Springlands School
Des Hedley took a group of staff to visit other schools wanted to build the staff team and be able to come back and reflect on good practice.
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Appraise environment
When we looked at the Taranaki schools we found they were not trying to do everything. They were looking at trying to do less better. They had a strong focus on quality. When we came back we decided we would explore these areas also. We reported back to the rest of the staff. They trialled some of the ideas they thought would be valuable in the classroom and gave other teachers in the school the opportunity to come into the classrooms to look at what they were doing.
We found this particularly valuable and since then we regularly have what we call Walk and Talk staff meetings. Once a term the staff move from class to class spending about five to ten minutes in each classroom looking at A1 quality. The class teacher speaks about what has happened in their classroom in relation to this, including the process used, the product, progress, and effort required.
It is a time when we can clarify our ideas, modify or change what we are doing. It also provides us with the opportunity to get feedback directly from staff as we move about the classrooms. By being in the classrooms, what we talk about is directly related to the children.
As well as the visits to other districts we also set up an opportunity to visit other Marlborough schools. We have had a regular cycle of taking our staff to other schools and carrying out a Walk and Talk staff meeting. The principal has an opportunity to talk about what's happening in the school and the staff have an opportunity to talk about and justify what is happening in their classrooms.
Deep learning
At Springlands we particularly wanted to focus on quality. We wanted quality to be a visible focus within the school; we wanted to do less better. And we wanted to have both the pupils and the staff enjoying and getting satisfaction from what they are doing. That's vital for children and also for staff. If students are moved on too quickly, ideas don't sink in. If you get time to spend on particular things to practise, to come back to reflect, then it makes a difference to the teaching.
There was a feeling that teachers were doing a lot with their students at a surface level but little of any substance or depth. Lessons moved on without opportunity for deep learning to occur, and students were often lost along the way.
We wanted to spend more time on particular concepts. We also wanted to make sure that what we were doing was visible, so we hit on the idea of using guiding statements within the school that appeared in every classroom. An example of that was when we used a guiding statement called Do Less Better, which focused on quality, not quantity; on focused teaching and learning.
Other guiding statements have included:
- Just Enjoy It - the idea that enjoyment and satisfaction should be at the heart of teaching and learning
- Look Out - looking beyond what we do to embrace new ideas that will make a difference
- Powerful Experiences/Powerful Teaching.
The power of the guiding statement is that it provides a focus over a lasting period of time – something we can hang our ideas off. Once the theme is established, staff can be explicit at drilling down. It contributes to common understandings, and impacts on staff dialogue, professional development, and self-review. Themes help prevent us being sidetracked and overburdened. They also show a path we can critique ourselves against; where we've come from, where we're at, what we've achieved, and where we're going.
Early in the process of developing the focus of quality we had to come to the question, "What is quality?" We decided very early on that all children had to be able to experience quality and success within the school. So for us, the definition of quality is an element or a judgement of excellence that has to include the end product, the process, the progress the children have made, their actions and behaviours, and how they solved problems.
Quality had to be inclusive. We tried very hard in the beginning to make it visible, so we concentrated on the presentation of schoolwork and the classroom environment – our A1 standards. This allowed the children to see it and to own it and has led very much into quality work.
But it's not just the visible books, the visible displays on the walls - it's also about behaviour. It's about interactions. It's about how people treat each other. It's about how they approach their work, the enthusiasm and the perseverance they have towards their work. Our students are proactive in developing gardens and contributing to the school environment. Each year our year 6 students create and leave a lasting gift to the school for others to enjoy, for example, a mosaic tile or totem pole.
Relationships and rewards
We realised that we needed to concentrate on relationships within the school, relationships being vital to teaching. We looked at a range of positive behaviour management strategies and finally adopted a programme which we called the Privilege Programme, which was an idea stolen from another school. 'Creative swiping' I think Bruce Hammonds calls it. We adapted and moulded it to suit the needs in this school.
Each Privilege Programme runs for six weeks with a theme or value underpinning it, such as responsibility or friendship. From there we use weekly or fortnightly sub-themes, for example, how we treat friends. Classroom teachers then unpack the theme into what it actually looks and feels like within school for the children. Children start each day with a focus on the theme and at the end of the day all classes spend 15 minutes reflecting on the theme and what's happening in the school that day.
At the end of each week there is a choice programme with activities such as cooking or art. Those students who have not completed their schoolwork for the week are deemed not to have earned the privilege and carry on with catching up. Those students who have shown inappropriate behaviour lose their privilege and must write a letter home explaining why.
Rich tasks
We looked at the Education Queensland New Basics Project rich tasks and the idea that learning experiences had to be really worthwhile and meaningful to children.
With this came the idea of authentic learning and assessment. It tied in perfectly with the idea of doing less better and integrating subjects so we could cover a number of things within the topic.
As part of the process of making the task worthwhile, it's important that children have the skills and tools to engage in higher level thinking, because thinking is what leads to learning. We are looking at Bloom's Taxonomy. We've also introduced graphic organisers and thinking tools such as De Bono's Six Thinking Hats to assist in this process.
In line with this we want our students to understand what behaviours contribute to quality learning, so all students start each year with a unit on how the brain works. Staff also use De Bono's Hats and other tools to ensure that, when we are planning, we are also modeling and using the tools we are going to use with the children.
The opportunity to spend more time on a theme or topic rather than racing through it has been a major satisfaction for children and staff. Being able to spend of lot more time without rushing onto the next thing has meant that they have been able to achieve quality that we weren't seeing before. They feel much more secure in knowing what they are doing, why they are doing it, and where they are going. I believe this has been beneficial for the quality of the learning and teaching and the experiences that the children have in this school.
An example was last year when the staff of the senior school syndicate entered an essay writing competition called Reach for the Stars. In normal circumstances they would have written the essay, posted it off and moved on. This time they decided to work on setting up the experiences necessary for quality writing that the children needed for this particular essay. They spent more time reflecting on it and coming back, and the end result was a whole syndicate of top quality writing.
As part of the development we put together a series of strands and ideas and one of these was foundation skills. Foundation skills to us was numeracy and literacy. However we don't want numeracy and literacy to take over the curriculum delivery. At Springlands we see enormous value in the arts and believe that children who are involved in the arts actually achieve at a higher level than children who don't, and there is research to support this.
Involve parents
Research shows that schools that involve their communities and involve their parents are far more successful, so early on we deliberately set about a process of involving the parents in the quality schools project. This included parent evening meetings and bringing parents to the school to have a look at what was happening in the classroom. Once a term we send home the children's books and invite the parents to comment. We see that as a way of linking in what we're doing at school with what's happening at home.
Professional networks
We believe that the Marlborough Quality Schools Project has been particularly successful because it's involved teachers from several different schools talking to each other about professional issues in a way that had not been done before. The overriding idea was to create a network of educators and schools to focus on how to best support student learning and achievement.
We've initiated a process of looking out at what's happening around us and we need to continue that. It has allowed teachers to share practice through dialogue with colleagues, opening lines of professional conversation within and between schools. It has exposed staff to new ideas and affirmed that they are on the right track.
We need to ensure that the new teachers who come into our district are inducted into the ideas, and to do that they need to have the same opportunities to get out, talk to each other, and see each other's classrooms.
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