Only A Crisis Can Produce Real Change

Headteacher Shonogh Pilgrim misses lockdown and has some bitter-sweet reflections about the return to a less-than-great ‘normal'.

I recently joined an online event hosted by the RSA where public philosopher Roman Krznaric talked about his new book, The Good Ancestor; How to think long term in a short-term world. I was attracted to the event for a number of reasons but mainly because I love a good book talk and because I’m increasingly concerned about the obsession with quick fixes that I see in the education sector.

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      string(5113) "The pre-recorded lessons were posted with resources on both Satchel One and Google Classroom Podcast. Some staff were reluctant to at first but this has become a key feature of the school’s provision. Now the school is in the enviable position of having a bank of lessons that can be used both in school and remotely for the years to come. The school conducted over 100 online lessons per week for all year groups. This included large Google live stream events for whole year groups, smaller class size Google Meets for individual classes and small group seminars for Sixth Form classes. Some of the live streams were very popular with most having over 200 students participating.Next time round The senior leadership team has planned for four different levels of lockdown.:Level one: at the time of writing, some  15 to 20 young people per year group are at home with symptoms or have siblings suspected of having Covid or members of the family who are shielding. Pupils are added to and removed from this virtual classroom area on a daily basis as and when they report potential symptoms or return to schoolLevel two: if a whole class or year group is out,  teachers would be working face to face with those classes in school and then switching to online learning for the classes working from home.  Satchel One lets them set up individual classrooms for each year group and staff representatives are tasked with uploading work.  Level three: if there is a partial lockdown, or perhaps a rota system with year 7 in on a Monday and Thursday and year 10 on a Wednesday and Friday etc.   The timetable would continue but at a distance using GoogleMeet for lessons and Satchel One for tasks .  Teachers may find themselves teaching  classes face to face for part of the day and other classes via Google Meet or Google Live with tasks set for each subject on Satchel One so everyone has a record of what pupils should be working on. Level four: full lockdown then staff would focus on online learning using the techniques and technology from last lockdown but extending a refining  these approaches Lessons learnt The summer term provided a steep learning curve but staff learned what worked and what needed improvement.  ‘Differentiation was not fully realised last time round,’ said Kavanagh. ‘We had lots of Google Meets and Live Lessons but we often taught the same thing to everyone in the class. Next time round we will split classes and teach the same topic but at different levels, such as foundation, medium and high.’There will be more emphasis on assessment too, using Google Classroom toset up templates. Last time round it was experimental with a few departments usingquizzes for low stakes testing. It will be far more extensive this year and inanother lockdown they will be making more use of Google Classroom and lookingat ways to develop short written responses and to upload extended writing tasks.Howe and Kavanagh have come to appreciate the full extent of the Satchel One offering through lockdown and the return to school. The Seating app helps track pupil contact and clear  seating plans mean that if a child is off sick the school will know exactly which pupils have been sitting in proximity. If children are sent home, the Content app provides access to Collins’ online textbooks for English, maths and science so staff can be sure that all children will have access to the same materials.Staff have also come to appreciate some of the other features. A teacher can set a batch of homework tasks on a topic and schedule them so they appear on set dates for pupils.  They can also access tasks set by other teachers around the country and select or adapt them and this has proved to be a great timesaver.Hints and tips It’s     important not to rush into integrating new tech. Try to see what’s best     for your pupils and staff before investing time and money. Build on what     staff, pupils and parents are comfortable with. 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Blended Learning

Lockdown Lessons: North West. School Achieves 90% Pupil Engagement

2 Oct 2020

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      string(3723) "were given a time toattend the town hall to collect their technology.At Ysgol Bro Edern they knew they had lots of old technology lying around and, inspired by the Welsh Government’s approach, they used Neverware to make the devices cloud-ready so they could all access Office 365 via the web. This costs approximately £15 per device and Osian believes he got the equivalent to two new ICT suites that he could distribute to learners, along with Wi-Fi dongles where appropriate. Training staff during lockdownSchool closures gave staff the opportunity to engage with the new tools and to discover, use and create resources. The Hwb team produced a comprehensive webinar programme for staff with live and pre-recorded webinars.The four regional education got together and helped produce a distancelearning page on Hwb with links for parents, practitioners, senior leaders aswell as PDFs on how to do things. There was a comprehensive webinar programmefor staff with pre-recorded webinars and Adobe Spark videos.At Ysgol Bro Edern they spent time in the last weeks before lockdown training staff, making sure everyone could use Google Classroom and that everyone definitely had their Hwb passwords. Thursday mornings used to start with a staff meeting about technology but this soon became a daily virtual briefing to make sure staff were confident to continue supporting learners from home.Hwb has been central to the creation ofprofessional communities for educators for a long time. These have flourishedover the last few months as teachers have sought to engage in CPD opportunitiesfrom home.One example is the really strong Minecraftcommunity in Wales. It started before lockdown driven by teachers whoparticipated in Hwb’s Minecraft Learning Centre training with teachers meetingface-to-face, designing worlds and producing lesson plans and projects. Theprogramme moved online and to date over 300 teachers have been involved so now there are 30 bilinguallesson plans on Hwb.. A new competition run jointly with Welsh RugbyUnion and the Minecraft team launches on Hwb in October.The futureAll schools in Wales reopened in September 2020.  One of the differences that Covid-19 has made is that now many teachers will be using Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams in normal lessons every week so that if schools have to close down for any reason learners will be using it at home and it won’t be such a shock. By the end of the second week’s staggered start back to school over 9,500 Google Classrooms and over 8,800 Microsoft Class Teams have been created.Wales is ahead of the game with onlineassessments which learners can access via their Hwb accounts. National numeracyassessments for children in years 2 to 9 were made available online in 2018 andreading assessments were introduced in 2019. These are personalisedwhich reduces the chance of cheating. Children will have different questionsand the assessment will be adaptive s o will get more question on a topic morequestions if they get one wrong. It will be a summative assessment but alsoprovide information on strong areas and areas for improvement for their nextclass teacher. Not all bad newsWhile many have seen virtual lessons and events as a poor substitute for face to face, some have found advantages. There are plans for an online digital learning celebration in Wales next year. In the past this has always been a conference with hundreds of delegates attending sessions and learning from one another. Now that professional development webinarsare the new normal, delegates enjoy attending CPD at a time and place of theirown choosing so this year there will be participants from  all corners of the country."
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Digital solutions should protect privacy whilst achieving the purpose of obtaining tracing data that can be acted upon. • The Testing and Tracing Command Centre should accelerate the development of digital solutions and urgently launch a national voluntary App to significantly improve ‘contact tracing’ of those infected with coronavirus. Digital solutions should protect privacy whilst achieving the purpose of obtaining tracing data that can be acted upon. • The Government should appoint a single operational lead for the Testing and Tracing Command Centre, experienced in national Command, Control, Co-ordination and Communication (often referred to as C4). • The Government should legislate to regulate how the data from a Testing and Tracing Command Centre is acquired, stored, analysed and used, introducing necessary ethical and privacy safeguards and for a time limited (renewable) period. • The Government should make a national appeal (via a national advertising campaign) to the UK population to subscribe to the voluntary App explaining that the public will need to forfeit some privacy for freedom and liberty in order to defeat the pandemic. 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Leadership

Exiting Lockdown

21 Apr 2020

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      string(2450) "apprenticeships. Universities are also embracing technology and there is significant growth in online degrees. Learning online will be a big part of the experience for many students in bricks and mortar universities; that will have a big cultural impact down the line for education.Shonogh:     The shifts will only be permanent if we can demonstrate that they have been successful. If we can demonstrate that our kids have not lost as much learning as many commentators insist they have then we have a chance of convincing government that there is a different way of doing things. The difficulty we face is that we still measure everything in a narrow and systemically biased way, using exams which are biased towards certain types of learners. It’s going to be hard to demonstrate how successful these have been when the measure of success is so narrow. During lockdown we had student who concentrated her learning in the morning and then went kayaking in the afternoon. That worked for her as a learner but that is not going to be measurable when it comes to her GCSEs. What I do know is that I won’t be able to live with myself if we leave these new approaches at the roadside and go back to what we’ve always done. Blended learning has unlocked the potential for some children and enabled them to be successful. I can’t ignore what has worked for them. What message would you give school leaders as they settle into a challenging new school year?Jim:   First, look after yourself and your ownmental health so that you are in the right place to look after everyone else’s.Have the confidence to lead. Don’t wait to be led by the system because thesystem is really struggling to cope right now. Shonogh:     Slow down and take your timeto think before you act. Don’t just jump on the latest guidance and thenrealise that you are miles away from where you believed you should be as a school.Know where you want to go and judge every decision against that. Be rigorousand don’t be in a hurry to act on everything that we are told to do. Lord Jim Knight is Chief Education and External Officer at TesGlobal, an international education businesssupporting schools in their work to improve children’s lives through education.He is a Member of the House of Lords and was schools minister in the lastLabour government. Shonogh Pilgrim is Principal of Ansford Academy inSomerset."
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Leadership

Don’t Leave Lockdown Changes At The Roadside!

9 Oct 2020

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      string(333) "... by 10 percent.  The Year 1s taking the Reception paper also showed concerning drops in attainment. Comprehension scores decreased an average of 15 percent, phonics attainment dropped by 16 percent and Reading for Meaning (RFM) lost 14 percent.Link: The Impact of Lockdown on Children’s Education: A Nationwide Analysis"
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      string(3297) "This report from RS Assessment on test results in maths, reading, grammar, punctuation and spelling show that attainment has dropped across all subjects and year groups in 2020. The data on over 250,000 primary school pupils across England is based on widely used tests and show the most significant decreases in maths papers, while Year 3 and 2 pupils faced the steepest drop-off of any cohort.The data shows an average standardised score decline of 8 points in maths, 6.3 in reading and 7.2 in grammar, punctuation and spelling across all pupils compared to 2019 data, with greater reductions seen for pupil premium eligible pupils. This is a stark contrast to the average annual gains of 0.5 points since the current curriculum began in 2016. The tests were scheduled to take place during the summer term; however, pupils sat them four months later, at the beginning of this autumn term, due to the school closures.Main Findings:The attainment gap between pupils eligible for pupil premium and those who are not has widened significantly.  Across all three standardised subject papers offered by RS Assessment and all six year-groups, those eligible for pupil premium experienced a steeper decline in standardised scores than other pupils.  There are also considerable differences by school type. Those with higher levels of deprivation, situated in urban areas or located in the north or midlands, tended to show more significant declines. Among Year 2 pupils – who are between six and seven years old – those eligible for pupil premium dropped by an additional 2.4 points compared with their peers in maths, and an additional 2.3 points in reading.  Pupil premium eligible pupils in Year 6 were most affected in grammar, punctuation and spelling, dropping an additional 1.4 points beyond their classmates. The least difference between pupils eligible for pupil premium and others were seen in Year 3 maths, a difference of 0.8 points; Year 5 reading at 0.5 points; and Year 4 grammar, punctuation and spelling, where pupil premium eligible pupils were just 0.6 points behind their peers.  Beyond the significant overall drops in subjects, notable differences were also seen between topics within subjects. For example, attainment in fractions was affected more than number, while punctuation fared worse than spelling. In maths, fractions and geometry topics were the most affected, with attainment dropping by 14 percent across all year groups. Meanwhile, operations and statistics dropped by 12 percent, measures by 9 percent, and number by 8 percent. In the grammar, punctuation and spelling tests, punctuation was hardest hit with an average 14 percent drop in attainment. Grammar followed closely behind, dropping 13 percent, followed by vocabulary at 11 percent and spelling at 10 percent. For the reading tests, comprehension dropped by 10 percent across all years, while inference decreased by 9 percent and Language, Structure and Presentation (LSP) by 10 percent.  The Year 1s taking the Reception paper also showed concerning drops in attainment. Comprehension scores decreased an average of 15 percent, phonics attainment dropped by 16 percent and Reading for Meaning (RFM) lost 14 percent.Link: The Impact of Lockdown on Children’s Education: A Nationwide Analysis"
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Leadership

The Impact of Lockdown on Children’s Education: A Nationwide Analysis

16 Nov 2020