Centre stage papers – Days 3, 4 & 5: Extending the vision

The shape of things to come?

 

 

‘Time was made for slaves.’ John Baldwin Buckstone

The debate about the slavery of the ‘ubiquitous short lesson’, as David Hargreaves calls it, has rumbled on for years in our school, as it has, most probably, in yours.  The ‘practical’ subjects want longer units; languages and maths want short, sharp submersion, daily; most want a mixture that is not always easy to provide. 

Over recent years, this issue has begun to crystallise around the question of how to ensure greater depth of learning and, allied to that, greater independence of learning – something which doesn’t come naturally to many of our students. 

As part of this, we have begun to develop new ways of organising time – first of all for the delivery of Citizenship and Learning to Learn Week, when the timetable is suspended and students engage in topics for whole days, and then, in the summer term 2006, in a much bigger, and more adventurous pilot. This article is the story of that pilot, and how it has begun to transform our thinking.

The context

Chestnut Grove is a medium-sized, 11-19 mixed arts college and training school in South London. Our intake is comprehensive, and draws students from a very broad range of ethnic communities. About 70% of our students come from African Caribbean or African communities, and more than 50 languages are spoken by our students at home. Over 35% are on the special needs register and mobility, particularly of our refugee children, is high.

Over the years, our focus on teaching and learning, and constantly trying to find new ways of engaging our students and raising their aspirations, has led to year on year improvements in attainment. In 2006, our General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) results exceeded the national average, with 61% of our year 11s achieving five or more higher grades, and a CVA score ‘significantly above average’.

The very wide range of ability of our intake has led us, for many years, to take personalisation seriously (though we didn’t always call it that). At key stage four, students have the option of an academic or a vocational pathway, or a mixture of the two. As well, we have well-developed and well-supported college links for those students who need a more intensive vocational course or who have ‘outgrown’ school.  At key stage three, we piloted the ‘condensed key stage 3’ which is now well-established and proving successful in providing students with opportunities to work at the appropriate pace and depth for them. Staff and students are conscious of their own and others’ different learning styles, and lessons address this, as much as time (that word again) and other restrictions allow.  Technology is fairly well advanced, with all but a few classrooms having interactive whiteboards. A virtual learning environment (VLE) is about to be launched. 

Re-designing the school day

It was in this context that, last year, we began to look at the design of the school day and how we might re-shape it to offer new opportunities for our students.  

We knew, from our experience of Citizenship Days and Learning to Learn weeks, that new environments, different challenges and expectations, and extended time can lead to very different levels of learning. We had seen that, given a whole day to work on something, students take responsibility for their learning in ways they don’t in the five-period day. They have the time to think through issues for themselves, and share their thoughts with others. They become more autonomous learners, which, under normal circumstances, is a big challenge for many of our students.

These were the conclusions we were coming to, in the Spring term of 2006, when, simultaneously, we were struggling with workforce reform and, in particular, considering what to do with the ‘gained time’ from examination invigilation. 

Perhaps not surprisingly, since creativity often stems from unusual juxtapositions, the two seemingly different issues came together into a new idea that not only resolved, in an imaginative way, the workforce reform question, but enabled us to accelerate our drive to provide students with deeper and more meaningful learning experiences.

The structure

We decided that, instead of continuing with the usual timetable in the last half of the summer term – a half term that is always disrupted and disjointed, through work experience for year 10, school exams, trips and visits and our own arts festival – the timetable was rewritten into ‘day slots’, so that students were taught a subject for a whole day.

This, of course, meant that staff missed their normal non-contact and preparation periods but the pay-off was that they had periods of time when a whole department was not teaching, and this could be used for intensive evaluation and planning. Without counting the sixth form (which was a mistake), it worked out, coincidentally, as 15 days of teaching and 15 days of planning. 

We are very fortunate to have staff who are prepared to take risks, and make changes at very short notice. It did feel like jumping off the deep end. So it was with some trepidation that we came back after the summer term half-term to the ‘new timetable’. 

But we needn’t have worried – it worked superbly!  

What worked best

• The greatest gain was that students and staff had the time to really ‘get into’ something and engage in deep learning  – particularly in subjects like art, design and technology, science, and geography.  
  
• For year 10, it was an excellent opportunity for students to complete coursework, and they started year 11 much better prepared than before.
  Motivation was transparently better at a time of the year when things can begin to ‘tail off’.
  Behaviour was very evidently improved. There were very few instances of disruption, and almost no exclusions.  Students in years 7 and 8 who find secondary school particularly challenging, (particularly those with low levels of literacy and numeracy) were better able to cope, because they did not have five different teachers every day – it was more like primary school.
  Students loved, and gained a huge amount from, the trips staff were able to take them on – without disrupting students’ learning in other subjects. This was particularly true of geography, which is included as a short case study below, but other subjects also took the opportunity to ‘get out’ and encourage hands-on learning.
  

For once, we were able to take real advantage of the potential of London. Students visited galleries and theatres and museums. We have no doubt that their horizons were extended and their lives enriched through those experiences.

Some departments took advantage of the opportunity to re-think their teaching strategies, and the structure of learning.  Those who did this, varying activities, focusing on students’ learning styles and giving opportunities for reinforcement and development, were most successful. The few departments that tried to teach five periods on a trot, as if they were five single hours, soon found that this didn’t work, and had to modify their approach. For all staff, it provided an excellent opportunity to reflect upon their learning and teaching styles, and this has been followed up in our extensive professional development programme this year. 

The physical education department made particularly good use of the time – never sufficient in the normal timetable – to take students to sports areas (we have no grassed areas on site) and to do all-day football tournaments, cricket matches, mini-sports days and other activities. 

Special education needs (SEN) and English as an additional language (EAL) support was very effectively used, and students really appreciated the longer time to work with their support teacher or assistant.

And finally, from a management point of view, it was a fair and equitable use of staff time, in a term when, traditionally, those who’ve taught a timetable weighted with key stage three have missed out on planning time.

Not surprisingly, staff voted to repeat the initiative in 2007.  Many staff said that half-term was the most enjoyable of the whole year.  Students were really engaged in learning; motivation was high and, although it was exhausting, there was always the planning days to look forward to! There was a real ‘buzz’ about the school, which we all look forward to repeating.

This time, though, departments have a whole year in which to plan their modifications to the curriculum, and ensure that the most suitable parts of the syllabus are taught during that half term. Other changes include the following. 

• The sixth form will be included in the timetabling (year 12 will begin year 13 work, and year 11 will be inducted into year 12).
  Assessment for Learning, which is well developed in the school, will be reconsidered for the new types of learning happening daily.
  Students will be more involved in the construction of the days.  
• Departments will give more time to how technology can be better harnessed to encourage autonomous, independent learning (interactive whiteboards, media technology, and so on).
  We will look at how we can use the learning environment differently. With enough planning time, departments can plan ‘real’ learning environments, and open up their suites to different uses for learning.
  Students on vocational courses will have the opportunity to do whole days in work places.
  Departments will consider setting students according to learning styles and interest, as well as ability.
• Some departments are working together to plan and deliver cross-curricular projects (including some with our partner schools).

How the geography department used the half term: a case study

Our excellent, innovative geography department was one of the departments to embrace this idea vigorously from the beginning. Geography staff saw immediately the potential of deepening geographical and environmental learning, and planned the half-term around a series of field trips for every student in the school.

Guided walks, some in the country, some in different towns, with tasks along the way, enabled students to explore new environments. They not only gained a genuine sense of place, but the experience put their classroom learning into a real context.    

Feedback from staff and students was extremely positive.  All felt that students had learned much more from this practical environment; that they could recall their experiences more readily, and that they had a deeper understanding of what geography is all about. Staff also felt that the opportunity to make deeper relationships with students in a different environment was very important, particularly for some of our more challenging students.

The geography department doesn’t plan to make many changes for the 2007 ‘summer timetable’, as it’s now called.  They do, however, want more days - if we can squeeze them out, somehow - for more reflection and metacognition. 

Outcomes of the pilot

What has been somewhat surprising is how quickly the ‘summer term timetable’ has become embedded in the culture and consciousness of the school. It’s as if it’s natural and has always been there; it’s part of the planning cycle; and  it’s part of the ethos of the school already.

Whether it’s a direct effect or not is hard to say, because there have been other changes in the school that must also contribute. However, students came back to school in September with a much better attitude to study. We’re having a very good year, and we’re looking forward to our ‘new summer timetable’.

Through our professional development programme, and our links with other schools as part of our training school work, the ideas behind this pilot are already being cascaded and developed. Inside the school, departments that traditionally ‘wanted single periods’ have changed their minds, and have seen the benefits of longer time slots for more profound learning. We haven’t yet taken the decision to change our five-period day completely, but it’s in the air. I suspect that, within a short time, the whole of our timetable will look different, particularly since Wandsworth has now been granted ‘Building Schools for the Future’ funding. We may even have some re-shaped learning spaces in the near future.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ms Margaret Peacock has been the headteacher of Chestnut Grove School, in Balham, South London for 15 years. Before that she was deputy head at Chestnut Grove for two years and, before that, head of English, and then senior teacher, at Kidbrooke School, also in London.

Ms Peacock chairs the Wandsworth Secondary Heads group, and is active on many committees in the local area, including the 14-19 forum, the management committee of the local Pupil Referral Unit and the new Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnerships Board. She is also a member of the Central London Connexions Board.

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