Month: November 2015

Just before half term we had an outstanding INSET day with ex-head of Philosophy for Children, Will Ord. I have watched some very good speakers in my time but none have held my attention quite like this guy- the atmosphere was electric. Philosophy for Children is an enquiry based approach to learning which opens up children’s minds. It gives children the possibility of seeing that their ideas have value; that others have different ideas that have value too. It helps them realise they don’t always have to be right and gives them the confidence to ask questions and learn through discussion. It sits alongside and supports growth mindsets- it assumes intelligence is a flexible, growable thing and susceptible to change; that it can flourish in some circumstances and wither in others. P4C pushes us towards valuing the non-academic as well as the academic in a school environment and towards giving all children a sense of value.

P4C can be taught as a structured session that starts with a stimulus, encourages children to collectively decide on a question to explore and is followed by a discussion that is not contained but follows its own path, guided by the children’s thoughts and ideas, agreeing and disagreeing but always giving a reason for their point of view. However what we found even more exciting is its potential for informing practice across the curriculum and in all areas of learning. To this end we have instigated an approach to our professional development which hinges on joint lesson study between teachers. Teachers and TA’s are using this to explore teaching methods (which are akin to P4C) which set out to let go of the reins on learning, to encourage deeper reflection by the children and to ensure all pupil responses are valued. Of course the lesson study method itself aims to do the same for teachers- to take away the fear involved in lesson observations and to give them the license to experiment, take risks and grow.

Closely allied to the concept of a growth mindset is the concept of challenge. Challenge by its very nature encourages effort, personal investment and intellectual engagement. This in turn involves a desire to engage with and understand the world, have an interest in a wide variety of things and not be put off by complex and challenging problems. In school we have introduced children to the idea of a learning pit. When they are faced with a real challenge and are unsure which way to turn, they are in the pit. Our job is firstly to teach them a state of mind- that jumping into the pit is something worthwhile and secondly we need to help them develop the tools to help them survive in the pit and work their way up and out the other side. Don’t worry- we won’t be digging pits, any time soon, to throw your children into but we will be looking to give them the courage and resilience to get out of their mental pits.

I include here some notes that summarise some of the salient points made at the life without levels. First note please that this has to be viewed as a starting point- we going on journey on this one- one that will be very productive- but lets not assume we will all fully understand/ be fully reassured just yet.

2 things before we start:-

1. This is complex- – it involves a new way of conceiving of pupil achievement and a radical overhaul of some of our ways of working. It will take us a little time to get to grips with.
2. It is progress it is a better way of conceiving of pupil achievement and it will lead to better learning for our children

1 thing that changes right now:-

We wont be telling you whether your child is below/ in line or above expected attainment or progress right now. We will only be informing you where they lie on an effort/ attitude scale. This is an interim measure and we may not stick to this. However please note that we only started giving you a report card before a parent meeting relatively recently: this to give you a bit more of a heads up before you walked into the meeting and provide another starting point for discussion with the teacher. Note also that most primary schools simply hold the parents evening so whatever you feel about these new report cards they are still more than most parents get and, as I’ve said, they are only an interim arrangement.

1 thing to be reassured of right now:-

The school’s progress scores (as detailed on the Ofsted data report called Raiseonline) are very good. This is now the last time levels will be reported on this document and it is the best one the school has ever received. Basically the data says children progress well at our school. A change to a system without levels will not change this fact; will not change the good work our teachers do.

What you need to know:

Levels have been removed from primary education.

An Expert panel reviewed use of levels to judge children’s progress through school and their impact on learning”

They found the way they levels had developed in schools could be negative:-

1. Children were labelling themselves and comparing themselves to others in an adverse way. Their assertions on this mirror our school’s feelings about the need for a Growth mindset model in education. They said, “We need to switch to a different conception of children’s ability. Every child needs to be capable of doing anything dependent on the effort they put in and how it’s presented to them. Levels get in the way of this.
2. Schools were pushed (because of the high stakes system of accountability in education) to move pupils at an undue pace through the levels and this meant pupils were often left with important gaps in their knowledge and understanding.

The panel looked at high performing jurisdictions or education systems across the world and found a common theme. They found that, in these jurisdictions, primary school age children studied fewer things in greater depth. Tim Oates (Group Director of Assessment Research and Development at Cambridge Assessment) says, “They secured deep learning in central concepts and ideas”he concluded, “Assessment should focus on whether children have understood these key concepts rather than achieved a particular level.”

The National Curriculum has therefore been re-organised so that there are expectations for each year group rather than level descriptors. The principle here then is to not move a child onto the next year’s key concepts but to stick with those appropriate for that year group and deepen their knowledge and understanding; this by applying their skills and getting pupils to think and reason around the concepts. It is assumed that all children in a year group will be working their way through the curriculum appropriate to them.

The question that will come to mind immediately for parents is, will my child be given appropriately challenging work? The answer to this question is yes of course within each year group, children’s needs will vary as much as they have ever done and it is the class teacher’s job to provide input, experiences and support to cater for these needs. Don’t, for one second, imagine that this is about lowering expectations or aspirations or treating everyone the same. Instead of imagining this, hold onto the key concept behind this change- that we must encourage pupils to learn more deeply before they move onto the next stage, if we are to give them the best possible education.

This expects plenty from our teachers- is all too easy to move children rapidly (or competitively) onto the next thing or next level; it’s quite another to creatively stretch the learning sideways and strengthen their understanding. To do this teachers will be getting children to rehearse and apply their understanding in different purposeful contexts and in ever more challenging and stimulating ways.

Another question that you may have for me is how will we know how our children are progressing? Firstly please note that the most important information we should be discussing is the qualitative information about them as learners; their strengths, habits, needs and next steps. The whole spirit of this new curriculum and the new assessment process is to not label children and allow them to compare themselves to others in an adverse way. That said you need as much clarity as possible so that we can work together to help them reach their potential. We will be working hard between now and the Spring reports to create a system that aims to achieve both of these things.

The Big picture

How your child’s progress will officially be calculated at the end of KS2

The end of levels also means the end of calculating progress from KS1 to KS2 in terms of the difference in levels attained. A new approach will be used to measure progress to the end of KS2 from KS1 and, eventually, from the Reception Baseline. The methodology works as follows, here based on progress between the end of Key Stages 1 and 2:

1.Take a pupils performance in the end of KS2 reading or mathematics tests or writing teacher assessment.

2.Look back at that pupil’s aggregated prior attainment at the end of KS1.

3.Take all the pupils nationally who had exactly the same KS1 prior attainment and look at their KS2 results; work out the average progress made by this group of pupils between Key Stages 1 and 2.

4.Go back to the original pupil and see if she/he made more or less progress than the average. If it’s more than average, she/he gets a positive score and if it’s less than average she/he gets a negative score.

5.Repeat the process for all the pupils in the school’s Year 6 cohort and add up all the resulting positive and negative scores.

6.If its pupils have made more than average progress, the school has an overall positive score, and if they have made less than average progress it has a negative score.

 

 

Viney Hill predictably inspired yet more thoughts concerning growth mindsets. I spent my days helping children overcome their fears as we put them through one challenging situation after another and I spent my nights reading an account of Shackleton’s Great Antarctic Rescue by the captain of the Endurance. The week was all about mindsets which is partly what makes these residential weeks so valuable and why they can have such a profound impact on children’s confidence. It is not every day that you scale rock faces, squeeze through caves, cycle down rutted, slippery paths or canoe across freezing cold lakes without an adult. I’m sure we’ve all said, “I can’t” at some point or points in our lives and we’ve all been told, “There’s no such thing as can’t” by our parents or teachers. I lost count of the number of times I heard the words, “I can’t at Viney Hill but then again, I also lost count of the number of times I saw the same children’s faces beaming with pride and deep satisfaction at having overcome another fearful challenge.

Our mantra has to be either “I can’t” or as has caught on in school recently, “I can’t do it yet”, A school should be about learning and not necessarily results; about a willingness to keep trying and not necessarily getting there; about doing one’s best but not necessarily being the best. We have to want our children to want to go on learning when they leave school; to be willing to learn from their mistakes, to embrace the challenges they will inevitably encounter with confidence and determination.

I related the story of Shackleton’s extraordinary tale of survival to the children in assembly last Monday. If you don’t know this story- I urge you to find out more. As an example of a growth mindset; of keeping your spirits up and keeping on going; of keeping on looking for the way out in the face of huge challenges, I can think of none to equal it. That said there are very many other real life and fictional stories out there that can be used with the children to illustrate the point. Please keep an eye out for them and share them with your children.

Maths week will start on Monday November 2nd 2015.  The purpose of the week is to reinforce with  the children just how fun and fascinating maths can be, as well as how important it is in their daily lives!

To help us, renowned author, Kjartan Poskitt (author of the fantastic Murderous Maths series) will be coming to visit. He will be speaking to pupils throughout the day on Friday 12th November (Friday after maths week) and will be hosting a family maths evening on Thursday 11th November.  You can find out more about Kjartan through visiting his website or viewing clips on Youtube – see the school website or Facebook page for more information.  The Thursday evening event will be open to all and further details will be available soon from the PTA. We will not be selling his books in school, however, if children want to bring in one of his books they will be able to get it signed.

To keep you entertained over the half term, please find attached to this newsletter, a family maths challenge! This can be entered into a school competition.  If your child would like to enter, they need to return it to school with their name and class written on by Wednesday 4th November.  The first KS1 and KS2 names drawn out will win prizes!

Life After Levels

As of this September, levels have been removed from primary education. An expert panel that reviewed the National Curriculum between 2010 and 2013, studied many high performing jurisdictions or education systems across the world and found a common theme among them: that primary school age children studied fewer things in greater depth. Tim Oates (Group Director of Assessment Research and Development at Cambridge Assessment) says, They secured deep learning in central concepts and ideas, Assessment should focus on whether children have understood these key concepts rather than achieved a particular level.

There are a number of compelling reasons for levels being dropped. While the original idea of levels was that children worked their way up the levels, they have become overly influenced by other factors. Children are labelling themselves and comparing themselves to others in an adverse way, and they are encouraged to move at an undue pace through the levels. We need to switch to a different conception of children’s ability. Every child needs to be capable of doing anything dependent on the effort they put in and how it’s presented to them. Levels get in the way of this.

This of course echoes all we have been saying about growth mindsets since the beginning of term. We have to approach education and learning from the starting assumption that anyone can do anything. Of course some of us will need to work harder to achieve say a Physics A level than others but the assumption has to be that we can all get there.

In the meantime, please recognise that the information you receive on reports regarding progress will have to change. The first report card will come out at the end of the second week back and will have grades for learning attitudes alone. This will be followed by parent meetings the week after. The most valuable substance for this conversation is yours and the teacher’s ongoing formative knowledge of your child’s specific strengths, needs and next steps as opposed to a random level or how they compare to other children in the year group. Given the new National Curriculum is organised into year specific descriptors of knowledge, understanding and skills as opposed to level specific descriptors, it is assumed that all children in that year group will be working their way through the curriculum appropriate to them. We are refraining therefore from publishing attainment information at this point in the year because the year has just begun. Of course within each year group, children’s needs will vary as much as they have ever done and it is the class teacher’s job to provide input, experiences and support to cater for these needs. Don’t, for one second, imagine that this is about lowering expectations or aspirations or treating everyone the same. Instead of imagining this, hold onto the key concept behind this change- that we must encourage pupils to learn more deeply before they move onto the next stage, if we are to give them the best possible education. This expects plenty from our teachers- it’s all too easy to move children rapidly onto the next thing or next level; it’s quite another to creatively stretch the learning sideways and strengthen their understanding. To do this teachers will be getting children to rehearse and apply their understanding in different purposeful contexts and in ever more challenging and stimulating ways.

Please recognise that there is a steep learning curve here for all of us; particularly in how we need to conceive of children’s learning and progress and what this means practically for how we respond to pupils and help them. We at school are feeling our way gradually and pragmatically towards a way of working that will fit this new assessment landscape and in turn the best interests of the children and their learning. Please bear with us on this journey, be rest assured that it is an improvement on what came before and know that I will be providing you with more information at the outset of the next term. There will also be an open meeting in the school hall with parents and myself and Miss Tonner after school on Wednesday 11^th November. We will be providing a creche for this event.

I intend drip-feeding you information about growth mindsets over the next little while and this dripping will, I imagine, culminate in some kind of workshop for those of you who might be interested.

Just for today I’d ask you to consider two pupils. George and Geoff are friends, have similar levels of achievement and do similar things outside of school. One day they are given an interesting task that is well-pitched and challenging.

George gets going with gusto. He’s good at this sort of thing and likes the fact that he has a reputation for getting things right, and fast. He does find the task unusually difficult however and quickly becomes dispirited with it, worrying that the other pupils will think he is coming across as slow. He dismissively tells the pupil next to him that he thinks the task is boring and he disengages from it and shows others he is not trying.

Geoff gets going with gusto. He enjoys this kind of thing because he likes working things out. He finds it tough and begins to enjoy himself- his intellectual curiosity is aroused. His first attempts lead nowhere and he laughs to himself when he finds he is going down a blind alley. He tries a new strategy and talks it through with a couple of classmates. He is tenacious and begins to make progress with the task.

Where do George and Geoff’s mindsets come from? Research would indicate there are two key factors:  the way we give feedback over time and the way we over-value self-esteem. George has been praised for getting things right and quickly—‘clever boy.’ He now does things in measured proportion to the praise he receives. People have been effusive about his every action to help him develop positive self-esteem. Geoff on the other hand hasn’t received a great deal of praise- instead it has been noted and commented on when he has worked hard and people have shown an interest in what he is doing. People have encouraged him to value effort over easy success and take an interest in problems as intrinsically interesting.

I hope you’ll agree it is worth pausing to reflect on this research. In school we will be looking carefully at how we talk to pupils and in particular how we respond to their efforts.

This year ahead of us stands out from many that have come before for the number of exciting development opportunities coming our way. To be the head of a school where all the teaching staff are reliably energised by and open to progressive and enlightened teaching methods makes this job a real pleasure (your children help also, by the way). I use the word ‘progressive’ because I think it’s about time we took the word back from the cynics and critics out there: its’s a word we should be proud of. ‘Conventional wisdom’ has sometimes been at the source of the criticism. Unfortunately conventional wisdom all too often props up either vested interest (and we’re not talking here about the interests of the child) or fear or prejudice. To my way of thinking there is such a large body of thorough and thoughtful research out there now into how children learn, it is irresponsible not to take notice and develop ones practice: I say irresponsible- perhaps I should say immoral (given the children don’t get a second take on all this).

 

I have already given you the heads up that we will be receiving training in Philosophy for Children and carrying out action research with an educationalist called Shirley Clarke. We are also now looking very seriously at Growth Mindset research, because the evidence is so compelling; because if you get it right, it has such a profound impact on learning and because it complements everything else we are trying to do. In fact we are finding many of these initiatives are now dove-tailing together which hopefully vindicates our general sense of direction. By encouraging a growth mindset (as opposed to a fixed mindset) in our children, we will help them to embrace challenges; to persist in the face of any setbacks they encounter; to see effort as the path to mastering things- not ability; be able to learn from criticism and be able to find lessons and inspiration (as opposed to envy) in the success of others. If you are interested in finding out more, in time we will run some parent workshops but for the moment try looking up Carol Dwecke who has pioneered this research over the last 50 years.