Transcript By Schools for Schools

"By School for Schools" - Using
Specialist School Networks To
Create Future Practice in Gifted
and Talented Education
Rosanna Raimato
Head of Achievement Programmes, SSAT
Overview
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The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust
Creating School Networks for Gifted Education
Outcomes
New Challenges
The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust
Our aim is to give practical support to the
transformation of secondary education in
England by building and enabling a
world-class network of innovative, high
performing secondary schools in
partnership with business and the wider
community.
Specialist Schools
• Aim for all English secondary schools to be specialist
• Promotes excellence of opportunity, creativity,
achievement and shared working with the educational
and business community to enhance outcomes for all
• Secondary schools working with their own ‘family of
schools’, including Primary and Special schools
• Schools can opt for: Arts, Business and Enterprise,
Technology, Engineering, Humanities, Languages,
Maths and Computing, Music, Science, SEN, Vocational
Our network of schools
• An independent, not for profit organisation
• Affiliated Membership of 4861 educational
establishments
- 2821 English secondary schools
- 1324 International member schools
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Secondary Specialist Schools and Academies
Trust schools, Special Schools and Primary Schools
Sixth Form and Further Education Colleges
Local Authorities and Higher Education Institutions
Our Programmes and Themes
Programmes
Themes - current
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specialism
community
vocational
achievement
innovation
new technologies
leadership
Continuing Professional
Development
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system leadership
post-16 (raising of education
participation age)
diversity – ethnicity, culture
and religion
sustainability
every child achieves (social
mobility)
creativity and enterprise
parents
Our Principles
We believe in ‘by schools, for schools’.
By this, we mean:
• making sure that improving student achievement
and raising academic standards are at the heart of
everything we do
• making sure that head teachers take the lead in
directing our work
• involving head teachers and other teaching staff in
designing and delivering our programmes, activities,
research and development
Our Principles
• inspiring, challenging and
motivating head teachers
and other teaching staff
to raise standards, and to
support and challenge
one another
• validating and accrediting
educational practices and
measuring educational
outcomes
Our principles aim to support:
– the development of the specialist system as a ‘selfimproving’ system in which education professionals
share and develop teaching and learning practices,
with a commitment to raising standards
– school-led system leadership (where head teachers
come together to influence and develop education
issues, and support schools other than their own)
– the creation of an environment in which schools can
move from ‘good’ to ‘great’
SSAT and G+T Education – Supporting Schools
• Commitment to G+T by Specialist Schools – within
specialisms and in the community
• Lead Schools and Lead Practitioners
• Case studies, events, publications
• Dialogue with local and national bodies
• Segmentation and pupil level data
• Pilot Programmes generated by SSAT and in
partnership with the Department for Children, Schools
and Families (DCSF)
Creating School Networks for Gifted Education
From participation in our wider activity we
identify the system leaders of Gifted and
Talented education
Lead Schools
• demonstrate effective and creative practice in G+T
• are recognised on a local, regional or national scale
• share strategies and resources freely
• can show the impact on the achievement and wellbeing
of gifted and talented students
Lead Practitioners
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Our most valuable resource – inspiring and
challenging their peers
nominated by head teachers for their work in G+T
able to be both creative and reflective
a ‘research and development’ model
work with other schools and colleagues face to face,
online, through publications, seminars, conferences, inschool training
modest funding to create capacity – sponsorships,
grants, school-funded
Creating Networks – a regional model
South
Central
South
West 1
East
South
West 2
Regional cluster
structure
1 Lead Practitioner
+ own school
School 1
School 3
School 2
Dissemination stage
120+ schools
School 3
School 2
East
Midlands
West
Midlands
North
West
South
West 2
1 Lead School
School 1
South
East
North
East
London
Partner School 1
School 1
School 3
School 2
Partner School 2
School 1
School 3
School 2
Raising Achievement for G+T Learners at Key
Stage Four – SSAT and DCSF collaboration
• Focussed on raising achievement for our most able
students in a range of subjects
• Looked at subject teaching and learning to tackle G+T
underachievement
• Trialling of subject methodology and materials
• Fed back into the development of the National
Classroom Quality Standards
• Disseminated findings and resources on a local,
regional and national scale
The Classroom Quality Standards
The programme was based on the 5 Classroom
Quality Standards strands:
•Development of Learning
•Conditions for Learning
•Knowledge of Subjects and Themes
•Understanding Learners’ Needs
•Planning
How it worked – the stages
• Phase One
• To investigate what makes excellent practice in G+T
teaching and learning in a specific subject area,
supported by overarching G+T practice
• Phase Two
• To compare and develop practice against the CQS
• Phase Three
• To disseminate practice and methodology with a wider
network – 10 regional hubs
Dissemination beyond the network
• Reports on practitioner-identified excellent practice in
G+T teaching and learning in Maths, English, Science
and a sample of ‘specialisms’
• Availability of case studies and resources produced
through Lead Practitioner and cluster activity for both
SSAT affiliated and other schools
• A publication based on the practice developed and
trialled through the programme and the CQS, due this
Spring
Pilot for National Institutional Quality Standards
SSAT and DCSF – a collaboration
• In partnership with the DCSF, raising awareness of IQS
in the secondary sector
• Equip schools to meet the needs of their most able
students at whole school level and gain recognition
• Creation of school-based regional support networks for
IQS implementation
Programme Activities and Outcomes
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Workshops, seminars
Shared materials
Additional opportunities for students
CPD for teachers
Raised awareness for Headteachers
Liaison with Local Authorities and Cluster Groups
New links with local (and not so local!) schools
Personalising Participation for
Gifted and Talented Students
• Aimed at students with potential abilities and talents but from low
aspiration, socially deprived backgrounds
• Schools were given a small sponsorship grant to give opportunities
that would be:
- at no cost to families
- sustainable
- relevant to the community context
• Outcomes will be shared on a local and national scale, with key
educational partners in Gifted and Talented education.
• Dissemination of ideas that will help to make our most able
learners excited the opportunities available to them, regardless of
background or circumstances.
Inspiring Participation
• Literacy: ICT Programme – using i-Books to encourage
reading for gifted boys
• Aspiration: Learn Latin, Go to Rome – classes with HE
partner, fundraising with families and community
• Communication: Mandarin Chinese – Saturday morning
and family learning
• Developing Talent: Advanced Stage Lighting – for the
artistic but shy (and developing Maths and Physics)
• Diversity: EAL Film Project – making a film about
school and home life to share with peers and families
Inspiring Participation
• Sharing Progress: Personalised Learning Plans – using the Virtual
Learning Environments and home languages
• Participation: Asian-background Girls and Higher Education –
offering distance modules in school, taking parents on open days
• Leadership: Sports Leadership and Coaching – qualifications for
students with sports talent
• Social Skills: Podcasts for Primaries – creating, teaching, sharing
learning
• Community: The Garden Project – students growing produce and
creating a business in the community
The Future – Specialist G+T Schools?
• Pilot currently being run by SSAT on behalf of the DCSF as part of
the Leading Edge Partnership Programme.
• 20 schools have formed a ‘National Collaborative’ to trial a
systematic approach to providing an exceptional education for our
most able students.
• Ministerial interest in finding ways for High Performing Specialist
Schools (HPSS) to generate innovation and high impact sharing of
practice for Gifted and Talented (G+T) provision.
• The pilot will explore how this strand could become an HPSS
option for schools obtaining this status.
• Possible model of ‘hub’ schools creating and serving local and
national networks for excellence and innovation
Keeping Networks Alive
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Facilitation of networks
Quality Assurance of Lead Schools and Practitioners
Availability of free online resources and networking
Collaboration with national bodies to add to system
leadership and the national agenda for G+T
– Offering schools G+T ‘best and next practice’ events
led by practitioners
– Creating a culture of ‘by schools for schools’ that
can create and maintain capacity
For more information
Our website:
www.schoolsnetwork.org.uk