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Newsletter
May 2014
Isabella Wallace at Perins School
by Colin Forrest-Charde
On 27th March, Isabella Wallace led a dynamic and “incredibly
inspirational” CPD session for the English Department at Perins. Isabella
had been asked to deliver creative, active strategies which would help to
avoid ‘passenger’ students and make each student responsible for their
own learning. In addition, ways to measure and evidence visible
progress were also on the agenda.
The English Department was joined by several colleagues from other schools in the
Alliance, from across the key stages and several different subjects. Despite the
diversity, Isabella engaged and motivated all of the attendees through a vast array of teaching strategies.
Some involved physical objects; some involved movement; some involved no preparation or resourcing
whatsoever. All, however, were interesting, purposeful and effective.
Feedback following the course described the day as “fast paced, stimulating and provided a wonderful range
of effective strategies that I can actually use in the classroom” and as having “changed the way I question
students and the way I measure progress.” Isabella Wallace herself was described as “an excellent trainer:
knowledgeable about real classroom situations, effective in targeting strategies for the attendees and able to
link practice to educational theory” and the “fact that she personalised it was the most impressive thing for
me”.
Following this CPD, members of Perins’ English Department are already utilising many of the strategies
covered, such as ‘Life is Like a Box of Chocolates’; ‘Teach Me, Tell Me’; ‘The Silent Debate’ and ‘Rounders’.
Our NQTs also delivered a whole-school CPD session covering some of the strategies that they had trialled
and found effective, sharing the engaging and practical tips they had learned over the day with colleagues
from all departments.
The short-term impact of this CPD is already evident. However, the CPD session will also have a longer
lasting effect, and our next Department meeting will include a discussion about the strategies we have
trialled in the classroom, and how they can be incorporated into our Schemes of Work. Clearly visible is the
progress already made – and not just by the students.
Summer Training Events
Tribal Ofsted Trainining: 9 and 10 June and 2 and 3 July 2015 at Thornden School
Mindsets with Professor Barry Hymer, one of the UK’s leading growth mindsets
experts. The cost for the day will be £50 for Alliance schools. Date: Monday, 29 June
2015 . Further details available from [email protected]
English Subject Knowledge Booster Sessions: Wednesday, 10 June and 14 July
2015
Maths Subject Knowledge Booster Sessions: 20 May and 7 July 2015
Science Subject Knowledge Booster Session: 9 July 2015
Website: learnalliance.org.uk
Tel No: 023 8024 6588
Creating the Conditions for Outstanding Teaching
and Learning: Secrets of Successful Schools
by Rob Collar
On 27th March Alistair Smith came to Thornden. Alistair has
worked in both education and sport and is known for high quality
presentations and innovative approaches to development and
coaching.
Alistair is an author of bestselling books including
books on learning, brain development and more
recently on the culture of high performing schools.
For ten years Alistair was chair of Alite Ltd, a
company which was at the forefront of developing
learning in schools.
*
Fascinators
(accessing
prior
knowledge and inviting prediction)
Alistair was invited to lead a structured day of
INSET based on the theme of ‘Expert teacher,
Expert Learner’ that would be very much focused
on the classroom. He was also asked to give a
perspective on some ‘big picture’ issues such as
improving knowledge retention which is particularly
important as we move towards terminal exams .
He also examined the features of world class
learning environments. With an audience of nearly
150 comprising Thornden staff, trainees and
colleagues from across the Alliance, Alistair
certainly did not disappoint!
* Effective learning behaviours that we need to
encourage
Alistair was hugely engaging throughout the
day. He covered a wide range of topics and
focused very much on the consideration of
strategies and approaches that are ‘authentic’ and
fit the learning environment that we work in. This
included an activity where three ‘recruits’ had to
identify which of the two Prada bags were fake and
which was real! The key point being that we had
to ensure that our approaches and strategies in
school are authentic and have purpose. The key
topic areas for the day included the following:
A crucial point that Alistair made during his
opening session was that the effectiveness of the
day would depend on how we individually and
collectively follow up the key points that had been
raised.
* Using a structured learning cycle (such as AL)
* Considering ‘core purpose’
learning/departments
and ‘world class’
* Deep learning using solo taxonomy
* Key facets of ‘expert teacher’
* High impact strategies for intervention
* Improving feedback and marking
* Metacognition
* Developing questioning strategies
* Sharing learning outcomes more effectively
In order to do this staff at Thornden followed the
day with a successful twilight INSET on 27th
April. This gave departments the opportunity to
discuss and plan how they would incorporate the
strategies identified by Alistair as part of future
curriculum development.
* Harvesting (accessing prior knowledge)
Anton Junior School
Tom Donohue is the headteacher at Anton Junior
School in Andover and is co-ordinating the
Schools Direct initiative for a large group of
schools in the Test Valley area under the name of
Website: learnalliance.org.uk
Anton Junior School.
Anton was
recognised as an ‘outstanding school’
in their Ofsted inspection in 2014 and has a long
record of working with trainee teachers.
Tel No: 023 8024 6588
The Hampshire LEARN SCITT Partnership
by Juliet Pearce
Our trainees, both primary and secondary, are now in the final phase of their course.
Many of them have already got jobs for September and the rest are busy applying for jobs
and attending interviews. They have all worked hard and made excellent progress. They
will be an asset to their schools and the teaching profession as a whole.
As a SCITT, we recruit for the following year while
training our present cohort so we are always
looking to the future in our quest to recruit and train
highly effective teachers for our partner schools, the
LEARN Alliance and schools in the wider area. The
UCAS application system opened at the end of
October 2014 and we began interviewing in
November. We are delighted with the trainees we
have recruited for 2015-2016 – their training
programme has already been written and we are
looking forward to working with them and
supporting them as they develop as excellent
practitioners.
partnership have been successfully involved in
initial teacher training for many years. We feel
privileged to be working with teachers at the start of
their careers and we are convinced that schoolcentred initial teacher training is a highly effective
route into teaching.
It is almost that time of year when we will be
conducting an audit across the Alliance to
determine how many training places to request for
2016-2017. Audit forms will be sent to schools in
late May so that we have plenty of time to decide on
our allocation bid.
For 2015-2016, we still have training places in
English, Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, D&T,
History and Primary so if you know of anyone with
the relevant qualifications who is interested in
training to teach, please give them our details.
Sometimes, really effective TAs and Cover
Supervisors with relevant degrees and the potential
to be excellent teachers are put off applying
because the application system can be
overwhelming.
Maths and Science trainees in action on a STEM task!
We are a very young SCITT but the schools in our
Information about the SCITT, routes into teaching
and the application and interview procedures are all
on our website. We offer support to anyone
struggling with the UCAS system and we can also
help potential applicants who feel overwhelmed by
the Skills tests.
2014-2015 Training
Schools offering secondary placements: Crestwood College, Court Moor School, Eggar’s School,
Harrow Way Community School, John Hanson Community School, Mountbatten School, Perins School,
Robert May’s School, Romsey School, Swanmore College and Thornden School.
Schools offering primary placements: Hiltingbury Junior School, Scantabout Primary School, St
Francis CE Primary School, Sun Hill Junior School, Sun Hill Infants School, Four Marks CE Primary
School.
Secondary Schools hosting and presenting training days: Barton Perveril Sixth Form College,
Crestwood College, Eggar’s School, Harrow Way Community School, Mountbatten School, Perins
School, Rober May’s School, Romsey School, Swanmore College and Thornden School.
Primary Schools hosting and presenting training days: Hiltingbury Junior School, Scantabout
Primary School, Four Marks CE Primary School.
Website: learnalliance.org.uk
Tel No: 023 8024 6588
LEARN Computing
by Denise Gee
Changes to the National Curriculum in ICT has meant that teachers were required to teach
the new Computing specification with little or no training. Many of the one-day courses did
little to equip teachers with the necessary skills to teach Computing. It was therefore decided
to run a sustainable course that would gradually develop teachers skills. With this in mind, Dan Gardner,
Team Leader for ICT and Computing at Perins School developed and led a very successful Computing
course on behalf of the Alliance.
The course aimed to:

Develop knowledge of computer systems

Develop computer programming skills

Use a range of resources to deliver computing courses at KS3 and KS4

Develop and apply creative and technical skills in a range of contexts
The course ran over 5 twilight sessions between October and February. The last session was a full day
session on 27th March.
Feedback on the course indicated that this was an area teachers believed they needed training.
“Have really enjoyed the sessions. The kinaesthetic teaching ideas have been really useful”
“I feel so much more confident. Excellent resources. Thank you”
LEARN Middle Leadership Development Training
The third cohort of middle leaders began their middle leadership
development training programme in November 2014. This programme is
aimed at aspiring middle leaders or teachers who are new to middle
leadership. The course is led by two NCTL facilitators. As part of the
course, participants have access to a learning coach who is in a senior role
in their own school. The focus is on developing leadership skills and
developing an understanding of how data can be used to develop strategies
for improvement. Participants are required to produce a leadership
challenge project which is based on closing a gap in attainment within their
Future Events
NQT—Consistent Good and Outstanding: late September 2015. This training will involve one twilight
session, 2 observations, one full day of training and a presentation of a project.
LSA Training: a one day course for LSA’s. Late September 2015.
Middle Leadership Training: Early October. This course will involve 6 sessions and a leadership
challenge project.
Cover Supervisor Training: a one day course for cover supervisors. Early October 2015
Further details will be available at: http://learnalliance.org.uk/ts/cpd-training-programmes/
Website: learnalliance.org.uk
Tel No: 023 8024 6588