Evaluation

4 tips on how to smash GCSE revision

Apr 14, 2022 | Exams | 0 |

Reading time: 3 minutes

With GCSEs returning for the first time in three years, student revision must be done correctly, so how can this be done? Look at these 4 great tips.

The Guardian recently released a story highlighting how in the UK “close to 2 million teenagers will be gearing up for their exams”. It suggested how students should start revising over Easter to get ahead and avoid stress before exams start.

So, here are 4 tips that could help with revision over Easter and beyond:

Online exams – the better way of taking your exams?

Jun 2, 2021 | Exams | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

Partly due to the current pandemic, online exams have become a practical alternative to paper exams, potentially for the better.

It’s National Skills Day

Oct 7, 2020 | Pupils | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

Today is National Skills Day (#NationalSkillsDay) – an important day for building confidence and connections.

At EDClass our motto is ‘education for all’, because we believe that everyone has a skill they can showcase.

The event is part of National Careers Week. How are you planning to use and develop your skills today? Let us know in the comments below.

Being prepared for exams

Sep 10, 2020 | Exams | 0 |

Reading time: 3 minutes

School exams are to return in 2021 – the Education Secretary in Scotland, John Swinney, has said.

There was significant changes to original grading in the results of 2020 GCSEs and A-Levels, after exams this summer had been cancelled.

Mr Swinney was speaking at the National Parent Forum of Scotland. This blog post is about being prepared for exams.

Assessing and tracking students accurately and continuously

Sep 10, 2020 | School Improvement | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

Tracking students is essential, especially in modern times where students are behind and the race to catch up is on.

By tracking students accurately and monitor your school can:

Find precisely where individual students are in their learning against a set of learning intentions and success criteria
Help students know what their next steps in learning are, which facilitates significant increases in their students’ achievements

Parental and pupil engagement are boosted by confidently and accurately reporting performance feedback to them. But why is it critical at the present moment in time to track and assess students accurately and continuously? This blog post explains.

GCSEs: Students can sit exams if they don’t like results

Jul 1, 2020 | GCSE | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

Students can sit exams this autumn, should they disagree with predicted GCSEs in 2020.

Schools will determine an expected grade for pupils using a number of metrics.

If students feel they can do better than the result prescribed, they will though have an option to sit an exam. But how will this work in practice? This blog post explains.

Why you should choose EDLounge for tracking and safeguarding

Apr 9, 2020 | Assessment | 0 |

Reading time: 3 minutes

By using EDLounge you have access to a comprehensive school improvement platform and learning environment. But there are two things that above others makes EDLounge stand out: tracking and safeguarding.

Ultimately, our system is designed in order to help you to streamline practices, raise standards and increase whole school outcomes.

EDLounge’s advanced tracking system means pupil performance can be monitored closely to improve student outcomes. But how does it work? And how is tracking balanced with safeguarding to help student’s best interests are achieved?

What are the top 10 benefits of CPD?

Feb 11, 2020 | Life Skills | 0 |

Reading time: 6 minutes

The benefits of CPD impact on professionals, organisations and the community as a whole.

CPD covers the whole spectrum of automotive learning. It is much more than just formal training. By utilising CPD you are maintaining and developing skills which enables you to perform as effectively as possible. It is a business essential, as it means that individuals are improving and therefore the company has knowledge and expertise to outperform competitors.

But what is CPD? Why is it a necessary essential? And what are the top 10 benefits of CPD?

Using learning walks to help deliver effective performance management

Dec 14, 2018 | School Management, Teaching | 0 |

Reading time: 3 minutes

As the landscape has shifted away from teacher performance observations to learning walks, there has been some discussion as to how they can best be implemented.

Here we want to consider two questions: what are the focuses of learning walks, and how can leaders make sure that they’re looking for the right things?

The new GCSE grade scale: what does the change to 1-9 mean?

May 3, 2017 | GCSE, Exams, News | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

As is commonplace for those in the education system, the past 24 months have marked much change, not least of which is the new GCSE grade scale.

Teachers, parents and pupils alike have faced a transition from the old scale of U – A*, to U to 9. Let’s explore what this change means and why it has been put in place.

School league tables – what do they really mean?

Apr 21, 2017 | School Management, GCSE | 0 |

Reading time: 3 minutes

League tables could be said to be a snapshot of the quality of a school; a grade which represents every lesson, each extra pastoral support meeting and the blood, sweat and tears of every teacher and pupil within a school over the past 12 months.

But can league tables could ever represent all of these elements? This question has been at the heart of a 2017 revolution in how the league tables are calculated. Let’s look at the before, the after and the impact of both.

Strategies to Deliver School Improvement

Nov 24, 2016 | Curriculum, School Improvement | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

Strategic planning in schools has evolved in recent years, transforming itself from a one-year model to a cyclical one that promised long term changes.

As the environment around your school changes, so too must the way your school functions, and this is where the strategies come in.

Technology and how it can test knowledge and understanding

May 4, 2015 | Technology, ICT, Teaching | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

Technology in 2015 offers a number of ways to be a motivational teaching aid. It’s a very flexible and customisable tool and can provide incredibly varied ways to expand learning experiences.

The testing of knowledge and understanding of what has taken place in a lesson can be achieved through a good mix of written and verbal feedback, question and answer sessions, written or verbal tests or self-reflective activities and projects such as diaries. Technology adds another layer to be able to assess the levels of understanding and can provide very personalised results.

Ipsative Feedback and Assessment

Apr 30, 2015 | Assessment, Achievement, Teaching | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

There is such controversy surrounding assessment in the current educational climate that it is hard to see the wood for the trees. Inspectors will expect each student to know their own targets and current levels of progress but many teachers find that this can demotivate those whose progress is perhaps at a lower level than that of their classmates.

Competition within a class can be motivational for those at the top but for those at the bottom it has the opposite effect. One method that can help to combat this issue is using an ipsative form of assessment and feedback.

Textbooks in the classroom

Apr 13, 2015 | Teaching, Curriculum, Technology | 0 |

Reading time: 3 minutes

With the rise of the use of technology in the classroom – in particular handheld devices such as tablets – there are questions being increasingly raised as to the future of the printed textbook and whether it has a place in the classroom now or in the near future.

Textbooks have been the mainstay of teaching for over a hundred years and give structure to teaching sessions and markers for pupil progress and achievement.

Supporting Good Behaviour

Feb 13, 2015 | Behaviour, Parents | 0 |

Reading time: 3 minutes

Effective learning and effective teaching are the outcome of a classroom and school environment which is orderly. Pupil behaviour is as important as target setting or lesson planning and if discipline is an issue in a classroom, the attainment levels of all will be affected – whether they are misbehaving or not.

Improving attainment for C/D border students

Feb 4, 2015 | School Improvement, Achievement, Assessment, Life Skills | 0 |

Reading time: 3 minutes

Improving attainment for C/D border students can mean a huge difference to their lives. It can be the difference between being offered a place at their FE college – or not, or it can mean starting an Apprenticeship – or not.

The reasons pupils fall into the C/D sector of a year are varied, but the solution is intervention to look to resolve the issues in the run up to exams as much as possible.

Embracing SOLO Taxonomy

Dec 17, 2014 | Teaching | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

For those teachers who are examining their methods or perhaps want to try a new angle on communication with pupils and enhance their learning achievements, SOLO taxonomy is worth considering as a possible way forward for their pupils.

Preventing Pupils Becoming NEET

Nov 6, 2014 | NEET, Alternative Curriculum, Life Skills | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

One fifth of all young people aged 16-24 don’t make the leap from school to work, a situation which can quickly become a cycle of failure and despondency.

The long term outlook for this group is one which will affect their wellbeing in a number of ways; their mental and physical health and their poor economic forecast. Typically, these pupils will come from a background of low-income and long standing issues and so there is a need for the best support possible to help this disadvantaged group to achieve as much as possible academically.

Effective Formative Feedback

Oct 20, 2014 | Assessment, Teaching | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

Formative feedback or assessment is a crucial part of the teaching mix and is vital for use in working towards a summative assessment situation.

Formative feedback can be carried out in a number of ways which are relevant to the class as a whole or to the goals and targets of an individual but to be particularly effective should be held in a planned and cyclical manner. This way, progress can be shown over set and regular time periods and comparative achievement can be evidenced across the class.

Promoting Student Achievement

Oct 15, 2014 | Achievement, Attendance, School Improvement | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

This blog touches on one of the biggest challenges facing anyone in school leadership: how to promote student achievement.

Improving the raw data that defines the progress of the pupils is the bottom line to end all bottom lines and can make or break an inspection.

Aside from the raw data, the phrase all head teachers want to hear in an inspection report is that ‘a culture of achievement’ has been created in their school. So how does this happen?

Lesson Observations

Sep 3, 2014 | Teaching, Life Skills, Ofsted | 0 |

Reading time: 3 minutes

Lesson observation is a critical teaching tool which should be used in a positive way for both the teacher and the observer. For the person being observed, it is a time to be able to reflect on their teaching style, content and effectiveness and for the observer, the opportunity to see a snapshot of how well the students are being taught as well as the overall skill of the teacher.

5 Simple Strategies…for surviving an Ofsted inspection

May 19, 2014 | Ofsted | 0 |

Reading time: 3 minutes

With new Ofsted inspection guidelines published last month, we thought we would take a look at some tips on the ways you can show pupil progress made through your lessons.

It may seem like an obvious suggestion, but ensuring your lessons are well planned and that they effectively demonstrate your pupils’ knowledge and understanding of the topic is essential.

Effective monitoring and evaluation of the Pupil Premium

Oct 29, 2013 | Ofsted, Pupil Premium | 0 |

Reading time: 3 minutes

Evaluating the Pupil Premium isn’t easy – it’s official. The Department for Education’s (DfE) recent independent evaluation of the Premium (‘Evaluation of Pupil Premium: Research Report’ July 2013) includes an admission that even it can’t yet tell what the impact of the Premium will be, and that it’s ‘too early’ to tell which spending strategies are likely to make the most difference to attainment.

Evaluation

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