Welcome to KS3 2016 – 2017 13th September 2016 Presenters: Mrs Cartwright Mr Taylor Mr Lloyd-Jones

This evening’s Aims Chenderit’s vision and key priorities for 2016-2017 Governance Parent and student voice 2015-2016 Curriculum, assessment and reporting changes Supporting your child with his/her learning Developing positive attitudes towards learning Questions

Our Vision: To pursue excellence academically and in all other spheres of school life. To continue to improve the quality of Leadership and Management at all levels. To continue to improve the quality of Teaching and Learning: Curriculum: by planning effective class and homework; by differentiating for all groups of students and by improving marking, assessment and feedback Guidance: by planning effective tutorial programmes; by identifying potential underachievement early and putting in place interventions (e.g. summer holiday packs) and by supporting students in self-assessment, action planning and developing good learning habits

To continue to improve the quality of Behaviour for Learning: Curriculum: by setting high expectations which inspire, motivate and challenge pupils and by managing behaviour effectively to ensure a good and safe learning environment for all; Guidance: by leading “support plans” for students whose negative behaviour is impacting on themselves and/or other

Leadership and management: Governance Governing boards are crucial to the success of the nation’s schools: They set the strategic direction for a school They monitor progress against the strategy using high-level performance indicators that go much further than just exam results We have 1 vacancy for a school governor Enthusiasm and an interest in the future of our school are crucial! Contact Bev Martin (Clerk to the Governors, of you are interested)

good news: parent survey Overall strongly agree/agree 1. My child is happy at school 91% 2. My child feels safe at this school 94% 3. My child makes good progress at this school 88% 4. My child is well looked after at this school 95% 5. My child is well taught at this school 85% 6. My child receives appropriate HW for their age 87% 7. This school makes sure its pupils are well behaved 80% 8. This school deals effectively with bullying 77% 9. This school is well led and managed 10. This school responds well to any concerns I raise 82% 11. I receive valuable info about my child's progress Average % agree or strongly agree

More good news: student survey 34/40 questions highlighted a positive trend. Questions about the quality of teaching standards were particularly positive and very rewarding for us Leadership and Management was viewed very positively Areas for improvement: Listen to students Celebrate their successes Care for the environment (e.g. toilets)

Changes to the curriculum 2016 - 17 Mr Taylor

The world has changed Expectations have been raised for students of all ages: Year 6 students have sat more demanding exams in literacy and numeracy We no longer have the familiar end of key stage levels – no one yet knows how exactly target setting will work GCSEs and GCEs are tougher In Key stage 4 Students in years 7 to 10 will do the new GCSEs

However – one thing is constant: Schools, exam boards, Ofsted, parents and students want students to do their best. How do we know what is a reasonable expectation of different students, with different abilities? What is a reasonable target – that seeks to avoid complacency or anxiety?

Our assessment model

KS4 targets Each student in KS3 and 4 has one target for maths and one for all their other subjects based on their KS2 score

TaRgets Are not predictions, and are generalised, based on results across the whole country They allow us to celebrate those who have exceeded expectations … and identify those who might have fallen behind They are the start of a conversation

reporting to Parents KS4 and 5 – little change: GCSE grades Information about behaviour and attendance Tutors will write written comments on the report once a year KS3 reports will not have grades for attainment – but a statement: is a student working above, significantly above, in line with or below age related expectations We will have a statement about progress: are students making more or less than expected progress?

NB: We are playing a long game Students will be assessed at the end of year 11 They will have many hours of timed assessment, working on their own in silence

Skills students need Reading and writing at a high level Effective record-keeping; organising their work Revision skills Applying their knowledge, skills and understanding in unfamiliar contexts Working under pressure, on their own

How will we prepare them? Insist on high standards of presentation and organisation Support them to become the best readers and writers they can be Ensure they are used to writing at length, to time Ensure they are used to dealing with the tyranny of the blank page – partly by using hot tasks (prepared as a class) and cold tasks (unprepared, unseen)

Recently we have asked staff to… Have periods of silent, independent working Assess students in the ways they will be assessed at the end of KS4 and 5, from year 7 onwards Expect students to write and read more demanding texts

Building on Work from Year 6 We have an established transfer process Exemplar work from transfer week and primary schools in every year 7 book We will do hot and cold writing We have shared exercise books 6 > 7 in some subjects An example of year 6 work follows:

Our Spelling policy

What are we expecting of marking? What will success look like? Students writing more accurately, taking care, responding to marking, not making the same mistakes repeatedly Not… Teachers correcting mistakes, circling multiple errors, writing in what should be there, telling the student they must do better next time … and the student writing, scruffily, “Okay miss”

How can parents Help? Look at books and ask your son or daughter to talk about their work Expect and encourage well-organised, well-presented work Encourage good study habits over time – not the “It’s only a practice, it doesn’t matter” approach Build resilience by praising effort and ability to cope with difficulties Encouraging reading: fiction, non-fiction, journalism – in books, online…

What should my son or Daughter be reading? As much as possible Reading that builds stamina A variety of fiction and non-fiction Something build on an interest – if they love sport then literature about sport… Some classics

Where can I find recommendations?

Recommendations (2)

Year 7 reading LIST

Year 8 reading list

Presentation of exercise books Books are well organised and neat The back is as tidy as the front Curriculum maps etc stuck in Spelling page at the back Each piece has the classwork or homework, date and title Why have a title? Students worry without them It should be possible to find work for revision purposes

What to do if your son or daughter is stuck? (1) Build good learning habits: If they are really working hard, praise their perseverance. Remind them that some things are tough – but persistence pays off. Try to build good learning strategies, by saying things like: Have you done anything like this before? What strategies did you use then? Is there anything in your book (or online – eg MyMaths) that can help?

What to do if your son or daughter is stuck? (2) Build good learning habits: Let’s read the question carefully again. Have we missed anything? Let’s write out what we know – setting it out clearly. If you were to ask the teacher, what specific question would you ask?

What to do if your son or daughter is stuck? You will know if they are trying hard and are genuinely stuck. If they are genuinely struggling please write a note in the exercise book, for example: “Dear Ms X, Sam has tried to do this work, but after 20 minutes …”

I have found this book a help!

Developing positive attitudes towards learning Mr Lloyd-Jones

Parents, carers and families… are by far the most important influences in a child's life. Their support can play a vital role at all stages of education.

Your support and involvement are crucial “Parents who take on a supportive role in their children’s learning make a difference in improving achievement and behaviour. The active involvement of parents can help promote a learning community in which young people can engage positively with practitioners and their peers.” (National Parenting Strategy 2012)

“For school aged children, two kinds of parental behaviour were shown to have positive associations with children’s school outcomes: home-school partnership and parental engagement in children’s academic activities.” (See and Gorard 2015)

The Benefits It is easier for young people to learn when they are encouraged at home They attain and achieve more when their parents are involved Young people get access to more activities in and out of school when there are more adults to help Any concerns in the school environment can be addressed more easily when parents and schools work together Students are happier when their parents are enjoying events at school Parents have more information about their children's education Parents can contribute to school improvement and an enhanced curriculum as they understand it more Young people’s attainment and behaviour improve when parents are involved in their learning

Your first school test of the year

Helping our Children Being a parent can be difficult – getting the balance just right between support and ‘nagging’ can be tough….. If you can get it right, the rewards for your child are enormous.

At Chenderit School Achievement and reward 5:1 ratio between achievement and BfL logs = a positive culture of learning. Reporting developments: New for 2016 your child’s achievement and BfL logs will be published on student reports for your reference (and action?). Rewards for those attaining well. Staff will share their concerns if there are too many BfL logs.

Together we can make the difference AIM HIGH WORK HARD BE NICE

Thank you Thank you for your attendance, time and consideration Really pleased to see you helping us to make a really good start to our new academic year Any questions?