A Position of Knowledge

A Position of Knowledge

By mattwo8 Comments
When working within cycling both at the 2012 Olympics and onwards with the SKY or INEOS racing team, Sir Dave Brailsford employs a significant principal in all he does. The 1% principal is based on the small changes that TOGETHER make a big change. As Brailsford said, Speaking to the BBC… “The whole principle came from the idea that if you broke down everything you could think of, that goes into riding a bike, and then improved it by 1%, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together. There’s fitness and conditioning, of course, but there are other things that might seem on the periphery, like sleeping in the right position, having the same pillow when you are away and training in different places. They’re tiny things but if you clump them together it makes a big difference.” https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34247629 He believed that if it were possible to make a 1% improvement in a whole host of areas, the cumulative gains would end...
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Every child deserves a Champion

Every child deserves a Champion

By mattwo8 Comments
When you visit a supermarket, you will often find a seconds aisle or money-off promotion. Buy-one- get-one-free or “money-saving” offers will entice you in and always make you buy that extra chocolate bar or that second beer you don’t need. You don’t look at the individual price anymore, just what you think you can gain. You usually end up spending more but feeling weirdly better off. The individual price has been removed, the label takes over. The power of a label is immense. We look at people differently because we label them as something else. Rumours, gossip.. “I didn’t know that!!” dominate social media and public culture. A politician or public figure’s career can be brought down to a shuddering halt by a label being attached. The individual has been removed, the label takes over. Are we in danger of doing the same thing within education regarding our reaction to COVID-19? Lockdown Lockdown has brought many difficulties and challenges. Pupils will have spend many months away...
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Put the Personal back

Put the Personal back

By mattwo12 Comments
Lockdown has brought many difficulties and challenges in education. Huge strides in online education have been made in months that perhaps previously would have taken years. Teachers have created learning packs, online lessons and updated communication systems - rising to the challenge of how to educate their pupils without the the essential face-to-face contact and personal interaction. Children have spent weeks and months away from the support bubble of a school, from their friends, from their safe place. Some will have thrived in a new family bubble – building new self-esteem and confidence. Others will have found it a challenge. Learning will have been lost but more importantly, their circumstances could have changed. They may have learned a deeper understanding of what it means to live in poverty, or encountered this for the first time. They may have learned to hide, to become invisible, to protect themselves from adults who are not safe, without the respite that school can provide. Many...
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Has Ofsted really gone off School Data?

Has Ofsted really gone off School Data?

By mattwo3 Comments
The new Ofsted framework states that inspections will not examine any internal school data. But, in practice, what does this mean for schools? What have staff said? Feedback from Staff who have gone through the new framework stated that conversations were not data-centred but did assume you had a good working knowledge of the external data for your school. Data was discussed as an informer to the team’s approach, not as the sword of Damocles it has been. Context was investigated in thorough detail, giving us a chance to tell our story. DAN MORROW - CEO, Woodland Academies Trust However, when you read on, you see that the external data does inform what the deep dives look to see... Instead, the deep dives commenced with immediate observations of staff through learning walks (all accompanied by phase/subject leads) and through hearing children read: the year one children who had not reached GLD, the year twos who had not secured the phonics-screening check, and the...
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Year 7 Catch-up Premium

By mattwo2 Comments
How well is your school using the additional funding for pupil premium and Year 7 Catch up? Ofsted will be looking for how you are supporting your new Year 7. The 2019 Ofsted Inspection Handbook says: In evaluating progress in literacy and mathematics, inspectors will take into account the progress of those for whom the Year 7 literacy and numeracy catch-up premium provides support. [In Outstanding schools,] Governors systematically challenge senior leaders so that the effective deployment of … Year 7 literacy and numeracy catch-up premium … secures excellent outcomes for pupils. In Outstanding Schools.. The following quotes are taken from Ofsted Inspection Reports of Outstanding secondary and all-through schools in 2018/19: Leaders use additional funding very effectively for disadvantaged pupils and those in Year 7 who need extra help to catch up with others. … Year 7 pupils who join the school with low starting points are provided with targeted support to improve their reading. Pupils benefit from work that closely matches their abilities and...
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What do Ofsted inspections look like?

What do Ofsted inspections look like?

By mattwo5 Comments
With the launch of the new Ofsted Education Inspection Framework and School Inspection Handbook, what will inspections under the new framework be actually like? For the latest updated version – click here Ofsted Inspections There will be main parts of the inspection regime: Pre-inspection Deep dives Bringing it together Most inspections will generally be two days (apart from smaller schools), but preparation will start the day before. Next Steps https://youtu.be/DI4Fc2yizI0 Pre-inspection Ofsted will phone the school by 2pm on the day before the inspection, to let the school know who is coming, confirm things such as number of pupils on roll. They will also send emails requests that certain information (attendance analysis, exclusions, bad behaviour records) is available to inspectors by 8 a.m. the next day (inspectors will not arrive on school before this time). There will then be a more substantive call with the headteacher (or other school leaders if not available). This will focus on three aspects: . The school's context, and progress since the previous inspection including elements for...
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Progress 8 Bandings

By mattwo2 Comments
A Guide to Progress 8 This guide is designed to help alleviate the confusion between the different bandings. It is also available as a video on our YouTube channel. https://youtu.be/9xTPAs20BeA Progress 8 Bandings In early 2017 the DfE categorised schools into 5 different Progress Bandings: But it is easy to get things wrong. BBC News website The BBC News website did so on 16 April 2019, when it said: A school's performance is measured through pupils' progress, called Progress 8, via a scoring system of between -1 and 1, with the average being 0.A score lower than 0 is recognised as not achieving the minimum standard expected by the government, with -1 being well below average. There are three things are wrong with these two sentences: Firstly, Progress 8 is not a scoring system of between -1 and 1. There are no such arbitrary limits, and in 2018 there are 70 mainstream schools with a Progress 8 score below -1, and 50 schools above +1.A score...
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Question Level Analysis and the new Ofsted Inspection Framework

By mattwo1 Comment
How does a Question Level Analysis fit with the new Ofsted Inspection Framework? When the new Ofsted Inspection Framework came out in 2019, we noticed a real shift in how assessment was viewed with the focus on teaching and learning and not on data. Inspectors will ask... What you are drawing from your assessment data?How that is informing your curriculum?How has that informed class teaching? https://youtu.be/nj-cK6S0OCU This article is available as a video here.. Ofsted Inspection Handbook The draft Ofsted Inspection Handbook says that: 170. When used effectively, assessment helps pupils to embed knowledge and use it fluently, and assists teachers in producing clear next steps for pupils. …171. Inspectors will therefore evaluate how assessment is used in the school to support the teaching of the curriculum… So therefore, whatever assessment you use has to start with taking an overall view (for example, how many pupils passed or nearly passed), but also at the important topic strands, seeing how the school is doing, and “producing clear...
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