The Cambridge Primary Review Trust

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Marvellous teachers

As a head I want to do all that I can to enable a happy school and ensure that our children have the time of their lives, love learning, and are inspired and aspirational.

I rely on our teachers to make this happen. Recently I have found myself focusing on nurturing their  wellbeing and asking how we enable teachers, as well as pupils, to ‘love learning, be inspired and aspirational’? How can we get the pride and passion back into the profession and use it to have a positive impact on teacher recruitment and retention? One of the aims of CPRT, wellbeing, can help here. Lately we have been prioritising this aim to help us to consider how to re-engage our learning communities with the benefits of a broad and rich curriculum.

Eighteen months ago Seabridge became the lead school for the Keele and North Staffordshire Primary SCITT (KNSPS) and as part of our recruitment drive we’ve been creating an advertisement  with our children focusing on what makes a ‘marvellous’ teacher. We have used Neil Baldwin (Nello), who comes from Newcastle under Lyme, and is the subject of a BBC award winning film Marvellous as our inspiration. His story is inspiring and the film is a great tonic.

In its final report, the Cambridge Primary Review recounted (pp 147-50) what children told the review team they looked for from their teachers. Similarly, and inspired by Neil Baldwin, our children have come up with their own versions of the ‘marvellous’ teacher.  When they think of Baldwin they speak of optimism and a ‘can do’ attitude. The staff at Seabridge have been moved by our children’s expectations of the profession. These have made us pause and take a moment to consider not only what makes for a marvellous teacher, but through the endeavours of such teachers what makes for a marvellous curriculum.

On reflection, and this should not be a surprise, Neil’s story and our children’s hopes have many connections with the aspirations of CPR and CPRT for an effective and purposeful primary education. The CPR/CPRT aim of wellbeing is about attending

… to children’s capabilities, needs, hopes and anxieties … and promoting their mental, emotional and physical wellbeing and welfare … Caring for children’s wellbeing is about inducting them into a life where they will be wholeheartedly engaged in all kinds of worthwhile activities and relationships, defined generously rather than narrowly. It is about maximising children’s learning potential through good teaching and the proper application of evidence about how children develop and learn and how teachers most effectively teach … It requires us to attend to children’s future fulfilment as well as their present needs and capabilities. Wellbeing thus defined is both a precondition and an outcome of successful primary education.

As a CPRT Alliance School, we have developed links with Keele University and KNSPS. This has led to a series of research breakfasts for senior leaders. Both KNSPS and the research breakfasts have focused on the wellbeing of staff and children alike through a broad and balanced curriculum.The research breakfasts provide much needed time to sit and think, discuss and reflect. They have  helped to rekindle my passion and confirm why I love teaching so much. At each breakfast we consider a research paper from CPRT.  Our most recent event focused on the curriculum and assessment, with a discussion of Wynne Harlen’s CPRT research report  on assessment, standards and quality of learning.

We considered how best to prioritise the time to deepen our subject expertise across the entire curriculum. Subject expertise has been recognised as an essential ingredient in being a good teacher by evidence from CPR and many other sources. (Children themselves told the Cambridge Primary Review team that ‘good teachers know a lot about their subject’). We agreed that teachers need time for reflective practice and opportunities to discuss pedagogy and share ideas practice as without this they cannot build professional resilience. The ‘culture of compliance’ criticised in the CPR final report (pp 495-6) has, for many, stripped away their informed creativity, so why don’t we apply to teachers those CPR-evidenced principles that we know are so very enabling for our children?

To achieve this we must invest time and energy in nurturing the well-being of our teachers, so that they can continually develop their professional knowledge and expertise across a curriculum informed by disciplined creativity, one that is broad and balanced while also mindful of teachers own wellbeing.

At Seabridge we have been focusing on fine tuning core subject planning and delivery and refining our marking and feedback to allow us to deliver a curriculum which is more relevant and engaging. We have been busy prioritising and taking the opportunity to highlight the aims and purposes for each subject in order to ensure we have a curriculum which pursues key strands rather than merely a busy curriculum ‘full of stuff’.

This won’t be a quick fix, but the evidence of CPR/CPRT helps us to base our work on informed evidence rather than simply a sense of what works.

After so many years of compliance teachers need to know that it’s acceptable to draw on their passion and pedagogic repertoire, not just the ring binder. Using the aims and principles of CPR and CPRT has encouraged us to move forward in our thinking. It has given us the language to use in order to enable and engage teachers, explore CPR aims such as pupil wellbeing, engagement, empowerment and exciting the imagination.

For school leaders, a culture of engagement and autonomy is needed alongside a level of trust based on professional dialogue. If we don’t allow time for this to happen our teachers might as well be programmed robots.  We need to invest the time to build relationships between teachers, teachers and children, teachers and leaders and teachers and the curriculum: everyone needs to feel valued and relationships in a school are paramount if we want to foster a climate of trust. If we don’t get this right nothing will flourish.  Children, curriculum and teachers all need nourishment.

Our research breakfasts give leaders in our locality the time and space for thinking , while reading and discussing CPR/CPRT evidence gives us collective energy and a license to explore, and being informed deepens our sense of well-being.  If our teachers to grow and become those marvellous teachers that our children deserve they need such opportunities, living their conviction to support and justify a rich curriculum which provides the breadth and balance, inspiration and thirst for lifelong learning that our children need.

In this, school leaders must be the role models. Notwithstanding OFSTED grade descriptors on outstanding effectiveness of leadership and management, take heart from how one of our children put it: ‘a child’s mind only explores how far a teacher allows it!’ This is very close indeed to that famous Cambridge Primary Review quote (final report, p 296): ‘Pupils will not learn to think for themselves if their teachers are expected merely to do as they are told.’

So come on leaders, let us lead with optimism and imagination to ensure our teachers have time to grow and flourish, develop their subject knowledge and cultivate their passion. We know that a ‘one size fits all’ approach doesn’t deliver what children need. At Seabridge we started by making time for research and professional dialogue between teachers and school leaders, and made their wellbeing a priority in the school development plan. Teachers are the essential ingredient for ensuring our children succeed. Mind you, if Neil Baldwin has anything to do with it our school will have no teachers left! He has already signed one of our teachers up to play in his football team.

Sandra Mitchell is headteacher of Seabridge Primary School, Newcastle under Lyme, and a member of CPRT’s Schools Alliance. Seabridge Primary School is within CPRT’s West Midlands network. If you would like to support the development of the region’s activities please contact the coordinator, Branwen Bingle.

 

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Musings from The Wild Wood

I’m sitting in the Spinney’s Wild Wood with a laptop balanced precariously on my knee hoping that the Muse of the wood will inspire my writing. The air is fresh, the sunlight is dappled and a female blackbird is singing enthusiastically on a branch above. I sigh. My exhalation is an expression of relief and peace. I always sigh when I come into this fresh, green space.

The Wild Wood is really a rather modest place: a copse of trees, a small lake, a clearing with a log seat circle and an imperial gazillion of nettles, and yet the Spinney children often cite it as one of their favourite locations. It’s a place to explore, to be curious, to be creative and where the natural environment awakens the imagination.

The Wild Wood was re-discovered about two years ago – like Mary Lennox finding the Secret Garden – it’s set behind a high fence, there’s a gate with a padlock, and a ditch to navigate before you can get in. The tricky ditch caused me much consternation at first. I had to consider the little ones, health and safety and risk assessment. I investigated the options including the prices for various wooden bridges, the cost of which came close to a thousand pounds. Finally after a fruitless week or two, inspiration struck and I dragged two wooden pallets into place, which have since served their purpose very well.

The Foundation Stage children were the first to go in. Their initial exploratory steps were tentative and wary, crossing the makeshift bridge on hands and knees, but as the days went by and confidence grew they soon bounded over the pallets with growing assertiveness. Once inside and following the teachers’ briefing the children were off; free to explore, to discover, to build, to climb trees, and to graze knees. The teachers had to embrace a new paradigm to facilitate the children’s learning, allowing the children to take the lead, allowing experiences and stories to grow and to expand and be without the customary limits and boundaries of time. You can find out about some of the wonderful learning that has taken place in partnership with CCI by clicking here.

Several years ago, when my daughter was about two, I had the privilege to participate in a British Council CPD visit to Sweden and experience the Swedish school system for a week. The group visited several schools and I learnt a great deal, a visit to a kindergarten in the forest being one of the most memorable. School started at 8:00 in the morning and about 30 children between 18 months and 7 years were being taught in a long beautiful chalet building. It was warm and cosy inside and there were nightlights flickering on window ledges. Other than registration, gathering to sing songs and listen to stories there was no formal instruction. The children were regulating their curriculum, choosing from a wide range of activities inside and outside of the building.

I was struck by the level of trust and the confidence that the staff had in the children’s abilities for self-directed learning and keeping themselves safe. There was the usual variety of toys, construction sets, dressing up clothes, small world play and craft activities as well as woodwork in one corner of the room. The woodwork bench was well equipped with hammers, nails and saws. Occasionally, staff would intervene if a child requested it but predominantly the children were persevering and constructing their own wooden structures, sawing, hammering, drilling and designing without any adult interference. In contrast to the provision that had been set out by the teachers, I also noticed some of the children going over to their school drawer independently at times, to pull out a smaller crafting activity such as Hama beads. This requires great hand-eye co-ordination and is a gentler, quieter activity.

At about 10:30 about 20 of the children went into the hallway to dress in their outdoor attire. Again the children were doing this by themselves, pulling on boots, shuffling into salopettes and wrapping warm scarves around themselves. Although the older ones helped the younger ones the process of getting ready took some time and this independent dressing was clearly part of the learning process as well.

The kindergarten was set at the foot of a mountain range and there was a rough stony path adjacent to the chalet that headed into the forest. Accompanied by three teachers, the children took each others’ hands and, walking in pairs, headed up the steep slope. Teeny-tinnies not much older than my daughter were confidently picking their way up the mountain. After a 15-minute steady climb we came to a clearing. The children and adults sat on the ground in a circle, and I observed as the teacher pulled out laminated cards depicting various wild birds, woodland animals, and different tree varieties for the children to identify and name.

When this activity concluded the teacher signalled for the children to go off and play. The children dispersed in an instant, heading off in every direction and vanishing into the woods! My immediate instinct was to follow, to ensure that the children were safe. One of the teachers put her hand on my arm to halt my pursuit. She smiled. ‘Let them go’, she said, ‘they will be fine.’

The Swedish and English teachers gathered and chatted for a few minutes. ‘Now’, said the teacher eventually ‘you can go and see if you wish.’  I wandered off towards the sound of giggles and happy children and saw about six of them climbing all over a huge tree trunk lying on the ground. Even on its side, the trunk was about as tall as the children and they were taking it in turns to walk along, arms outstretched and balancing the length of the beam. The children had set their own physical challenge and were delighting in every child who successfully traversed from one end to the other.

Although several years ago now, this short visit to Sweden was instrumental in shaping parts of my pedagogy and has influenced my leadership of learning at The Spinney.  I learnt that we must trust children; we must nurture their creative instinct; we must believe in their innate curiosity and their appetite to learn; we must allow for them to surprise and delight us; there must be times for concentrated endeavour as well as periods of focused calm; we must devise opportunities for them to create, collaborate, communicate, dream, imagine and problem solve. We must have confidence in children’s abilities to shape aspects of their own learning using their natural curiosity to lead the way. With thoughtful, kind and caring adults children will strive in the classroom and thrive in nature. With the right nurturing conditions children will imagine, invent, create, experiment and like the branches that surround me as I type, will grow towards the sun.

The Spinney Primary School is proud to be a member of the Cambridge Primary Review Trust Schools Alliance and to be part of this growing network of researchers and schools. The Cambridge Primary Review’s aims for primary education chime well with our school ethos and pedagogy. The Spinney has seven values. Pre-eminent of these is a child-centredness which underpins the quotidian as well as the strategic long term. Valuing children for who they are today, rather than simply what they will be in the future is also at the heart of the CPRT vision and I am excited by the opportunity to work with other colleagues and schools who recognise that childhood (and Wild Woods) are inspiring and magical places to be. 

‘Exploration is grounded in that distinctive mixture of amazement, perplexity and curiosity which constitutes childhood wonder; a commitment to discovery, invention, experiment, speculation, fantasy, play and growing linguistic agility which are the essence of childhood.’  (From Aim 9 of the Cambridge Primary Review’s Twelve Aims for Primary Education.)

Rachel Snape is Headteacher of the Spinney Primary School, Cambridge.

www.spinney.cambs.sch.uk  @RaeSnape 

Discover more about the CPRT Schools Alliance here. View or download membership criteria and procedure.

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Primary science: the poor relation?

We are reminded by Ofsted of the qualities of an effective science education in their 2013 report Maintaining Curiosity, where the best science teaching observed

  • was driven by determined subject leadership that put scientific enquiry at the heart of science teaching and coupled it with substantial expertise in how pupils learn science
  • set out to sustain pupils’ natural curiosity, so that they were eager to learn the subject content as well as develop the necessary investigative skills
  • was informed by accurate and timely assessment of how well pupils were developing their understanding of science concepts, and their skills in analysis and interpretation so that teaching could respond to and extend pupils’ learning.

But regrettably not all primary schools, and probably not even the majority, are offering this quality of experience to their children regularly. The reasons are well documented in the Wellcome Trust’s 2014 report Primary Science: is it missing out?, and the CBI’s Tomorrow’s World: inspiring primary scientists in 2015. At the heart of this lie issues of leadership and accountability. Taking the pressure off science by the removal of statutory tests at the end of primary education in England in 2009 was a move generally welcomed by the science community to address concerns that science teaching had become defined and restricted by those tests. But it resulted in leaders taking broadly two different approaches to science.

Some enthusiastically embraced the new opportunities and freedom to enrich their pupils’ science experience, particularly through practical, enquiry-led teaching.

Others – often those in leadership positions – disappointingly perceived science as less important than the other core subjects of English and mathematics; a tendency noted in the Cambridge Primary Review’s final report. This situation continues today in many schools. In over half the schools visited in Ofsted’s 2013 review, the leaders ‘no longer saw science as a priority’ and its status has declined visibly. In those schools, science has become the poor relation.

This results in an all too familiar picture in these schools: a lack of planning for learning, unclear ideas about what achievement looks like that can be shared and understood by children, inadequate monitoring of the quality of science teaching and a lack of time and resources allocated to it, and little commitment to subject-focused professional development.

Whilst whole school priorities as a focus for professional development are important, research in 2014 by the Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education indicates that pupils are more likely to benefit from subject focused professional development because it changes teachers’ practices by making links between professional learning and pupil learning explicit. This is particularly relevant to primary science where teachers frequently report that they lack confidence in their science subject knowledge to be able to provide their children with the inspirational experience that they seek. The number of primary teachers who may describe themselves in this way is potentially very large – estimates from the Campaign for Science and Engineering in 2015 indicate that only 5% of primary teachers have a science related degree – and for these teachers (in post and in initial teacher education), opportunities to engage with subject-focused professional development will be particularly important and valued. This is especially significant while the new curriculum in England is being implemented, with its increased emphasis on working scientifically, and on different types of enquiry with which teachers are not yet familiar.

This is not a time to be complacent. Putting efforts into planning an effective, rich and actively engaging primary science curriculum that embraces working scientifically – with opportunities to develop, use and apply children’s mathematical and literacy knowledge and skills at its core – will pay dividends. Research by King’s College London’s Aspires project reported in 2013 that by the time young people reach secondary school, they may already have disengaged with science.

But let’s not forget that science is in a strong position, with a vibrant community that offers a vast range of opportunities for leaders and teachers to take charge of their own professional learning journey and to make the most of primary science in their schools. More than any other subject, science has supporters in industry, charitable foundations and learned societies, all keen to help teachers to make primary science a stimulating and rewarding experience for all children. These opportunities include enrichment initiatives from the Royal Society partnership grants and the British Science Association, membership of the Association for Science Education (ASE), professional development through the National Science Learning Network, recognition of one’s own achievements through Chartered Science Teacher (CSciTeach) or the Primary Science Teacher Awards, and the achievements of your school through Primary Science Quality Mark (PSQM).

Taking advantage of these opportunities, there are numerous examples of inspirational science taking place across the country, commonly supported and championed by strong and insightful leaders who recognise the value of reflective professional development and the opportunities to learn from, and contribute to, the many thriving networks of those who are passionate about primary science – including members of CPRT’s Schools Alliance – and who understand the important contribution of science to wider school priorities, culture and ethos.

Cathy Dean, assistant headteacher at Queen Edith Primary School in Cambridge, a member of CPRT’s Schools Alliance with Gold PSQM, comments

‘Queen Edith was motivated to work towards PSQM because of the range of science already being completed in school and we felt that this should be celebrated. The year we completed the PSQM coincided with a Science and Technology Learning Saturday. For this event a working group helped to recruit members of the local community (including parents, university staff and other professionals) to come in and run workshops throughout the day for children and their parents.

We had a very positive response from children, parents and volunteers, and have then used some of those links to enrich our curriculum for future teaching. Completing the PSQM allowed the science subject leader to dedicate time to think about resources and teaching of science in the school and how this could be enhanced. Resources were reorganised and distributed, allowing science lessons to be practical and exciting. Staff meeting time was also dedicated to enhancing the science curriculum. It allowed the science subject leader to work closely with science leaders from other schools, enabling them to share ideas, resources and contacts.’

For this school, and many others, science is certainly not the poor relation.

Marianne Cutler is Co-Director of the Cambridge Primary Review Trust and  Director of Curriculum Innovation at the Association for Science Education.

We’d like to hear from you about the place of science education in your school. Has the new curriculum fostered a different approach? Have you taken advantage of some of the opportunities mentioned here (or any others) to develop your school’s expertise in science education? Please let us know your experience by commenting below.

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Planning, teaching, assessing: journey to coherence

In 2003, Fulbridge Primary School came out of Special Measures and in 2012 it was judged ‘outstanding’ in every Ofsted inspection area. Along the way, we were assessed by Creative Partnerships and in 2008 we gained the status of a National School of Creativity. In 2013, we converted into an Academy. In December 2014, we were invited to be a Whole Education Pathfinder school. Most significantly however, we became a member of the Cambridge Primary Review Trust’s Schools Alliance in 2014 and adopted the principles, priorities, vision, aims and curriculum domains of the Cambridge Primary Review.

Once we left the Special Measures Club we decided that more of the same would not work, so we embarked on a curriculum and school development journey that can fairly be called never-ending. On this journey we have been lucky enough to learn from the likes of Roger Cole, Mick Waters, Mathilda Joubert, Alan Peat, Lindy Barclay and Andy Hind. But it’s our decision to accept the invitation to work with the Cambridge Primary Review Trust that will have the biggest impact.

Before the Cambridge Primary Review we had been working to develop a curriculum based on creativity, first hand experiences and the local environment. This suited our school, its pupils, teachers and community.  But when the CPR final report appeared we discovered that it encapsulated both what we had been aspiring towards and what we had not yet addressed. So it not only aligned with what we were already doing but also offered us a way forward that would lead to further improvements. In this we heeded the parting comment of our lead Ofsted inspector: ‘Remember: “outstanding” is not perfect’.

So what have we done since becoming a member of CPRT’s Schools Alliance?

From September 2014 we started teaching, assessing and planning by reference to CPR’s eight curriculum domains: arts and creativity; citizenship and ethics; faith and belief; language, oracy and literacy; mathematics; physical and emotional health; place and time; science and technology.  These are not unlike DfE’s seven early years areas of learning and development – and indeed the CPR report made it clear that its domains were intended to encourage curriculum continuity from early years to primary and from primary to secondary – so we decided to adopt them throughout the school, from nursery to year 6. This meant that there would be significant changes to our assessment processes too, because assessment without levels was introduced nationally at the same time.

To demonstrate genuine commitment to a broad and balanced curriculum we wanted to assess children’s learning in every domain, so a great deal of thought, research and work went into creating an approach which provides effective assessment without losing the exciting and innovative curriculum that we created, which we believe, in CPR’s words, ‘engages children’s attention, excites and empowers their thinking and advances their knowledge, understanding and skill.’

The time to make changes is when you are doing really well; don’t leave it until things start going wrong. The master of this principle was of course Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, hence the unparalleled success that the Red Devils have enjoyed over many years. So we too have adopted that principle in the hope of creating a Theatre of Dreams at Fulbridge as he did at Old Trafford.

September 2014 brought major changes and initiatives such as the new national curriculum, the SEND code of practice and of course the new assessment requirements and we too changed many of our structures. Meanwhile we have had a new 240-place building constructed which allows us to move from a 3 to 4 form entry school.

We are an enthusiastic Google Apps school, so all the new structures were created in Google Drive on Excel sheets, a format that allows everyone to contribute and add to the master document that will cover all our short, medium and long term planning. This process proved to be a great way to ensure participation and ownership by all staff. Alongside this we are working with Pupil Asset, who have created a bespoke tracking system that will tell you – if you really want to know – whether a child with size ten feet, blue eyes and ginger hair is over or underperforming compared to national averages.

Planning, teaching and assessing are the keys to everything that happens in our classrooms. We took the government’s proposed freedoms as a genuine invitation and made sure that each part of the cycle linked to the others. Thus, we use the same criteria to plan, teach and assess. To start the process we look at what we want to assess, having merged the CPR’s eight curriculum domains with the new national curriculum. We have created areas of assessment within each domain, aligning them with the attainment targets from the primary curriculum. In addition, we looked at how this linked to the topics and themes we teach, taking away parts of the new curriculum we didn’t want to use and adding any parts that were missing – the most serious omission being oracy.

We followed the same process of aligning curriculum domains and assessment strands in our EYFS Developmental Matters statements. Planning, teaching and assessing are now coherently and consistently applied and practised from nursery to year 6.  During the current school year we are establishing what works and what fits, modifying elements as necessary so that by the end of the year we will have refined and embedded a system that we can take forward.

In basing all we are doing on the Cambridge Primary Review, we know that what we are doing is based on sound evidence, which makes a refreshing change when we think back to some of the initiatives that successive governments have introduced.

To support all these changes, our website was updated. Links to the CPRT  website were easily made, but ensuring that the site’s curriculum area reflected all we are doing as a member of CPRT’s Schools Alliance took more time. After consulting staff and Governors, our new Ethos and Aims statement was uploaded onto the site. This adapts the CPR educational aims to reflect our overall approach and the character of our school community.

Iain Erskine is Head Teacher of Fulbridge Academy, Peterborough and a member of the Cambridge Primary Review Trust Schools Alliance. This is the second in a series of occasional blogs in which Alliance members write about their schools and we provide links to enable you to discover how their vision works in practice.

For further information about Fulbridge Academy, click here.

For other blogs about featured CPRT Schools Alliance schools, click here.

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Living the CPRT ideal

In 2010 I became head teacher of a primary school in Devon. After assessing the challenges we faced we became involved with the Cambridge Primary Review Trust, and in association with other interested schools we began to research ways to enhance pupils’ engagement in their learning.  That small scale project became the bedrock of our school improvement plan. Four years on, the same thread of thinking, firmly embedded in the principles of the Cambridge Primary Review, continues to inform our work.

If you visited us, what would you see that’s distinctive, or that marks us out as a member of CPRT’s Schools Alliance?

Principles pursued with confidence. We strive for a principled approach not only to the curriculum but also the whole experience we offer to children in our care. The Trust’s aims have been used as aspirational tools to remind us of what is important over and above government priorities. If you visit our website you can see how we have made our educational philosophy explicit to parents and others. My previous school moved from being deemed inadequate by OFSTED to outstanding, and my experience of leading this process gave me the confidence to take responsibility for the independent path we have chosen to follow in my present school.

Planning informed by CPRT priorities. While continuing to drive for improved progress and attainment in English and mathematics we have incorporated CPRT priorities into the actions we take in relation to these goals and strategic planning more widely. Thus (i) we work to help pupils take greater responsibility for their own learning (Pupil Voice, Community); (ii) we ensure that assessment drives the progress and attainment of every pupil rather than merely measures it (Equity, Assessment); and (iii) keeping our aims firmly in mind we use high-quality teaching to achieving the very best outcomes for all (Pedagogy, Curriculum, Aims).

Practice informed by evidence. To ensure that evidence continues to inform our practice we operate a tiered approach to action research. This includes termly and half-termly whole school classroom-based research projects with shared foci, lesson study in cross year/school groupings, and individual research projects. Following recent training as part of CPRT’s South West Research Schools Network, we are now going one stage further and developing  pupil-led research projects.  All this in-school research activity links to the three strategic strands listed above and gives a depth to our school’s practice which it would not have if we merely followed government guidelines or requirements to the letter. Researching and discussing research are therefore no less fundamental to our approach to professional development and performance management and have enabled us to provide leadership for research and development in more than one teaching school.

Flexible curriculum, responsive teaching. Keeping the curriculum meaningful and engaging is essential but also challenging, and we have developed a number of ways to monitor and refine it. Of these, the most obvious yet important is engaging pupils in frequent discussion about their learning. In addition, an assessment tool called Pupil Attitudes to Self and School (PASS) provides quantitative whole-school data, while our home learning approach is pupil driven: the more positive the response in the home learning to learning experiences in school, the more inspiring the topic. Our teachers are now used to adjusting the curriculum in line with evidence from these sources so that it is truly responsive to pupils and their world.

Values-based staff recruitment. Being a church school we recruit people who in the first instance can show how they will contribute to its distinctiveness. But as a member of CPRT Schools Alliance we also ask candidates to observe our children and teachers at work and identify how what they observe reflects CPR aims and CPRT priorities. This enables us to identify those who are genuinely receptive to the values and principles in which the school’s teaching is embedded.

Revisiting core ideas.  In a period of increasing instability and sudden policy shifts it’s all too easy to be deflected from the long-term educational path one has mapped out. Re-reading the CPR final report and revisiting the CPRT aims and priorities reminds us why we are in teaching, and it provides the evidence and arguments to justify our belief that we can and must trust ourselves as professionals to provide for our pupils’ development and learning.

Jo Evans is Head Teacher of St Leonard’s C of E Primary School in Exeter, and Joint Leader of the Cambridge Primary Review Trust’s Schools Alliance.

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Seize the moment: the future of primary education

One of our Schools Alliance members, Fulbridge Academy, Peterborough, has issued a call to fight the narrow strictures placed on educators by successive governments and pursue a broad, balanced curriculum for all children in line with the findings of the Cambridge Primary Review.

As we approach the General Election in May 2015, watch this inspiring declaration of core educational principles and contribute to the Cambridge Primary Review Trust’s quest to identify what the next government’s policy priorities should be for primary education.

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Thinking outside the National Curriculum box – CPRT’s South East network and Schools Alliance join forces

On 2 July, 2014, one of our Schools Alliance members, Hythe Bay Church of England Primary School, held an event in conjunction with our South East network (based at Canterbury Christ Church University). Entitled ‘Waving not drowning in the new primary curriculum‘, teachers were given an opportunity to discuss and share progress in planning for all subjects in the new Primary Curriculum (including assessment implications).

It was underpinned by the principles, values and priorities of the Cambridge Primary Review Trust, and you can read a report of the activity here.

Contact

Cambridge Primary Review Trust - Email: administrator@cprtrust.org.uk