Minchinhampton Feedback Policy

RATIONALE

At Minchinhampton Academy, we recognize the importance of staying responsive to pupil needs and interests, including teaching which is truly formative—that constantly looks for proof of learning close to the coal face. ‘Formative learning is like an educational positioning system- good teachers:- establish where pupils are at; identify the learning destination; carefully plan a route; make regular checks re progress along the way; adjust course as conditions dictate’ -Dylan Wiliam.

We recognize the crucial role that good quality feedback to pupils has on their learning and their behaviour.

All adults need to take account of the fact that effective feedback is complex and relies heavily on their knowledge of and relationship with the child. Effective feedback is down to fine judgement on the part of the feedback giver. It must be borne in mind- that as much as 40% of feedback in primary classes has been proven to actually lower performance.

Key to the success or not of any feedback is whether it creates a cognitive response (thinking) in the pupil as opposed to an emotional response.

It is critical for teachers to receive feedback. ‘The mistake I made was seeing feedback as something teachers provided to students. I discovered that feedback is most powerful when it is from the student to the teacher: what they know, what they understand, where they make errors, when they have misconceptions, when they are not engaged- then teaching and learning can be synchronised and powerful. Feedback to teachers makes learning visible.’ John Hattie 2011

The sole aim of feedback should be to further learning and as part of the teaching process. Advice from the NCETM (National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics) clarifies that the most important activity for teachers is the teaching itself, supported by the design and preparation of lessons. Evidence of feedback is incidental and is not provided for the sake of external verification. Any feedback that is not responded to will be considered a waste of teacher/ pupil time.

PRINCIPLES

• CHALLENGING but POSITIVE
• INDIVIDUALISED and ENCOURAGING AUTONOMY
• INSTRUCTIVE and RESPONDED TO
• CURRENT but TIMELY

ADMIN/ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

All written work to be ticked

In KS1 throughout and for KS2 pupils requiring lots of adult input–  in maths and English the codes S for supported or I  for independent will be used

Opportunities for providing useful, constructive feedback present themselves constantly. Given how critical good and timely feedback can be to the learning process and to pupil’s motivation, adults will need to plan ahead for the most efficient ways of getting effective feedback to as many pupils as possible.

Feedback which is live in the lesson, as close to the point of learning as possible, is considered the most effective feedback as well as the most time efficient. Verbal feedback is the most common feedback in lessons. This policy looks to ensure this kind of feedback (which represents a great deal of thought and time and energy on the part of the teacher) is not misunderstood/ forgotten by the pupil.

Pupils should expect to benefit from feedback in all subjects. Clearly where learning is more physical or skills based, this feedback is less likely to be written, more likely verbal.

Pupils should expect the benefit of feedback especially when the written work illustrates important learning, especially where pupils are expressing their conceptual understanding – eg substantive/ critical concepts in science, history or geography or where the work relies on disciplinary concepts – eg forming conclusions after a science investigation. In other words where key opportunities present themselves for teachers to move learning on a step, these are the ones that should be well taken on a regular basis. Here are some specific possible examples:-

• conclusion to a science experiment- expressing a relationship between two variables;
• evaluation of a DT project;
• recall of prior learning – where important misunderstanding/ gap in knowledge on display;
• repeated spelling error of common word
• key misconception on display in maths workings
• conclusions drawn from a primary source in history
• RE reflections that may require further reflection

In maths, given we plan to a small steps approach, live marking and/or a self-assessed ‘green’ from the pupil or tick from a teacher should suffice for the majority of pupils. Deeper feedback is most likely for more vulnerable learners and will reflect extended working with said child by a TA or teacher, including several worked examples/attempts.

GENERIC FEEDBACK MODELS

Feedback of any kind will likely follow similar models to the examples below. All feedback should provide for a next step and all feedback should expect that next step to be taken. Wherever possible the feedback should build upon a strength in the work.

See below some possibilities of comments that provide next steps. These examples are based on English/Maths/Science but similar feedback can and should be provided across the curriculum:

We might ask a question, for example:-

English:
What other adjectives could you have used here?
Why did the troll do this?

Maths:
Why might we be uncertain of this answer?
Can you now do this..?

Science:
So where does the light come from?
So why should the build up of CO2  mean the candle goes out?

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We might scaffold a next step:-

English:
‘Describe the expression on the dog’s face. Do you think he was annoyed? How might he have shown this? He was so surprised he……..He barked……..ly, feeling very…..….that he had lost his creature.’

Maths:
Look at my algorithm and fill in the missing number.

Science:
Try to fill in the gap. ‘The larger the parachute canopy, the………….the toy soldier falls.’

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We might give an example of a next step:-

English
‘Choose one of the following or try your own: He couldn’t believe his eyes/ He ran around in circles feeling really angry.’

Maths
‘Which one of these two solutions is the most likely?’ 54 or 45

Science
‘Which of these plants do you think use wind dispersal?’

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We might ask a pupil to self- evaluate to find their own next step:

English

Have a look at this sentence and try to re-write it so that it makes better sense.

Maths
‘Where do you think you went wrong with this method of calculation?’

Science
Have a look at your diagram. Can you see which part of the diagram might be incorrect? Think about what needs to happen in the experiment.

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We might ask a pupil to prove it

Maths
Well done- can you now prove that this is the correct answer.

Science
How might you set out to prove that your hypothesis is correct?

Feedback on writing should include
The teacher underlines no more than 3 spelling mistakes and

LIVE FEEDBACK IN LESSONS: AT THE COAL FACE

VF (Verbal Feedback)

-VF will be the most common form of feedback given during lessons. Verbal feedback is the only type of feedback appropriate for the younger pupils and for those who are not yet fluent readers but will be used with all pupils throughout the school. VF would likely use one of the models above.

-VF could be given to an individual, a group, whole class. It could be given while sitting with an individual or group or in passing a table as the adult moves around the class. It could be given using the visualiser/ sharing work with a group/ whole class. It could be done at any point in a lesson- including as a starter/ a plenary. It might have been pre-prepared before the lesson or be based on live evaluation of learning during the lesson. Whichever way it is done, the following non-negotiables apply:-

–Non-negotiable: For written work, the letters ‘VF’ should be written in the book – either by the teacher or the pupil. Given the amount of VF that goes on in a primary classroom- the children’s books should be full of the initials VF. Teachers’ time and effort providing verbal feedback should not go past unrecorded. VF should be written in a book before the teacher/pupil moves on.

Exceptions: where recorded work leaning more towards self-expression:- eg  Sketch Books, KS1 Independent Journals. Reflection journals still require acknowledgment and sometimes comment.

–Non-negotiable: the letters ‘VF’ should be accompanied by some form of annotation / qualification. The annotation should be written in a book before the teacher/pupil moves on.

Annotating a VF-

The annotation will usually link to the LI for that work. This could be done in one of the following ways:-

1. The teacher could write VF and will then annotate books to remind the pupil of the discussion had/ what they observed / heard.
2. The teacher will write VF and the pupils themselves will summarise the teacher’s verbal feedback in their own words.

The annotation could be done simply for younger pupils/ those not yet reading/ for the sake of time efficiency eg for the VF ‘What other adjectives could you have used here?’ one word might suffice- ‘adjective.’ The decision re how to annotate should be made based on the child’s needs; the level of detail on what is the most supportive and/or challenging for that child in the time available to the teacher.

–Non-negotiable: the VF must be responded to every time it is given/ this should be clearly recorded. In writing books in KS2, the pupils will complete work that has been done as a result of the VF on the opposite page. In other subjects the response should be as close as possible to the part of the work being responded to. The VF should be responded to before the child moves on with their work. Adults should witness them doing this or check that it has happened.

While feedback is best close to the coal face, it is accepted that plenty of feedback will need to be written/ prepared outside of a lesson. It is critical that class teachers find the right balance here – distance marking should not get in the way of teacher’s spending their quality time preparing lessons. By the same token opportunities could and should be well taken where scrutinising and evaluating work and/or distance marking could directly contribute to the design of/ learning/ depth of thinking in the next lesson.

Examples of teachers using their time outside of lessons in efficient and effective ways- other than marking individual books:-

Using the visualiser: Starting the next lesson looking at some work on the visualiser well chosen to illustrate important learning points for a significant number of pupils. In the lesson in the books the code VF should be used.

Feedback detectives:  One excellent way is to turn them into feedback detectives. The teacher provides a number of different feedback  comments (possibly on yellow stickies). The table/ group/ pair are set the task of working out which feedback belongs to which work. The pupils then write that feedback into their books and act on it.

Grouping books & feedback– teacher divides the books into groups of pupils for whom similar feedback would be relevant. Each group is given its own feedback- either verbally or written – and pupils then write that feedback into their books and act on it.

Distance Marking

Teacher marking should always remain part of the ‘mix.’ It is very important opportunity for teachers to provide feedback that is ‘tailor made’ for that child and responds to specific detail in their work.

As always feedback must be responded to every time it is given and responded to as soon as possible. Therefore written feedback should only be given as part of a planned series of lessons – where pupils will have the opportunity to respond to the teacher’s marking the next day.

Examples of ways in which this could be done:-

• – Time put aside for pupils to read and respond to marking before lesson
• – Time put aside for feedback buddies discuss teacher marking in each other’s book and support each other with their response;
• -Teacher works with a focus groups during the next lesson whose books have been marked;
• -Independent task in the next lesson is to respond to marking.

In writing books all feedback must be responded to/ acted on, on the opposite page.

In other subjects/ written work, it should  be as close as possible to the part of the work being responded to.

Specifically and on an ongoing basis teacher should provide feedback on spelling and punctuation in writing.

For spellings, the teacher should write SP and the correct spelling in the margin.

In particular, teacher needs to respond to the misspelling of high frequency words.

In KS2 3-5 spellings should be identified and the pupil should write these out three times at the bottom of the page. Teacher may need to correct more than 3 spellings but pupils should not be expected to work on more than 3 spellings.

In KS1 – 1 or 2 spellings may be identified but children may practice them in different ways eg whiteboard, or put into a whole class session.

For punctuation errors, the teacher could:-

• – put a spot ( . ) (as in-‘spot’ the mistake)in the margin, next to the sentence. The child will need to search and find the error and initial it when they have found it.
• – or draw a circle around the letter or place where the punctuation is missing to show punctuation has been missed.

As with the spelling the priority here is to give the children a chance to learn from their mistake and to be thorough about our expectations. You should not therefore identify all punctuation errors in a longer piece of writing- as long as they are given the opportunity to learn from their mistake.

Independent redrafting

Independent redrafting should be used from Year 2 onwards, increasing in frequency as pupils progress through the school.

Independent redrafting will be used for 2 longer pieces of writing within a PoR unit.

This will be in one or a combination of different ways:-

1. Responding to the teacher’s marking:  –- written on the opposite page.
2. Identification where the LI/SC have been achieved—and building upon strengths on the opposite page.

-Pupils must have this modelled for them and do it as a whole class and as a guided group extensively- on the white board or with the visualiser- to ensure they can redraft independently.

Where they are adding in words or changing words, this can be done on the text itself.

Where they are changing parts of a text, for example adding in an extra paragraph or changing the whole order of a sentence, they will need to write it on the opposite page.

Independent redrafting will be evident because it will be done in a different colour- purple.

FEEDBACK ABOUT LEARNING ATTITUDES

Feedback refers as much to feedback given about learning attitudes as feedback about children’s work.

Attitude to learning in the classroom

School is all about learning so naturally we want to encourage a deep respect for learning. This includes encouraging pupils in attitudes that will support their learning as well as attitudes that will allow others to get the most out of their learning. We constantly look to encourage a positive, aspirational attitude; to all of us showing curiosity, perseverance, responsibility, courage, gratitude. We look to challenge ourselves and avoid making comparisons.

We value mistakes as an opportunity to learn. We see behaviour itself as communication and an opportunity to learn.

To help enable a positive attitude to learning, adults will:-

• clearly set expectations
• be consistent in the language they use.
• be deliberately and relentlessly bothered by good attitudes to learning
• use positive recognition.

The 4P’s

Adults will use the 4Ps to frame conversations regarding attitudes to learning: 

Participation
Pride
Paying attention
Perseverance

Children will be expected to:-

• Participate: during whole class work- they will be expected to sit and listen attentively on the carpet and/or at their tables and – facing the speaker and looking their way. If seating layout means pupils are facing away from the speaker during whole class work, they should move their chairs back and away from the table and turn them to face them. All equipment and other fiddly items should be put down when asked.
• Participate: Adults will make reference to the acronym SHELL when encouraging good listening (pay attention). SHELL stands for: Sitting…..Hands…..Eyes…..Listen…..Learn
• Pay attention: during whole class work, to not call out or talk over someone else while they are talking.
• Participate: while working on tasks, pupils should never call out to the class teacher if they need them. They should always put their hand up.
• Participate: work in a way that values everyone’s learning: to work quietly (using voices that can be heard) when working collaboratively; to work quietly when working independently. When pupils are, for example, writing independently, they should work in silence. If they need to talk to each other, they need to use voices that can’t be heard beyond that table.
• Perseverance: in all their work, to concentrate on the task in hand and
• Pride: produce work to the best of their ability
• Perseverance: in all their work, pupils in Year 3 upwards should not leave their seats without permission. If they feel they need help, they should make use of the 5Bs (Brain, Buddy, Book, Board, Boss) and continue to persevere with their learning until the teacher comes to them.