Featured School
BSM students' formation of the Omani flag
‘Teachers use questioning highly
effectively and are looking constantly,
for ways of teaching ‘in the moment’.
The learning environment encourages
students to lead their own learning.
Examples of this can be seen in free
flow, in Foundation Stage and Year 1.’
‘Active independent learning is a key
feature of the best lessons. In a Year 1
mathematics class on “doubling”, for
example, the teacher set the scene very
clearly, then focussed her attention on
groups and individuals, allowing the
others to work autonomously.’
Student Engagement
Within Phase 1 and 2, we use the
Leuven’s Scale of Well Being and
Involvement, to assess children’s
engagement
within
lessons,
particularly during Discovery Learning.
All staff have received training on
assessing levels of involvement and
are able to identify children who
are not actively engaged. This has
allowed them to identify the individual
needs of specific children and adapt
teaching practice and provision
where necessary. As a result of this,
engagement within Year 1 has been
regularly assessed as excellent or good
during individual lesson observations.
78% of lesson observations were
graded as excellent when evaluating
engagement (7 out of 9 lessons).
22% of lesson observations were
graded as good when evaluating
engagement. (2 out of 9)
“Children are actively engaged in their
learning and are clearly gaining a lot
from it (opportunities available within
Discovery Learning).” Maths Learning
walk, Summer 2017.
“Engagement was excellent. All
children were engaged across the
year group and led their own learning.
Atmosphere across the year group was
relaxed and calm, which promoted an
excellent learning environment for the
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Jan - Feb 2018
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children.” Year 1 Year Group Review
2017.
The Effective use of Data at
BSM
Due to the opportunities for
embedding knowledge and applying
what they have learnt, we have seen
an increase in children working at the
age related expectations. There has
been a focus on ‘closing the gap’ in
order to ensure all pupils are on track
to achieve highly. There has been a
significant decrease in the number of
children working below age related
expectations
since
introducing
Discovery Learning.
The main focus now, is to continue to
reduce the number of children working
below age related expectations
and to look at how to develop
more opportunities to enhance
‘High Performing Learners’ across
the curriculum areas. Additionally,
we have reviewed how to enhance
Mathematics
within
Discovery
Learning and are looking at how to
ensure more children are working
above age related expectations.
Developing Students’
Independence
There has been a noticeable increase
in the children’s independence across
the year groups. The children can
confidently articulate what they are
learning and how they are doing this.
They are able to find and use resources
to support their learning, without
needing direction from the teachers,
most of the time.
Lesson observations have
identified:
“Accessible resources made the
children independent. Having the
resources out, allowed for the children
to be Independent within Free Flow.
The provision is well thought through
and designed for the children's needs/
reflect their interests.” Year 1 Year
Class Time
Celebrating the Omani culture at BSM
Group Review 2017.
Parental Involvement at BSM
Focus children meetings
Each week, all staff within the year
group focus on a set number of
children (3 per class). They report
what the child has been learning and
comment on the progress made within
that week. At the end of the week, the
class teachers meet with the parents
and report back on what has been
observed as well as about the child’s
general progress. Each child is a ‘focus
child’ once a term, so the class teacher
meets with the parents three times per
year.
The BSO inspection report stated,
‘The introduction of the ‘focus child’
has had a positive impact on the
learning and progress made by the
children, and is well received by the
parents.’
The parent focus meetings have been
a huge success in Year 1 and have been
well responded to by parents. They
valued the regular feedback regarding
progress and the opportunity to
discuss their child on a termly basis. As
a result of the positive feedback from
parents, we have now adopted this
way of reporting to parents across the
primary school. All class teachers meet
with parents once a term to discuss
progress and targets.
98% of parents attended all of the
Focus Child Meetings.
Open days and impact
We hold open days once a term
for parents to come in and see
what their child has been learning.