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Kennet aims to combine evidence and expertise to find and share effective strategies for student success. Join us to collaborate, explore new ideas, trial new approaches, and enhance teaching practices.
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The Aims of the Project At Kennet we aim to combine evidence with expertise wherever possible. We are a research-engaged teaching community and work collaboratively to find and share the best possible strategies for helping pupils succeed.
An opportunity to… …work collaboratively with other departments; …look outwards at new ideas and strategies e.g. research, pedagogical literature and the practice of other schools; …consider new ideas carefully and critically in the context of our school; …demonstrate a willingness to take risks, grow and develop; …trial new ways of working and consider their effectiveness.
Assessment and Feedback Assessment is planned to fit the learning so that it maximises progress and teachers’ time is used efficiently.
Key Discussions • What is the difference between marking and feedback? • How much do we value marking/feedback? • Can formative assessment strategies be used to gather reliable data?
Conclusions • Feedback and marking are not the same thing. • Feedback requires time. • Feedback should be consistent.
Knowledge Curriculum Learning is driven through a well-developed knowledge curriculum which enables pupils to recall and apply core information.
Debates • Is this a return to ‘chalk and talk’? • Whose knowledge is important? • Are teachers just dispensers of facts? • What about understanding and application? • How to ensure Knowledge Organisers foster independence, not dependence
Homework Home-learning engages all pupils by consolidating learning or preparing them for the next lesson.
Main points from our reading • Flipped Learning - https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/232863-flipped-learning-toolkit.pdf • Prior Learning • Knowledge Organisers – https://thelearningprofession.com/2018/01/13/on-self-quizzing-homework/ • Does homework still have a place in secondary school? Should we rebrand homework? https://www.tes.com/news/how-can-we-keep-homework-manageable-and-meaningful
Interesting Projects • Are students more likely to engage with homework if they are allowed to be independent thinkers and given options or choices rather than having a blanket class homework? • What is the effect of using homework as lesson prep on pupil independence?
Key Considerations • Creating a culture of homework completion • Clear consequences • Valuable homework, e.g. use at the start of the next lesson • Frog • Be consistent • Pupils do not seem to like reading/working from online articles • Where appropriate write homework into SOW
Innovation with IT Teachers use IT in lessons to enhance learning in a way that supports the aims of the School Development Plan.
Innovation with IT • All the research we looked at showed that the use of IT in the classroom did not have a positive impact on pupils progress! • There was some positive research though about the use of augmented reality in the classroom to enhance learning. • Hopefully our Hub will have a positive impact!
Innovation with IT • Interestingly most of the individual hub questions were based around using IT for assessment: • A PE project. looked at the use of video playback in sports. • This proved extremely useful as a tool to challenge more able pupils who are seeking very technical feedback on aspects of their technique in a variety of sports. • Cricket season has proved to be a useful platform to work with some talented individuals at lunch time to offer themselves support when reviewing video evidence of themselves in the nets. Questions regarding shot selection, body shape and other factors have empowered students to solve issues surrounding their technique independently. • The concept of teacher led video feedback will prove very useful when applied to GCSE PE coursework. Students are required to analyse a skill weakness in which this could be very useful to help identify.
Innovation with IT With pupils seeming to spend the majority of their time on apps, another project was to look at whether an app could be used to create quick knowledge tests to improve recall of key theory in Psychology. The result was that this did seem to improve recall time and gave the teacher a good indication of pupil knowledge and where help should be focused.
Innovation with IT • Other topics were on similar grounds – looking at how IT can be used to embed knowledge, provide faster summative assessment (using exit tickets) and using Exampro to provide tailor-made resources for each key skill (Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing)
Pitch and Challenge Teachers judge pitch and pace precisely so that all pupils are challenged.
Wider Reading • Desirable Difficulty: “The Struggle” • How Great Leaders Inspire Action
Example Projects • The Learning Pit • Interleaving
Key Considerations • Process of Thinking • Supporting and Practising ‘Independence’ • Extending the Silence
HubShare • What did you want to find out? • What actions did you take? • What worked particularly well? • What didn’t work so well? • How do you know? • What did you learn? • What suggestions would you make to other teachers as a result?
Pupil Research Skills Pupils are confident researchers because they think critically to formulate learning questions and work towards answering them.
Barriers to pupil research skills • Lack of skills • Independence • Creating questions • Time • Students are put off as they perceive it as a long task • Misunderstanding vocabulary, making it more difficult to find what they need • Use of Google
Wider reading • “Spot the Fake News” resource • Guidance of key words • Skim reading and how to find relevant information • Using research skills effectively • Generating enquiry questions such as: • Question dice • Using Bloom’s taxonomy • “Launching a Wonder Week” • “Embracing student choice” • “Share your own questions”
Examples of enquiries • How can having a better understanding of key terms, help year 7 with their research skills in science? • How will formalising the research process in Science have an impact on pupil engagement with research and subsequent write-ups? • What are the most effective tools and methods to create competence and confidence in pupils when researching and using information from KS3 to KS5? • What could research lessons in maths look like?
Developing a Research Curriculum At Kennet School What is a Research Curriculum? Structured research lessons delivered across the curriculum with clear research objectives mapped against a set of core research skills competencies. When? How? Who?
Response to Feedback Pupils take ownership of their progress by responding promptly to feedback both in lessons and progress checks.
Wider Reading - Debates • I’m sure everyone would be willing to allow that feedback is only worthwhile if it is acted upon. The challenge then becomes to determine what effect our feedback has produced. • Checking to see whether students have responded to written feedback is short-term managerialism which privileges performance over learning (David Didau) • A terrible essay may be a good first draft. And a good first draft may be the basis for a great essay. Giving opportunities for redrafting following feedback allows students to learn consciously about the crafting of writing and of thought; it lets them experience improvement and see how this comes about. (Queen Mary University of London)
Considerations for Staff Whole-Class Feedback is a time efficient method as long as we are addressing individual responses whether this is written or verbal It is important to highlight the importance of responses and learning over prescription to the pupils and that it is a process – time should be taken early to establish class regulations around response time and quality. Idea that 20 heads can be more creative than 1 Can response models be made student specific using an AO1/AO2/AO3 system and pupils respond to the area identified for them Responses should link to the next step and not be finite – this is not a dialogue style as the next step should be task oriented and not teacher feedback
STEM Opportunities STEM opportunities enhance our curriculum by inspiring and engaging a wide range of pupils.
Interesting projects • How can sharing and adopting common mathematical methodologies support pupil understanding and retention across STEM subjects? • How can sharing and adopting common mathematical methodologies support pupil understanding and retention across STEM subjects? • How can competition at A level increase engagement and understanding of difficult topics?
Well being A focus on physical, mental and social well-being results in a happy and healthy community.
Hub Questions Hannah Jones – How can we increase awareness of mental health to reduce the stigma surrounding it? Paul Cameron - Why do pupils become scared of failure and how can we overcome this? Gemma Tuck - How can we develop a system of peer to peer support around mental health issues in Year 7? Jon Palmer - Can a vertical support network improve pupils’ wellbeing? Steph Moore - How can we best support our high functioning SEN pupils, to have good mental health, when they feel pressure to over study?
Hub Questions Kirsty Parfitt- How can staff become more integrated with each other, to help and support as a Kennet Team? Alice Prince – How can we encourage more effective communication between pupils and adults in school on the topic of wellbeing and what will be the impact of this? Katherine Odenwalder – How can the concept of a 'Health and Wellbeing Room' be used to support the mental health of Sixth Form students? Claire Mossman - How can coaching pupils to engage with practical activities and tasks reduce their anxiety when completing assessments/assignments?
Foundation of Enquiry – Coping with Anxiety Message 1: To reduce or cope with Anxiety, you have to understand what it is. Anxiety is normal, essential aspect of being human – response to danger. It is important to teach pupils what Anxiety is. Message 2: You can help manage anxiety using key techniques. When anxiety is taught, the key is frequency – weekly/daily practicing skills before triggers is key to coping strategies. Message 3: Help Individuals to help themselves to break the cycle of extreme anxiety.
How can we encourage more effective communication between pupils and adults in school on the topic of wellbeing and what will the impact of this be? Focus - Open communication with pupils and teacher can build a positive relationship where mental health and wellbeing can be spoken about openly without any embarrassment. • Strategies: • offering space away from others and a safe space to talk • attending house music practises and attend house events or other extracurricular events- seeing that I supported them meant a lot • 6th form tutors taking the time to sit down one- to- one to have conversations about life outside of school and sympathise with their own experiences ~Alice Prince
Why are pupils scared of failure and how can we overcome this?’ Focus - When I observed that pupils were reluctant to write down an answer for fear it might be wrong or were scared to attempt a task in case they couldn’t complete the task. • Strategies: There needs to be an environment in which failure is accepted. This should be a part of classroom practice and modelled by staff. Such methods include: • Failure is not ridiculed and a cause of embarrassment. • Focus is on individual pupil’s development rather than comparison with the development of others, which will help to reduce a fear of failure. • Staff and pupils are open about failure and the fear of it. This will help to show that fears surrounding failure are irrational and extremely unlikely to come true. • Pupils being given control of the process will help to reduce anxiety surrounding failure ~Paul Cameron
How can the concept of a 'Health and Wellbeing Room' be used to support the mental health of Sixth Form students? Focus - With increasing numbers of students struggling with their emotional and mental health, the room has been designed where they can take time to access a quiet and supportive working environment. • Strategies: • An environment was created to create a tranquil environment where students can ‘de-stress’. • Advice displays on techniques such as ‘4-7-8 breathing’ and ‘progressive muscle relaxation • a key display gave information on who to contact if a student needs support with their mental or emotional health. • A feedback book was left in the room with a message from the student leadership team encouraging anonymous constructive feedback. ~Katherine Odenwalder
