Caludon Castle were seeking to create an innovative learning environment which would promote high standards, celebrate excellence and personal achievement and encourage mutual respect. They were particularly interested in improving the success of the most able students throughout all year groups, through accelerated learning, which if embedded could support increased attainment for the more able pupils. They wanted to see if students themselves could, in turn, be the leaders and ambassadors in sustaining these approaches, through the development of student voice, enabling students to identify their own needs and then plan their own programme in order to meet those needs. Staff were to be encouraged to take more risks (specifically in using new technologies) to support the commitment, reflected in practice, of enabling young people to initiate, plan, run and evaluate creative teaching and learning activities. The programme addressed the SDP Strategic Intent – Student Leadership: students to take an active part in shaping policy and practice (students involved in making decisions about how to shape the support they require to succeed, with their learning’s and understanding fed back to the SLT).
“Its helped us think about how I think about learning... more variety in the class, not just powerpoint, now drama, and interactive and it is helping. Still learning at the same time.” Student
“(the teacher) …is less intimidating, talks to us more as young adults which is better, we are more relaxed. Not a battle field, it helps us to work more independently. If we get treated like kids we feel like we have to be kids and it winds us up. Has been more relaxed and therefore we’ve done more work”. Student
“I think we are starting to talk to the students more and enter into a dialogue about what works well in a lesson. Rather than ‘you will receive this lesson’, working with them to get their input.” Teacher
“The project idea came from the evaluation of last year’s project so there was significant need for it. The way we’ve planned it within faculties has been key; the way it’s been delivered has created resources that can be taken faculty and whole school wide.” Teacher
The previous year’s project looked at how creative approaches could help raise achievements amongst the able, gifted and talented students, which resulted in a series of KS3 sessions/activities. The pupils worked with Juneau Projects and Rob Rainbow bringing together music, visual arts and web skills together with film and photography.
The programme had very much been focussed on the young people and the evaluation highlighted that it was time to work with staff to see how the students findings and understanding of learning could impact on all lessons across the school. Therefore the project was planned as a catalyst for change – working with individual teachers from a number of faculties to trial approaches to teaching and learning to then cascade to others through the faculties and wider through whole school inset. It would also look at how students could have a more active role in their learning in order to increase attainment.
For this year then the focus shifted to how teachers could be equipped to provide explicit creative provision for A, G& T students, specifically on supporting staff in how they approached their planning in order to make sure that the A, G&T group can be provided with suitable tasks within their learning, and not be given ‘just’ more work to do.
The model used was that developed in other Cre8us Change Schools – a team of practitioners working with key staff to provide 1-1 support in planning. Three very experienced practitioners were selected, working alongside an A,G&T focus group comprising 14 members of staff, each from a different faculty area. For the core of the work however, a smaller team of 6 staff were involved to pilot new approaches, working with practitioners to see how they could develop their planning, looking at re-planning schemes of work, trying out ideas, reflecting on impact and then cascading down to the rest of their faculties. The teachers were from Art, English, ICT, Science, Maths (also the school coordinator) and Vocational (Health & Social Care). By working with fewer teachers in more depth over the project, the practitioners were able to spend a greater amount of time with each planning, supporting and reflecting on the focus lessons.
Alongside this the school looked at how using BLP (already part of their programme) could help them explore how these principles, creativity and ‘arts’ approaches could be used within lessons.
In order to measure the impact teachers completed a self-audit at the beginning and end of the year on how they would assess their provision for A,G&T students. The creative practitioner team also looked with them at their schemes of learning. For the students, their attitude to learning grades were looked at in focus subjects at the beginning and end of year. Learning walks and observations took place throughout for an informal understanding of the impact and all involved were involved in evaluation conversations. Creative Practitioners and the Creative Agent reviewed the information with each other and teachers throughout the process. The Creative Agent particularly worked with the team and the lead school coordinator to lead reflection and discuss ways forward. The practitioners met with the teachers they worked with on every visit in order to reflect on a previous lesson and then plan for the next lesson.
Some of the A,G&T students from the previous year self-selected to be part of a young people’s focus group, with other young people nominated by the teachers involved. This focus group contained students from across KS3, who met with the practitioners on several occasions over the project time. As ‘experts’ the practitioners discussed with them the students perceptions and understanding of teaching and learning, identifying key questions and concerns that they wanted the practitioners to pose to the teachers. As the project developed, the group also fed back on changes they had experienced in lessons reflecting on the impact of this.
The programme was creative in the way it enabled the focus student group to deepen their level of discussion about their learning. At first the students were ready to provide the ‘expected’ answers to questions around their learning, and as the school uses BLP, they all had the language to describe learning. However through the course of the year students thinking and language deepened through questioning and activities to enable them to consider learning more thoughtfully. For the school the project was innovative in the way it worked with staff to mentor them through creative approaches. Teachers were taking the lead, offering one of their classes and an element of the curriculum to explore and deliver in new ways. They were very open and honest about their teaching practice and challenges and then worked with the practitioners to develop ideas and then try them out. The structure of meeting, trying, meeting again, reviewing etc supported the teachers with reflecting, experimenting and looking at possibilities. What looked on the surface like a very simple approach was in fact very ‘artful’ in the way the practitioners built relationships with all in order to enable open and honest conversations, to then lead to trying something new. The practitioners were very careful to not push teachers to be something that they were not by mimicking an artist’s approach, but instead modelled ways of working so the teachers could find connections to their current practices.
Sharing of the programme took place through the staff focus meeting. A wider INSET and a toolkit of key approaches are being developed as part of the legacy work in the school for delivery September 2011.
Students identified in the Gifted & Talented cohort are now leading learning for other students – they have been given ownership to guide their own learning. Students work much more as co-constructors of learning with teachers, having much more opportunity to co-construct their learning within the constructs of the lesson designed by the teacher. The Year 11’s in particular noticed that their teacher “…worked more equally with us than she usually does, asking more questions rather than telling us what to do” and that this enabled them to have more direction of their learning within lessons. The teachers fed back that through conversations within the classroom, and outside with the practitioners, their eyes have been opened to how they (the pupils) could work and realise the impact of their own ideas. They commented that it made the pupils more aware of the power of what they are saying and aware of stepping away from saying ‘it’s boring’ or ‘it’s fun’ and using more detailed language.
Students developed a deeper reflective practice during the project. They felt it helped them think about how they think about learning and enabled them to understand their part more in the classroom. Staff recognised pupils were saying in more detailed ways what was happening in their learning, recognising the challenge in working harder and as a result they were thinking carefully about what they suggest about how they want to learn, as staff use their ideas.
In terms of attainment in subject areas, data was still being collated (at the end of the project) to see if there had been actual impact on attainment. However, students fed back that they felt that there had been and felt that there would be if lessons continue to take place this way. The Year 11’s were frustrated as they felt it had helped but needed to have experienced this from the beginning of their courses in order to have true impact on the results and felt perhaps it was too late to make much of a difference to grades. Teachers reflected that they noticed a difference in lessons very quickly saying “They are more focussed, responding with rich language and deepening their learning.” Staff feel it’s beginning to have an impact through developing engagement and the range of tasks in response to their comments. Pupils reflect “We can see the expectation and by doing harder work we can get the higher grade, see how you could go for the easier question end up with the lower grade”.
However - changes that have been recorded so far are:
For staff the impact was felt most in how they changed their practice; practitioners found that the teachers were really willing to step out of their comfort zone and try new things and then articulate how they changed their practice – questioning, purpose, role plays, games etc – to other staff. The Maths teacher commented ‘In maths “[the] Faculty have heard me talk with the practitioner and they have picked up on things informally. They’ve taken ideas and trying for themselves – by osmosis.” Other core teachers have also shared with the wider staff and been supporting colleagues. A History teacher who was part of the focus group was inspired after the 2nd meeting to work with the English teacher involved to try a new lesson with Year 9’s that drew on both of their subject areas and used role play.
In co-construction of learning with young people, the practitioners noticed real change with the teachers. “S (Health & Social Care) took on a completely different way of working, she set the room up very differently and the activities. There were no computers, working creatively and with different responsibilities. She’s really thinking about the students – the students were a bit twitchy this week so she got biscuits out, just like she would with teachers in a meeting, and they really responded to that. She’s found ways of bringing them back on task. She has a phenomenal relationship with her students and now she’s trying different approaches and they are engaged with their learning.” Teachers reflected they were starting to talk to the students more and enter into a dialogue about what works well in a lesson. Rather than ‘you will receive this lesson’, working with them to get their input. The practitioners observed that staff were very humble and open about their teaching and thinking about how to develop their practice. They’ve gone from talking about subject matter to talking about the students as individuals and their needs. Teachers have developed a new understanding of their teaching practice. “There is such a level of understanding the students gain from developing the strategies and methodologies themselves which only requires scaffolding from me which is much better for learning.”
One interesting side effect was the discovery that the A,G&T pupils have actually been the most resistant in the classroom; they said they wanted more creativity but they found it very challenging. The view was that they in fact suit having the passive teaching approach as they take on board information and do the work. The project meant they were struggling as it’s about deductive reasoning and sharing out loud what it is, and admitting when they’re wrong – and they didn’t like that. They’d been told to work in tables, and the less able groups were happy working as teams, talking to each other: they don’t mind getting it wrong. The A,G&T tables worked individually, not speaking and one girl didn’t want to speak her answer so just showed her white-board. Teachers found that the A,G&T pupils were not skilled in communication and were fearful of failure. The teacher had put envelopes around the room if they needed help and the A,G&T students were the first to want to use them, although they hesitated “don’t go as you’ll look weak”. They struggled with problem solving and application skills. Teachers found the way to address this was to praising those students more for being collaborators and team workers so that they were valued for that and not just for achievement. Therefore they valued the approach more.
This year was considered a great success for all and the school are committed to looking at how some of the work can be sustained beyond the project. There is a clear understanding that sharing information whole school will be key to embedding this work. The first lead teacher ensured that he passed on structures to his replacement before he left which has seen an aspect of the first year’s project already be sustained beyond the life of those originally involved. The now lead teacher has delivered training for others on how to work with A,G&T students and on creative approaches which is seeing the work develop beyond the programme. The legacy work will ensure that the key processes and structures are captured to pass on to others as staff move on from the school. A whole staff Inset was also planned for after the project concluded.
It was considered key that staff volunteered for the project; as a result staff were very open to working in this new way which made a massive difference to how it was approached and developed. Legacy work is being undertaken which will include drawing up a toolkit that crystallizes strategies in a step by step approach as to how to continue to run the programme (and run it for new staff) – and this will also be used to capture impact of the work with staff and will include information from the Year 1 parents sessions and peer led sessions. This will be shared with all staff via their faculty Inset’s and with the continued support from SMT this will be successful. The young people involved are committed to ensuring they play a role in learning and by continuing the structures put in place, they can pass their skills and knowledge onto the younger students who come into the school and develop their own role as they move into KS4.The school is also looking to see how it can continue to work with the practitioners and the Creative Agent in the future, to support the school further.