Giving pupils ownership of their learning

Information about the school

Ysgol Gymuned Brynaerau is situated in a rural area, around half a mile from the village of Pontllyfni, on the main road between Caernarfon and Pwllheli.  Welsh is the main medium of the school’s life and work.  There are 64 pupils between 3 and 11 years old on roll, including 8 part-time nursery age pupils.  They are divided into 3 mixed-age classes.

Over the last three years, around 9% of pupils have been eligible for free school meals.  This is significantly lower than the national percentage (18%).  Around 70% of pupils come from Welsh-speaking homes.  Very few pupils are from ethnic minority backgrounds.  The school has identified 22% of its pupils as having additional learning needs, which is similar to the national percentage of 21%.

The headteacher was appointed to the post in January 2016.  She is responsible for another nearby school and divides her time between the two schools.  The school was last inspected in July 2013.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

One of the school’s priorities this year is to ensure that:

– teachers and pupils work together in order to develop attractive experiences that stimulate learning.

While establishing this, the school:

• addressed the ‘Schools as learning organisations’ programme – by focussing on realising the 7 dimensions.
• responded to the requirements of the Welsh Government document, ‘Education in Wales: Our National Mission’
• adopted good practice training on the Curriculum for Wales (Estyn), which has inspired leaders to want to begin to revise the school’s curriculum
• conducted staff meetings to highlight their willingness and enthusiasm to begin to embed specific aspects of the new curriculum
• conducted action research into the work of John Hattie and Cath Delve to highlight the advantages of developing stimulating experiences jointly.

Description of the nature of the strategy or activity

Ysgol Brynaerau’s main aim is to prepare stimulating and creative experiences in order to prepare learners for the 21st century and beyond.

Following Curriculum for Wales training and by being part of a case study on ‘Schools as learning organisations’, the senior management teams from three schools came together to discuss co‑operation and joint planning in order to prepare for the new curriculum.

Teachers from the three schools welcomed the opportunity to plan jointly and respond to the national aim of reducing workload, promote learning as a team and co-operation between all members of staff, and considered jointly how to empower their own teaching.  They took advantage of the opportunity to work together in order to share good practice and inspire teaching and learning.

In order to facilitate co-operation, one theme was chosen for all three schools – the first term’s theme was ‘Can one person change the world?’.  The first and most important step in the planning process was to give staff the freedom to investigate the topic with pupils, based on the six areas of learning in the new curriculum.  This means that pupils have a direct influence on the activities that they will complete, and make decisions and choices in order to ensure that they had a prominent say in their work.  They choose challenging learning pathways in order to complete extended tasks.

Following research, classroom organisation in key stage 2 was examined in order to nurture pupils’ independence in tasks and ensure development in their literacy, numeracy and ICT skills.  A decision was made to develop 4 adventure areas, namely ‘Literacy Adventure, Numeracy Adventure, Thinking Adventure and Creative Adventure’, in addition to the focus group.  Within the adventures, tasks are prepared in which pupils are expected to select a suitable challenge in line with growth mindset strategies and learning zones.

Live experiences that come from inviting visitors to the school and conducting visits are a core part of meeting the purposes of the new curriculum.  Learning experiences ignite pupils’ imagination and enable them to develop their skills, knowledge and understanding highly successfully in areas across the curriculum and in an integrated way.

In order to respond to the big question, ‘Can one person change the world?’, pupils led charitable work for the Wales Air Ambulance charity.  Following a visit from an officer from the Air Ambulance, pupils were inspired to plan a whole-school project, namely the ‘Three Peaks Challenge’.  This was an opportunity to develop their leadership skills by encouraging parents, members of the local community and beyond to contribute to our challenge.  Valuable opportunities were provided for pupils to shoulder responsibilities and become active citizens.  Pupils’ ICT skills were developed by planning and creating a multimedia advertisement and sharing it on social media sites.  They recorded and inputted the money that was raised into databases, analysed graphs and set targets.

What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?

A positive effect was seen on pupils’ commitment to learning, as their influence anchored planning and the learning environment.  Pupils’ enthusiasm towards their work is infectious, and they are highly motivated as they have strong ownership of their learning and are able to discuss their work intelligently.

By implementing the principles of formative assessment, for example through the learning zones in which pupils are allowed to choose their level of challenge during tasks, their performance is much higher than expected.  They are more willing to work independently and succeed in completing varied and extensive tasks of a high standard.  As a result, pupils are ambitious and creative enterprising contributors.

How have you shared your good practice?

Ysgol Brynaerau’s good practice has been shared with other schools in the catchment area and beyond, and the school shows its practice through social media.