Learning Away in Walney Learning Away in Walney Extended transition days KS1 to KS2Extended transition days KS1 to KS2

The five Walney partnership primary schools The five Walney partnership primary schools involved in our K1 to KS2 extended transition days: involved in our K1 to KS2 extended transition days:

Ormsgill Nursery & Primary School Ormsgill Nursery & Primary School (the host school) (the host school) St Georges C of E SchoolSt Georges C of E School Cambridge Street Primary SchoolCambridge Street Primary School Barrow Island Community SchoolBarrow Island Community School Victoria Junior SchoolVictoria Junior School

What are our aims?What are our aims?

To develop confidence and a sense of well To develop confidence and a sense of well being, in order to facilitate a smooth transition being, in order to facilitate a smooth transition from KS1 to KS2.from KS1 to KS2.

To develop interpersonal social skills and self-To develop interpersonal social skills and self-confidence to enhance community cohesion confidence to enhance community cohesion within the classroom.within the classroom.

To provide high-quality learning experiences to To provide high-quality learning experiences to encourage children to become independent and encourage children to become independent and collaborative learners.collaborative learners.

Third event – July 2012

oMeeting with participating schools to introduce new staff to the aims of the extended transition day activities, and the range of activities possible.oStaff to co-construct a timetable of activities for the day.oDates agreed and entered into host school diary.oEvaluation of event to be anecdotal supplemented with photos.oStaff asked to complete the online evaluation survey.

First event - October 2010

oMeeting with participating staff to explain aims, tour of grounds.oOutline of the types of activities presented.oDates set in each school diary.oTimetable of the day agreed and sent to participating schools.oHost school staff to deliver high-quality learning awayoactivities- with team building and environmental aims.oEvaluation sheets distributed after the event.

Second event – July 2011

oMeeting with participating schools to explain the difference in approach (i.e. reduced host school participation, changes to length of day, proposed change to method of evaluation to make it more child friendly, change of time for event to fit in with school transition timetable in Summer term.oStaff from participating schools to work in pairs to co-construct a timetable for their transition days.oNew evaluation material distributed to participating schools.

o Looking through the woods for key words and phrases about working together, then in a standing circle, discussing which where particularly important and why.

o Environmental spelling group activity - boxes of laminated letters used to spell words to name birds, insects, mammals, trees and plants

o An ‘Alien Heads’ orienteering activity encouraging paired working and recall.o A critical skills challenge involving groups building tents and making flags to

display outside their tents.o Large group challenge (ball, gutter and bucket challenge) - to encourage

whole class co-operation.o Trust games - pupils guiding each other blindfolded through the woods.o Campfire - an opportunity to come together to reflect and eat marshmallows!o Forest Schools activity choices including:

• Whittling • Forest art and environmental sculptures• Den building• Making environmental jewelry• Bark rubbing and tree identification

Extended day transition activitiesExtended day transition activities

o The activities were initially brought to a co-construction meeting by the two Ormsgill School practitioners and then adapted by representatives from all of the other four schools.

o We used a reflective log for staff to record thoughts during and after the day. All schools took photographic evidence of their day and took part in a variety of follow-up work, either with letters, reports or reflective activities.

Supporting the learning Supporting the learning objectives before and after the objectives before and after the

extended dayextended day

o We used a reflective log and collated responses from all of the different staff involved at each school.

o We added additional observations from notes, quotes and extracts from children’s letters.

o Staff from individual schools were also encouraged to take photographs, not only of cohesive behavior but also of difficult ‘moments’ which could be discussed in class to build on work from the day.

o Staff also completed an evaluation of the site and activities, to aid the co-construction of the planning cycle and for the future use of the venue.

How did we know whether the How did we know whether the learning objectives had been learning objectives had been

achieved?achieved?

“Me and Josh built a den with a whole and a tin and some sticks and leaves.”

“My favourite part was putting the brilliant tents up and making a flag and looking for aliens.”

“Me and Corby looked for aliens and we got blindfolded.”

“I liked making the dinosaur village because I got messy and mucky. It was the best day ever. I hope to see you again.”

What did the What did the pupils think?pupils think?

“I really enjoyed putting up the tents and making the dinosaur den. Wellmore of a city.”

“I liked painting, making jewels, wood whittling. My favourite part of the day was having marshmallows and a hot dog.”

“The best bit of the day was getting mucky. The way I got mucky was by digging in the ground with my hands.”

“My second favourite part is putting up tents and flags. Mine represents people. I didn’t want to leave.”

Comments from participating staffComments from participating staff

“As a new teacher to the school, I feel it was beneficial for both myself and the children to meet prior to September.”

“The transition day was a nice way of putting new faces to names.”

“Children asked questions about moving up to Year 3.”

“I would encourage the quieter children to have a go at taking a lead role, although I was surprised at how naturally this happened.”

“Dream catchers prompted great speaking and listening.”

“A surprising moment for me was to see how fantastically the children became involved and how well they worked together.”

“One of our boys our boys who has behaviour difficulties was thoroughly engrossed in the day. He related extremely well to the other children and listened intently to staff.”

“One particular child who is very quiet and often left out took the lead in one activity (ball, bucket and gutter). The team were successful and all cheered her. It was lovely.”

“For me personally a powerful moment was when a looked after child suddenly took control of the class group. As what he was saying showed real common sense, he was completely unchallenged.”

“I as surprised at how fantastically the children worked together without fussing or complaining at all.”

To concludeTo concludeoAfter analysis of the evaluation material received from staff and children we concluded that the transition days have were successful in developing confidence and social skills. Therefore the aims outlined at the start were met.

oWe feel that the transition programme and activities are sustainable over a longer period of time, as many of the staff involved felt that they would be confident delivering the activities themselves on site without input from the ‘host school.’ It was a great privilege to work with so many staff and children from all over Barrow.

oWe would like to increase the opportunities for pupil reflection in future and make the concept of transition more explicit. We can learn from using the site in this way and use that knowledge to improve the planning of our KS2/3 transition residentials.

oWe have also discussed trying to develop a method of assessing the impact of these Learning Away experience on attainment.

“In terms of my own school, I will build in more opportunities earlier. We have already started discussing with Foundation staff how we can use the tents early on in the summer. One of our support staff has planned to use a ‘Reading Tent’ in Year 1 as part of our Guided Reading sessions.”

“We would hopefully include more learning outdoors in our creative curriculum and allow more time for children to suggest how to incorporate Learning Away. ”

“I felt that despite their age and despite the fact the children were given opportunities to reflect on the day and back at school, I would like much more pupil voice on this reflection than there was this time in the future.”