Bushfield School’s Approach to Learning
These 3 rings capture the values at the centre of our life and learning at Bushfield.
Click to enlarge, and see the Prospectus to learn more...
Summary…
Bushfield is right up there in terms of exam performance: pupils reach or
exceed the levels expected in their exams.
Even more important, whatever level a pupil is at when they arrive with us — whether an academic high flyer or with skills in other areas — you can be confident that there are few schools in Milton Keynes where they'll make better progress than with us. |
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But there's a bigger picture...
Compared to the era that inspired standardised tests as the measure of success, we understand so much more today about what inspires children to learn, and what they need to learn.
We’re devoting all our expertise to
nurturing the qualities and skills our children will need to thrive in an exciting, fast
changing world. |
So, what do we mean by Learning?
Almost as important as the meaning of Life, is the meaning of
Learning!
We’re asking (and
you may be too): what are the signs of great learning that we
want to see in our children?
Just to pick a few possibilities, check out the list opposite... |
- Fluent readers and creative writers?
- Logical mathematicians and scientists?
- Junior philosophers?
- Eloquent poets?
- Moving musicians?
- Inspiring artists?
- Hands-on ability to make and fix things?
- Engaging social skills and commitment to the team?
- Determination to stick at something tough?
- Commitment to chase a dream?
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| This raises some very important questions... |
Which of the above should be assessed?
Which can be measured in an exam?
What do we do about the harder-to-measure ones? |
Is it about how high others can fly, or about
how much higher you now fly from when you started?
How important is it that you simply enjoy learning, and have curiosity and skills to go deeper? |
At Bushfield, we have the highest aspirations for every child, and the challenge for us is
to recognize, stretch and celebrate both individual achievements and
personal development across a wide spectrum of skills as children learn
and grow with us.
Our overall values and ethos for Bushfield are summarised in the three
rings picture which pervades everything we do, but our focus here is on
unpacking the learning ring a bit further.
We’ve written this mainly for parents and prospective parents, but other
teachers may find this of interest, and we know for sure that some of our
more inquisitive pupils will!
Learning to Learn
The world is changing very fast. As the renowned commentator Manuel
Castells notes, we’re in a state of “informed bewilderment” as we struggle
to keep up with the challenges of digital technology, finances, protecting
planet Earth; multicultural communities, expanding populations and our
own relationships with friends and family.
This is the world our children are growing up in
— how do we help them
not just survive, but thrive?
If young people leave school switched off learning, or only able to memorise information long enough to pass an exam, we've failed to prepare them for 21st Century life.
The big message coming from all the leading thinkers
is that the ability to learn about a topic is no longer sufficient,
because compared to slower, calmer eras, facts date faster, and are
questioned more vigorously than ever before.
Beyond the traditional curriculum, schools must teach children to "learn how to learn."
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- Learning how to ask good questions is usually more important
than having “the right answer”, because increasingly, there is more
than one possible response.
- So learning what makes a good answer is very important: and
“good” might mean logically provable, or emotionally wise, or
ethically sound... Life is complicated.
- Learning what to do when you don’t know what to do is now a
survival skill (there is simply too much to learn just in case, so
you’ll have to do it just in time).
- Learning how to organise yourself and achieve meaningful goals is
critical, because after school, there may not be anyone else there
to chivvy you along.
- Learning how be part of a community and form meaningful
relationships with others is what we need in our citizens, and in the
teamwork needed to shape tomorrow’s world.
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Learning Power
These may all sound like a good idea, but how can we teach these abilities
in a rigorous way? And how do we teach this AND all the necessary basics
(being literate, numerate etc)?
The good news is that it’s not a case of “learn to read OR learn to work in
a team”... “learn geography OR learn to be imaginative”... They go hand
in hand!
While there are ways to teach that focus only on learning
the topic, there are new ways that also teach pupils to become aware of how they are
learning, in a joined up way.
One approach which has been scientifically tested by education
researchers is called Learning Power. Bushfield is using a version of this called Building Learning Power, which has been very successful
at introducing these ideas into schools, both in the UK and internationally.
Bushfield’s staff are developing and evaluating new ways to teach that are
building lifelong learning skills that pupils can carry forward into
all parts of their lives, not just what goes on in class.
Ask your child which
“learning muscles” they have been stretching: we bet that’s not something
you did at school! They’ll talk about muscles such as managing
distractions, reflecting, persevering, collaborating and noticing. There are characters in every classroom who personify these abilities. This is — quite literally —an example of the new language of learning for
the 21st Century, and applies as much to the staff as the pupils.
These may be new ideas for you: we're still embedding them into everything we do in the school's life. But they also take learning OUT of the classroom and make it relevant to how children tackle family life, their sports and hobbies. Which muscles can you stretch at home?!...
Looking after the basics:
How do we measure up to national standards, and in Milton Keynes?
In the crucial phase of Primary School a central part of learning is basic
literacy and numeracy and science. Every pupil should leave Bushfield able to
read and write at an appropriate level, do maths, and understand some
basic science about the world and their bodies.
Currently, the way that literacy, maths and science ability is officially
measured in Primary Schools is through the set of statutory exams that all
Year 6 pupils take every May, known as the Standardised Assessment
Tests (SATS) to assess pupil levels of attainment at end of Key Stage 2
(Key Stage 1 is assessed by our feeder schools). Nine tests across the
three subject areas (up to 45 mins each) provide us with data analysis
comparing us to national averages from a variety of schools and pupils.
It's important to remember that with respect to Key Stage 2 SATs, the more important measure of a school’s success is not absolute attainment, because it takes no account of how much progress children have made from their individual starting points.
At Bushfield, we encourage all our children to ‘Be the best they can be’ and therefore the progress they make in their time with us is the more revealing and important factor.
The national measure that takes account of this is called Contextual Value Added (CVA). We are even more proud of this result which reflects the progress achievements of ALL our pupils.
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The headlines from Key Stage 2 SATs, 2009...
- Compared to schools of all sorts in all regions, Bushfield matches the national average in
attainment in all subjects — one answer to “How high can you
fly?”
- Bushfield sits in the top 25% nationally for CVA, and joint 8th
amongst Milton Keynes schools (see the MK CVA table) — “How much higher can you
fly from when you arrived?”
- Pupils made progress in Maths and Science significantly above the national average.
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