Blog : Learning

Today the Staff at Kingsland Primary School have spent the day working in partnership with Universal Learning to help identify how the school can achieve outstanding teaching. Staff have identified key skills within their team and have introduced the idea of buddying up with other Staff members to share and help encourage the development of their working practice.

During the day the Staff worked in groups. Using Digital Tools, that can be found in the classroom, such as the greenscreens, flip cameras and microphones to share with colleagues their ideas and aspirations of how to grow and share the skills within the teaching community to impact upon the children and their desire to learn.

We would like to thank the Staff team at Kingsland Primary School for a great creative coaching day.

On Monday, the Staff team at Hurst Hill Primary School took part in some exciting and enriching professional development by enrolling on the ‘Be the Best you can Be’ programme. The programme explores the journeys of Olympic & Paralympic athletes and how they have been successful in their fields, then applying the same techniques to raise aspirations for both the children and the staff.

The programme was led by Suzanne Hayes-Jones from 21st Century Legacy who talked about personal goals and targets as well as planning in a date for Danielle Brown, a Paralympic double gold medalist (and gold medalist at the Commonwealth games) to come and share her story with the Children in a fortnights time.

‘Class Clown, Disruptive, Able, Slow, Difficult, Problematic, Genius…….?

In this health conscious world of ours we are encouraged to read the labels on food and discover precisely what we are putting into our bodies, check we are not ingesting a harmful chemical cocktail; count the carbs, fat, sugar etc. In reality, most of us take no notice, the chances are, if we are buying processed food, we are going to eat it regardless and console ourselves with thoughts of ‘ a little bit of what you fancy’ or ‘everything in moderation’. Adults are skilled at taking no notice of product labels (think about smokers lighting up after they have just been informed by every pack ‘these will kill you’). So I’m asking why can’t we apply this to kids in school? Is it possible, what would happen if we didn’t attach labels to them and accepted kids are a work in progress? Imagine a world where they are allowed to learn and grow ‘label free’?

We all readily use adjectives to describe children in school every day and it’s amazing how quickly these ‘labels’ become ‘sticky’ and invisibly attach themselves to a child. Almost instantly the kid feels obliged on a conscious or sub conscious level to perform that role and it becomes acceptable for them and their peer group to accept and use this frame of reference. These labels can shape the way children feel about themselves and colour their perception of the world and stay with them throughout their education and beyond. I have heard so many friends say things like, ‘ I was no good at English, Art, etc or ‘I was the class clown so I didn’t learn much’ ‘ and usually this perception (which is always untrue) can be traced to a comment from a significant adult that carried a ‘sticky label’.

‘Gifted, shy, clever, slow, challenging, difficult, hopeless, trouble, polite, bright, motivated, disinterested’: these are all words I have heard used by well meaning adults sharing a few helpful tips about behaviour management. Of course, these words may have, in one moment of time, been an accurate and appropriate description of an act, but the moment that act occurred in passes and the description should be temporary too. Through experiences shouldn’t we be encouraging and inspiring children to change grow and develop to their fullest potential? If so, maybe its time to become more aware of the inhibiting, restrictive nature of labels and their impact upon learning and mindful enough to ignore them!

We are working with a production company on a television programme that will be recorded in the summer and broadcast on Channel 4 through the Autumn term that explores this issue in the context of working with children at risk of permanent exclusion from mainstream education. The programme will feature an educational ‘summer camp’ to explore how children and their families can work together to make the most of every opportunity to learn and remain in mainstream education………More on this later.

I’m going to start our blog with a quote from a master of words who was able to understand and utilise their immense power:

And now to introduce POW…A modern day superhero to representing the ‘Power of Writing’ who’s mission is to inspire creative literacy teaching and learning in primary schools. I had the pleasure recently of spending a day at Mahatma Gandhi’s residence in Mumbai and was very inspired by the simplicity of his approach to life and the absolute power contained in much of his writing, whether that be short quotes or letters to head of nations as part of his strategy for advocating a free India through non violence. In our technology driven modern communication network how many of us actually have the time to hand write? If it’s not a greetings card most of us type on a keyboard or smartphone and in the process, the speed of the activity may dilute some of the creative thought processes that go into our writing  Ghandi’s hand written words in simple bound journals were incredibly powerful and helped me re-connect with the importance of children discovering their creativity, finding joy in the written word and understanding the power of writing.

Shireland Hall Primary School have been developing POW resources for a while now using a range of reward driven stimulus that focus on a ‘can do’ positive child centred approach. There are no longer mistakes in writing only interference and trickery from the ‘Flerbs’. Teachers are testing this new innovative resource within their literacy strategy in both KS1 & KS2 with amazing results. The children are really inspired and engaged by POW and his cloak of many letters and how he conquers the “Flerbs”, those pesky little creatures that can appear as pitiful punctuation or infect writing with grammatical errors!

One slight unexpected drawback to this new superhero’s positive impact is that all the kids want to meet him in person and guess who has been unanimously nominated to don the lycra and bring this character to life….yes it’s me and I do admit I haven’t taken much persuading, apparently he looks a bit like me, which is slightly worrying, but hey it’s for the kids!

If you want to find out more about POW or  try it in your school, just let us know.

Are you interested in greenscreen? Want some top tips? Check out our Lego animation on the best ways to film your masterpiece!

Say hello to POW… A superhero to inspire great literacy teaching and learning. Shireland Hall Primary School are testing this new innovative resource with amazing results. The children are really inspired and engaged by POW and his cloak of many letters and how he conquers the “Flerbs”, those pesky little creatures that infect writing with grammatical errors!

Teachers are still viewed as authority figures by many parents and carers and Headteachers can easily unintentionally remain very aloof. I am very sensitive to the welcome (or absence of one!) we receive when we arrive at a school and I think the visual stimulus in a school foyer is very important when it comes to creating the right first impression. Teachers are on the whole very approachable, creative and talented people, but within the confines of the school ‘institution’ they can often just seen as authority figures. We have just installed two original and creative interpretations of the ‘staff photo board’. A pop art version at Greenacres Primary and a more friendly contemporary panel at Kingsland Primary. The response has been really positive and by showing the teachers doing ‘hobbies’ at Greenacres, the artwork has really helped reinforce the message that  teachers are in fact, people who have a life outside work, just like everyone else!

We have launched a new MEN AT WORK campaign to showcase outstanding male teachers working in primary schools. We are committed to raising awareness of the positive impact male teachers have and try to encourage more people into the profession. There is huge opportunity to improve education by attracting men into teaching assistant and teaching roles and our observational short films will highlight how important it is to get MEN AT WORK in primaries. Our first film ‘Days of the Week’ shows Mr Patel working in Foundation Stage, it’s a lovely short film showing the joy of learning and teaching, we hope you enjoy it and that you will support our campaign to get blokes teaching.

Being around the sheer joy of children being ‘lost in learning’ is one of the privileges of our work. Here we see children exploring ways to take learning outdoors and creating a series of potential designs for installations and sculpture that will inspire creative outdoor learning. They really engaged in the process and this little gem of a film gives a snapshot of the pure enjoyment of being ‘lost in learning’.

Children from Years 4 & 5 at Hurst Hill Primary School have been thinking about how they use ICT and technology and whether in the 21st Century they should have what is known as a traditional ICT suite. The children thought about how technology and digital tools could become mobile and integrated into all areas of the curriculum including outdoor learning. They used creative approaches to experiments and research exciting ways to use digital tools creatively and went to our local neighbours Queen Victoria Primary to find out how they use technology. This short film summarises their research project and presents their suggestions for how we should embrace digital technology. We will also be consulting with parents and teachers next and then sharing our final proposals.