Week 1: Professional Behaviours (safeguarding)
In preparation for professional practice, I engaged with the school's Safeguarding policy and highlighted key information, such as who the DSL is and the procedure for how to respond to a child's disclosure. I also examined the Child Protection Policy and Staff Behaviour Policy to ensure that I understood the routines and expectations of the school prior to starting. During my first week of professional practice, I worked with the class teacher and DSL to discuss safe working including how to protect myself from uncompromising positions that could lead to accusations. This included conversations about which teaching union I'm part of and how they can support me whilst on practice. We also discussed the importance of accurate record-keeping, including an introduction to the system used in school to do so (CPOMS). The DSL also explained the role of outside agencies in protecting children, including school nurses and social services. We discussed how to protect pupils from sexual harm using Brook's Sexual Behaviours Traffic Light Tool which is also explained in the Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy. During my first week, I responded to a child's disclosure without asking leading questions and recorded this accurately with the class teacher. I also attended my first staff meeting where the first portion is dedicated to discussing any local Safeguarding issues within the school. I feel as though I properly understand the role of the DSL, the school systems that support Safeguarding and the key points from the school's Safeguarding policy that will keep children safe.
Week 2: Professional Behaviours (professionalism, wider responsibilities, relationships and workload)
During my second week of professional practice, I had discussions with the class teacher surrounding the role of parents in a child’s education and the impact a child’s home life can have on their behaviour and attitude to learning in school. The children’s home diaries and important conversations had with parents were also shared with me to ensure I am able to effectively engage with both children and parents. We also discussed the roles of the other staff in school e.g. the DSL and SENCO (Phil Clarke) to support me in communicating with colleagues. I was also made aware of the outside agencies involved in supporting the needs of specific children in the class to support me to communicate with external colleagues if necessary. I have been introduced to the SENCO and had the relevant information about the children in my class shared with me. I am now aware of the colleagues that are available to support children with additional needs.
Week 3: How Pupils Learn, Classroom Practice and Adaptive Teaching (planning)
During my third week of professional practice, I observed my mentor model how to plan for additional adults within the classroom e.g. TAs and volunteers through the creation of an intervention timetable for children needing extra support. I have seen the impact of how sharing these plans scaffolds the adults to better support the children. I now feel as though I have a better understanding of the purpose and value of providing plans for any additional adults. We discussed strategies that can support workload in planning e.g. making time for exercise, meeting with friends and using the time provided (PPA) to prepare any upcoming lessons which has strengthened my understanding of having a healthy work/life balance whilst on placement. My mentor modelled how to reflect on lessons, by making notes about what worked well and what could be improved for next time, as well as how to use this to adapt future planning. I have used Edge Hill's planning and reflection format to adapt this into my practice. We worked together to plan for a range of subjects for next week's teaching (English, Maths, Phonics and D&T) and discussed the children's current progression in these subjects, as well as their next steps in learning. Lots of changes were made to the timetable due to the impact of Christmas, as well as staffing changes with regard to the additional adults in the classroom. This helped me to understand how planning is a process that is constantly changing and should always reflect the progress of the class. As a result of my experience, I now feel confident in my ability to develop a medium-term plan that is informed by assessment and the ranging needs of the class e.g. unidentified SEN/D and social/emotional issues.
Week 4: High Expectations and Managing Behaviour (behaviour)
During my fourth week of professional practice, my mentor and I have had discussions about how the classroom is organised to create a safe environment for the children such as the calm corner, reading area and continuous provision areas. I observed how these areas are utilised by all pupils (particularly those with SEN/D) and the positive impact they have on the children’s wellbeing. Time for mindfulness is incorporated naturally into the school day and I have encouraged the children to use the techniques they have learnt to self-regulate in situations where they may feel upset, angry or overwhelmed. I've assisted my mentor in changing the classroom set up in accordance with her lessons (PSHE matching activity) and updating the continuous provision areas in preparation for Christmas (Santa’s workshop) to ensure that the areas of learning are relevant to the current schedule. My mentor and I discussed how to identify signs of bullying within the class and how to address this in accordance with the school’s anti-bullying policy. This week I gained access to the system used by the school (SeeSaw) to liaise with parents/carers and set homework weekly. This allows me to understand the pupils’ individual circumstances and how this may affect their academic performance and behaviour in school. I now feel as though my understanding of the role parents can play with regard to learning and behaviour management has developed significantly. In preparation for professional practice, I printed a copy of the school’s behaviour management policy and highlighted the key information e.g. the behaviour system used, serious behaviours and the exclusion policy so that I can comply with this to ensure consistency and set behaviour expectations for the pupils.
Week 5: How Pupils Learn, Classroom Practice and Adaptive Teaching (adaptive teaching)
This week, my mentor and I spent additional time discussing the individual needs of every child in the class and how to adequately support these. My understanding and experience of these has developed significantly over the course of the last five weeks, as the class teacher has shared any relevant barriers to learning as well as where adaptations need to be made during the planning and teaching processes. I am aware of the families where outside agencies are involved in providing support at home and in school. I have experienced how inclusivity is embraced at the school, taking part in ‘RE day’ and incorporating the core school values into my lessons. We discussed the role other adults play in supporting children’s needs, particularly the TA, and their impact on the school day e.g. knowing of any relevant food allergies, specific routines for individual children. Due to regular staffing changes since the beginning of her placement, I have experienced working with a range of adults, each with varying levels of experience whilst in school. This has meant that I have had to adapt my teaching in order to accommodate the new support staff. My mentor made me aware of the mental health support for my own well-being provided by the school (as well as outside agencies) and how to access these if necessary.
Week 6: How Pupils Learn, Classroom Practice and Adaptive Teaching (SEND)
I worked with the SENCo to look at an EHCP together to discuss how this works in the classroom. We discussed the various roles and responsibilities of the outside agencies, such as the LEA, that work with the school and families to support this. We discussed the role of the class teacher within SEN and the SENCO in identifying, liaising and delivering quality first teaching through intervention to support pupils’ needs. I understand how reasonable adjustments are made for children with and without an EHCP, including adaptive teaching to remove any barriers to learning. We also looked at other support plans (IEPs and IBPs) that are currently in place for children at a lesser level than an EHCP and how they are monitored to support progress and development. I feel as though I understand how local area SEND reports are used to inform the school’s focus. I also worked 1:1 with pupils with suspected SEN, supporting the intervention timetable put in place by the class teacher. This has enabled me to understand the needs of the pupils in my class in greater depth and I've identified effective strategies (in both teaching and behaviour management) to provide support. Through discussions with the SENCo and class teacher, I've developed an awareness of how EHCPS, IEPs and IBPs support the needs of pupils within the class. I now understand that IEPs are reviewed and rewritten on a term basis using the data collected through various assessments. This information is then shared at parents’ evening and parents/carers are invited to meet with the SENCo each term to discuss the targets set for their child. We also discussed how the children may be involved in these meetings if suitable, dependent on factors such as age and maturity.
Week 7: How Pupils Learn, Classroom Practice and Adaptive Teaching (equality, diversity and inclusion)
I studied the school’s policy on equality, diversity and inclusion to see how this is supported. At Ormskirk West End school, the leadership of the school community will demonstrate mutual respect between all members of the school community. There is an openness of atmosphere which welcomes everyone to the school. All within the school community will challenge any type of discriminatory and/or bullying behaviour, eg through unwanted attentions (verbal or physical) and unwelcome or offensive remarks or suggestions. All pupils are encouraged to greet visitors to the school with friendliness and respect. The displays around the school are of a high quality and reflect diversity across all aspects of equality of opportunity and are frequently monitored. Provision is made to cater for the spiritual needs of all the children through planning of assemblies, classroom-based and externally based activities. My mentor and I discussed Pupil Premium funding and what the school does to support children entitled to this, ensuring all pupils have the same opportunities. Through wise use of this additional funding, they are fully committed to ensuring that the individual needs of each entitled child are met. As a result of the additional funding, these children will make better progress and achieve higher standards that would have been likely without it. We discussed recent relevant issues with regards to equality, diversity and inclusion within the school and I can confidently identify the designated member of staff for LAC.
Week 8: Assessment (assessment)
This week, my mentor and I discussed how information about children’s progress is communicated to parents and stakeholders outside school. I studied the school’s assessment policy prior to starting my placement to gain an understanding of the ways in which the school tracks children’s progress through the year and at intervals. We discussed how assessment and data directly impact planning and teaching and how this ultimately feeds into target setting. We also discussed how to employ formative assessment strategies such as questioning and live-marking to reduce workload. After our discussion, I employed live-marking techniques which meant that I had less marking to do in my PPA time and after school. This way, I was able to use this time for other tasks such as planning and printing in order to prepare for future lessons. I feel confident in my understanding of the value of tracking and reporting progress as well as how to employ aspects of the school's assessment policy into my own practice to ensure consistency throughout.
Week 9: Subject Knowledge and Curriculum (systematic synthetic phonics)
This week, my mentor shared the school’s approach to building links between families, schools and communities to develop children’s early reading enjoyment, fluency and automaticity to word read, decode text and develop fluency and automaticity at the expected rate. I've seen first-hand how a child’s home life can both support and hinder their reading development and will be attending parents’ evening next week to further build on relationships with the children’s families. I'm aware of the school’s approach to the teaching of spelling (beyond phonological spelling) and have observed and supported the class teacher in using this. I observed a skilled phonics teacher at the beginning of my placement to ensure I was able to employ the correct teaching and assessment strategies in line with the scheme used by the school to ensure consistency for the children. I've been teaching Phonics to the Year 1 children since the beginning of December and feel that there has been significant progress in my understanding of how to plan a sustained sequence of SSP lessons.