heart of heartlands lessons

Having attending a conference run by Inside government in conjunction with Ofsted, I wanted to share the takeaway messages for supporting our High prior attainers.

Firstly to put this into context there are around 500 pupils at Heartlands classified as High Prior Attainers based on their KS2 data. High prior attainers (HPA), also referred to as Most able, High potential learners and a variety of other labels and acronyms , can often be forgotten about in a classroom with multiple needs to consider. Nevertheless it is important to note that HPA often make the lowest progress within schools. Furthermore, HPA from disadvantaged backgrounds make even less progress (Ofsted, 2015). This is particularly pertinent within the demographic of Heartlands, with over half of HPA identified as pupil premium.

Therefore what can we do to ensure the HPA are stretched to their potential and make as good progress as the rest of their peers? A common thread throughout the day was a focus on a knowledge rich curriculum with sufficient challenge for all learners. Students who know more, often learn better and perform better in examinations. It is important that we pause to reflect on the depth on knowledge which we are passing onto our pupils especially the high prior attainers.

Additionally the transition between KS2 and KS3 was highlighted as an important aspect to accelerate progress for HPA. It was recognised that although the pastoral side of transition is often handled remarkably well, the academic side of transition can be somewhat neglected. Papers such as KS3: The Wasted Years (Ofsted,2015), further highlight the need for a sufficiently challenging curriculum at KS3 with minimal repetition to accelerate progress. This would not only benefit the high prior attainers by exposing them to more knowledge, but also engage all learners. Strategies such as greater collaboration with primary schools on the curriculum and previous primary teachers visiting secondary schools to offer opinions on students’ progress were suggested as measures to improve this transition.

In addition to whole school adaptations I was eagerly anticipating classroom strategies to support our high prior attainers. A recurring theme was ‘teaching to the top’. That is ensuring we are planning our lessons with the highest prior attainer in mind. We can then scaffold down to support those who need it. Additionally we were challenged to ensure we are modelling grade 7-9 answers for the HPA students. Are we modelling to them what high attainment looks like or are we focusing more on scaffolding the grade 4/5 answers? Additionally are we fully aware of who our HPAs are in each class? Are we challenging them from the very start of the lesson or are we giving them the same tasks as the rest of the class and only giving them extension work when they complete this? It was suggested that engaging the HPAs right from the start of the lesson in more challenging material would serve to motivate them more and further accelerate their progress. That is not to suggest that we should be preparing multiple resources but differentiating by process as opposed to content. This allows the HPAs to write more/approach a problem in a more sophisticated way, whilst other students can access the same question but perhaps in less depth.

By ensuring there is ample stretch in every lesson this will not only benefit our higher prior attainers but also help to accelerate the progress of all learners.