HSAEL News

Our curriculum at HSAEL is like a beautiful English summer garden, and at KS3, our students are budding with skills and knowledge by the summer term. Students work hard in their exercise books and in turn, teachers work hard to sow the seeds of learning, carefully planting foundational concepts in their lessons, (until they replant these flowers in the soils of GCSE and A level!)

These seeds—literacy, numeracy, curiosity, wonder and critical thinking—are nurtured daily with the water of encouragement and the sunlight of high expectations. At HSAEL, our garden is grown using the teaching and learning artefacts which make us distinctly unique: 4 part lessons, scripted expositions, core knowledge and golden nuggets. These help students reach the learning objectives, which are assessed on DPR (dynamic progress reporting).

As students’ journey through Key Stage 3, there are green signs of growth, evidence that roots of knowledge are taking hold!  However, our garden at times may need pruning. There may be areas which have not grown as well as others. Some areas may look messy, overgrown and dry. Every good teacher is a good gardener too; we give the garden what it needs so that it can continue to grow. In the summer term, KS3 teachers and students are working together in a collaborative project called the KS3 Curriculum Garden.

As teachers, we agreed that we would nurture the garden through:

1. Consistently applied behaviour underpinned by joy
2. Scripted expositions
3. Quality of work produced in books
4. Presentation of books

Teachers have scripted their expositions to find the quickest route to mastery as ‘X marks the spot!’. Teachers are also getting into each others classrooms, reviewing each others exercise books to celebrate student work. In this process, students and teachers are pruning their garden by finding loose sheets and missing headings, correcting coloured pens and identifying overgrown scribbles and sparse patches in the deliberate practice rounds.

To support the growth of beautiful books, KS3 teachers came up with a hypothesis that:

high expectations + intentional monitoring = beautiful books.

Books which are neatly presented on the surface looks good, but does this show that the fruits of learning are being grown? Will these flowers quickly wilt? We agreed that teachers must check students work regularly to ensure that the roots of learning are taken deep into the soil. Teachers can improve the quality of work by giving immediate feedback rounds of practice with intentional monitoring. This feedback can support students make progress against the key objectives made by teachers on DPR. Teachers have been dropping in on each others lessons, watching this in action.

When teachers check student work frequently and with purpose, they gain deeper insight into what students truly understand, where misconceptions lie, and where reteaching is needed. This waters the sparse parts of our garden. Regular checking drives effective teaching and more meaningful feedback for students to make progress. This in turn communicates something very important to the students: that their efforts matter—that learning is not a one-off event and like a tree, grows more solid, tall and full overtime. By improving student work through tailored feedback, students build resilience and greater clarity in how to improve their work. This in turn creates higher levels of independence, setting a strong foundation for long-term academic success.

Students are ensuring that the work including the quality and length is of a high standard. To showcase and create higher accountability of the work students produce in books every lesson, we have created the book lottery every Friday morning! This is an exciting opportunity for students, who are randomly selected to show Ms Wake their books. Excellent books are rewarded with positive points and are given a prize and some brand-new stationary. Books which need shaping and pruning are given some quick fixes. We do this because we know that the work that students do everyday matters. It builds a sense of purpose and reminds students that their learning matters, as do they. Students who take care of their work demonstrate greater pride and passion about the subject. In turn, students feel a deeper connection to their teacher and the school; that they belong in the garden and are an important flower within it. We want and believe that every child at HSAEL will be a leader in whatever chosen field they decide to pursue. Leaders take pride and care in their work; and this begins in their exercise books at school; whether they are in art or maths.

By the time our learners reach KS4 and eventually KS5, the garden is in full bloom. Their ideas are in flower—complex, colourful, and vibrant. The fruits of their education are ready to harvest: rich, full of character, and bursting with flavour.

Jess Wake – Head of History