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State schools receive funding through their local authority or directly from the government. The most common ones are: community schools who are owned and funded all by their local authorities; foundation and voluntary schools are funded by the central government via the local education authority and they do not charge fees to students; academies and free schools are funded by the central government which means that they have complete control over how they spend it; grammar schools are funded by the government. At Nicol Mere, they have a catch up premium which is worth £80 per child and they have a total of £31,000. The school has to also prove how this is spent, and they have a tutor programme which is a government-funded, sector-led initiative to support schools to address the impact of COVID-19 school closures on pupils' learning. They also have a budget with a vision of monitoring and triangulation which then links to SIP (system investment plan) and this should outline the school's educational priorities and budget plans.
The finance a school receive can vary depending on many factors, these being deprivation, students in care, the number of children in the school etc. each school gets financed under the common funding scheme ran by the department of education, in there documents it states that Sustainable schools should be funded according to the relative need of their pupils and in a way that enables the effects of social disadvantage to be substantially whilst also stating that Sustainable schools should be funded on a consistent and fair basis, taking full account of the needs of pupils. Schools in a more deprived area surrounded with deprived postcodes can receive extra funding for what the head teacher of the school deems necessary. Also, if there are many students in foster homes/care or English is their additional language, the school may also receive extra funding to help them students i.e., by hiring extra teaching assistants or tutors for them children. Finally, the more children that are in the school, the more money the school receives, an estimated figure given by a head teacher is that a school receives around £3,200 per student all together however a lot of that funding goes to taxes, building costs, utility costs etc
Schools serve their local communities by having councillors that work collaboratively with schools to make sure that children attending school have the best possible educational outcomes. By having this working relationship between the council, councillors and schools it can make a significant contribution to creating the right environment to improve children's outcomes. Schools can help their local communities by sharing the use of their facilities. Some schools hire out their sports halls, fields, classrooms etc. to groups in the local community to help out, these groups could include local football teams, study groups, scouts/brownies and many more. The decision to hire out facilities in the school to the community is down the school’s board of governors. Schools help serve disadvantaged communities by helping raise educational standards and close the attainment gap between high- and low-income backgrounds. Partnerships with the local community and the school help the school to become an informal community centre. These centres can bring resources and recreation for children and adults. Having a good relationship between the school and local community can help encourage job opportunities at the school for the local community with teachers and other members of staff. Schools help serve disadvantaged communities by helping raise educational standards and close the attainment gap between high- and low-income backgrounds. Partnerships with the local community and the school help the school to become an informal community centre. These centres can bring resources and recreation for children and adults. Having a good relationship between the school and local community can help encourage job opportunities at the school for the local community with teachers and other members of staff.
There are many different after school clubs that are run by different teachers giving pupils the opportunity to experience new things they might not be able to do outside of school.. Teachers also contribute by participating in fundraising for school discos, bingo, reward trips and leaver's day, so that the children don't have to pay a lot towards the activities themselves, as the school is in a deprived area. As well as this, teachers participate in dressing up for engaging learning opportunities to make the days as fun as possible for the pupils. Teachers volunteer to help on day and residential school trips, giving children the opportunities to have fun doing exciting and rare activities. The school uses newsletters and their Facebook page to communicate with parents and carers, as well as Dojo messaging services and emails between parents and teachers.
My interpretation of mastery would be having comprehensive knowledge in a particular subject or topic. This would mean that any form of question raised on this subject would easily be able to be answered. I also think that you can also have mastery in the basics of a subject and then can develop your knowledge to have mastery in different areas of it.
I like the way Tomlinson (2001) describes differentiated instruction: at its most basic level differentiated instruction means “shaking up” what goes on in the classroom so that students have multiple options for taking in information (content), making sense of ideas (process), and expressing what they learn (product).
Teaching can access all of the VAK areas so different types of learners will all have an opportunity to be taught in the way that they find the best. Additional groups and interventions could also be put into place for those children who are struggling more.
Teaching can be based on an adaptable lesson plan that includes activities for all abilities of children. For lower ability children, interventions can be held to make sure they are up to date with their maths skills, with assistance being given to them during lessons by additional staff. For higher ability children, extension activities can be included in lessons to advance their learning further.
Teachers reinforce an expectation that all pupils are capable of achieving high standards
The large majority of pupils progress through the curriculum content at the same pace.
Differentiation is achieved by emphasising deep knowledge and through individual support and intervention.
Teaching is underpinned by methodical curriculum design and supported by carefully crafted lessons and resources to foster deep conceptual and procedural knowledge.
Practice and consolidation play a central role. Carefully designed variation within this builds fluency and understanding of underlying concepts in tandem.
Teachers use precise questioning in class to test conceptual and procedural knowledge and assess pupils regularly to identify those requiring intervention so that all pupils keep up.
A curriculum that encourages mastery is dependent on the classroom culture. In this setting, all pupils would believe that success is possible and would commit to attaining mastery. Mastery is repeating information until it becomes knowledge without having to think for too long about it. With reading for example, mastery does not mean reading more and more, it means going into greater depth and looking at finer details.
A curriculum alone can’t provide a mastery approach, it is highly based on effective teaching. In a mastery approach, the pupils learn the topics in the curriculum, instead of the teacher covering the topics rather than focusing on the learners. Every child should be given the correct amount of time that they need to learn a subject in order for them to develop a deep and secure knowledge. Spending more time on fewer subjects ensures that there are no gaps in subject knowledge and that every area has been covered.
Mastery in the curriculum is shown by children learning different skills and topics securely and confidently. In-depth knowledge is secured by reviewing previous work, building on prior learning. Each area of the curriculum must be introduced to the children through engaging and useful activities, taught thoroughly by knowledgeable teachers and reviewed and applied by mastery activities and questioning.
Variation theory is “The provision of sufficient difference between two examples to allow learners to make comparisons, contrasts, and generalizations. Variation provides learners with the opportunity to identify distinctiveness and to retain this in situations of complexity. Variation theory suggests that learning is linked to the ability of progressively accommodating difference through a process of discernment.”
A textbook that is encouraging of mastery should be of high-quality and support both the learner and the teacher. Textbooks should offer examples that help the learner to better understand concepts and should also guide teachers to help them understand how they can better support the children. Teachers should use textbooks that have relevant content to their lessons and ensure that they are constantly building on this content to help children develop a mastery approach. They shouldn’t be a replacement for teaching, but instead used as a support tool.