Gillian Campbell, Curriculum Support Officer, oversaw moderation funding projects during the 2013-14 session including one led by Stacey Collier-West, DHT at St Margaret’s Primary School and Nursery Class.
After consultation with the Curriculum Support Team it was decided that, at St Margaret’s Primary School and Nursery Class, Bloom’s Higher Order Questioning should be introduced across the school.
Three teachers were selected to observe good practice in another school and to then come back to St Margaret’s and demonstrate the Bloom’s pedagogy to three of their teaching colleagues.
Before travelling to the local school for observations the teachers involved completed a ‘Record of Collegiate Visit’. On this they detailed ‘Pre-visit’ notes where they outlined what the hoped to get out of the visit. They then used this same form to note points of interest, observations and notes made during the session and action points they feel will be addressed as a result of what they have seen.
After the process each member of teaching staff involved completed a self-evaluation sheet (based on Guskey’s framework) which delved into their personal reactions, personal learning, thoughts on organisation, support and change as well as their feelings about their new knowledge and skills and most importantly the impact on pupil learning.
Feedback from the three teachers involved in the initial stages of the project were positive in their evaluation of the work. One commented:
“I felt very supported by all members of staff and although I was a little apprehensive initially about the unknown, staff reassured me and the experience was highly enjoyable… Management was very supportive and asked at different points how it was going and if it was useful”
Constructive feedback did show that the turnaround between observing another school in the morning and then teaching in their own school in the afternoon was very tight and added pressure for the teachers involved.
The school have taken steps to monitor impact on pupil learning since running this project and will carefully study CEM data and other information including quality assurance information (observations, pupil voice groups and jotter monitoring).
Sarah Myles, classroom practitioner described her thoughts on the project:
“It was very important for me to see the questioning taking place as it made it very clear and manageable whereas before, on paper, I was not sure how to deliver this to younger pupils. The teacher took time to explain where the school had gone on its journey- starting with the fans then adapting them for younger pupils.”
Category: Falkirk Council Educational Establishments
Developing pupil understanding of the curriculum
Yvonne McBlain, from Falkirk Education Service Support and Improvement team has been exploring pupil understanding of the curriculum with colleagues in St Bernadette’s RC PS and Bankier PS. Click here to see the Bankier version of the learning experience shared with pupils on 13th June 2014, and here to see Yvonne’s analysis of the impact gained.
Maria McNally and her primary 6/7 pupils were the first to trial this experience earlier this session – click here to read Yvonne’s evaluation of these. Pupils were able to explain things they understood, and how they had come to understand these things. They were offered an opportunity to explore how they reached this understanding so that they could apply successful approaches for new learning too. 
The whole set of experiences is designed to:
- Help pupils learn the difference between knowing about something, and really understanding it.
- Let pupils discover how they reach deep understanding – what works for them (based on David Perkins & Harvard/Tapestry Teaching for Understanding programme)
- Help pupils review their own understanding so far and how it helps them build a good life
- Ensure that pupils know what the curriculum is and how curriculum for excellence and the four capacities relate to their lives present and future (helps with pupil profiling too)
- Help pupils see how they apply their understanding in different contexts
- Enable pupils to see the natural connections and overlaps between curriculum subject areas
- Let pupils see how their school learning articulates with wider achievement
- Develop pupils as independent learners
Yvonne will continue to trial and develop this set of learning experiences to complement the methods other Falkirk schools are using to enable their pupils to build independent learning capabilities. Click here to see some pupil understanding charts made during the lessons, and see how pupils connected their understanding across curriculum subjects below. Yvonne would be happy to hear from any teachers wanting to be involved in exploring this further. yvonne.mcblain@falkirk.gov.uk
Changes to the GTCS Standards
Hazel Cunningham, Probationer Supporter at Falkirk Council Curriculum Support Team, has completed a project as part of her To Lead or Not To Lead programme on the changes to the GTCS Standards for Full Registration. After thorough professional dialogue with a wide variety of Falkirk Council teaching staff and an in-depth Needs Analysis, she has produced a powerpoint and guidelines which have been distributed to all Headteachers in the authority. The resource can be used to train staff on the main changes in the new GTCS Standards for full Registration which are a mandatory requirement or it can be used to support self-evaluation as part of Professional Update. For further information please contact Hazel at hazel.cunningham@falkirk.gov.uk
The resource can be accessed here.
Guidelines can be accessed here.
Dance – Progression
Morag Young and Morag Simpson, Physical Education Lead Officers from Falkirk Council Curriculum Support Team organised a series of two Dance twilight sessions for primary class teachers and specialists. These courses were led by Anne Murphy, from Education Scotland. Anne demonstrated how to provide a progressive Dance programme focussing on the Significant Aspects of Learning in PE from Early Level through to Second Level. Content examples were given to and developed by the group showing how to link learning in a dance context with all other curricular areas.
Examples of the very positive feedback are shown below.
“This has impacted on the way I would teach a dance block with the children now as it is not about following a routine.”
” Children will get more ownership of their learning through dance by using these approaches”
” Will now use the ideas given to promote higher order thinking skills while teaching dance.”
Gymnastics – Using Apparatus
Morag Young and Morag Simpson, Physical Education Lead Officers from Falkirk Council Curriculum Support Team organised a Gymnastics twilight for primary class teachers and specialists. This course was led by Anne Murphy, from Education Scotland and specifically focussed on using apparatus. Anne demonstrated how to provide a progressive Gymnastics programme focussing on the Significant Aspects of Learning in PE from Early Level through to Second Level. This was a follow on course from the first session with Anne in February, focussing on developing practical content with literacy and numeracy links.
Examples of the very positive feedback are shown below.
“This was a wonderful course to support teachers, such as myself, when working to build confidence in our own practice.”
“The opportunity to learn more about the various techniques and how to carry them out properly was excellent and very enjoyable.”
“Demonstrations of the equipment has allowed me to be more confident using the equipment in my teaching.”
11th Enterprise in Education & Enterprise Champions Awards
Lynne Lauder, Enterprise Co-ordinator, oversaw the 11th Enterprise in Education Awards at Grangemouth High School on Thursday 12th June.
10 Schools attended the event to receive their certificates presented by Nigel Fletcher, Acting Director of Education.
The Awards, which started in 2006, recognise excellence in the delivery of Enterprise in Education in schools. Awards are presented at Bronze, Silver and Gold level. Schools who have managed to sustain Gold level for three years have the opportunity to go for Platinum.
The schools recognised at Gold Year 2 or Year 3 at the event were, Antonine PS, Bantaskin PS, Grange PS, Kinneil PS, Deanburn PS, Larbert Village PS & St Margaret’s PS. Four schools achieved Platinum status, Drumbowie PS, Maddiston PS, Carrongrange School, Larbert HS. We now have 21 Platinum Enterprise schools in Falkirk.Schools also have the opportunity to nominate partners as Enterprise Champions and to date we have 461 individuals who have received recognition for their work in inspiring and motivating young people to be more enterprising.
The event was a great success as is demonstrated by these smiling faces .
Avonbridge Dancers
Morag Young and Morag Simpson, PE Lead Officers for Falkirk Council Curriculum Support Team arranged a visit to Avonbridge Primary School to work with their Scottish Country Dance group. The purpose of this visit was to showcase good practice in Scottish Country Dance and create a resource for class teachers. The resource will help with the delivery of this activity context through curricular PE or as an extra-curricular club in preparation for the annual Day of Dance . We would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to the pupils and staff of Avonbridge for their warm welcome and willingness to assist us with this project. Particular thanks to Mrs Rankine for all her input with the dancers.
Visitors from the Flemish Community in Falkirk.
Anne Hutchison (Support Officer for Professional Development), Hazel Cunningham and Nicola Soroka (Probationers Supporters) and colleagues in the Curriculum Support team welcomed educationalists from the Flemish Community. This gave them a flavour of life in Falkirk’s schools and an overview of the unique support provided by the Council for Probationer teachers.
In the morning, the group visited Airth Primary School, Grangemouth High School and St. Mungo’s RC High School, where they had the opportunity to meet staff and pupils.
In the afternoon, the group participated in the Induction Meeting for next session’s Probationer teachers.
We would like to thank GTCS for providing the opportunity to work with a great group of people! Thanks also must go to Julie McKenna, Paul Dunn, Stephen Phee and their colleagues for making the group welcome in their schools.
Inter-Authority Moderation
Gillian Campbell (CSO Secondary) has been working with two Falkirk Primary Head Teachers and Glasgow, West Lothian and North Lanarkshire Education Authorities on a major project on moderation. This Education Scotland funded piece of work focused on moderation of their self evaluation procedures and Falkirk were represented by Cathy Quinn (St Bernadette’s RCPS) and Linda-Anne Reid (Stenhousemuir Primary).
One Head Teacher from each of the four authorities involved joined in two seperate groups to visit each other’s schools and act as critical friends. Suggested discussion points had been devised by the group based on the Self Evaluation expectations from Education Scotland. Meanwhile the 4 Local Authority leads met to discuss how each handled quality assurance at a strategic level in their councils. From this work we will look at impact and how individuals, authorities and the whole group will further develop aspects in our schools and authorities.
All 8 Head Teachers and 4 authority represenatives will meet to share their experience and contribute to the final report. If Education Scotland give their approval to the content of the final report then the work will be put on the National Assessment Resource during the summer.
For more information on this project, or assessment/moderation in Falkirk generally, email: gillian.campbell@falkirk.gov.uk
