Stefanie Florczyk

P UPIL PREMIUM Pupil premium were disengaged and lacked resilience, which hindered progress. In summer 2013 Victoria Junior School joined ‘Challenge the Gap’. We selected 20 pupil premium children from year 5 to form a focus group. Each child was not making the expected progress in one or more core subjects, or had poor attendance and punctuality, or these factors combined. Children also faced issues at home.

A MBASSADORS FOR LEARNING The group were told that they had to take on a very important role in the school. They were going to be, ‘Ambassadors for learning’. We launched the club just before the summer holidays and gave the group a project. Each child received a stationary pack and a scrap book to complete over the holidays. Children were also sent a book from, ‘The Book Wizard’.

A MBASSADORS FOR LEARNING Over the year myself and a teaching assistant worked closely with the Ambassadors. Children were given opportunities to go on trips, attend intervention groups, attend after school clubs and develop their reflective learning skills. As well as this the children were made to feel important.

T HE IMPACT SubjectChallenge the gap (APS) Non challenge the gap (APS) Maths Reading Writing Attendance 8 out of the 17 children had attendance below 95% 7 of these children have now improved. One pupil had 78 % at the start of the year, which has now improved to 90%. Another pupil had 74% attendance at the start of the year and has now improved to 96%.

Do you have similar issues in your school? How do teachers currently support pupil premium children?

W HAT IS METACOGNITION ? Thinking about thinking- how you are learning

M ETACOGNITION Learning styles- making the children aware As a group Ambassadors discussed what a good learner should look like. Modelling this to the rest of the year group. Noticing other children who are doing this. Why it is important to reflect on learning.

R EFLECTIVE LEARNING LOG Every two weeks children completed a reflective learning log. Children were able to identify things that had worked well for them in a lesson and things that were a barrier to their learning and how they could overcome these. It also gave children the opportunity to think about goals they had achieved and times when they demonstrated resilience. Pupils enjoy looking back over the logs.

M ETACOGNITION AND READING Progress in reading was steady but we found it hard to get the children to read for enjoyment and meaning….‘widely and often.’ Reading involves getting the mind ready. Teaching comprehension strategies through metacognition. Metacognitive strategies include: connecting, questioning, using sensory images, determining importance, synthesizing and inferring.

Connecting Picturing Guessing Noticing Figuring out Wondering

Could these strategies be used in your school?

B UILDING RESILIENCE Many of the children in the focus group lacked resilience. Introducing the term ‘resilience’ to the group and what this would look like in the classroom. Encouraging children to use their previous learning and each other, rather than relying on the teacher. Giving praise for noticing children doing this.

B UILDING RESILIENCE Help desk To encourage independent learning I set up a help desk in my classroom. This is a place where children can get resources needed to further their learning. On the help desk children can find:  Dictionaries  Maths dictionary  Thesauri  Encyclopaedia  Descriptasaurus  Modelled examples  Scaffold examples  Laptop  Topic books

B UILDING RESILIENCE ‘Experts’ in the classroom Children who were confident in what we were learning became ‘experts’. These were identified through AfL. I would have one of these on each table if possible. Encourage ‘experts’ to lead the teaching and learning.

How could you improve resilience in your school? Could these strategies be used in your classrooms?

F OCUSED IMPROVEMENT TIME Although teachers were writing comments for children to respond to, time for this was not being built into lessons. When children see F.I.T. on the board they know that this means time to reflect and respond to marking. Children take the time to read marking and can use feedback in future lessons. This allocated time also sparks discussion among the children.

S TUDENTS L EADING LEARNING The Ambassadors were given the opportunity to go into classrooms and observe lessons. Children became ‘professionals’ and observed good learning in the classroom and areas for improvement. Children became more aware of learning behaviour and barriers. Feedback to the teachers was delivered by the children. Positive response from staff: ‘I think it was really worth while because it gave the opportunity for the children to say how they felt the lesson and learning was…The children also have a say over their own learning.’ They were very observant - noticing the things that went well in the lesson and suggesting things that could be improved.’

A CTIVE AMBASSADORS Once a week the children attended an after school club called, ‘Active Ambassadors’ run by the T.A in the year group. Aims included: developing effective communication, leadership, teamwork, problem solving, logic and forming good relationships with peers. The group gained an identify and felt a sense of belonging. This had an impact on the classroom.

J OINT SCHOOL PRACTICE Making links with other schools Ambassadors visited a school in Hillingdon and had a pen pal each. The teacher and I from the link school were able to work together to develop ideas and organise opportunities for the children. Also made a link with a local secondary school. Working with other schools and talking to teachers has helped my to develop strategies for the classroom.

I MPACT ON AMBASSADORS Fully engaged Raised confidence Developed resilience Able to describe how they do their ‘best’ learning Can choose and use different resources and strategies to develop their learning Confident in helping others learn Independent Children want to come to school and learn Children have aspirations

‘Ambassadors has given me the chance to actually get on and try to be a better learner.’ ‘I have learnt that you can help yourself and others when improving your learning skills. Ambassadors has got me to think about my learning.’ ‘It has also helped me to realise my dreams for the future and help me to improve my confidence.’ ‘The club helps me to learn, because every week we have to complete reflective learning logs. We have to think about what we are good at and how we can improve our weaknesses.’

I MPACT ACROSS THE YEAR GROUP Non pupil premium progress has also improved, through the better engagement of the Ambassadors. Other children in the year group are seeing this and have mirrored their behaviour. Improved learning awareness Improved teaching practice.

N EXT STEPS FOR A MBASSADORS The current group in year 5 are going to become ‘Ambassador Mentors.’ Carry on the focus group with year 5 and 4 where a teacher in the year group will lead this. Develop ‘Students Leading Learning’ across the school. Continue to develop reflective learning skills and raise awareness throughout the school.

N EXT STEPS FOR YOU How could this be used in the classroom? How could this be developed across the school? Could you make links with other schools? Create a mini action plan of how you are going to implement this at your school.

Q UESTIONS …