QA'ing curriculum without deep dives; ranking students within grades; members' support
Sallie Stanton (Advantage Schools); Amit Hathi (Wembley High Technology College); Community Members (We Are In Beta)
Hello everyone!
I hope you’ve been enjoying a relaxing bank holiday weekend.
If you’re a new subscriber or joined us on our most recent webinar with Thahmina Begum, Head at Forest Gate Community School, it’s an honour to have you here.
You can catch up with previous editions, podcasts and webinars via the archive. Link at the bottom.
This week we share how schools are quality assuring curriculum without deep dives, a methodology to help you rank students within grades and a selection of ways members of the We Are In Beta Community are supporting each other.
🎥 Webinar: Sallie Stanton, Advantage Schools. Reviewing our review - challenges of curriculum QA
Schools have put in a significant amount of work over the past 12-18 months to consider and develop their curriculum offer.
Now this is in place, your mind moves to review and quality assurance, asking questions like:
What evidence do I use to evaluate if curriculum choices are the right ones and identify where it can be improved?
How can I gather this evidence and produce good documentation for curriculum leaders, senior leaders, trust execs?
And in doing so, how do I not add to workload and keep staff motivated and engaged in the process?
In our next webinar, find out how Sallie Stanton (Director of Education) and her team at Advantage Schools - the academy trust behind the highly-successful Bedford Free School (secondary) and Elstow School (primary) - are quality assuring their curriculum offer and using school closure as an opportunity to drive this forward.
Hit the button below to save your spot and ensure you don’t miss the resources Sallie will share with attendees.
📆 Tuesday 12th May 2020
🕡 5.00pm
🎧 Podcast: Ranking students within grades
With grades now collected by most schools and the deadline for submitting them, and their rank order, fast approaching (12th June for AQA and OCR - my birthday 😉), we spoke to Amit Hathi - Headteacher at Wembley High Technology College - about the methodology they have developed to rank students within grades.
He discusses the challenges associated with ranking across tiers, with large cohorts of students, early entry and teacher bias and how their methodology helps overcome them.
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⏲️ 25 minute listen
📖 Access links to resources mentioned plus bonus content from the episode here.
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🌐 We Are In Beta Community News
Over the past few weeks, to support and champion them, we’ve shared our members’ questions, articles, vacancies and webinar resources. This week, a selection of documents and ideas they’re sharing to support each other.
📎 Tips, ideas and advice for Transitions (various leaders: Mide Ola Said, Eleanor Bernades, Ed Vainker, Shonogh Reid, Will Mackintosh, Bradley David, Clare Fletcher, Christalla Jamil, David Ellison, Joanna Young).
📎 ‘Risk assessment for EHCP and vulnerable children’ and ‘overview of our safeguarding process’ (Nicole Fowles - Headteacher, Colsehill Heath School).
📎 Action plan, guidance and spreadsheet to support centre assessed grades and ranking (Jonathan Mountstevens - Deputy Head, Beaumont School).
If you’re a serving school leader or teacher and you want to join these conversations and access these resources, hit the button below to join the community.
Thanks for reading and playing your part in making education the place we all know it can be.
Speak soon,
@NiallAlcock
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