Leadership

Crossing The Minefield To Secondary School

The transition between primary and secondary school is a major educational rite of passage. For many pupils though, it marks the point where they start to fall behind. Martina Veale explores ways in which schools can foster a smooth transition – and why it’s so important.

For many of us, thinking back to our first few days at secondary school can evoke pretty strong emotions – whether that’s worry at meeting the higher expectations of new teachers, or the daunting prospect of suddenly being among the smallest and youngest pupils in a much bigger school environment.

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      string(5762) "48Vol 6.3School Leadership Todaywww.teachingtimes.comSchool ImprovementAchievementgapAn innovative new programme isaiming to break the link betweenpoverty and poor outcomes bybringing together heads, teachersand TAs from a trio of schoolsto share best practice. MariellaWilson reports.A teamapproach toclosing theachievementgapThe hunched shoulders and heads of three school leaders are fixed intentlyround a table – they are animatedly discussing 45 small dots plotted on amatrix. They then compare this with a similar matrix completed by the samegroup some three months earlier and challenge each other on why the dotshave moved around the graph.The dots represent 45 pupils who have all been part of a target group of 15 pupilpremium students in three different schools over the period of a school year. The threestaff are part of a Challenge the Gap Trio – a trio of schools, one of whom, the ‘Lead’school, has been successful in closing the attainment gap between pupil premium andnon-pupil premium students. The other two are ‘Accelerator’ schools committed toclosing the attainment gap that exists in their institutions but also have a strong trackrecord of partnership working.What is Challenge the Gap?The aim of Challenge the Gap is to provide schools with practical tools and strategiesto break the link between poverty and poor outcomes and to drive long-termperformance improvement. Working collaboratively, Challenge the Gap is aboutthinking big, starting small and scaling fast to have a far reaching impact and make alasting difference.The programme began in June 2012 when 15 pilot schools across the UK – allpart of the Challenge Partners school improvement network – started to lead triosof schools working in partnership to share what they had learnt about successfully‘closing the gap’.49Vol 6.3School Leadership Todaywww.teachingtimes.comSchool ImprovementAchievementgapThe Lead schooldrives thepartnership with thetwo other schools,identified asAccelerator schools,working togetherover the period ofan academic year.“” At the core of this innovative programme, developed with funding from the Educational Endowment Foundation (EEF), is a layered approach to learning more about why there is a gap and crucially, how that gap can be closed. This is done through a triune of school leaders, teachers and paraprofessionals. The mechanism of how this works in practice has been set out below.The Lead school drives the partnership with the two other schools,identified as Accelerator schools, working together over the period ofan academic year. Each school identifies a target cohort of 15 studentswho are eligible for free school meals (FSM) – now pupil premium.One of the ground-breaking elements of this programme is thatit works on three levels. The first layer involves a senior leader fromeach school who leads on sharing and implementing whole-schoolstrategies that raise attainment and, perhaps most importantly,awareness among all staff. The next level consists of between oneand three teachers – depending on whether the school is primaryor secondary – trialling, evaluating and sharing the most effectivepedagogies that make a difference. Finally, there is the invaluable inputof one or two paraprofessionals. This term has been used by Challengethe Gap to describe an adult working within a school as a teachingassistant (TA), pastoral or learning mentor or perhaps as a librarian orsimilar.50Vol 6.3School Leadership Todaywww.teachingtimes.comSchool ImprovementAchievementgap Central to Challenge the Gap is the workshop programme where six workshopstake place, catering for the range of staff, covering identified themes. These includethe importance of ‘The starting line’, sharing what the research is about the learningcharacteristics of disadvantaged learners, ‘A deep dive into data’ and the ‘Metacognitivelearner’.At the teacher level, workshops are facilitated for half a day and the afternoonsession is organised so that teachers carry out school-based activities including JointPractice Development or Learning Walks, to identify good and emerging practice. Thelearning from this is then developed and enhanced by the Trio to have an impact on all45 students.The third layer is the role of the paraprofessional. These staff have a unique insightinto the complexities of these children’s lives and have the skills, time and relationshipswith the children and their families to support the work of the teachers and leaders inclosing the gap.The paraprofessionals work with some key Challenge the Gap programme toolsthat enable them to track progress on the softer skills for these children.Crucially, inter workshop contact with the staff involved on the programme,whether face-to-face or through email or telephone, continues between the sessions.Key programme tools such as the Pupil Impact Tracker which gathers soft and harddata on the cohort as well as the Plan, Progress and Outcome tool (PPO) enables staffinvolved to have a clear vision and strategy for how they will impact upon this group ofstudents.The pupil premium – Challenges for school leaders1. Allocating pupil premium spend can be problematic – school leaders struggle to balance funds betweenidentified FSM students and other equally disadvantaged students who, for the sake of as little as £20, maynot be eligible for pupil premium. Honing in on making the spend explicit and linked to pupil progress isparamount.2. Understanding the complexities of the different ‘types’ of children receiving pupil premium is a minefield – theissues"
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Special Needs

A team approach to closing the achievement gap

16 Apr 2018

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      string(5619) "primaryschool are no longer effective may find it hard to accesshelp, because younger children are typically prioritised byspecialist health services. There is a lack of clear pathwaysfor assessment, diagnosis and support for teenagers withdyspraxia and many professionals, including GPs, whomight facilitate access to such services are unsure howand where to refer for specialist advice. Even when anassessment and diagnosis is made, resource limitationsmay mean that health professionals cannot offer directintervention. It is vital therefore that information is madeavailable to parents, teachers, other professionals andteenagers themselves so that good practice and strategiesare shared to enable teenagers to reach their potential academically, emotionally andsocially.Supporting teenagers with dyspraxiaSecondary school staff have a key role to play in ensuring that a student’s coordinationand organisational difficulties are recognised, assessed and addressed. 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These might include reducing the requirement for writtenoutput without reducing cognitive task expectations, reinforcing verbal instructions withhttp://www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/http://www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/downloads/FactSheets/Provision_of_laptops.pdfhttp://www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/downloads/FactSheets/Provision_of_laptops.pdfwww.teachingtimes.com n Vol 4.6Conditions Every Child Journal45additional written cues to help students with poor short term memory, and considering astudent’s position in the classroom to minimise distractions such as shadows falling acrossthe page or being jostled by people passing behind.Many students with dyspraxia will benefit from targeted support to develop thefunctional motor skills required to safely and effectively use equipment for design andtechnology and science lessons. 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Special Needs

Dyspraxia in adolescence

11 Dec 2014

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      string(4717) "34……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Crossing Bridges: professional development to improve transition ■■■■■Jane Jones describes a professional development research project to bring about bettercross-phase understanding between primary and secondary teachers and improvetransition arrangements for their pupils.■■■ IntroductionThis article is about some 20 primary and secondarylanguage teachers coming together to plan evermore effective transition for pupils in one LA. What,however, we are really looking at is about how theteachers developed a better cross-phase understandingfor themselves in a year long project in the schoolyear of 2008-9. This came about as a result of a needexpressed by the LA to improve languages provisionand an invitation to subject leaders to volunteer tobe part of a project. Transition is a well known issue,indeed, primary to secondary transition has been thesubject of debate for some 50 years as teachers andothers in the educational community have been awareof the problems caused by the artificial divide betweenphases at this period of transition for children. In thisinstance of practitioner research, primary and secondaryteachers who met in one school cluster constantly talkedabout the need to ‘bridge the gap’ and ‘cross the divide’.Whilst important for all subjects, continuity is crucial forthe success of cross-phase language learning given thecumulative nature of learning a language and, indeed,its relatively fragile curriculum status.Once the teachers had decided in discussion to movefrom a culture of blaming to a culture of cooperation,the idea of ‘crossing bridges’ was chosen as a metaphorfor their year long project. This developed into a centralstrategic plank in their exploratory research. Whilstthere was an initial element of executive direction andsupport from the LA, e.g. to release funding for coverand to ensure the cooperation of school leadership, theteachers undertook the investigation for themselves. In➜Crossing Bridges:professional developmentto improve transition35……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Research“Secondary teacherstalked of the problemof having to respondto different primaryexperiences and theunknown quality ofthe primary languagesprovision ”the project group of teachers, some were chosen fortheir leadership skills and others volunteered to takepart. My role, as critical friend, was to help frame andmonitor the project, to ask questions and to witnessultimately an agreement to which the teachers wouldcommit themselves for the time after the project hadfinished.■■■ Sharing experiences, ideas andmisconceptionsIn the first phase of the project, the teachers discussedvery openly their own views and, most importantly,experiences on transition, coveringall subjects as well as for languages. Inthis discussion, one primary teacherpointed out that a pupil’s schoollife is punctuated by a great manytransitions: home to school, infantto junior, play methods to morestructured learning, observation tomore formal assessment and fromthe child’s glorious independence atthe very beginning of school to thedependence that formal schoolingimposes on the children as they grow up. Among thesetransitions, the one from primary to secondary school iscertainly the most disturbing since many developmentshappen in the child’s life in this short period of time(including the change of school, leaving friends, theonset of puberty and all that is involved in emotionalchange). For this reason, the primary-secondary divideseems to dominate the agenda transition. A teachervisiting from Sweden, who was part of the discussion,mentioned that there is a transition at a later stagein her country and thus pupils are able to continuetheir schooling in much the same way in the sameenvironment. This was a reminder that transition andits complexities transcend cultures and, indeed, theinternational"
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Professional Development

Professional development to improve transition

22 Jul 2010

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      string(5705) "of all, this DVD presents the voices of children who tell us whatphilosophy means to them. We hope you enjoy the film and are inspired to takeup Philosophy for Children in your school.Commissioned by Dr Sue Lyle,Swansea Metropolitan UniversitySupported by the General TeachingCouncil for Wales and Swansea Met.A Journey into Children’s mindspresents the voices of childrenwho tell us what philosophymeans to them.PRICE£29.95plus VATJourney Into Child Mind half pag2   2 3/7/09   11:50:55 amhttp://www.teachingtimes.comTechnology FeatureFinding the right wireless technology solutionSouth Molton Community College case studyAlmost fifty percent of education professionalsbelieve that schools, colleges and universities arenot investing enough in IT, according to a recentreport by Netgear. Many said they felt this causededucational institutions to suffer, with 89 percentstating inefficient investment in IT for education cannegatively impact pupils’ learning experience. Thisarticle profiles one educational establishment thatrecognises the importance behind IT investment andhas installed a new technology solution to ensure thatits pupils get the best learning experience possible.just 100 PCsto provide the600-stong pupilpopulation withsatisfactory IT-based learningcapability. With75 percentof  the PCsdedicated solelyto ICT lessons,pupils hadlimited accessto the machinesthroughout the school day.  As aresult, pupils were unable to utilisethe computers and improve theirIT expertise in core lessons such asScience, Maths and English classes.To maintain its position as anexceptional school by providingthe best facilities for its pupils,the college decided it neededto implement reliable wirelessconnectivity across its site.“This was not the first time wehad installed wireless networkingequipment,” said Jane Pullen,Networking Manager for SouthMolton Community College. “Weinitially did this eight years ago whenthe technology was in its infancy.The consistency of  connection wasdisappointing and insufficient so weabandoned its usage.”awardedspecialschoolstatusasaTechnologyCollegeandrecognisedas‘outstanding’byOfsted,itseeseverypupilasanindividualwithpotential.Without a wireless infrastructurein place, the teaching staff  had torely on four ICT suites containingSouthMoltonCommunityCollegeisasecondaryschoolinSouthMolton,Devon.Thehighlyregardedmodernschoolishometoapproximately50teachingstaff and600pupilsagedbetween11-16years.Havingrecentlybeenhttp://www.teachingtimes.comTechnology FeaturePullen continued: “Followingimprovements in technology andwireless standards, we made thedecision to go wireless once again todeliver the best facilities to our pupils.Having experienced issues in thepast, we were somewhat ‘once bitten,twice shy’ so it was hugely importantthat the networking equipmentselected for this venture was reliableand would provide a consistent andimpressive performance.’“When it came to selecting atechnology solution, it initially feltlike a minefield; the level of  choicein the market was overwhelming.To make our decision, we assessedvarious networking equipmentvendors and sourced the necessaryquotes as stipulated by the LEA. Bydoing this, we were able to select thetechnology on the basis of  its high-performance and value for money.”For any school looking to overhaulits IT network, the advice from MarkPower of  NetGear UK, is to look fora vendor offering a free networkingsite survey to aid the decision-makingprocess.He said: “By understanding whatit currently has in place and whatwould most effectively serve bothcurrent and future needs, educationalestablishments are best placed tomake an informed and educatedpurchase.”To solve the college’s wirelesstechnology challenges, 12 wirelessaccess points and a wireless controllerdevice was deployed across one wingof  the college. The access pointsprovided the necessary connectivityfor the school with the wirelesscontroller intelligently managingeach device, remotely. The wirelesscontroller was of  notable benefit tothe school’s bandwidth utilisationtechnology.The ability to intelligentlydesignate a set number of  pupilsto work from specific access points,whilst achieving the same bandwidth,meant that pupils experienced nodisruption or inconsistent connectionwhen working wirelessly. Pupils andteaching staff  subsequently faced lessdowntime during lessons, ensuringclasses were enjoyable and lessdisruptive and productive for all.“Organisations are starting torealise that an efficient IT network iscrucial in helping students learn andenabling teachers to meet curriculumrequirements,” said Power. “Itis therefore essential for schools,colleges and universities to betterunderstand the technologies availableto facilitate an increased investmentin IT and ensure the most productivelearning environment possible.“By overhauling its IT networkswith current technology, SouthMolton Community College iscertainly ahead of  the curve when itcomes to providing its pupils with thebest learning environment possible.”Jane Pullen said: “Sinceimplementation, this part of  theschool has experienced seamlesswireless connectivity. Pupils are nolonger restricted to the ICT suiteand can now work wirelessly fromclassrooms. We also invested in65 mini laptops, which have beenequally distributed across the school’sdepartments."
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Digital Learning

E-Learning Update November Issue

24 Nov 2010

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