Friday, 27th November

In our last session with David Smith and Simon James we reflected about the “ingredients” that make a good school. When trying to evaluate whether a school is good or not, Ofsted inspectors will focus on leadership and management, teaching and learning, outcomes and results. But Simon insisted that he is interested in our personal opinion, not in the official perspective of Ofsted inspectors. Some of the aspects we highlighted were a shared vision, community links, inspirational space, leadership, students' involvement, consistency, good personal relationships, personal attention to every student, students' progress and life skills, safe and happy environment…

According to Simon, inspirational leadership is extremely important to make a good school. Good schools, in his opinion, have strong systems for quality assuring the curriculum, teaching and student progress. They don't wait for Ofsted inspectors to come in and tell them what they have to change, as they have their own assessment systems. They are passionate about the quality of the classroom experience. They believe that every child matters and they shape the curriculum to serve the needs of all students. They track the progress of students regularly and intervene immediately if anyone fails to improve or make progress. They are creative about the recruitment and retention of staff. They ensure that all the staff are excellent role models and that there is a culture of mutual respect. They take CPD (Continuing professional development) seriously, ensuring that all staff are adequately trained for their roles and are willing to learn from one another. Good schools share resources, teachers and strategies with other schools, so some members of the staff can teach in a different school and also observe other teachers' lessons in order to discuss about their skills and strategies. Good schools make sure that students feel happy working in a well ordered, stimulating and safe environment. They go out of their way to bring in a variety of successful people from all walks of life to serve as role models. They provide cultural opportunities which may be beyond the budget of some families. They keep parents informed of students' progress, curriculum changes and important developments in teaching and learning. They foster links with the community and beyond and seek to involve students in charitable activities.

David Smith talked about assessment for learning, which takes places during a lesson to check how students are progressing and how the teaching is working. Assessment for learning should be seen as central to classroom practice, and all teachers should regard it as a key professional skill. The big 5 principles of assessment for learning are: 1) The provision of effective feedback to students, 2) the active involvement of students in their own learning, 3) Adjusting teaching to take account of the results of assessment, 4) Recognition of the influence assessment has on the motivation and self- esteem of pupils, 5) The need for students to be able to assess themselves and understand how to improve.

The key questions are: What do you expect the students to learn? What will you do to enable them to learn? What will they do to enable them to learn? How will you know what progress they have made? How will they know what progress they have made?

Asking students if they understand the teacher is not the best way to assess their learning process, as they might feel a strong peer pressure and lie in their answers. Some useful techniques used in assessment for learning are post-it notes, mini-whiteboards, true-false cards, exit cards, ABCD cards, thumbs up, traffic lights, stand-crouch-sit, post-it divider, stamps to have evidence of verbal feedback given, partnering, whiteboard words, voting pods, etc.