Pilots and Trials

Key Stage 3 Regional Pilot

Bangor Academy

The following information is a transcript of an interview conducted with the pilot school at the end of the first year of the pilot.

 

The planning process in this school can be described as a 'top down' approach. Communication and decision making came from the senior curriculum leaders to middle managers who then implemented the pilot with heads of departments.

 

Each department was asked to produce a model of the revised curriculum for a unit of work, using the information provided by CCEA. This entailed analysis of the unit in relation to Assessment for Learning and Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities. This gave departments an insight into the practical application of each cornerstone and also encouraged whole staff participation.

 

Departments began their planning to produce schemes of work for Year 8 to include the areas of the revised curriculum. A common template for schemes of work was designed and distributed to each subject area. The school has also planned for a collaborative unit in each term to which every subject will contribute. The timetable will be collapsed on a Wednesday to address each of these.

 

The delivery of Learning for Life & Work will have a two pronged approach - discrete and also infused. Two periods a week will be allocated on the timetable on a modular basis. The school has also decided to infuse Learning for Life & Work within the three collaborative units. Each of these will finish with a school event at the end of each term

Both the CCEA and ELB officers were involved in the information days giving advice where needed for the planning process. The major training issue identified by the interviewee was the lack of knowledge about Assessment for Learning which has yet to be addressed in their planning.

 

Some other challenges were identified in the interview, these include changing the mindset of those reluctant to change, timetabling for the collaborative units and dissemination of knowledge to all staff on the revised curriculum.