1. Lee Preston – Hayes School, Bromley
David Ashmore – The Quest Academy, South Croydon
Challenge the Gap
2. Challenge the Gap
1. Introduction to Challenge the Gap
2. Organisation of the Project
3. Strategies employed to Challenge the Gap
4. Impacts seen so far
5. How could these strategies help in your school?
6. If you are interested in getting involved
7. Any questions?
3. 1. Challenge the Gap
• Challenge Partners is being funded by the Education Endowment Fund to
create a world class programme that will narrow the attainment gap
between free school meals children and their peers
• This began in June 2012
– Year 1 : pilot with 39 schools
– Year 2 : extension to a further 93 schools; regional delivery by 14 Challenge
Partners Facilitation Schools
– Year 3 : opportunity for more schools to join the programme
• The programme improves the academic performance of FSM pupils through
school-to-school work that develops an effective whole school approach
• It identifies practitioners with the potential to become specialist leaders in
this area and provides them with the tools, knowledge and support to do so
• At the heart of the programme is the City Challenges’ experience of effective
school-to-school work and the belief that long term solutions need to be
driven from within
4. The Challenge the Gap programme
has had a strong start
• Schools are already seeing the benefits
– Trio working
– The opportunity to make a difference
– Wealth of ideas
– New skills and learning
• Evidence of impact on pupils, staff and parents
“Being involved in CtG has kick started for us a potentially very powerful project. Involving
teachers and paraprofessionals as an in-school team has given us a strategic approach
through the school.”
5. Challenge the Gap is an evidence
based approach and effective use
of the Pupil Premium
• Challenge the Gap focuses on evidence based approaches….
– International research: Michael Barber, John Hattie, Dylan Wiliam, Carol
Dweck, Guy Claxton
– Targeted topics: Academic literacy, meta-cognition, independent learning and
resilience
– Practical resources: Sutton Trust Toolkit, Academic Word List, pupil survey and
learning logs
• ….and tangible outcomes : evaluation by the University of Manchester
– Impact: Pupils baselined on National Curriculum levels in English and
Mathematics
– Process: Plans demonstrate a Theory of Change from issue through activities
to progress and outcomes
• In 2011, nationally only 35% of pupils eligible for free school meals
achieved five good GCSEs
Pupil Premium: “The challenge for school leaders is in how to use that money
where it will have most impact.” Conor Ryan
6. Delivery is based on Trios of schools
working together both in workshops and
between workshops
• All schools work in a “Trio” consisting of a
– Lead school
• A school that has successfully implemented the
programme for one year
• Or has a track record in uplifting attainment and in
school to school work
– Two Accelerator Schools
• have a high number of underperforming FSM pupils
• Trios work in a cluster under the leadership of a
Facilitation School
– These schools led the delivery of the programme in
its first year and are collectively responsible for its
quality
Lead
School
Accelerator
school
Accelerator
school
Trio
The Trio model
7. The programme engages
practitioners at three levels
• Leadership
– This is the first priority ; no school improvement is successful without
effective leadership and changes to the school culture
• Teacher
– The second priority; no school system can exceed the quality of its
teachers. This upgrades the skills of teachers and enables them to
coach others
• Para professionals
– This focuses on training para professionals (non-teaching adults) in the
effective support of FSM pupils
8. In workshops professionals work in
Learning Threes with their peers
A
B C
English
teachers
Maths
teachers
E-Bacc
teachers
Trio – Schools A, B and C
A
B C
A
B C
A
B C
A
B C
A
B C
Leaders Teachers Para professionals
Thus each secondary Trio has 18 professionals working
in six Learning ThreesLead
School
Accelerator
school
Accelerator
school
Trio
9. In workshops professionals work in
Learning Threes with their peers
A
B C
Trio – Schools A, B and C
A
B C
A
B C
Leaders Teachers Para professionals
Thus each Trio has 9 professionals
working in three Learning Threes
Lead
School
A
Accelerator
School
B
Accelerator
School
C
Trio
10. SECONDARY MODEL
• Each workshop participant works with two
peers back at school
• The programme thus reaches 18 members
of staff in each secondary school
• Secondary: Each school puts
forward six participants for the
workshop programme
– One leader
– Three teachers
– English, Mathematics
and an E-Bacc subject
– Two para professionals
Leader
Teachers
Para
professionals
Leaders
Teachers
Para professionals
Workshop team
School based
team
11. PRIMARY MODEL
• Each school puts forward
three participants for the
workshop programme
– One leader
– One teacher
– One para professional
• Each workshop participant
works with two peers back
at school
• The programme thus
reaches 9 members of staff
in each school
Leader
Teacher
Para
professional
Leaders
Teachers
Para professionals
Workshop
team
School based
team
12. The programme is structured around six
workshops with in-school work between
each
In-school work In-school work
Workshop 2 Workshop 3
In-school work
Workshop 1
In-school workIn-school work
Workshop 4 Workshop 5 Workshop 6
Key themes:
• Leadership and management
• Data and assessment
• Teaching and learning to deliver impact
• Social and cultural capital
• Diagnosis and interventions
The combination of workshops and in-school work enables schools
to embed the learning in practice
13. Benefits: Participants value the
ideas and learning they gain from
the workshops and each other
Wealth of ideas
• “With the shared knowledge of lots of professionals, the wealth of ideas is
invaluable”
• “A great opportunity to share good practice and ideas”
New skills and learning
• “Fantastic INSET/CPD for all with benefits for all learning outcomes”
• “Realisation of the impact to be gained from effective sharing and use of data and
feedback”
• “…has revolutionised my perception of Literacy across the curriculum”
• “invigorating and informative”
• “key benefits … confidence amongst staff; strategies to raise achievement”
“….the skills and ideas to help impact young people's lives”
14. Benefits: Working with other
schools for a moral purpose is highly
motivating
Trio working
• “Focussed school-to-school contact with a clear goal is so powerful”
• “Working with two very different schools in a Trio has been inspiring and informative”
• “the chance to learn from colleagues and share ideas…is gold dust and very rarely
happens. It's a great opportunity and not to be missed.”
• “Working in a Trio is really beneficial. Having others challenge your ideas to help you
make the biggest difference with students is a very positive way to work”
The opportunity to make a difference
• “The programme is unique …it is refreshing to be involved with something with a
purely moral imperative”
• “We have the opportunity, working collaboratively, to make a difference to the life
chances of the children who need it the most”
• “the chance to work with like-minded professionals and achieve potentially ground-
breaking results… is invaluable”
“…immensely exciting and very challenging…
..both I and my school are proud to be involved”
15. The programme is now being
delivered in local clusters by 14
Facilitation schools
Wandsworth
Bromley
Bexley
North Yorkshire
Wiltshire
Devon
Manchester
Birmingham
Luton
Leicester
Facilitation Schools
Secondary
Altrincham Girls Grammar School, Trafford
Bartley Green School, Birmingham
Denbigh High School, Luton
Feltham Community College, Hounslow
Hayes School, Bromley
Kingsbridge Community College, Devon
Lampton Academy, Hounslow
Richmond School, North Yorkshire
Royal Wootton Bassett Academy, Wiltshire
Rushey Mead School, Leicester
The Compton School, Barnet
Primary
Belleville Primary School, Wandsworth
Pickhurst Juniors, Bromley
St Fidelis Primary School, Bexley
Barnet
BromleyHounslow
17. Strategies employed this year to
Challenge the Gap
At The Quest Academy we identified a range of strategies that
were put into practice with our target Y9 cohort.
These are outlined here:
Strategy 1 - A dedicated information board in the staffroom and
dissemination of information through staff action research
groups.
Description - Ensure all staff know who the target Y9
students are and the strategies we will be using to
support them.
Why? - To make this high profile.
18. Strategies employed this year to
Challenge the Gap
Strategy 2 – Learning Detectives
Description - Students to design a lesson observation sheet and
observe their own lessons recording 'good learning'.
Why? - To ensure good teaching and learning in lessons.
Strategy 3 - Parent contact
Description - CTG staff to be allocated 2/3 students each and
will contact families by phone to explain the project and how we
hope it will benefit their child's learning and attainment.
Why? - To provide support
19. Strategies employed this year to
Challenge the Gap
Strategy 4 – Good learning audit
Description - Carry out a good learning audit of departments
and then compare at the next action research group meeting
Why? – To check consistency
Strategy 5 - Target awareness
Description - Ensure that all teachers in all departments have
made the target group's targets explicitly clear to them.
Why? – To know where you are, where you are going and how
to get there.
20. Strategies employed this year to
Challenge the Gap
Strategy 6 – 1-2-1 mentoring
Description - CTG staff to hold a 1-2-1 mentoring session with
their allocated students initially to establish the individuals
barriers to learning and subsequently to try to break these
barriers and establish 'good learning' practices.
Why? – To establish learning conversations and to try to break
down any barriers to learning.
21. Strategies employed this year to
Challenge the Gap
Strategy 7 – School measures data analysis
Description - Check all the available school measures data for
each of the target group and make them explicitly aware of
current performance and what this means.
Why? – To track attainment, progress and attitudes to learning
22. What Impact have we seen?
At The Quest Academy we conduct a data trawl every half term.
We collect ‘Working At Grades’, ‘Working Towards Grades’ and
‘Attitude to Learning’ scores. The most recent data is showing
that students in the cohort are on the whole raising their
attainment levels in all subjects but particularly in maths.
23. Progress in English in 1 year
23
ENGLISH SurnameForename
EndofKS4Target
Autumn1WAG
Autumn2WAG
Spring1WAG
Spring2WAG
Summer1WAG
Summer1
Difference
to End of
KS4 Target
(in grades)
Sub-LevelsofProgress
AMINU Abraham C Ea Dc Dc Db Da -1 3
CHAUDRY Bushra C Fa Fa Ec Ec Eb -2 2
CROSS Aaron C Dc Eb Ea Ea Ea -2 3
HUDSON-FLOWERS Courtney-Paris B Eb Eb Dc Dc Dc -2 2
JONES Danielle C Ea Fb Ea Ea Ea -2 0
KIYANGA Jonathan C Eb Ea Eb Ea Ea -2 1
MCNEILL Kieran B Ea Ea Eb Eb Ea -3 0
ROBINSON Chanel B Cc Db Da Da Da -2 -1
SOULAMLevy C Eb Ca Cb Cb Cb 0 6
TEIXEIRA Miguel C Ea Eb Db Db Cc 0 4
TIMPE Lena C Eb Dc Ea Ea Ea -2 1
72% made at least one sub-level of progress in English, 19% have stayed the same and 9% have dropped one level
YEAR 9
24. Progress in Maths in 1 year
24
MATHS
SurnameForename
EndofKS4Target
Autumn1WAG
Autumn2WAG
Spring1WAG
Spring2WAG
Summer1WAG
Summer1
Difference
to End of
KS4 Target
(in grades)
Sub-LevelsofProgress
AMINU Abraham C Ga Ga Fc Fb Ec -2 4
CHAUDRY Bushra C Fa Fc Ec Eb Eb -2 2
CROSS Aaron B Ea Da Da Cc Cc -1 4
FRANCIS-WOLFENDEN Mariyah C Eb Ea Dc Db Db -1 3
HUDSON-FLOWERS Courtney-Paris C Fa Fa Ec Ea Dc -1 4
JONES Danielle B Fb Fa Ec Ea Ea -3 4
KIYANGA Jonathan D Ga Fa Fa Fa Fa -2 3
MCNEILL Kieran A Dc Cb Cb Cb Cb -2 4
ROBINSON Chanel B Eb Eb Eb Ea Dc -2 2
SOULAMLevy C Fa Dc Db Db Db -1 5
TEIXEIRA Miguel C Ec Fa Ec Dc Cb 0 7
TIMPE Lena C Ec Ec Eb Ea Da -1 5
All students have made at least 2 sub-levels of progress this year in maths
YEAR 9
25. Progress in all subjects
25
EnglishSummer1WAG
EnglishKS4Target
EnglishonTarget?
MathsSummer1WAG
MathsKS4Target
MathsonTarget?
ScienceCoreSummer1
ScienceCoreKS4Target
ScienceCoreonTarget?
ScienceBTECSummer1
ScienceBTECKS4
ScienceBTECon
ArtSummer1WAG
ArtKS4Target
ArtonTarget?
BSGCSESummer1
BSGCSEKS4Target
BSBTEConTarget?
DramaSummer1WAG
DramaKS4Target
DramaonTarget?
FoodTechSummer1
FoodTechKS4Target
FoodonTarget?
GeographySummer1
GeographyKS4Target
GeographyonTarget?
HistorySummer1WAG
HistoryKS4Target
HistoryonTarget?
MusicSummer1WAG
MusicKS4Target
MusiconTarget?
SportBTECSummer1
SportBTECKS4Target
SportBTEConTarget?
CitizenshipSummer1
CitizenshipKS4Target
CitizenshiponTarget?
RSSummer1WAG
RSKS4Target
RSonTarget?
Attendance
Da C -1 Ec C -2 ## Pa Pa 0 ## Gb C -4 Cc C 0 ## ## ## ## Pa Pa 0 Db C -1 Db C -1 100
Eb C -2 Eb C -2 ## Pa Pa 0 ## ## ## ## Cc C 0 Bb C 1 ## Pa Pa 0 Bb C 1 Ca C 0 99.4 72%
Ea C -2 Cc B -1 ## Pa Pa 0 ## Eb B -3 ## ## ## C ## ## Pa Pa 0 Cc C 0 Db C -1 91.5 22%
Dc B -2 Dc C -1 ## Pa Pa 0 ## ## ## ## ## B ## ## Pa Pa 0 Cb B -1 Cc B -1 97.7 6%
Ea C -2 Ea B -3 ## Pa
M
e
-1 ## ## Cc C 0 Da B -2 ## ## ## Pa
M
e
-1 C ## Db C -1 90
Ea C -2 Fa D -2 ## Pa Pa 0 ## ## ## Db C -1 ## ## Db D 0 Pa Pa 0 C ## Ea C -2 96.3 94% Very likely or probably going to meet target
Ea B -3 Cb A -2 ## Pa
M
e
-1 Da B -2 ## ## ## ## ## Da A -3 Pa
M
e
-1 B ## Bc B 0 90.6 6% Not currently likely to reach target.
Da B -2 Dc B -2 Da B -2 ## ## Ba B 0 Cc B -1 ## ## ## ## Pa
M
e
-1 B ## Db B -2 90.6
Cb C 0 Db C -1 ## Pa Pa 0 ## Cc C 0 Cc C 0 ## ## ## ## Pa Pa 0 C ## Bc C 1 96.6 Average attendance of the group is 95.5%
Cc C 0 Cb C 0 ## Pa Pa 0 ## ## ## Cc C 0 ## ## Db C -1 Pa Pa 0 C ## Ca C 0 97.5
Ea C -2 Da C -1 ## Pa Pa 0 ## ## ## ## Cc C 0 Db C -1 ## Pa Pa 0 Dc C -1 Cb C 0 100
Students are above, at or only 1 grade below their target level for the end of key stage 4. The latter is still considered green since pupils still have 2 years of school to make up one grade which is considered very likely to happen.
Students are 2 grades below their target level for the end of key stage 4. This is considered to be amber since pupils still have 2 years of school to make up two grades which is considered to be probable but intervention may be needed
Students are 3 or more grades below their targets and are unlikely to meet the target unless a planned programme of intervention is introduced.
26. What Impact have we seen?
We completed an evaluation tool, shown below, which plots
changes in progress and attainment against changes in attitude
and aspiration.
We found that a majority of the cohort fell in the top right
quadrant having improved attainment and attitudes.
27. X-axis: achievement (progress & attainment)
Y-axis: attitude & aspiration (eg B&A etc)
Outstanding progress in both X & Y
Outstanding progress in X & deterioration in YSerious deterioration in both X & Y
Outstanding progress in Y
& serious deterioration in X
0
1
2
35
6
78
9
1011
4
28. Next steps
There have been many advantages to working as a trio.
• We have all visited each others schools and have begun the
process of Joint Practice Development
• We introduced similar strategies in each school and are able
to compare the impact on different cohorts
• Our teachers and paraprofessionals are networking
• We learn from each other
• Our students will all meet and carry out the ‘learning
detectives’ audit together
• Students will learn from each other and will discuss what
makes good learning
29. Next steps
• Our 3 schools will hopefully be embarking on another
collaborative project, again linking up with some of our
feeder primary schools, but this time focusing on teaching
and learning and the model of joint planning, delivery,
feedback, delivery again.
30. Year 2
• Now in Year 2 The Quest Academy has become a lead school
• We are working with 2 local primary schools
• We will help them to implement strategies similar to the
ones we tried in order to raise the attainment of FSM
children
• This will be mutually beneficial
• It will lead to closer ties and greater cooperation
• It will lead to a better prepared cohort to enter secondary
school who have narrowed the gap on their peers
• This is excellent CPD for the staff involved
31. Year 9 Reach Project 2013
Sedgehill School
Working together to build bright
futures
32. Aims
Our aims are:
Recognising potential
Raising aspirations
Broadening horizons
Building learning power
Improving life chances through gaining better skills
and qualifications.
33. How the programme
met the aims...
• Regular mentoring sessions in pairs.
• A day off-timetable focusing on how to build learning
power
• Trips and visits to raise aspirations
• Encouraging literacy through a visit to Foyles to buy a
book to challenge reading
• Focus on English Maths and History
7/16/2013 Siiimple Media Presentation
34.
35. The Year 9
Reach Project
IMPACT:
75% of students have made good progress
60% have raised their attendance and motivation
“The year 9 Reach project is a fantastic initiative which aims
to help students learn to the best of their potential. As well
as activities and trips
designed to raise aspirations, students are also going to be
having weekly mentoring sessions which help them to make
progress in all of their
lessons.”
Ms Clease
“The year 9 Reach trip to the London Eye was a
great experience for me and I would love to go on
more trips like this”. Jessie Jones, 9G
“I really enjoyed the trip because I learnt about some
of the history of London, I enjoyed the London Eye,
Foyles bookshop and the meal we had.”
Danielle Nash, Year 9K
36. Summary
• A robust, pioneering programme that will tackle one of the biggest
challenges in education
• Professional development in narrowing the gap, collaborative
working and knowledge transfer for six staff
• Develops a critical mass of staff to lead whole school change
• Deep partnerships formed with two other schools to share learning
and develop approaches
• After one year, opportunity to lead collaborative working and effect
change in others
“We have the opportunity to make a difference to the life chances of the
children who need it the most” Accelerator school leader
37. How could my school benefit from this?
In small groups (10 mins)
- Discuss how you immediately think this approach could help your
school Challenge your Gaps
- Identify 1 strategy that you will take back and try to implement at your
school
38. I’m interested, can I get involved?
If you are keen to know more and potentially get involved…
• Take a copy of the Prospectus / flyer etc and case-studies
• Leave us your details on the Expression of Interest form (in your
lanyard) and post it in one of the Challenge the Gap boxes here
• Attend a Challenge the Gap carousel over the lunch period (Atrium and
Gallery Hall) to hear more about the programme from Year 1 schools
• Session 1: 12.50 – 1.10pm
• Session 2 1.20 – 1.40pm
• If you want to know more please speak to us at the end or email us
• L.Preston@hayes.bromley.sch.uk
• DAshmore@thequestacademy.org.uk
