Jul 14 2014

APPG for Education meeting on “Do schools make the best use of the Pupil Premium?”

The APPG for Education discuss whether schools make best use of the Pupil Premium

The APPG for Education discuss whether schools make best use of the Pupil Premium

The APPG for Education was delighted to host Sir John Dunford, the Government’s Pupil Premium Champion, for a discussion on “Do schools make best use of the Pupil Premium?”. He was joined by Sue Porto, Chief Executive of the Beanstalk Charity and Abigail Shapiro, Founder of the Tutor Trust.

Sir John talked about how use of the Pupil Premium Grant (PPG) must become an integral part of the school development plan in order to succeed, quoting Roundhay School in Leeds as an excellent example of how the school has improved attainment and closed the gap by prioritising use of the PPG. He believes that there has to be someone within the school leadership team who has responsibility for PPG.  Sir John stated the importance of tracking data and using it effectively – if a change is noticed, interventions can be made speedily, and that diverse use of the PPG showed market improvements in different situations.

Sue Porto outlined how they assist schools with use of the pupil premium by going into schools to give individual additional assistance with literacy and numeracy.  Beanstalk offers a cost effective intervention. Each disadvantaged child could be supported for a year for £180 which is just 14% of the pupil premium entitlement, for looked after children this is just 9.5% of the pupil premium plus entitlement.

Abigail Shapiro explained that they are a radical and unique charity in Manchester that offers professional tuition services to schools, on a strictly not-for-profit basis.  They work through schools and alongside teachers to provide a first class tutor to all children who need some extra help.  Their model is based on recruiting high achieving university students, training them as tutors, insuring them, DBS checking them and matching them into local schools.  They are paid out of school funds.  Everyone benefits, the students are paid an attractive hourly rate, the school gets the benefit of a tutor for less than it would cost them to pay a commercial agency, and the pupils get motivated and inspired by the young talent coming to their schools.

The discussion which followed covered the continuation of the PPG after the General Election, the effective use of data to assist those in receipt of the PPG, the role of school governors in ensuring effective use of the grant and how those coming into the school must be an integrated part of the school fabric.

Mar 27 2014

Annual Lunch with Tristram Hunt MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Education

Tristram Hunt speaking at the APPG for Education Annual Lunch

Tristram Hunt speaking at the APPG for Education Annual Lunch

The APPG for Education was delighted to host Tristram Hunt as their guest speaker at the Group’s annual lunch on 25th March 2014.

Mr Hunt addressed an audience of APPG members and stakeholders from the education sector about the Labour Party’s priorities for education, should they form a Government next year. Covering topics such as the importance of early years education, primary and secondary assessment regimes and the National Curriculum changes, Mr Hunt outlined where he felt the Government had gone wrong, or at the very least rushed into decisions without due consultation, and where there was some consensus over policy.

Support for Mr Gove’s changes included the abolition of primary school levels and the introduction of the pupil premium, which Mr Hunt believes to be a concrete part of the school landscape now. The National Curriculum might need tweaking, according to the Shadow Secretary of State, but it should be given the opportunity to ‘bed in’ first.

Tristram Hunt at the APPG for Education Annual Lunch

Mr Hunt was questioned on FE/HE and the links to schooling, careers provision, CPD, SureStart, Ofsted and the use of ICT in schools. A firm advocate of using technology to aid teaching, Mr Hunt was quite clear that the necessary teacher training was vital to maximise the positive impact of educational IT.

The next APPG meeting is to discuss effective use of the Pupil Premium. For more details, please see the meetings page.

Feb 17 2014

Meeting on the Impact of the Classroom Environment on Educational Attainment

Classroom Learning Environment Meeting

On Tuesday 11 February 2014, the All Party-Parliamentary Group for Education examined what impact the classroom learning environment has on educational attainment. The meeting was addressed by Professor Peter Barrett of Salford University, who is currently conducting research in this area, Murray Hudson, of Grantells Ltd and Will Hinks of Metalliform.

Welcomed and introduced by the APPG’s Co-Chair, Nic Dakin MP, Professor Barrett gave a detailed presentation concerning the evidence that his study has uncovered.

Professor Barrett explained that his study has devised a system to isolate the impact the classroom has on attainment in primary schools. The results of Phase One of his study reveal that the classroom environment accounts for 25% of the variation in learning achieved by pupils during a school year. He explained that the ongoing Phase II of the study uses a far greater sample size and he would expect the impact the classroom has to be reduced. Current results would suggest an impact figure of 13%.

Professor Barrett showed the meeting contrasting photos from many of the schools he visited to illustrate his findings. He highlighted several factors as being of importance, including: the level of natural light and good quality artificial light; adjustable chairs; how much room there is and if there are different areas in the classroom; the ability for students to personalise their classrooms; classrooms having the right level between overstimulation and being bare; and flexibility to change the classroom layout rather than enough space just for rows of desks.

Other findings however were surprising. For example, contrary to perceived wisdom, it was found that cooler colours worked better with smaller children by helping calm them down whilst warmer, brighter, colours seemed to work better with older children.

Professor Barrett wished to stress that many of his findings indicate cheap ways teachers can affect the attainment of their students at the present time rather than only be something that can be implemented at the start of a new school building. He also made the comment that, in his view, it was the 1950s buildings which had the best and most flexible ‘teaching spaces’.

After Professor Barrett finished his talk the Chair invited comments and questions. Contributions, from Lindsey Roy MP, Baroness Howe and members of the furniture industry, covered subjects such as possible Government support for Professor Barrett’s findings, training teachers to make use of better classroom design, spaces for play and frustration that often new builds went way over budget (mostly due to inexperienced teachers, architects and builders not used to school design). So often the budget for the furnishings gets cut as a result. One attendee commented that by his calculation, schools spend on average ½ a penny per day on what a child will sit on for five to six hours daily.

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