Teaching and Learning at The Suthers School
James Griffiths (Deputy Head Teacher)
At The Suthers School our lessons follow an approach known as Fully Guided Instruction. Lessons include:
Spotlight on Learning
In this spotlight on learning I will be focussing on the ‘I Do’ part of a lesson and will explain:
To find out more about the Connects, click here
In English this term.
English have been working as hard as ever this half term. From completing an in-depth critical study of the fallibility of news sources in Year 7 to debating the totalitarian regime in Orwell's 1984 in Year 9, our students' ambition has been thriving.
As we are coming to the end of the Spring term, we will be completing our current units of study ready to embark on new journeys after Easter.
Year 7: Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'
Year 8: Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet'
Year 9: Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible'
Year 10: AQA Power and Conflict Anthology Poetry
Year 11 will be continuing with their ongoing revision lessons in the run up to their GCSE examinations.
As an additional development opportunity, we are welcoming back the Quantum Theatre with their stage adaptation of 'The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'.
Year 11 and Year 10 students will be watching the short production to aid their GCSE study of the text.
Geography.
In Geography there has been a big focus on 'Geography in the News' with lessons pausing for events such as the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria where all students had time to think about the devastating effects of earthquakes along with learning how they occur due to plate tectonics, COP 27 climate change conference was followed with interest and for year 9 a focus on the Willow Project in Alaska.
Having a curriculum that students can steer is important for their learning, to feel they have an opportunity to generate lessons that they are interested in through student voice increases their participation and shows how relevant geography is to everyday life.
Year 7 have focused this term on Amazing Places, looking at stewardship of planet Earth through places such as the Grand Canyon, The Great Barrier reef and the Galapagos Islands.
Year 8 are studying the importance of Tropical Rainforests, how they are useful to us but through deforestation we are destroying natural habitats and adding to climate change.
Year 9 are developing their skills through a study of climate change, analysing data, evaluating research and making decisions based on opinions and facts.
Year 10 are coming to the end of Section 1 of the GCSE - Physical Geography, with a river and coastal study, this will lead to fieldwork in June with students visiting Perlethorpe education Centre for a River study.
Year 11 have just had their pre-release booklet for paper 3 with a decision-making exercise on tourism in the Caribbean and beginning to focus on revision for the impending exams.
Design Technology March 2023
We’ve had a very busy, productive term in the Suthers Technology department. It’s been all hands-on deck as students have completed their recent rotation of projects!
Year 7: Car Project
Students have been completing the car project which gives them an introduction to basic tool, material and health & Safety technology. As you can see by the outcomes below year 7 have smashed it! (not literally!) When you think that this is their first attempt at making something in the workshop … as you can imagine, we are very proud of them!
Year 8: Book End Project
This project develops on the introductory skills in year 7 and introduces students to different methods of joining materials together. The bookend projects allow students to mark out, cut a lap joint, dowel joint, and drill a pilot and clearance hole for a wood screw. It allows students to use the laser cutter where they cut out their CAD designs from acrylic. As you can see below even more high-quality products produced in the Suthers School workshop.
Year 9: Lamp project
After half term we were able to transform the functionality of A5 by adding lots of wall sockets. As a result, we can now deliver electronics projects at KS3 & KS4! The lamp project builds on the skills and knowledge of the projects in year 8 and has a focus on soldering skills. Students solder a LED lamp circuit together. Students have been totally engrossed when learning this new skill and are allows delighted to see their hard work pay off when they connect a battery and see their bright LED circuits work.
Year 10: Engineering Design
Our year 10 Engineering students have been exceedingly busy working on one of their units of their coursework. This has seen them disassemble a travel alarm clock, explaining the materials, manufacture methods and component technology. They have also had to make an alarm clock from a working drawing given by the exam board. Once they complete this they will then have to use CAD to draw it! This will be their first unit submitted that will go towards their final grade.
Year 11: Engineering Design
I am extremely proud of the year 11 Engineering group! We had our first set of Engineering coursework grades in March, and I’m delighted to report that all students have met or exceeded their target grades! What a result! They are now busy completing their final unit R108. This sees them making a lamp prototype from a given engineering drawing. They then have to record a workshop action plan, stating how they will make it before making the prototype in the workshop. As part of this activity they also have to keep a workshop diary of their progress. The year 11 will submit their coursework on the 8th May. The countdown begins!
Furthermore, they all took their Engineering exam in January and the majority of them achieved their target grades also. The bonus with this is that those that didn’t quite make the mark will get another opportunity to take the exam again in May.
Tuesday evening enrichment club.
We’ve had a small group of budding engineers and designers attend the enrichment club on a Tuesday evening. These chaps have been putting my through my paces! As a group we have been designing LED night lights using CAD software (2d Techsoft) and the laser cutter to engrave transparent smart edge acrylic. They have also used their work shop skills to then manufacture and cut out the base for the electronics.
Laser cut signs.
You may well start to see a number of signs pop up around the school next term, starting with ground floor! We’ve been experimenting with the laser cutter to cut and engrave plywood to make ‘subject’ signs to signpost departments in the school. As you can see from the images below they are starting to take shape. Its quite simple. We simply cover plywood in masking tape, design the signs on CAD software and then engrave into the wood. We then paint over the exposed areas leaving the coloured designs. There might be an entrepreneurial opportunity here for the next enrichment club. Watch this space!
Parental Engagement Strategy - Practice Learning
In January, we launched our Practice Learning strategy in response to feedback from parents and carers to improve the communication around home learning tasks. We are pleased to hear that many parents are finding the booklets sent each half term useful and an improvement on previous systems. In the most recent parent and carer survey, it has been useful to gain insight into how, from your perspective, the Practice Learning strategy can continue to improve as we embed this with staff, students and home. As with any new strategy, we are on a constant journey to reflect and improve and have picked out some of the most common suggestions and queries from the feedback given by parents and carers to respond to.
Feedback point 1:
Teachers are setting work at different times than stated in the Practice Learning booklets which is causing confusion.
As this is a new strategy, staff are creating the Practice Learning documents weeks in advance of the tasks being set. This booklet was designed to improve communication with home and to inform parents and carers about the curriculum being taught. We agreed that a week commencing system would be used in the booklets to give flexibility on the day of the week that a piece of work is set. Staff have been asked to ensure students record in their planners specific due dates. We would be grateful for parental support by encouraging all students to have their planners in school which will help to ensure they can utilise their planners. We are working as a staff team to ensure consistency in this approach is taken.
Feedback point 2:
Consistency of Practice Learning being set and then reviewed in class is inconsistent across all subject areas.
We are aware that as we are in the early stages of embedding this strategy across the school, there are some subject areas where the setting and reviewing of Practice Learning tasks is more consistent than others. As a staff team, we are continuing to work on this through our Continued Professional Learning (CPL) time to ensure continuity in the approach across the whole school.
Feedback point 3:
The work being produced is not being marked or reviewed by the class teacher.
When the Practice Learning strategy was designed, we drew upon current and recommended guidance. The EEF (Education Endowment Foundation) suggest that homework that is directly linked to work in the classroom is more effective and has a higher impact on learning. All staff have therefore been asked to design their weekly or fortnightly tasks to either be a consolidation task of learning happening in the classroom that week, a retrieval task of learning from previous lessons or a pre-reading or research task to prepare for learning in a future lesson. As part of this process, we embed our feedback on Practice Learning in to lessons. Feedback might take place as follows:
Through our Connect tasks at the beginning of lessons.
In the form of self or peer assessment.
Through further questioning on the task or through an alternate reflection activity.
Therefore, students will not have personalised and written feedback on every piece of Practice Learning they complete but it is integral to their learning in their lessons, hence the importance of ensuring it is done on time.
Feedback Point 4:
Staff are no longer setting Practice Learning assignments on Teams. Therefore, if students complete their work on the computer with no means of printing it out, they are unable to submit their work online.
Due to the commitment of staff completing the Practice Learning booklets, all assignments are no longer required to be set on Teams, however a copy of the booklet is posted in all year group channels in addition to being available on the school website and emailed home to parents and carers. If a teacher specifies for work to be completed on Teams, they will set an assignment for students to turn their work in. If a student completes their work online and is unable to print this, they should email their work directly to their class teacher. All teacher emails are their first initial, followed by their surname @suthersschool.co.uk.
Feedback Point 5:
There is a lack of clarity around whether Practice Learning outlined in the booklet is optional or compulsory as sometimes students are not reminded by their class teacher that week to complete their task.
All tasks outlined in the Practice Learning booklets are compulsory to complete. We are working with students to embed scholarly traits to prepare them for their next steps post-16 and therefore encourage students to stay on top of their learning tasks in the booklets.
Next steps
In order to improve our strategy moving forward, the following actions are being worked on in school to respond to overall feedback received.
Work on the expectation and importance of consistency is being redelivered through staff CPL time.
Departments are being given time to reflect on the strategy to look at the consistency across teaching staff.
A staff working party is being formed to develop communication around Practice Learning. This additional layer of communication home to parents or carers will intend to state if a student is submitting their tasks or not. This is likely to be as an additional report home alongside the progress scores sent every term.
The use of MCAS is being explored with other schools in the Trust as a way to communicate with parents and carers and for you to check if your child has submitted their Practice Learning on time.
Staff are working to ensure the booklets are ready to be sent out to students, parents and carers in the final week of each half-term so they are received in advance of the following half term.
Students are being reminded of the expectations in assemblies and we continue to explain the rationale and importance of them developing scholarly traits through their practice learning.
World Book Day.
Our World Book Day celebrations on the 2nd March were a huge success.
Our students engaged with our Masked Reader competition in the build-up to the day where they guessed which teacher was reading behind a disguised face, well done to Mr Carter and Miss Lillicrap's tutor groups who came joint first place!
On the day we had many staff and students dressed as famous literary characters to promote their love of reading and students in KS3 took part in a lesson to introduce our creative writing competition for this half term, the English team are excited to read the entries over the Easter break. World Book Day tokens were emailed out to all parents and carers at the beginning of March so please ensure you enjoy using these to purchase discounted books from the selected stores listed on the voucher.
Science Week.
We recently celebrated British Science Week across the Suthers' community. Each year, a particular theme is chosen by the British Science Association, with this year's focus being about 'connections' within science. There are a plethora of ways in which different aspects of science are interlinked, from the interactions between different cells in our body, to the atoms that build the world around us. To explore this in school, each year group in Key Stage 3 participated in a bespoke science project aimed at promoting and enthusing students about science.
Our Year 7 students had great fun exploring how different chemicals interact by making and testing bath bombs. This developed their understanding of acids and alkalis and chemical reactions.
Year 8 students were engaged with investigating how environmental conditions affect the behaviour of a living organism. We used a choice chamber to determine what the preferred environmental conditions were for mealworms. Finally, in Year 9, students investigated how the material of a zipline affected the time taken for an egg to (safely) traverse its length. As part of this, students had to first design a harness system to attach their brave egg to the zipline. Not all eggs completed their journey intact but, ultimately, it was fantastic to see all students problem-solving and developing their enthusiasm for science (as well as their understanding of forces and energy transfers).
Outside of science lessons, the beautiful mural that has been created within the Science Department was used as a focal point for a quiz, with students discussing the themes contained within it in order to find the answers. Additionally, students had the opportunity to take part in an 'elements quiz trail' around school, with the challenge of finding the connections between the chemical elements that were showcased by each department.
It was also important for us to highlight the fact that science can be for everyone. As part of this, students took part in a 'Smashing Stereotypes' activity during registration, whereby we challenged student's preconceptions about who scientists are. For more information about the diverse range of careers available in science, and some of the scientists pursuing them, feel free to explore the Smashing Stereotypes section of the British Science Week website.
Finally, on the topic of connections, it's worth pointing out that there is a wealth of evidence which shows how connecting with nature has a multitude of wellbeing benefits. This was especially highlighted during the various lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic. We would therefore encourage all students to act on this advice and get outside, take a walk, visit a local nature reserve and generally make the most of all of the extra daylight that comes with Spring.
Work Related Careers Day
Our Careers day for Years 10 & 11 was a huge success. Visitors were highly complementary of our students in their Interview session. Companies such as Co-Op, Newark Sherwood Council, Grantham College and DWP took part in speed dating style interviews. The RAF and Army gave talks on career opportunities. The students were offered advice on CV writing and attended a Linkedin workshop.
'I really enjoyed yesterday. I learnt a lot about things I didn't previously know, for example T Levels and the different pathways to get to chosen carers. It challenged my perception of what I thought I knew. It is nice to know there are many different options for my future including the wide variety of apprenticeships available. It was a really informative day - especially with the Army, it was really helpful and opened my eyes to job options and the many choices we can make in our life and all the people out there who want to help us succeed'.
Lily, Year 10
On Wednesday 8th to Friday 10th March The Suthers School staged Grease, our second musical theatre production following the success of last year's production of Matilda. This classic musical focuses on the troubled romance of high school students Danny and Sandy, surround by the T Birds and Pink Ladies of Rydell High. The fast-moving musical is set to a nostalgic soundtrack of songs made famous by the 1971 musical film starring Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta.
A talented and committed cast and crew performed to two capacity audiences alongside a matinee performance to years 5 and 6 students from Chuter Ede. The excellent cast featured students for all year groups, with Theo Sivers from year 11 and Bianca Newsome from year 10 as Danny and Sandy, supported by Pink Ladies and T Birds played by Jess Grindley, Annalise Buckland, Jack Trippett, Tony Foad, Zara Bryan, Amilie Ozolins, Max Hemsley and Kestra Parks. Other standout performances included Anna Beaumont as Patty, Jakub Plota as Eugene, Chloe Checkley as Cha Cha, Lena Beaumont as Miss Lynch, Isabel Robinson Marsh as Vince Fontain, Lucas Stewart as Johnny Casino and Teen Angels Rubee Hudson and Isabelle Marshall, all supported by an outstanding ensemble cast and crew.
The feedback from our audiences was overwhelmingly positive and appreciative, and it was a delight to witness members of our community foot-tapping and singing along to the famous soundtrack. The production was directed by Miss Friend, with assistance, choreography and musical direction from Mrs Parkin, Megan Woodfield and Mr Case.
We are very much looking forward to next year's musical, which will be revealed soon, and our Summer Showcase concert in June. Please see The Suthers School website for more details next term.
The Suthers School
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