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Pupil voice

In the news today, schools ‘should let children help pick teachers’:

More schools should involve pupils in the recruitment of teachers, says the children’s commissioner for England.  A survey of 2,000 children aged nine to 16 for commissioner Maggie Atkinson found two-thirds would like a role in the recruitment process.

This is nothing new for Moortown, where pupils feedback each time we recruit a teacher. Most recently, when we recruited four new teachers, pupils were involved in three ways:

• candidates taught a short lesson and pupil reactions and learning was closely observed;
• a selection of pupils gave feedback – they were asked what they liked about the lesson and what they learnt;
• the School Council fed-back to a governor their views of the candidates – again, only the positive features of each candidate were discussed.

Interestingly, pupils could describe many aspects of the four successful candidates they liked and thought all four would be right for Moortown; their comments matched what adults also thought, having watched lessons, interviewed and assessed other selection tasks on the day.

Even as far back as my recruitment, around four years ago, the School Council were involved: they interviewed all the candidates and then passed on their views of each, with the whole process watched by an adult interested in how candidate and councillors interacted.

Some critics express concern that this undermines teachers.  We feel that pupil voice can be one of a number of selection procedures, and won’t undermine the profession if the discussion only considers positive aspects of teachers and what they can bring to the school.

SEAL statement 28 March

Our final Good to be me weekly statement is ‘I can recognise my talents.’ There are many hidden and known talents within our school and this week children will share their talents in a proud, not boastful, way.

On Friday evening, we took part in a KS2 dance showcase alongside other local primary schools at Allerton Grange.  The children who were part of the group can all recognise their talent for dance!  It was a fantastic performance following weeks of hard work learning their routine.

25 March 2011

LO. I can spell these everyday words.

These words will be tested on Friday 01 April.

25 March 2011

The homework this week is ‘Creative’ and is due in Wednesday 30 March.

I can discuss whether it is important to give compliments.

This week’s homework focuses on our current SEAL theme of receiving compliments. I want your child to consider a world without compliments and what that would be like. Here are some openers which you could encourage your child to use:

The reason people give compliments…

If no-one ever gave compliments…

When someone gives me a compliment, I feel…

My opinion is that…

25 March 2011

This week’s spellings for Bananas and Oranges are words that begin with ‘re’.

Apples have words that all end with ‘ck’.

They will be tested on Friday 01 April.

25 March 2011

Homework this week is Practice Makes Perfect.

Children have a worksheet in their homework books to complete. The worksheet will reinforce phonics that we have learnt about in class.

Homework is due in on Wednesday 30 March 2011.

25 March 2011

This week we are learning how to spell compound words. A compound word is made from two (or more) existing words.

Spellings will be tested on Friday April 01 2011.

25 March 2011

Your homework this week is Creative and is due in on Wednesday March 30 2011.

I can devise the features of, and advertise, a brand new top of the range outstanding and totally brilliant never been seen before teacher!

You could produce any of the following:

• A radio advert
• An advert for TV
• A billboard
• A poster on the side of a bus
• A leaflet
• A letter
• Or your own method of advertising

Whatever you produce has to persuade your audience that your teacher is unique and the best thing ever by promoting the positives and never mentioning the negatives.  Think about putting a quote from someone who recommends the teacher!

Swimming

There is no swimming next week or the first week back after the Easter holidays. Consequently, the next swimming session will be on Wednesday 27 April.

25 March 2011

This week’s homework is practice makes perfect. It involves writing a report which links to our literacy unit. It’s due in on Wednesday 30 March.

Think of your favourite animal and write a report (in your own words) about it. Remember you need to write in present tense, use lots of adjectives for description and include facts.

You could use the headings:

• Appearance
• Habitat
• Diet