BAROMETER GROUP MINUTES
TUESDAY 13TH OCTOBER 2015
Apologies:
Ms M Ferrer, Parent; Mr D O’Toole, Parent; Mrs S Tyack, Parent
Present:
Miss J Mason
Mrs S Crawford
Principal
Deputy Principal - Pastoral
Mr B Hannon
Mrs F Hannon
Parent
Parent
Mrs C Pomfret
Mr J Goulder
Deputy Principal -Teaching & Learning
Parent Governor (observer)
Mrs M Chilvers
Mrs T Partridge
Parent
Parent
Mr J Barron
Mrs S Duckworth
Parent
Parent
Mrs R Pook
Mrs S Cumming
Parent
Parent
Mr N Hosking
Parent
Miss F Watts
Parent
Mrs S Rafferty
Parent
Area of focus
Key discussion points
Follow up action
Welcome & overview
of the remit of the
group.
Terms of reference for the Barometer group established. This
forum is about matching policy to practice, & contributing to
school improvement in a constructive way.
JM to complete draft
terms of reference and
share with
members/publish on a
new ‘Barometer Group’
area of the website.
Literacy
Clare Pomfret shared the whole school literacy development plan
& talked through key developments with reading, writing & oracy.
Reading - General agreement that there has been a noticeable
shift in reading (especially in Y7-9). The value of DEAR time was
shared, although a couple of points were raised for further
consideration:

Have we got the balance right between encouraging a love
of reading for pleasure & testing? Do we really need to
test at every stage, or can we have opportunities where
children discuss books with others?
CP to liaise arrange for
Tutors to have a dialogue
about books being read
twice a term.

Can we allow able readers to go ‘off piste’ & read books
not in the Accelerated Reader Scheme?
Charlotte Wolf (Librarian)
to explore.
Accelerated Reading – little explanation for parents.
Tensions between ‘hard’ copies of books & online resources were
discussed. Parents keen to have more opportunities for children to
share reading with others. JM mentioned the new Y10 book club.
Writing - Handwriting intervention was seen as a positive step to
supporting learning. Need more opportunities for extending
writing (but NOT on a computer).
How to keep a handwriting diary – school to support parents with
this. Need clear guidance on the importance of handwriting.
Presentation Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is in place to
challenge the quality of writing. Zero tolerance of poor
performance/presentation.
Termly updates in
newsletter.
CP to ensure that “The Big
Write” is incorporated into
all subject areas as
opportunities for extended
writing for different
purposes, audiences &
forms - must be
handwritten.
Guidance will be made
available to parents on the
website & newsletter –
presentation expectations,
advice about how to
support handwriting, etc.
Review student planner
messages about
expectations around
presentation of work.
Home Learning
Sandra Crawford outlined the expectations around home learning
for KS3, KS4 & KS5. KS3 Ma/Eng/Sc/MFL once a week 30-40 minute
each subject. Foundation subjects one piece per fortnight. Rich
tasks are used by a number of subjects at KS3 to extend/enrich
learning. KS4 – each subject has one hour per week. Expectations
that students review notes, make cue cards/revise, read around
the subject, etc. They should never say they have no homework at
KS4! Likewise for KS5 – home learning tends to be extended
pieces of writing or research, or wider reading around the subject.
In the main, parents seem to like the student planners & see the
value in having students take ownership for organising their
learning (an important life skill). Frustrations from some parents
that the SLG wasn’t always accurate or informative.
Some attempt made with primary schools to issue a planner for
the final term of Year 6 to set out expectations around home
learning, but not embraced. Primaries are very busy during term
6! Some holiday tasks set though to aid transition.
Some parents noted an increase in home learning on last year
(especially in Year 10) –monitoring the SLG shows that more home
learning was set in the first 4 weeks of this year than the whole of
term 1 last year! However, there is an inconsistency of experience
within & across subject areas. Further discussion ensued about:
The value and point of home learning – the need for high quality
tasks with clear learning outcomes.
Review information on the
website to make
expectations explicit to
parents.
SLT to keep home learning
under review & explore
whether the SLG & planner
can work in tandem.
SC to review the Home
Learning SOP, particularly
in relation to challenge,
quality, purpose of
homework, consistency of
feedback.
Feedback which is timely, personalised & appropriate (especially
with Rich Tasks)
Rewards and sanctions used when students do/do not meet
deadlines for home learning. Greater consistency needed.
Ofsted Section 8
Monitoring Visit
JM shared the provisional outcomes of the Section 8 Ofsted
monitoring visit last week. HMI visited to scrutinise progress in
English & whole school literacy, & deemed the school to be taking
appropriate action to significantly impact on both of these areas
(action points from the April Ofsted inspection). It is unlikely we
will receive another Ofsted visit for 2 years, by which time we
anticipate being identified as a ‘good’ school in Ofsted terms.
Parents will be alerted via
In Touch & the website
once the letter from
Ofsted has been released
(within 15 days of
inspection).
Meeting closed at 7.15pm
Date of Next Meeting: Tuesday 24th November, 6.30pm, in 5A
Agenda – Assessment and Reporting (Tom Graham, Assistant Principal); Anti-bullying Policy (Sandra Crawford, Deputy
Principal)