideas for how to support outstanding learning and teaching, she introduced me to the concept of ‘slow wri/ng’ with me and then sent through a power point with the concept on. I am currently teaching a year 8 set 6 (out of 7) group for their (once a week) literacy lesson, and decided to try out ‘slow wri/ng’ with them to develop their ability to vary and control sentences for effect within crea/ve wri/ng. We had been working on the accuracy and understanding of their punctua/on, so to move onto suppor/ng their improvement in using sentences, was a natural progression. The ‘Slow Wri/ng’ concept is that it ‘forces’ or ‘controls’ the structure of a students’ wri/ng, as they must follow the ‘rules’ (see picture.) Aner previous work on recapping simple, compound and complex sentences, the students took to following the rules with real engagement. The structure almost gave them more freedom by forcing them to s/ck to the rules given. The improvement to their work and use of sentences was drama/c. My development of this during the next few lessons was to demonstrate which work was completed as a group, independently (s/ll following the ‘structure’.) Students then had to write their own structure for either another student to complete, or as a challenge for themselves. Inspired by our Paul Ginnis training, subsequent lessons involved me understanding where students were in their understanding of the 3 sentence types (at the start of the lesson) by using a line of string with confident to less confident iden/fied, followed by a mixture of different ac/vi/es which were reac/ng to individual students’ needs-‐ e.g. a small group of students who needed more support worked with me and the white boards to secure their understanding of sentences, while other students con/nued on with the task. The last lesson (in the sequence) saw a combina/on of small group/ pairs of students and some students choosing to work alone-‐ all on a varia/on of the ‘slow’ wri/ng, from an independent perspec/ve. ‘Slow Wri/ng’ has been a concept that was so obvious once I tried it, yet I hadn’t used it before, and would highly recommend. I think it would work well with other types of wri/ng, which need ‘structure’ or ‘rules’. Rather than being ‘constrained’ by the rules, the structure supported them to be ‘freer’ and the engagement and joy of wri/ng then resulted from them seeing their ability drama/cally improve and their confidence in what they had produced, was immeasurable.
Before After Woodrush High School Shawhurst Lane, Wythall, Worcestershire, B47 5JW Tel: 01564 823777 Fax: 01564 820092 www.woodrushhigh.worcs.sch.uk
Does crea8ve revision actually work? If I was bored to tears by the sight of another past paper, surely the students were unlikely to be jumping up and down with excitement and clapping their hands with glee. So … how could Easter School Revision Day be delivered in a way that would combine exam focused ac/vi/es with crea/ve, interes/ng learning? I wasn’t brave enough to turn the en/re day into a funfest so followed the tried and tested revision tasks throughout the morning. My plan was to make the last session ‘different’. We bought lots of ‘blanks’: dice, cards, jigsaws, balloons, bags, key rings, polystyrene balls and students were given the op/on: work on a prac/ce ques/on or design and make a party bag of revision materials. A couple of students raised their eyebrows, tuZed and held out their hands for the past paper. Most, however, seemed a tad animated. There was a rush to the resources as groups greedily grabbed their goodies. Then silence as they sat and looked at their loot – it wasn’t just the objects that were blank, so were expressions and ideas. Slowly, the students started to pick up, poke and play with the things in front of them. I was nervous; cogs may be turning, brains may be engaged but we were was/ng valuable revision /me. Then the talking started as students began to ask each other ques/ons, throw around ideas and form plans. It was fascina/ng to watch; one group turned the dice into dice, the playing cards into playing cards and the jigsaw into a jigsaw. Others made simple Q and A style board games. A couple just started ‘making’ with no idea what, why or how. Some gave up and decided that comple/ng a mock ques/on would be easier. Did it work? Well, yes and no: the discussion about the texts that were the focus of the revision session were meaningful as students considered which elements to use for the ac/vi/es; the independent learning allowed students to adapt the tasks to suit their own personali/es; the op/ons available meant that all students were engaged with whatever they had chosen to do. However, none of the finished products was likely to be snapped up by Dragons’ Den and I couldn’t help feeling that valuable learning /me was lost.
QR Codes QR or Quick Response Codes are a type of two-‐dimensional barcode that can be scanned and read using smartphones or tablets that link directly to text, emails, websites and more! If your students have a smartphone like an iPhone, Android or Blackberry then there a number of different free barcode scanner applica/ons that they can download such as QR Barcode Scanner and QR Code Reader that can read and decode data from a QR code. All you have to do once the app has been installed is use the phone's camera to scan the barcode, which will then automa/cally load the encoded data! You can make your own QR Codes using designated 2D barcode generators. The one I use most onen is www.qrstuff.com. It is very simple. All you need to do is select the data type you would like to link your QR codes too, add in the relevant content; for example the URL address or text content, then select Download QR Code. This code can then be copied and pasted into your lesson resources! QR codes have been a huge success with my sixth form and have become a regular feature in flipped learning ac/vi/es where students are provided a sheet like the one below! The QR code is included in the document and it directly links to a video or website which students are expected to research and make notes on prior to the lesson! Students loved the novelty of using their smart phones or tablets in their learning and also the accessibility of the subject content! Would be great for revision with smaller codes on key rings that could be with students at all /mes so revision can take place on the move? The possibili/es are endless!!
Humanities: Stuck Wall
Inspired by examples found on Twitter In the History and Geography classrooms we have created "stuck walls" for our GCSE groups to give them advice and exemplars to help them approach the different types of exam ques/on that come up. Things we have incorporated into the wall include generic mark schemes, exam ques/on planning sheets to help them structure their answers, rules//ps to follow for different mark ques/ons, and also exemplar answers to case study ques/ons showing them what different level answers look like. We have also included SPaG advice to help them gain the extra marks now included for this element.
AFL in Geography In Geography, we have created exam ques/on packs that we are using in both class and for homework to help develop their exam technique across the units we teach. At the end of each exam paper is a ac/on/reac/on sheet that the teacher/student completes to help them improve their answers and exam technique, as well as giving students an idea of what their grade would be like overall for that paper.
SCHOOL TO SCHOOL SUPPORT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Woodrush High School Shawhurst Lane, Wythall, Worcestershire, B47 5JW Tel: 08444 771814 Fax: 08444 771812 www.woodrushhigh.worcs.sch.uk
Character Educa8on for a Challenging Century A Global Conference in Geneva
Why is Character Education important? • Character is fundamental : it is the basis for human and societal flourishing. • Character is largely caught through role-‐modelling and emo/onal contagion: school
culture and ethos are therefore central. • Character should also be taught: direct teaching of character provides the ra/onale,
In October, I took part in an online streaming of the above 2-‐day conference from Geneva. As a new experience for me, it felt rather surreal at /mes to be watching on my laptop speakers presen/ng from a stage in Geneva. As a Crea/ve Arts person, who delights in the thrill of live performance and presenta/on, I couldn’t help feeling rather detached from the experience ( possibly understandably, being over 12,000 km away ), but at the same /me I couldn’t fault the power of technology, enabling me to log into a global conference that our CPD budget would otherwise not have extended to !
The speakers included some very impressive names from the world of business, educa/on, psychology, and child development. Presenta/ons included : “Why character educa/on – exponen/al technologies and their impact on humankind”. “Human enhancements – redefining what it means to be human”. “Intellectual virtues – what they are and why we need them “. “Awakening student curiosity” and “ The importance of mindset”. Many of the presenta/ons were extremely thought-‐provoking in raising issues to do with the future requirements on our young people, the demands of the future world of work, and to what extent we are actually equipping our young people with the necessary skills and quali/es to lead successful and happy lives.
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language and tools to use in developing character elsewhere in and out of school. Character is educable : it is not fixed and the virtues can be developed. Its progress can be measured holis/cally, not only through self-‐reports but also more objec/ve research methods. Good character is the founda/on for improved aZainment, beZer behaviour and increased employability, but most importantly, healthier socie/es. Character should be developed in partnership with parents, employers and other community organisa/ons. Good character results in academic gains for students, such as higher grades. Each child has a right to character development. The development of character empowers students and is libera/ng. Character demonstrates a readiness to learn from others.
Aspire Programme “Achievement, Self-Awareness, Purpose, Involvement, Relationships, Emotional Intelligence”
Character Education - An Overview As a school, we continue our work on developing ‘the whole child’, and this year I am working specifically on implementing a framework for Character Education. One of the things to emerge from our SLT School Improvement planning day in the Spring was a shared desire to improve the life skills and qualities that we are equipping our students with before sending them out into the world, which includes developing their character. Whilst a young person’s character develops through a whole range of experiences during their time in education, ‘character’ can, and should be ‘taught’ as well as ‘caught’, and not just be expected or relied upon. I will be implementing frameworks this year with the incoming Year 7, which we will look to grow in coming years, as well as looking to further develop opportunities for students higher up the school to ensure they have the chance to develop and build character. One of the organisations I have recently made links with is the Jubilee Centre whose in-depth research into Character Education provided the basis for our original discussion and SIP planning. As a research body central to the work of Birmingham University and School, the Jubilee Centre have worked on a Programme of Study to teach Character. My own personal research has also included the work of Martin Seligman, author of ‘Flourish’, whose theories have always been the basis for our Youth and Community ethos and vision, for achieving a flourishing life. His theories provided the basis for our Aspire tree, at the centre of this work. I have also been looking into the work of Carol Dweck and her ‘Growth Mindset’ principles.
The first leZer of each word on the tree spells ASPIRE because our goal is for students to aim high during their /me at Woodrush and aspire to be the best they can. Each of these Aspire branches acts as a half termly overarching theme and focuses on a specific set of Values; Civic, Moral or Performance Values. Within the overarching theme, each week there is a Theme for the Week, linked to a value or virtue, and a quote for reflec/on. 2 weekly tutor periods are allocated ASPIRE sessions where students explore the themes and are given an ac/vity to do that they act upon, reflect and feed back on in the next session. This tutor based work follows this Approach to Learning Virtue:
1. Iden/fy an issue for virtue (moral, civic, performance) 2. Deepen knowledge and understanding of that issue 3. Applica/on of value or virtue to the issue 4. Habit forming: prac/ce the virtue 5. Evalua/on: have I changed for the beZer?
Tutor /me : The Theme for Autumn Term 1 was Emo/onal Intelligence ( focusing on Moral Character Virtues) and students explored the virtues of Self Discipline, Humility, Respect, Courage, Gra/tude, Honesty and Jus/ce. Some great work was done by form tutors to facilitate this work. Feedback from staff ( both informal and through House mee/ngs ), along with a Quality Assurance learning walk confirmed that Year 7 especially are well into the rou/ne of working in this way, never having known any different. Quote from a Year 7 student “I think it’s helping to make us all beZer people”. Quote from a Year 8 student “It’s been quite a change this year, as tutor /me used to be more chilled out, but now we’re doing work 2 or 3 /mes a week, but I do think it’s good”. Aspire Day 1 – World War 1 commemora/on In addi/on to the work being done in tutor /me, we have 6 ‘Aspire days’ over the year which will address various aspects of PSHE, ci/zenship and Character Educa/on, under the Aspire themes. Our first Aspire day took place in September and was planned to recognise the na/onal commemora/on of the first world war. Our aims for the day included commemora/ng the war in a meaningful way, in a day that was both reflec/ve and thought provoking, while teaching students about the virtues Self Discipline, Humility, Respect, Courage, Gra/tude, Honesty and Jus/ce. The day consisted of a range of experiences for staff and students that included a Drama performance ‘Meaning in the Mud, a Commemora/on service followed by classroom reflec/on, and Documentary and character work in tutor groups. As part of our QA of the day, staff evalua/ons were done and below is a selec/on of comments… • It was outstanding! Very well thought out and planned... Everything was relevant. An excellent start to the Aspire days • Liked seeing year 11 with years 12 and 13. Liked the variety. Liked the fact that staff have a chance to enjoy a different day together. Some students need closer management-‐ esp if we know they will find the day difficult. Enjoyed the day and felt staff reacted well-‐ good for staff and student morale-‐ thank you for organising • This aspire day was in my opinion so beneficial and enjoyable for both staff and students involved. It was a great experience again for both students and staff. The structure of the day was organised very well and all the sessions engaged the students effec/vely. • more of the same -‐ well done to all who were involved in the planning and prepara/on • I wouldn't say that I enjoyed the day, as it was an incredibly upseeng experience. But I feel that the tone & organisa/on & ac/vi/es were en/rely suitable and incredibly well put together. And the Year 11's especially were incredible! • I truly think this was a fantas/c day for students and teachers alike. It was well planned, though|ul and the combina/on of ac/vi/es were completely appropriate.
Character Education - An Overview It was ASPIRE week. The theme: World War1. The group: year 10 film studies. The challenge: link their work on the superhero genre to The Great War. I started by using the most tangible, relevant example out there – Captain America. Used by the government as propaganda to raise American morale during World War II, the comics featured an interesting hybrid of fact and fiction, mainly centred around super-humans punching Adolf Hitler in the face. We used this as a case study to inform our own creative pieces – to create a superhero and comic strip that could relate to British people and would (hypothetically) serve to raise morale around the country. Using clips from the Captain America film, we looked at how his image and iconography was exploited to help sell war bonds as well as make propaganda films and posters that audiences engaged with. This idea was central to the characters we would be coming up with, and also fell in line with knowledge students needed for the exam – namely conventions of heroes and the superhero genre. I then provided the pupils with information packs; these contained images ranging from equipment that soldiers had to vehicles and symbols/ iconography that was used in the period – this would form the basis of the characters they created. In order to reinforce the narrative tropes of the genre, the students had to plan a comic strip with codes and conventions they would expect to see, such as an accident giving the hero their powers. The end result: pupils had created World War 1 themed heroes and villains along with comic strips. These demonstrated both knowledge of the war, and of the conventions of the genre we were studying (albeit through stick men!). Throughout various stages of the process pupils had peer and self-assessed to consolidate their knowledge of the genre, and to generate fresh, creative ideas.
Paul Ginnis: Training Day November 2014
A year ago we booked Paul Ginnis, author of ‘ The Teacher’s Toolkit’ to visit us at Woodrush. The year came round quickly and I soon began organising for the event, which would involve around 100 staff. The day consisted of interac/ve and lively sessions, focusing on our areas of con/nued improvement, such as: differen/a/on, encouraging students to be independent learners and assessment. Prac/cal sessions included: group ac/vi/es based on modelling how we could support learning in lessons, through prac/cal ac/vi/es such as solving a murder mystery, working out the chronological facts of Einstein and a ‘market place’ style ac/vity. The coverage of theory and pedagogy was enhanced by the prac/cal experience of ‘being learners’ ourselves, and ensured that the day was pacey and memorable. The day was a great success and feedback from staff included: ‘…It has been incredibly inspiring and I cannot wait to put into prac/ce all the brilliant techniques and ideas from today….” “…It was the best INSET day I have had yet.” From Paul Ginnis,“You are part of a great team and I can see why the school is judged to be outstanding – it shone through”. The day then inspired our in-‐house Wednesday morning training, allowing staff to share ideas together in the staff room, reminding themselves of the theory and prac/ce which had been shared on the training day, followed by /me in facul/es to develop ideas specific to subjects, the following week. Our final training session of December will involve departments sharing ‘Paul Ginnis-‐inspired’ Learning and Teaching ideas in a ‘market style’ set up for all staff to share ideas in crea/ng an ‘ideas base’ for crea/ve and prac/cal learning and teaching. Whilst the majority of staff aZended the in-‐house event, some staff visited Fairfax School and Bishop Challoner to support their needs, and this support was also posi/vely evaluated. We thank our colleagues from Bishop Challoner and Fairfax for their support in hos/ng Woodrush staff. Thank you for the posi/ve involvement on the day and also for your useful feedback from the training day. It really was a team effort which led to the event’s success. Thank you also to the number of staff who helped organise the event and ensure it ran smoothly, and of course, to Paul Ginnis, for such and interes/ng and inspiring day.
The Power of Twitter: Extension Display Over the summer I saw a great idea for a challenge display that students can use to push their thinking during lessons (@misstait_85). It is not Science specific and can be adapted for any subject. Many of the ideas could be used as a plenary to review learning but they are also designed to extend and challenge. I introduced the display to all my classes in September and asked them to use it if they found themselves with a minute or two spare, for example if they finished their task early. I didn’t want it to be the fall back posi/on for differen/a/ng for the top end, but I have found it useful as a source of plenaries or to keep the fast working, engaged when you just need a few extra minutes to ensure everyone is on track and able to move forward. As you can see from the example in the picture, one of the student q u e s / o n s r e a l l y g o t m e LeE: Idea from @misstait_85 thinking; an idea I may well use when teaching this topic again. Right: My Version
“Gimme 5” used as an extension with year 10 Core Science when covering a difficult concept of intermolecular forces and using this to explain hea/ng and cooling curves.
Woodrush High School Shawhurst Lane, Wythall, Worcestershire, B47 5JW Tel: 01564 823777 Fax: 01564 820092 www.woodrushhigh.worcs.sch.uk
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT Woodrush High School Shawhurst Lane, Wythall, Worcestershire, B47 5JW Tel: 08444 771814 Fax: 08444 771812 www.woodrushhigh.worcs.sch.uk
Creating independent learners both in and out of the Maths classroom. My individual question of enquiry was: How do I get the most out of students’ independent learning outside of the classroom? Homework has been a conten/ous issue and area of baZle between teacher and student for a long /me in the Maths department. I wanted to create a change and make it more fun and less about conflict. I wanted pupils to be more independent outside of the classroom and for some to con/nue working on problems that we have been exploring in class because they wanted to. I hoped for students to be proud of their homework and for it to become a special, celebrated theme across the whole department and school. I really wanted to hear students talking about their independent Maths learning with pride and excitement to teachers across the school. Ul/mately my inten/on was for students to have a big ‘toolbox’ of revision/consolida/on methods so that they are then fully prepared by the /me they reach Year 11 and are ready to be fully independent outside of the classroom. I decided to focus on my class of top set Year 8 students as I was having issues with some of them comple/ng homework on /me or fully. The first thing I wanted to do was make pupils fully aware of why I wanted to see this change and to make them feel involved in the process. I gathered their thoughts and ideas through anonymous ques/onnaires and whole class discussion and tried to act on each of these. Aner researching ideas on twiZer I introduced my own version of ‘take-‐away homework’ where pupils have a takeaway menu full of different styles of crea/ve and fun ways to complete Maths homework. I also introduced other new ways of learning independently such as ‘flipped learning’ where pupils learn the content at home using video clips and then return to lessons to deepen understanding. I also tried more inves/ga/on type lessons where I would purposefully leave the lesson unfinished and ques/ons unanswered, so pupils would willingly con/nue working and inves/ga/ng aner the lesson had ended. Aner trying out some different formats I handed the reigns over to the students. Each pupil was given a ‘HW record’ to fill in fortnightly with their chosen home-‐learning. They needed to decide what they wanted to work on and how they wanted to present this learning. I was a bit worried about whether they would all actually do anything and whether they would just choose the easier op/ons. I stopped issuing deten/ons as all pupils started comple/ng something. Any home-‐learning that I saw as lacking effort, I simply reflected in my feedback comments. Before I gave my own feedback though, pupils swapped work around the room to peer assess with ww/ebi. Pupils are onen preZy harsh at judging each other, so if it wasn’t up to much they onen told each other this without me having to. On self-‐reflec/on a couple of pupils then actually asked to take it back home and add to it. Each student was given a folder to store all of their homework to create a special place where it could all be seen together. Whilst peer assessing, pupils were asked to set at least one target or idea on how their peer could improve or extend their work. Pupils were then given /me to act on this feedback and respond to their peer green stamps. Over this whole research project I have tried really hard to concentrate on the posi/ves. I get pupils to regularly swap folders round the class to share good prac/ce and different ideas. Some pupils to come to the front to share with the whole class. I have had pupils create Maths songs (even bringing in a guitar to perform for us!), videos explaining how to do a par/cular topic, a student who researched a way he could prove a theorem and students who have taught their parents and then assessed them and then themselves as teachers anerwards! I regularly send postcards home, have created special ‘home-‐ learning’ merit s/ckers and have created a ‘home-‐learning’ display on the Maths corridors.
I have just asked my students to complete a 2nd ques/onnaire and 80% prefer this new style of homework, with posi/ve comments such as I think it’s a lot be/er because you can express you knowledge in a way you feel suits you I think it is great because you can do homework about what you struggle on… I like it because we get lots of praise and we know what to improve on and what we did well… It’s good because you get to see more than one person’s opinion and the comments are detailed… It allows independent thinking and choice… This last one was my favourite! For progress 4, I gave the students lesson /me to revise in groups and pairs in their chosen way using these new ideas to help them. I put out materials such as sugar paper and felt-‐/ps but I generally len them to it. They needed to decide the best way for them to revise. There was a great buzz in the room as they set about deciding who should work on each topic and how they would test each other. There was a big improvement in progress levels from progress 3 which I think is partly down to them becoming more independent learners. I also gave a ques/onnaire to parents to find their thoughts on this new style of homework and 68% were extremely posi/ve, saying they now didn’t need to moan to their child as they were enjoying their homework and some parents have enjoyed being taught too. My main issue is going to be dealing with parents who want more tradi/onal homework set at least once per week. But I am hoping that with more informa/on on what this system is all about they will see, like me, what a truly posi/ve experience this has all been. I hope to roll this out across the whole department next year!
The effectiveness of practical work in Science
During the academic year 2013-2014 I completed my Masters in Education (M.Ed) at The University of Birmingham. As my PGCE carried Masters level credits, the final completion of the degree involved a 15000 word dissertation on a topic of my choice. An area of interest of mine is how practical work can be used as a learning and teaching tool in Science. At a time when the educational landscape is changing (particularly the weighting of practical skills in KS4 and 5 qualifications) it was an interesting experience to undertake. Extract from the Abstract of my dissertation The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of practical work being used to develop the understanding of scientific concepts in my school. As a result of a review of the relevant literature, a number of themes emerged regarding the importance of practical work in science education. However, in several examples of research, there were references to practical work that did not promote sufficient cognitive engagement to be truly meaningful; effective practical work needs to be “minds on” as well as “hands on”. An analysis of data from questionnaires completed by 9 teachers and over 200 students gave an insight into perceptions of these two groups. A group interview of teachers and two group interviews of students took place to triangulate data from a variety of sources to improve the validity of conclusions. Additionally, six practical lessons were observed and unstructured interviews with students took place to gauge their understanding of the scientific concept being taught and how the practical work supported this. A Practical Activity Analysis Inventory (Millar, 2009) was used to support the evaluation of the effectiveness of practical activities and subsequent discussions with the teachers being observed. This study has facilitated greater discussion about the use of practical work and the sharing of good practice which will be used to improve consistency of practice across the department. If anyone would like to read the whole document I would be more than happy to share it with you.
We are delighted to announce that Woodrush High School has been awarded ‘Na/onal Teaching School’ status. Teaching schools are outstanding schools that work with others to provide high-‐quality training and development to new and experienced school staff. They are part of the government’s plan to give schools a central role in raising standards by developing a self-‐improving and sustainable school-‐led system. As a teaching school, we will iden/fy, develop and co-‐ordinate exper/se for the benefit of pupils across a network of schools, resul/ng in:
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beZer results for pupils
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fewer poorly performing schools
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more good and outstanding schools
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a self-‐improving and sustainable system
There are 6 core areas of responsibility for our teaching school. 1. School-‐led ini/al teacher training 2. Con/nuing professional development 3. Suppor/ng other schools 4. Iden/fying and developing leadership poten/al 5. Specialist leaders of educa/on 6. Research and development If you would like to join our Teaching School Alliance or find out more informa/on then please contact our Teaching School administrator Abi CoZerill at teachingschool@woodrushhigh.worcs.sch.uk. You can also visit our website at www.woodrushtsa.co.uk or follow us on twiZer @woodrushtsa
There are a number of good reasons to engage with global learning. Global learning approaches support school improvement. A report on global learning in secondary schools found that it created a ‘sense of common direction and responsibility, with increased cross-curricular collaboration and increased usage of current world events and issues’ amongst teachers. Additionally, a study in Wales found that global learning supported the development of the school ethos and supported schools in working better with their communities. Global learning approaches will support your pupils. The evidence suggests that pupils who engage with global learning find lessons more motivating and engaging, and enjoy learning about real world connections to their work. This can support attainment and attendance, and help develop their wider learning and thinking skills. Global learning approaches will support your teachers. Teachers who engage with global learning find it motivating and engaging, supporting the development of their practice and their ability to create lively and engaging lessons. This will support staff development and retention. Woodrush Teaching School Alliance has been asked to be one of 130 schools in England receiving support and funding of up to £5175 to support them in their global learning work. Global Learning Programme (GLP) Expert Centres lead a network of local primary and secondary schools to use global learning as a way to develop their teaching and learning practice. As an Expert Centre, Woodrush TSA will run interactive and developmental global learning sessions that explore curriculum planning, and develop critical thinking skills in the classroom. Woodrush TSA is looking for an additional 15 to 23 schools to take part in the global learning project and build a local school network. If you are interested in joining the GLP programme and our local school network then please contact our Teaching School administrator Abi Cotterill at Teachingschool@woodrushhigh.worcs.sch.uk
Meet our SLEs Name: School: Posi8on: SLE Specialism:
Natasha Rancins Woodrush High School Deputy Headteacher Leadership of Curriculum and Narrowing the Gap
Responsibili8es: • Director of Teaching School • Whole school standards KS3, KS4 and KS5 • Curriculum and Timetable • Pupil Premium • Interven/on and Tracking • Whole school quality assurance Name: School: Posi8on: SLE Specialism:
Dave Monk Woodrush High School Assistant Headteacher Leadership of Assessment
Responsibili8es: • KS3 Standards and Achievement • Transi/on & Year 7 Catch Up Premium • Leading Whole School Development of ‘Assessment Beyond Levels’ • Pupil Premium Funding and Interven/on • Whole School Literacy and Numeracy Name: School: Posi8on: SLE Specialism:
Louise Graham Woodrush High School Head of Humani/es Faculty History
Responsibili8es: • Other subjects taught; Poli/cs, Ci/zenship, RE. • Whole school SMSC Coordinator and helping to develop our new Aspire Programme. • Previous roles include Head of PSHE
Name: School: Posi8on: SLE Specialism:
Janine Metcalfe Taylor Woodrush High School Head of English Faculty English
Responsibili8es: • Assessment/dialogue/feedback • Using data effec/vely within English • Interven/on strategies for all key stages • Literacy whole school ini/a/ves • Leading CPD within the Woodrush Teaching Alliance
Name: Sarah Thomas School: Woodrush High School Posi8on: ITT Coordinator SLE Specialism: ITT Responsibili8es: • NQT Induc/on and ITT • ITT Senior Mentor • Science AST • Delivery of Teaching and Learning staff training
Name: School: Posi8on: SLE Specialism:
Steve Baker Woodrush High School Deputy Headteacher Leadership of Behaviour and AZendance
Responsibili8es: • Whole school behaviour and inclusion • Safeguarding • AZendance
Name: School: Posi8on: SLE Specialism:
Elizabeth Lawson Woodrush High School Assistant Headteacher English
Responsibili8es: • Whole school Learning and Teaching • Whole school con/nuing professional development • Appraisal • Previous English HOD
Name: School: Posi8on: SLE Specialism:
Andrew Raistrick Woodrush High School Head of Science Faculty Science
Responsibili8es: • Leading A/A* interven/on and support across the school. • In my role of an SLE I have supported Science departments with curriculum, learning and teaching, and the leadership. • Leading CPD within the Woodrush Teaching Alliance Name: Melissa Holtom-‐Brown School: Woodrush High School Posi8on: Head of PE Faculty SLE Specialism: PE Responsibili8es: • Head of Physical Educa/on (4 years ) • Previous whole School PSHE Coordinator • Previous transi/on Coordinator • Previous Healthy Schools Coordinator.
www.woodrushtsa.co.uk
Woodrush High School Shawhurst Lane, Wythall, Worcestershire, B47 5JW Tel: 01564 823777 Fax: 01564 820092 www.woodrushhigh.worcs.sch.uk