Students as Agents of Change
Presented by Jane Drake
Secondary Principal GEMS Wellington Academy – Silicon Oasis

To talk about the fantastic response we have had from our own students when we engage them as ‘Agents of Change’ in school. The quality of their impact and the very positive effect they have had on our staff.
To give some real examples of projects for us to discuss and, hopefully, inspire you to have a go in your own schools.
• Student Lesson Observers and ‘Risky June’
• Primary Student Learning group and the development of Critical Thinking
• IB Student Action Researchers and collaborative learning

This began at GEMS Wellington International School, a 3-18 school providing quality education for over 2200 students. It is a dual curriculum school offering a UK based creative curriculum leading into
(I)GCSE at Key Stage 4 and IB Diploma at KS5. The school has been deemed outstanding and is regarded as a school with a highly successful approach to developing students as outstanding, independent learners. Now based at GEMS Wellington Academy –
Silicon Oasis. A new school (second year of operation) with a student body over 2,300 and still growing. The curriculum approach, while similar, is developing its own unique twist with a KS3 enriched competency based curriculum and the commitment to student voice and student leadership is stronger than ever!

John Hattie

Will seeing learning through the eyes of students make a difference?

Risky
June
Hot Seat – How did you get where you are today?
Putting together the Learner
Profile
Good
Student or
Good
Learner?

Student
Workshops
Jane Simister
Workshop
Parent
Workshops
Teaching lessons

6 x 6 The multiplication effect!
Six IB students researched into the way different approaches to grouping students impacted on their learning.
These six projects were then presented to teachers at Wellington
The result…
81% reported something found really interesting
97% stated that they would try something new based on the students’ research
That is one of the best staff meetings I have been to all year

A shared language and understanding of learning
A sense of excitement and discovery about how we learn and what motivates us
A shared responsibility for learning – and the roles each has to play in this
A willingness to take risks and be innovative
A mutual respect and sense of partnership

…the last word from the
Action Researchers
This project opened my eyes to a somewhat philosophical aspect of schooling. It made me realise the intricacies involved with teaching and learning, and how different techniques used by teachers in the classrooms can have a sizeable impact on a student’s intake of information.
I believe that the benefit of this investigation is that both teachers and students can gain a better understanding of learning in connection with each other enabling them to work together.
“It was an absolute pleasure partaking in this piece of research”

Student 1 - If pupils are grouped into assorted learning style groups, will they perform more consistently than singular learning style groups when completing a series of tasks which address each learning style of, ‘VAK,’ orientation, in turn?
Student 4 – Do teacher chosen groups have a better work ethic and better results than student chosen groups, and are they therefore more favourable?
Student 2 – If I alter the size of groups, using pairs rather than groups of 4-6 pupils, will it affect the students and cause them to contribute more to discussion and the actual work at hand, particularly the shyer students?
Student 5 – if I compare pairs and groups of 4-6 pupils working on different tasks will it be true that some tasks are better for pairs and some for groups?
Student 3 – If students in a year 8 bottom maths set tutor a year 6 top set maths will it improve their understanding of the topic and be beneficial to both sets of students?
Student 6 – is it better to put students into mixed ability groups or ability groups?