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Teaching to the Top: Attitudes and strategies for delivering real challenge.
Teaching to top has been a long-standing principle of effective teaching from my perspective. One of my early blogs was ‘Gifted and Talented Provision: A Total Philosophy‘ and it remains one of the topics I am asked to talk about most often in CPD sessions. I no longer think that Gifted and Talented is a … Continue reading
Teaching and assessment for top-end success in new GCSEs
I’ve been looking at the specimen papers for GCSEs in English, Maths and Science to get a feel for the expectations at the top-end. Although, in theory, schools should have been engaging with these materials for a while, with Year 11s ready to go this May and Year 10s already on the road with Science, … Continue reading
Lessons from KEGS: Ideas I’m taking with me.
As I gear up to leaving KEGS at the end of term, I’ve been thinking about ideas I’ll be taking with me when I move to Highbury Grove. Many of these things are aspects of the school that struck me when I arrived; it was during that time that I developed the ‘plantation to … Continue reading
Celebrating Exceptional Work: KEGS Gifted and Talented Exhibition
Every year we compile an exhibition of exceptional student work as a means of showcasing the range of opportunities that KEGS students have to express their ideas and knowledge. We call it the Gifted and Talented Exhibition although, in practice, we don’t really use this terminology for very much else. Some subjects, such as Art, … Continue reading
Level 6 Maths at KS2. What’s the problem?
Recently I’ve picked up on a few blogs and twitter comments from primary Heads and teachers suggesting that that the introduction of Level 6 papers has placed them under unacceptable pressure. One person suggested it was “another way to feel like a failure”. Another was calling for it to be scrapped so that “children could … Continue reading
Pedagogy Postcard #19: Pitching It Up
A series of short posts about specific elements of teaching practice that I think are effective and make life interesting. Some are based on my own lessons and others are borrowed from lessons I’ve observed. I’ve written elsewhere about the Anatomy of High Expectations and the idea of acceleration through depth not speed. Teaching to … Continue reading
Teach to the Top
I’m working on a new post on this issue. But first, here is a round-up of previous posts on a recurring theme in my blog: that teaching to the top is the best way to ensure that every student in any class is fully stretched and challenged. This approach, to my mind, is not a … Continue reading
Defining the Butterfly: Knowing the Standards to Set the Standards
In preparing to deliver some CPD inputs recently, at my own school and another in Essex, I’ve been thinking about the problem of providing the appropriate level of challenge for all learners in the work we set and in the work we accept. This has led me to consider how we know what an appropriate … Continue reading
Video: Ideas about stretch and challenge
Another Kitchen Production… one take, thrown together, but here it is: and, yes, I’m talking quietly because everyone else is asleep. Already I’ve been cautioned about the fixed mindset language of ‘able’ and ‘gifted and talented’ . I fully recognise that issue…but I’m also quite relaxed about using well understood terms to describe groups of … Continue reading
Extended Learning Opportunities: Update
Last Autumn, we launched two new initiatives at KEGS to stimulate extended learning. We recently concluded the first run through of both initiatives with some lovely outcomes. The KEGS Foundation Prize This was designed to become a regular high profile, prestigious prize for students’ endeavours beyond the curriculum. We launched this with four categories as … Continue reading
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