Katie Felgate (Oakmere)

I've been appointed MFL co-ordinator due to my enthusiasm for languages, although I must say now, I do not claim to be good, fluent nor an expert, but my class think I am so I just ride with that! With statutory requirements knocking at our doors, I am intending to have French incorporated into the weekly timetable, either as a stand alone lesson, or preferably, within other lessons, ready for September.

This task alone is one I have to complete with or without the network, but alongside this challenge I'm researching how to integrate French into other subjects and the general school routine. This calls for much collaboration with staff, pupils and outside agancies. I hope also during this time I can transfer some of my enthusiasm to staff members who may be feeling a little reluctant.

Bon chance moi!

Alex Bedwell (Cuffley)

I have undertaken the use of video in class and around school to form ‘Cuffley TV’. Within classes, the children will be more involved in choosing how they present their learning and I hope will help to engender a love of learning in more reluctant pupils. Now that the school has invested in large flat screen televisions, the use of CTV will also help to promote and display the school's activities and achievements to the whole school community - as well as visitors to the school.
I envisage many other positive 'side-effects' that will aid in the children's all-round development, for example collaborative learning, leadership skills, thinking skills, application of ICT, speaking and listening. In allocating more time to the recording process and in thinking about their presentation to others, the children will be able to reflect, evaluate their learning and celebrate their achievements with others.




Sabrina Wright (Cuffley)
Originally I was interested in the use of visual thinking tools / strategies to raise achievement in writing. I then changed my focus and wanted to look at how thinking tools / strategies help to develop higher order thinking skills. My concern at this stage was that many colleagues, myself included, find recognising higher order thinking difficult. Many colleagues use tools and believe thinking is happening, but to what extent? Through reading and research I found myself feeling a little overwhelmed by a sea of information and possible areas to explore and begin to think that what was vital is the ability to encourage and provide opportunities where higher order thinking can occur. I decided to narrow my focus down and choose one specific aspect to develop in school. I have chosen to focus on Developing Children as Researchers-a project developed by Mary Kellett of The Open University who provides a framework for teaching research methodology to children. The theory is that it will enhance critical thinking skills by teaching children how to engage in independent learning and exploring issues which interest or concern them. My action plan is as follows:

• Talk to colleagues who have taken part in this previously/look at children’s research /case studies.
• Read How to Develop Children as Researchers
  A Step-by Step Guide to Teaching the Research Process
  Mary Kellett.
• Identify a group to take part in the project as an after school club e.g. G&T/more able.
• Plan and prepare sessions and some sort of criteria to assess critical thinking aspects.
• Carry out after school club sessions.
• Arrange an event where the children get to present their research e.g. to other year groups, teachers…?
• Evaluate and reflect on outcome.

Jo Knight (St Giles)

I want to develop ‘learning to learn’ strategies within my Year 3/4 class with a particular focus on involving the children in the assessment process. We are working with peer and self assessment strategies mainly in writing, but also within maths lessons. I want assessment to be not something that is just ‘done’ to the children but something they can use to aid their learning and improve their work. We have used the ‘Shirley Clarke’ style pink and green marking by the teacher / TA by peers commenting on each other’s work (using 2 stars and a wish) and are now beginning to use the success criteria (devised by the children after analysing some text) to pink and green mark their own writing. Traffic lighting learning objectives in maths also seems to be increasing their involvement in their own achievements.
I would like to research and try out further strategies, find the children’s opinions on what we are doing and ‘measure the impact’ on their achievement / attainment.


Laura Littleford

I feel that creativity in RE is lacking and I would like to increase motivation and creativity within RE. I have looked at using role play and art when planning my lessons and this has shown to increase enjoyment and make the lesson memorable. Also, I have created whole school displays to continue discussions outside class and increase awareness of other religions. I wish to continue this across Years 3 & 4 in the future. Since writing this statement i have organised several cross-curricular links between Literacy, drama, art and history. I will also try to attach some pictures of class and whole school displays.


Hetal Sitaram and Liz Sims (Brookmans Park)
Our school is concerned about writing. We want to explore more creative ways of teaching and stimulating writing. We hope this will have a positive impact on the quality of writing.

We are intending to experiment with multi modal texts (e.g film, podcast), drama as well as involving other areas of the curriculum e.g art

We are going to be working with the whole school to share strategies already in place as well as support other teachers as they experiment with creative ways of teaching writing. We hope this will improve the quality of writing as well as enthusiasm and motivation.

Nick Yeldham (Cuffley)
My focus is on the use of video to record, measure, share and evaluate success in the learning of a modern foreign language; in my case French. My hope is that by learning and expressing oneself in what is a less ‘established’ subject children will be more motivated and have the opportunity to express different sides of their skills. I am particularly hopeful that children will use MFL as a platform to develop latent ‘media literacy’ skills such as editing and ‘mise en scene’ that use spatial skills that do not usually find a means of expression in a typical classroom environment.

Catherine Turney (Cranborne)
I want to know how to make collaborative learning work in my classroom. I had noticed that the children were resistant to working with others and lacked some of the skills needed. I want to maximise their learning through the use of team work and be more creative in my planning.
I need to clarify the key skills needed with my class and build up their knowledge of what good team work looks like. I hope to develop children’s engagement with their learning through this project.