Issue 3

December 2014

The Buckingham Partnership SCITT

Newsletter

SCITT TEAM:

Inside this Issue:

Lizana Oberholzer - Director of Partnership -

1)

Active Learning Sessions on E-safety and Lesson

Planning

2)

SCITT News

loberholzer@royallatin.org

3)

SCITT Priorities

Mobile Number: 07532176690

4)

For Headteachers and Professional Tutors

Becky Ellers - SCITT Primary Headteacher

5)

Mentors

6)

Trainees

7)

Tutors

8)

NQT Events

Liz Nourshargh - Lead Tutor Science

9)

Key dates

Amy MacKenzie Finance Officer -

10)

Coaching Training

amackenzie@royallatin.org

11)

TeachMeets

12)

Recruitment

13)

School Improvement Support

14)

Teaching and Learning Tips

15)

Calendar

Sam BrewerSCITT Primary Director

Howard Astley-Jones Lead Tutor Maths

Jenny Tofield Administrator

jtofield@royallatin.org
Kate Cottrell Moodle Support
kcottrell@royallatin.org

Sharing Best Practice: Active Learning Sessions on E-safety

Trainees took part in interactive
learning experiences where they focused on e-safety and safeguarding.
They had to be creative with the content and create a drama, a news report, an information leaflet and a
Rap.
In addition, there was also a strong
focus on lesson planning and getting
to know your pupils throughout the
term.

PARTNERSHIP NEWS

We had a very positive start with our New SCITT cohort this term. Trainees have made a positive
start to their learning journey and they have been very enthusiastic about their work in the classroom.
The partnership covered a range of sessions ranging from effective lesson planning, Behaviour for
Learning, Pastoral Care, Phonics, Literacy across the curriculum, EAL, SEND, iPad training with help
of Western Computing, How to apply for your first job with the help of Apple Recruitment and
Differentiation.
We want to thank all our different partnership schools for all their hard work and support to ensure that trainees are making good progress.
In addition, it has been reported via our visiting NQT tutors that our previous cohorts trainees are
setting well as NQTs and that they are doing fantastic work in their different schools. They are all
finding their learning journeys exciting. The NQT support sessions offered a range of topics and a
session was hosted in developing schemes of work, and how to tackle the new curriculum. Simon
Wrigley former chair of NATE and founder of the National Writing Project, visited the Primary
NQTs and colleagues at our Lead Primary School, Buckingham Primary to share his ideas and views
on Literacy. We are hoping to see Simon back later on in the year leading on a workshop in the
classroom with children and our partnership schools. We are also looking forward to Gillian
McClure: Author and Illustrator- who will be the visiting speaker at Buckingham Primary sharing
her views and ideas with NQTs, RQTs and all interested staff on the 6th January 2014 at 3.30 5.00.

2014/ 15 Priorities

A coaching approach for mentors when feeding back

Effective use of the guidance and descriptors when assessing and

grading lessons for accurate outcomes

A coaching approach as mentors when setting targets enabling the

trainee to be more reflective and clear on their progress and learning to have a greater impact on pupils' learning

Longer Term: Effective support for NQTs linked to the partnership

Key Information:
For Headteachers and Professional Tutors:
The Buckingham Partnership is preparing for an expected Ofsted in the Summer 2015 and we are keen to make sure that all our
partnership schools are aware of our continuous drive to improve and develop our course.
The Partnership is also aiming to host Ofsted preparation meetings for Headteachers and Professional Tutors in the Spring Term and
dates for these events will be published in the next newsletter to enable colleagues to book the time in advance. However, we shall
aim to keep you posted of any changes and developments via our fortnightly newsletters too.
Just a reminder that tutor visits are taking place at the end of each term. Mentors are due to submit a summative mentor report to
the partnership on the 11th December 2014. The Professional Tutor also has a moderating role within school to quality assure practice and co-observe trainees with mentors to moderate their assessments and outcomes. The partnership provides an observation
template with a descriptor template to outline how to judge trainees progress during lessons. Can these templates please be used
during any observation sessions to ensure that all partnership colleagues are aware of how to assess and how to judge the lesson
against the descriptors?

Mentors:
Many thanks for all your continued hard work and support with trainees. You have been a great help. During our Partnership Review
we were informed by the Ofsted inspector to remind secondary mentors that Ofsted does not differentiate between the named
mentor and the class teacher observing at any one time. All these stakeholders are perceived to be mentoring. The advice was to ask
named mentors to kindly share all the information they gain from the partnership with colleagues in departments too. It was also
suggested that the trainees weekly target is shared during briefings or during department meetings to ensure that colleagues communicate the information effectively to the whole team. Some mentors are also provided with slots in department training meetings
to talk for 10 minutes about how to observe and feedback effectively. We are keen to encourage the sharing of best practice and
have a bank of training resources which we are happy to share if mentors are keen to lead on sessions within departments. Please
get in touch with the partnership is you are in need of any support.
Just a reminder that the summative mentor report is due in on the 11th. We did email out examples of the document and how to
complete it. It might also be useful to discuss preparation for second placements with trainees to ensure that they are clear on what
the next steps are in their training journey. We have provided trainees with a clear guide on how to approach the second placement
and if you wish to receive a copy of the session notes please get in touch with us. Alternatively, it will appear on the partnership VLE
under Professional Studies.

Trainees:
Many thanks for all your hard work so far on the course. We have had some very positive feedback regarding your development
and the high quality lessons you are starting to deliver in schools. Remember to reflect on how your learning impacts on the outcomes and learning of the pupils you are teaching. You might also want to consider how you can evaluate your impact through the
summative and formative assessment processes in your classroom.
Just a reminder that assignments are due in on the 19th. Please make sure that you submit your assignment electronically on eportfolio and on Moodle. Please email Kate Cottrell if you are not sure how to upload onto Moodle.
We would also like to remind you that you need to complete your school visit evaluation documents if you did visit Primary Schools,
Secondary Schools, SEN Schools or EAL schools for school experiences. We want to encourage all secondary trainees to ensure that
they do at least one visit every half term. Primary Trainees must visit a one secondary school and one of each as mentioned during
the academic year. You need to make sure you arrange for an opportunity to interact and engage with children with specific learning needs during your visit to ensure that you are able to apply your understanding of how to support them effectively in your own
practice.

Key Information:
Tutors:
Thank you for all your hard work and valuable support you provide for trainees during their first term. Just a reminder
that Tutor Reports are due on the 11th. Please email the relevant individuals with the information as outlined in the
handbook. It is key for us to get the information in on time to enable us to analyse and process the data effectively.
Lead Tutors are hosting smaller progress meetings with tutors and will get in touch with you directly regarding these.
Full tutor meetings will still continue to take place as scheduled. Please confirm your attendance as soon as possible
with the SCITT office.

Coaching Training:
The partnership also had the privilege to work closely with learning coaches at EParker School in Daventry developing
their coaching skills to support colleagues within the school with the aim to develop teaching and learning and build on
existing good practice. A range of strategies were tapped into. Questioning skills and listening skills were developed
and coaches had the opportunity to work with each other to refine their coaching skills.

TeachMeets:
The partnership hosted two TeachMeet opportunities in collaboration with English and MediaEdu. (EnglishEdu offers a
collection of Resources. Their schemes of work for the new 2015 specifications are growing rapidly) Teaching and
learning ideas were shared as well as advice on assessment, coursework and the changes to the new GCSE specifications. It was a wonderful opportunity to share best practice across partnership departments and we are hoping to repeat similar sessions termly.
Recruitment:
The 2015.16 recruitment cycle has started and we have already started to interview prospective applicants. As in the
past, we are keen to interview with our partnership schools. If professional Tutors and Headteachers can please let us
know what their availability are via the SCITT office it will be a great help. We have found that it works best when partnerships help to recruit their trainees for the following academic year and it is a fantastic way to also develop your own
staff for the future.

School Improvement Support:

The partnership is also proud to announce that it offers further school improvement support via the verification and
moderation of mock exams. In addition, it also offers school improvement support packages in collaboration with Mark
Education and a newsletter regarding the offer has been sent out to partnership schools. If you need more information
regarding the support on offer please get in touch with the partnership office.

NQT Events:
As stated in the above overview, the partnership has hosted very successful NQT events this term. We are hoping to
continue with a focus on how to work effectively with other adults in the learning environment and also a visit from a
visiting author for our Primary NQTs. Thank you to all our NQT tutors and NQTs for the positive feedback we have received regarding your progress and development in your new schools.
All partnership NQTs and interested staff are welcome to attend the sessions for both NQTs and RQTs as outlined below. We look forward to seeing you.

NQT News

Teaching and Learning Tips:

Key dates:

1. Secret Teacher Feedback: This practical classroom strategy that works

brilliantly and with great subtlety. Post-it notes are the tool to provide subtle
feedback, praise or critique, in a secret manner when you want students to
work independently. You can establish calm, purposeful parameters for the
classroom atmosphere, whereat students can write/learn quietly or in silence,
should the task benefit from such an atmosphere. I find it is unobtrusive but a
supportive guide to better progress. It works best in conjunction with point 2.

6th January 2015:

2. Question Wall: there are endless variations on a question wall (Explained

in more detail here: http://huntingenglish.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/
questioning-top-ten-strategies.)The post- it notes provide a simple method for
placing their questions onto the wall. It also allows you to write on answers in
reply, particularly, if like in point 1, you are looking to establish an atmosphere
of purposeful independence. These post it notes can be grouped by sectors on
the wall, depending upon the question type, as explained on the
aforementioned post. The post it is moveable and flexible, so you can even
use one question from one student and have another student communicate
the answer the options are endless.

11th February 2015:

3. Post It Note Formative Feedback: formative feedback is essential for

progress. The post- it notes provide a quick option for feedback, as in point 2,
but you can also use post it notes for peer assessment, or for teacher feedback
on draft work. The rationale being that the post it can encourage more
independent engagement with their own work one or two judicious targets
in a post it can really shape any ongoing classwork. It also encourages concise,
targeted teacher feedback. OFSTED are particularly enamoured by literacy and
book marking at the moment. Why not use the post it as a method to have
students assess their peers for written accuracy (this does need to be
delicately handled at times)? Given a literacy support document, they could
identify patterns, then make notes on the post it and they then have to make
their own corrections/improvements. The teacher could easily fulfil this role.
Having a succession of spellings corrected for them is little help for students,
but a post it note regarding a spelling rule, with some hints for improvements
could initiate some productive self-reflection and proof reading.
4. Key Subject Specific Vocabulary: another important literacy strategy is
identifying the key subject specific vocabulary of any given subject. As crucial
subject specific terms arise in the lesson they can be identified by using post it
notes, which can gradually build in spit a useful lexicon of terms for a given
scheme of learning. If students are working in groups, or as a whole class, one
student could be allocated the responsibility of recording key words from the
lesson and noting them on a post it. As a plenary, the student or the teacher
could reflect upon these post- it notes. The teacher could initiate enquiry
about whether they form into a pattern.
For more ideas and tips visit: http://www.huntingenglish.com (2014)

Gillian McClure: Author and Illustrator

Creative writing and
illustration.

Deploying additional
adults effectively &
Supporting EAL students
RQT Events:
Thursday 11th December 2014
Creative Teaching
Ideas to Motivate and
Challenge
Thursday 12th March
2015

Recommended Reading:

Calendar:
Calendar:
Second Placement Mentor Training

11 December 2014 9:00 14:00

Summative assessment form (term 1) deadline

11 December 2014

Trainee self-review to be completed prior to the completion of this document.

Assignment 1 deadline

19 December 2014

Tutor Meeting

9 January 2015 14.00 17.00

Centralised Training
Wednesdays Directed Planning in schools or visit days
Partnership Based Training Every Wednesday 13:30 17:00

Contact Us:

Our contact details:

Telephone: 01280 813605
www.rlstrainingschool.co.uk

www.facebook.com/pages/The-Buckingham-Partnership
@bpscitt

Be Brave. Take Risks. Nothing can substitute experience!

Paul Coelho