More able pupils
More Able Students
At the Ellen Wilkinson School, we know that our more able pupils have a variety of skills and a lot to offer. With this in mind we create learning environments to suit all learners.
How do we do this?
Simple… we ask them. Every year, they take part in a questionnaire that tells us what they want more of.
Last year they asked for more:
- Exam questions and practising exam techniques.
- Less lectures.
- Discussions.
- Teaching bits of the lessons!
- Range of learning techniques.
- Powerpoint/handouts, so we can work on them, discuss them and use them as a starting point for our notes.
- ‘Just to keep you busy packs’
- Lessons with high expectations for behaviour and learning.
- More ‘hands on’ learning experiences
We looked at this and added more so we do:
- Motivation through ‘aspirational’ targets
- Use of exam packs.
- Pupils teaching parts of lessons – because they best way to learn is to teach others.
- Project Work with Real life scenarios.
- Group tasks / Peer Marking
- Individual tasks.
- Notes.
- Consistency.
- Using External Links: Go4set, Imperial, Glaxo, Salters, Olympiads. Bovis
- Thinking outside the box – Trips that stretch and not lecture – Using Adventure weekends to embed thinking skills, teamwork and motivation. Pupils push themselves past their own limits and use these skills in lessons
- Contract Stickers
- Mini Lessons in lessons
- LEARNING ZONES – pupils choose which resources they use in the lesson to achieve the objectives.
Does this work?
Yes it does, our students are strong, independent workers who can use a variety of skills to solve a range of problems. They can volunteer to support each other and participate in lessons for other year groups. They also present to a range of people who visit the school.
Do they love it?
Below are some of the statements our girls’ have made about the strategies we use here:
- ‘We love the projects’
- ‘I like the discussions and arguments we have’
- ‘I like it when we get the responsibility of preparing and presenting a bit of the lesson’
- ‘We all learn in different ways and we all get stuff to help us learn as individuals.’
- ‘We get to control our learning, its fast pace when we get it and slower when we need it’
- ‘Use loads of different ways to help get good grades’
- ‘Going to Kingswood helped me to gain more confidence. Trying new things and passing my own limits have made me realise that anything is possible!!!’