Schools within
schools
In schools which have adopted this
approach to curriculum design
students learn through thematic
topics and projects which break
down traditional subject barriers
and provide greater context and
meaning for learners
Reference
– RSA Opening Minds
– Futurelab Enquiring Minds
Stage not age
This approach redesigns the
curriculum around a problem
solving approach to learning where
students engage in learning
through real world problems which
enable them to learn a range of
traditional skills and concepts but
at the same time develop problem
solving skills in a meaningful
context. Developed originally for
medical students this approach is
being explored by some schools.
Extended
learning times
Schools adopting this approach to
learning have focused on the skills that
students need to develop to become
successful learners both within school
and in the wider world. Approaches
include meta-cognition, learning skills
and techniques and the role of
information technology.
Example
– Cramlington Community High School
References
www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/nationalstrategy/ks
3/foundation/
http://www.futuremind.ox.ac.uk/
www.cchsonline.co.uk/
Project based
learning
Problem based
learning
Learning to
learn
Human Scale Education promotes
schools that are broken into
smaller units, each with their own
Headteacher and where all pupils
and staff know each other.
Examples
– The Leigh Technology Academy,
Kent
– Bishops Park School, Clactonon-Sea
Reference
– http://www.hse.org.uk/
Students are organised by the
stage of their learning and
development rather than by their
age.
Example
Bridgemary Community Sports
College, Gosport, Hampshire
Cowes High school, Isle of wight
Many schools have experimented
with the length of timetable blocks.
In some schools this has been
extended to provide half days or
whole days on different subjects.
This could also include students
working for a half term or longer on
a particular subject or topic,
Example
Leasowes Community School,
Dudley
Reducing Key
Stage 3
The development of the 14-19
curriculum, greater vocational
training opportunities and the
growing use of technology enables
learners to access their learning in
more places than just the school.
This is resulting in schools rethinking where students learn, and
whether they need to be at school
the whole time.
24/7 curriculum
A growing number of schools not
only provide a personal mentor for
every student but also ensure that
there are regular sessions with the
mentor. Mentors are often drawn
from a wide range of staff including
teachers, learning support staff,
administrative staff, parents and
governors. A challenge in this
situation is to find enough suitable
people that can act in or be trained
to fulfil the role.
Hand-held
devices and
netbooks
In order to make best use of
human and physical resources
some schools are changing the
traditional common start and end
time for students. This might mean
that some students start their
school day at eleven and continue
later into the day, or undertake
some of their learning at home
using digital resources.
Examples
Featherstone High school, Ealing
Relocating
learning
A personal
mentor for
every learner
Staggered start
and end times
Key Stage 3 can be reduced to
two years and the additional time
allocated to Key Stage 4. This has
the effect of providing a shorter
and pacier Key Stage 3 and
increasing the motivation of
learners following the transition
from Primary school.
The curriculum and learning is
available for all students at all
times through the use of the MLE.
(This doesn’t require teachers to
be available 24/7). It allows for
peer-support as well as from
teachers.
This could include the use of
online mentors to offer support for
students whenever they require.
Every student has permanent access to
a handheld learning device ( PDA,
mobile phone or similar ) All devices
have online access both in and beyond
school giving learners access to key
technological tools and online digital
resources and assessment data.
Examples
– St. Edmunds Catholic Secondary
School, Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton’s Learning to Go Project
www.learning2go.org
Resources
http://www.handheldlearning.co.uk
Thematic
curriculum at
KS3
The use of electronic registration can
do away with the need for a
traditional registration period. Instead
the time saved can provide students
with a regular mentor session at the
end of the day.
Example
– Barking Abbey School, Barking and
Dagenham
http://www.babbey.bardaglea.org.u
k/prospectus/successclassroom.ht
m
Broadcasting/
podcasting
lessons
At Leigh Technology Academy the
maths department have been
developing strategies of team
teaching with two or three teachers
working together in a large space
with 60 students. This provides
greater opportunities for
personalised learning and for
meeting the learning needs of the
students.
Example
– Leigh Technology Academy Kent
www.leighacademy.org.uk
Moving
teachers not
pupils
Students, like adults don’t always want
to eat at the same time as everyone
else. Developing a more flexible
timetable, with different start and finish
times for lunch provides opportunities for
rethinking eating arrangements. This
has implications for the design and use
of eating areas and many schools are
looking at more flexible spaces and
learning from the commercial world.
Example
– Hollingworth Business and Enterprise
College, Rochdale
www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/content.
asp?contentId=835
Using
technology to
free up time
Many secondary schools are now
offering a primary style approach
to Key Stage 3. This often involves
a thematic based curriculum,
and/or a single teacher who is
responsible for much of the
curriculum. The advantages are
often seen as a smoother
transition to secondary education
with a more personal approach.
Team teaching
The use of broadcast lessons has
enabled some schools to deal with
teacher shortages, make the most
effective use of their best teachers
and support the professional
development of staff. Technology is
used to capture and then stream
lessons to other rooms. Such lessons
are also made available through a
learning platform so that they are
available in students’ homes.
Example
– Kingston Community College, Hull
Reorganising
lunch
Traditionally in most schools pupils
move between rooms for different
lessons. This can lead to poor
behaviour and opportunities for
bullying. With the use of greater
digital learning resources it becomes
possible for many teachers to teach
their subject in any room. This means
that teachers can be the people who
move between lessons rather than
the students. This has implications
for the design of spaces, corridors
and the curriculum itself.
Full service
schools
Learning experiences outside the
classroom are often the most memorable
for students, and using the school grounds
for lessons can make this a more frequent
occurrence. As well as science or
geography fieldwork and PE, this can
provide inspiration for creative arts
activities, or simply more space to support
a more physical, experimental learning
style. They could include open air theatres,
gardens, environmental areas, eating and
social spaces.
Reference
www.ltl.org.uk/
Faraday Project
The active
learning school
Practical learning explores how most
people learn: by doing things for real,
working with experts, combining
theory and practice – what has been
termed “practical learning” by Edge,
the educational foundation that
promotes practical and vocational
learning.
Reference
– Advancing Opportunity; new
models of schooling –
Practical Learning – Lifelong
Learning
The global
curriculum
Opening minds sets out to use a
framework of competences that students
should acquire during their schooling:
competences for learning, citizenship,
relating to people, managing situations
and managing information. In doing so, it
rejects the subject structures of the
national curriculum as the basis for
organising teaching and learning, but
retains all the national curriculum
content.
Reference
– Advancing Opportunity; new models of
schooling – Ch4 What we have learned
from opening minds, Valerie Bayliss
The outdoors as
a learning
resource
Full service schools offer a single
physical location for a range of other
services beyond education which
may include social services, health
and policing. This enable real multi
agency support for families and a
lever for delivering all aspects of the
ECM agenda.
Example
– The Montague Community Full
Service School
Reference
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/d
ata/uploadfiles/RR795.pdf
Practical
learning
The active learning school begins with a set of
activities designed to prepare students for life
and work. Activities involve young people
working and learning alongside their peers and
adults, acquiring the core skills of critical
thinking, managing learning, working in teams,
communicating, reading, writing, listening and
speaking, playing sport and developing selfexpression in a variety of media. They involve,
too, the essential skills of self-government,
decision making and building sustainable
learning communities.
Reference
– Advancing Opportunity; new models of
schooling.
The Active Learning school
Opening minds
“The curriculum itself needs occasionally
to escape its suffocating subject
boundaries in order to reflect the need
for interdisciplinary solutions to the
world’s problems. So the curriculum
needs to be international as well as
local. It should contain compulsory
“future problem solving” sessions so that
our future citizens are better equipped
not to be at the mercy of events.”
Reference
– Advancing Opportunity; new models of
schooling – Ch3 The mature 21st
century school, Tim Brighouse
Pupil voice
Online learning
At Egbuckland school in Plymouth pupils
are often given responsibility to teach
their peers. A topic will be split into
several chunks and allocated to different
groups who are then responsible for
researching the content, deciding how to
present it to their peers, sorting out
appropriate resources and finally
teaching it to the rest of the group.
Feedback is very positive from those
teaching, those learning and the teacher
as well.
Example
– Egbuckland school, Plymouth
Many schools have moved to vertical
tutoring. This supports “small schools”
models. They create a more “family” like
structure allowing for improved
opportunities for taking on responsibility
for students; fewer students for staff to
deal with in terms of transition IAG and
fewer to support with coursework or
public exams.
www.verticaltutoring.org/
www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/verti
cal-tutoring-and-the-personalisationagenda-2218
One year KS4
courses
Many schools begin the “new”
academic year in the second-half
of the summer term. This reduces
“wasted” time at the end of the
summer term and creates more
time for KS4 courses. It also
allows for any necessary timetable
changes to be made more easily.
Pupils as
teachers
Vertical pastoral
arrangements
Starting the new
timetable in
June
Many schools have discovered the benefits
of greater involvement of pupils in decision
making not only about the organisation of
the school but of the curriculum and learning
itself. The DEMOS research ‘Their Space’
which was commissioned for the BSF
programme highlights the potential of
working with students to understand their
use of technology and how it can be
integrated into their learning in school.
References
– Their Space DEMOS
– The Ladder of participation
– Advancing Opportunity; new models of
schooling – Ch9 Young learners – speaking
up for educational change, Somia
Meah/Huda A1 Bander
Where schools make effective use
of online learning, real time contact
between teachers and students
can take place anywhere that
there is access to the internet,
which in combination with portable
devices, creates real flexibilities in
terms of using different curriculum
organisation and teaching spaces
Example
– Canon Lee School, York
At Cowes High School, the majority of
KS4 courses are completed in a year,
giving students the opportunity to select
options at the end of year 9 and year 10.
It allows students to progress from level
1 to level 2 in the same subject. The
increased contact time for staff means
they have fewer students to teach and
can better personalise learning. It helps
to spread coursework deadlines and
allows deeper more focused learning.