Volume 1: November 2014

HT5: Developing Précis
Skills
My aim was to produce a
targeted set of resources to
improve our students’ précis
skills. For our purpose, a précis
was a concisely written piece
of text, whether it is an answer
to a question or a summary of
a longer piece of text. This was
seen as a necessary skill as our
students need to be able to write
effectively and efficiently in
exam conditions. Additionally,
when accessing journal articles
and revising, students need to
be able to summarise longer
texts without losing the essential
information. As a result, subject
departments were given a set of
examples and asked to create
their own which could then be
shared by the whole school.
HT6: Encouraging Reading
My aim for the last half-term
was to encourage our students
to read and to widen the type
of reading that they undertake.
This will hopefully inspire
more reading which obviously
has extensive literacy benefits.
This also utilised the increased
number of registration slots due
to the examination period and
the work carried out on our
school hall.
For Years 11-12:
Students were encouraged to
carry out reading which would
benefit their personal projects
in Year 11. In Year 12, they were
advised to focus on books that
they could mention in their
UCAS personal statement or
which would aid their Extended
Projects.
For Years 7-9:
Students were encouraged to
read in two formal sessions a
week. One registration session
a week was designated for silent
reading of their current fiction
book. When I trialled this with
my tutor group, the whole group
nearly always brought a book
with them and we managed
about 15 minutes of silent
reading following registration.
The second session consisted
of introducing the students
to different types of reading.
Each week students were given
a double-sided A3 sheet with
examples of different reading
types such as sport literature
and ancient texts. Students were
encouraged to read these to get
a flavour of the genre, and tutors
could open this up to discussion
if they wished.
HOMEWORK
TO SUPPORT
LEARNING
Rex Stidwell
and that children should be
allowed to be children. The
provision of excessive homework
should not prohibit reasonable
involvement in activities such
as sports clubs, learning an
instrument or girl guides/scouts.
similar idea is called “Take Away
Homework”. See here for more
information and ideas.
Policy guidance points that could
be covered with un-homework/
takeaway homework:
• Teachers are encouraged to
make homework novel, creative,
motivational and interesting
• Teachers are encouraged to
give students more choice in
the tasks they complete for
homework
So why not have a go at producing
a homework Takeaway menu for
your department?
What is the value of homework?
- It’s a subject that has divided
teachers for decades. Does
setting homework add any
value to a pupil’s learning or is
it an unnecessary distraction
that puts pressure on young
people? And if it is set, how
long should students be
expected to spend on it? With
Government guidelines on
home study now removed,
the setting of homework has
become a matter for schools to
decide individually. (Leader
Magazine, June 2012)
At Colyton we also have an
increasing body of evidence
from student voice surveys,
along with feedback from
parents and teachers, that we
can improve the homework
provision across the school. A
staff Twilight training session
highlighted the need for quality
rather than quantity, time to do
work well, and connection and
relevance to the work completed
in class.
It was decided that we shouldn’t
be setting too much homework
So, what’s new? Following on
from a large scale consultation of
stakeholders last year (students,
parents and staff) the whole
school policy has been revised
to include guidance points and
absolutes. This is arguably a
bit draconian but we feel that
we need to have the students’
interest at heart.
Two of the guidance points
could be tackled with the idea
of “Un-homework”, espoused
in the book of the same name
by Mark Creasy. Another very