KS3 Parental Support Evening

1. SANDRINGHAM SCHOOL KS3 Parental Support Evening Ceddy de la Croix (Deputy Headteacher) and Mari Phillip December 4th 2012

2. Aims of tonight • To clarify the meaning of some of the educational jargon – particularly around assessment • To share some strategies in order to help you improve your child’s learning. • To network with other parents (and share tips on how to engage with your child at home and thus support their learning).

3. THE ICE-BREAKER “HUMAN BINGO”

4. PART 1- Assessment What do the following mean? • CATs • SATs • TG • National Curriculum Levels

5. National Curriculum Levels can be found on line...... http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/curriculum/secondary/b00199545/history/attainment

6. Our Target Grades aim to ensure our students aim for a minimum of two levels of progress from KS2 to KS3

7. How is my child’s Target Grade worked out? It is based on the SATs grades attained at the end of Year 6 from English and Maths grade We aim to personalise these Targets a bit more in the practical based subjects

8. Parental Challenge Activity: Badge Assessment Task: On the piece of paper, design a new school badge for Sandringham

9. Assessments • At least once every half term an aspect of your child’s work should be levelled. e.g. 4a, 5c. • Each subject will internally assess your child at least 4 to 5 times over the course of a year – they will be given a National Curriculum Level for this assessment. • End of year exams as well (3rd – 7th June) • You can check their exercise books for teacher grades, trackers, user friendly descriptors and teacher feedback

10. Reporting Students receive 3 reports a year. • 1. Autumn • 2. Spring • 3. Summer All reports will have: 1. CA - Current Attainment grades (NC level); 2. TG - a Target Grade 3. Grades A to E for: Effort / Home Learning / Uniform / Attitude to learning / Attendance / Punctuality The Summer Report will contain an exam level/grade

11. Reporting • Insert picture of report and answer any queries about the actual report at this point.

12. Parent Consultation Events • Learning Review Day (November) • Parents’ Teacher Consultations: Year 7 = Thurs 25th April Year 8 = Thurs 18th April Year 9 = Wed 6th March * If ever you have any concerns please contact the subject teacher via e-mail or via your child’s tutor (student planner)

13. Tracking Student Progress • All attainment levels are recorded on our network. These are readily available for teachers, tutors and Directors of Learning to monitor progress and to plan appropriate lessons • Current Attainment Levels are tracked against the individual students’ Target Grade • A ‘traffic light’ system highlights student progress to ensure all students are on track to meet or exceed their target • Intervention will take place with underachieving students

14. Quick Summary • Understand that Levels are made up of many different strands within it. Your child could be a 5a in one strand (handling data in Maths) and a 6a (application of number in Maths) in another. Best fit determines overall NC Level. • Look for user friendly assessment criteria in your child’s exercise book to help your child move up a Level. • The overall Level Descriptors can be accessed from the web. • Know your child’s levels and ask them to explain what they need to do to get the next level in a piece of work (not always easy for every piece of work!)

15. Part 2: “Questioning your child ” • Bloom’s Taxonomy of questioning \\sand.beausandver.local\1984\StaffHome\delacroixc\Sandringham\Teaching and Learning\Snail Questioning Wheel.pdf Benjamin Bloom, 1956

17. Now you try to use this! TASK: “Question the object” On your table is an object which has something to do with my recent trip to Germany with the school. Think of two higher order questions you could ask about the object.

18. How can you use this at home? • To help your child revise and embed the learning (move through the levels of questioning) • Helping your child to really understand and grasp topic/concept/coursework they are covering (moving from surface to deeper learning)

19. PART 3: Support Tips Do these sound familiar... “All I get is grunts.....” Ask him/her a question and all I get is “What do you wanna know for...” “It’s like talking to a brick wall at times”

20. 5 PRACTICAL TIPS ON SUPPORTING LEARNING AT HOME • TIP 1: Encouraging good `talk’ • It will be difficult to `talk’ learning until the habit , culture • and ethos of good talk has been embedded at home. • Encourage `talk’ by: • Examples: • Deciding what TV programme to watch • Gathering ideas on what Xmas presents to buy • Deciding on what take away option to have • Decorating a room – budget • Planning a holiday - budget • Shopping – wish list, where, when, how to travel • Good `talk’ develops a range of skills, such as: • persuasion; giving opinions; explaining and reasoning; and • most importantly it extends their vocabulary.

21. TIP 2: Modelling good talk By sharing daily experiences and events e.g An incident at work An incident at home Observations you made on a journey New person you met News from a friend or family An article you read in the newspaper What’s happening in a TV programme Talking while cooking, playing cards and play stations etc It is often at these times, that the children will then open up and talk more about their school and work at school

22. TIP 3:Ensuring the home environment is conducive to learning? • Examples: • Quiet area/ reduced distractions • Access to all the resources (to make them independent e.g. laptop./ dictionary/ revision books) • Create time • Can you make the Home Learning enjoyable - rewarding

23. TIP 4: Rewards and Sanctions • What motivates your child? (privileges) • What sanctions do they not like? (a sanction only • works if they do not like it) • Be consistent+ stick to your rules • Reward more than you sanction • The type of reward and sanction will change over time • Use what psychologists call 'descriptive praise' which is akin to reflective listening.

24. Here are some examples of Descriptive Praise:-“This may sound silly to you, but I really appreciate that you hung your coat on the peg instead of leaving it on the chair.”“You may think it’s strange of me to say this, but I really want you to know how pleased I am. For the past few weeks you’ve been remembering to bring home all your equipment from school every day.”“Thanks for ringing to say you’d be late.”“I asked you to clear the table. You did it straightaway.”“You sat down and just got on with your homework. I didn’t need to remind you about it. Well done.”

25. TIP 5: Build confidence • Examples: • motivate, praise and encourage your child’s effort, giving them a sense of achievement • Useful reading on motivation and the importance of focusing on effort: • Carol Dweck “Mindset” • Or • Mathew Syed: “Bounce” • 2. Give the child responsibility and independence (increasingly so with age)

27. Weblinks..... • http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/index.htm • http://www.parentchannel.tv/14-19-years

28. Thank you for comingThe End “Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children” (Charles R. Swindoll)

29. Any questions... Ceddy.delacroix@sandringham.herts.sch.uk Please contact me with any queries

30. The Six Thinking Hats Part 3: Thinking Strategy“DE BONOS SIX THINKING HATS” • What are they? data, facts, information known or unknown Negatives, difficulties, problems Feelings, hunches, intuition Managing the thinking Chair person Creativity Solutions Possible alternatives Benefits, positives • When are they used?

31. To explain the importance of questioning in the classroom TASK: Discuss how you could use De Bonos Six Thinking Hats to analyse the following statement: “Should the use of performing enhancing drugs in athletics be legalised”

32. How can we use strategy at home? • Encouraging your child to look at a topic/problem/issue from different perspectives • Useful when writing essays in history/ geography/ RS/ English – understanding different viewpoints and thus give a balanced view • To further develop their emotional intelligence

33. PART 4:Learning Styles? How do we use these at Sandringham? • Visual • Auditory • Kinaesthetic • Interpersonal • Intrapersonal Understanding how your child learns best