Skip to main content
siteadmin@quickfiredigital.com

Our Approach


#931 1-1 Support to Improve Engagement and Grades – One Sixth Form

Zoe Stranix

What did we do?

  • Attended and completed comprehensive training with the IOA, sessions included: metacognition, social and emotional learning, improving behaviour in schools, parental engagement, putting evidence to work, restorative justice, process evaluation and impact evaluation.
  • Considered cohorts of students that would benefit from interventions, activities and workshops and spoke with subject teachers and head of pastoral care about the options available.
  • Used the college Dashboard to highlight and identify individual students who were not reaching their minimum target grade and needed interventions.
  • Worked with subject teachers to communicate ways to support individuals and agree a plan of action for said student.
  • Updated Head of Year about the students’ progress and discussed the best interventions for the individual student to ensure positive progress was made.

‘J is doing so well in Psychology and Philosophy, something that me and his dad as parents feel incredibly proud of him for’

A parent’s view of the project.

Summary of impact

  • Building up a positive relationship with J and support offered was given in a non-judgemental and empathetic way. This took time but J started to open up and discuss things that had happened in the past with his friendship group and why he no longer has or wants friends. He felt confident to discuss his mental health with me. This is a positive as he has not opened up before.
  • Teachers had a better understanding of J and how best to interact with him, resulting in J feeling understood and acknowledged.
  • Support from teachers and contact with mum allowed J to become more organised and engaged meaning that he met homework deadlines that he had previously been missing and grades improved in subject assessments and this was noticeable when he received a grade A and B for Psychology and Philosophy in recent exams.
  • J feels happier in Psychology and Philosophy and is engaged in doing extra-curricular study in his own time around his subjects to improve and widen his knowledge.

Steps taken

  • Read through the comments on Dashboard from teachers that highlighted cause for concern, as J seemed withdrawn and isolated.
  • Contacted J to meet to discuss how he was settling in and offered support and quiet areas of the college where J could go as J said they were adjusting to the new busier environment and had no friends in college.
  • Continued meeting with J and gradually he talked more openly so that I was able to support and advocate for him.
  • Set up a meeting with J, mum, Biology teachers and head of STEM to discuss interventions that could be put into place to help J to improve his grades in Biology and help him meet homework deadlines. This was an opportunity for J and mum to be honest about how J was coping.
  • J was added to Supervised Study for Biology so that in one of his independent study times he studied in college and was directed by teachers as to what to study.
  • J was advised by Biology to attend lunchtime support clinics – J attended these but as time went on and he was not improving his grades J decided to not to attend.
  • Used the Autumn and Spring Progress Reviews to review comments from teachers on subject progress, current predicted grades, and engagement in class. I was able to use this to compare against his Minimum Target Grade.
  • Continued to meet with J when needed and stayed in contact with mum via email and telephone calls.
  • Kept teachers up to date with J and how he is coping so that they had a better understanding on how to support and encourage him within lessons. • Liaised with all subject areas to have a cohesive approach to support.

What would we do differently

  • Involve LSA’s who work in the classrooms to help identify a larger number of students who could have benefited with extra support along with the support that they already receive from their PPT. • Involve staff from the beginning of the project so that I could have achieved more of the aims of the project and made contact with SLT so that the £5000 could have been spent sooner on resources, workshops, activities etc
  • To have liaised with welfare to see if we could of worked together at getting some support around student wellbeing to help improve overall student mental health as this was initially one of my aims on my action plan.
  • To have spent more time on focusing on finding a bigger cohort to support and have a wider college impact.
  • To have differentiated from the support that I already give in my current role as a Personal Progress Tutor to have impacted in areas that could have benefited from additional funding.

See how others have implemented this Big Idea

Sensory Circuits - St Marys Catholic Primary Ipswich

Supporting Behaviour and SEMH to reintegrate into the classroom - Grange Primary School

Identifying Emotions and Managing Self-Regulation - St Joseph's Catholic Primary

Maths Interventions for Inclusion and SEND - The Willows Primary

Ready to Learn - The Beeches Primary

Philosophy Sessions - Harwich Community Primary School & Nursery

Supporting anxiety in children and parents - Spring Meadow Primary School

Securing Engagement Through SEL - Clifford Road Primary

Securing Engagement - Spring Meadow Primary

The Learning Behaviour Lead role - Ravenswood Primary School

Putting EEF "Learning Behaviours" guidance into action - Halifax Primary School

Securing Engagement - Alton Park Junior School

Removing the literacy barrier to learning - Clacton County High School

Wellbeing Workshops - Westbourne Academy

Improving Behaviour with Projection Education - Trimley St Martin Primary School

Establishing a nurture space - The DEN at Trimley St Martin Primary School

The Inclusivity of EAL families within our School Community. - St Margaret's Primary School Ipswich

EAL Parental engagement at Northgate High School

Being a Learning Behaviour Lead - Ipswich Academy

Improving Handwriting - Clacton Coastal Academy

Reading and Phonics at Dale Hall

"Club Aspirations" improving self esteem and confidence at Rushmere Hall Primary

Improving learner confidence in handwriting and spelling - Clacton Coastal Academy

Improving behaviour and engagement in a nurture group - Alton Park Junior School

Tackling lunchtime dysregulation and classroom focus - Castle Hill Primary School

Finding the right intervention to support engagement - Murrayfield Primary Academy

Contacts

One Sixth Form

Zoe Stanix

Personal Progress Tutor

One Sixth Form

Sue Calvino

Head of Pastoral Care and Designated Safeguarding Lead