Learning through play to support independent learning

Information about the school

Shirenewton Primary School is in the village of Shirenewton, four miles outside the border town of Chepstow in Monmouthshire.  It has 200 pupils aged from 4 to 11, in seven single-age classes.

The three-year average for pupils eligible for free school meals is about 1% which is well below the national average of 18%.  Around 15% of pupils are identified as having additional needs, which is lower than the national average of 21%.  No pupils speak Welsh at home.  A very few pupils speak English as an additional language.

The headteacher became the Executive Headteacher of Shirenewton Primary School and two other Chepstow schools for a three year period in 2015.  Since September 2018, the executive head became cluster co-ordinator for the Chepstow cluster of schools and returned to Shirenewton to share the headship with the Associate Headteacher.  The governing body appointed a permanent co-headteacher to share the headship of the school in 2017. 

The school was a pioneer school for expressive arts and now continues as a professional learning school in the EAS consortium.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

The ‘Curriculum for Wales: Foundation Phase Framework’ (Welsh Government, 2015) emphasises the importance of children learning through first-hand experiential activities with ‘play’ being at the heart of all learning.  It recognises that “through their play, children practise and consolidate their learning, play with ideas, experiment, take risks, solve problems, and make decisions individually, in small and in large groups”.

With this in mind the school developed their ‘Over To You Time’ (OTYT) practice to ensure that every day learners:

• had the correct balance between adult-directed structured tasks and child-initiated learning experiences
• could select their own learning experiences and capitalise on their own interests
• could work at their own unique pace and develop their perseverance, concentration and attention to detail
• were given opportunities to practise new skills in different play based situations
• had free flow access between indoor and outdoor environments
• had learning experiences that were fun, enjoyable and stimulating, and promoted natural curiosity and discovery
• were encouraged to be creative, imaginative and independent in their learning
• were given opportunities to challenge themselves to work at higher levels, through a starred challenge system
• were supported and encouraged by adults; who moved their learning on through interactions involving open questioning, shared and sustained thinking

Description of nature of strategy or activity

Over the course of a school day, there is an appropriate balance between adult-directed teaching of key skills and child-initiated independent learning in the enhanced provision indoors and outdoors.  This ensures that all learners practise and consolidate their skills through play whilst developing a love of learning.  This is known as “Over To You Time” (OTYT), where the child is put at the heart of this planned curriculum.

The pupils decide at the start of the year which topics they would like to study, with each topic starting with a “Delve and Discover” day where the classrooms are transformed over night to reflect the new theme.  Staff dress up and the pupils are immersed into a day of exciting activities and experiences linked to the topic.  For example, in their ‘Medieval Mayhem’ topic a knight from the local castle held workshops in school and invited them to visit him in his castle the next day.  For their ‘Oh I do like to be beside the seaside’ topic they spent the day on a beach – rock pooling, scavenger hunting, and making sculptures and sandcastles.  Following the immersion into the new topic, the teachers plan the next step skills, rewording them in child-speak so that pupils can decide which activities they will complete to address these skills.  All of their ideas are displayed on a topic planning board.  The teachers incorporate these activities into their focused planning, the enhanced provision and home learning activities.

The enhanced provision learning zones cover all the Areas of Learning and Experience.  For example, the ‘Investigation Stations’ provide opportunities to explore science and humanities activities.  In each of the learning zones, there are starred challenges allowing the learners to challenge themselves to work independently whilst practising their literacy, numeracy, ICT, creativity and thinking skills.  During OTYT the children are given a starting point to ensure that they experience a balance of activities over the course of the week, but are then free to choose their own learning pathway.

The school does not have a set ‘playtime’ as during the course of OTYT the children decide for themselves when they want to go out to play, with continual free-flow between the indoors and the outdoor areas during this time.  There are no set ‘snack times’.  Instead there is a ‘cafe’, which is open during OTYT for the pupils to access whenever they are hungry.  This is a very social experience with background music playing and the different year groups mixing and socialising together.  Whilst in the ‘cafe’ the children make themselves a fruit salad and pour themselves a drink of milk.  There is an adult supervising them and a system in place to ensure that all children have visited the cafe before it closes.

During OTYT, staff play alongside the pupils, facilitating and extending their learning through timely interventions that enhance their intellectual development and social interactions.  The staff support pupils to become confident, competent and independent thinkers and learners and encourage positive attitudes.  The staff are also encouraged to observe the pupils at play, to build a holistic picture of the learner and indicate next steps for their learning.  All foundation phase staff meet together every week to discuss the learners’ progress and achievements and to plan the next step learning experiences for the following week.

Independent learning and the importance of pupil voice in the foundation phase are also promoted through a series of termly ‘enrichment and life experience’ sessions.  The pupils select which enrichment activities they want to be involved with for the half term.  The wide range of opportunities include ‘Master Chef’, ‘Mini Medics’, ‘Speaking Spanish’, ‘Groovy Gamers’, ‘Animal Husbandry’, ‘Knit-wits’ and ‘Nature Ramblers’.

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

The ‘Over To You Time’ is very effective in enabling all pupils to make important decisions about their learning and work skilfully as independent learners.  As a result, pupils’ personal and social skills are very strong across the foundation phase.  The practical, creative and team building challenges develop enthusiastic pupils with very positive attitudes towards their work.  They challenge themselves to become confident and ambitious learners.

By creating an environment for child-initiated learning and equipping all pupils with leadership and decision-making skills, pupils’ wellbeing has improved.

The starred challenges in each of the indoor and outdoor areas of enhanced provision creatively promote the development of numeracy and literacy skills in real life contexts, leading to higher standards and a love of learning.

How have you shared your good practice?

The school has shared its practice with other schools during foundation phase training sessions and ‘practice worth sharing’ open days.  Many schools have visited to observe the provision, teaching and learning strategies first-hand.