BESA CORNER


This month, in our ongoing feature highlighting the work of members of the UK education suppliers’ trade body BESA, BETH INGS, Computing Lead at the Bramham and Shadwell Federation in Leeds, talks about DISCOVERY EDUCATION CODING; and we find out more about SMOOGA, the portable multi use games area.


Solving a challenging playground environment to create better quality PE lessons and a better play space for all students.


A case study of Marish Primary School Background


Marish Academy Trust, based in Slough, consists of two primary schools, Marish Primary School and Willow Primary School.


At the time, The Director of Sports and Community was Jason Elwell who adopted a strategic approach to school sports based on developing personal and


social skills. The Trust’s aim was to challenge students in a competitive environment, whether in a team sport or beating a personal best, with healthy competition supporting learning and development. Problem


Marish Primary School’s playground is a large ‘L-shaped’ area accommodating over 700 students.


The size of the playground was causing an issue during lesson time making it difficult for teachers to hold the full attention of students whilst teaching sports activities.


Jason explained: “Our sports teachers were setting-up areas for teaching ball sports such as hockey and football, but a lot of lesson time would be spent with children chasing after balls. This was extremely disruptive to the class with students regularly disengaged, resulting in limited teaching time with crowd and ball control taking priority.” Lunch and break times were also causing problems for staff on duty in addition to students.


Jason continued: “As you can imagine, the playground could be pretty chaotic at times with balls and children flying everywhere. The space was dominated by football with accidents regularly reported by children and staff who were hit by balls. The domination of ball sports also restricted students from using the playground for other purposes.” Solution


Marish Primary School opted for a Smooga, a portable multi use games area designed to: • - Optimise use of playground space • - Reduce conflict in the playground • - Encourage a wider range of activities • - Improve skills


Consisting of a series of 1 x 1 metre modular panels and manufactured in the UK, the Smooga has a heavy base (18kg) and lighter top section made from recycled plastic. The panels are extremely robust and stable and include goals, which push-fit together to form continuous sides. It can be easily scaled down or increased in size to suit the school or activity needs. Smooga Impact


Marish Primary School used the Smooga for a number of different sports during PE lessons such as hockey, benchball, football, tag rugby balancing techniques and agility exercises.


The arena proved extremely popular with students during lessons and at break times, with a noticeable sense of pride in ‘their arena.’ Jason explained: “The Smooga really changed the dynamic of our playground and lessons. It created a compact area, helping to ensure the students are all engaged in a safe environment. There was a significant reduction in accidents and importantly, an increase in participation from students who were typically less keen to get involved. Our teaching time is now better spent with the children.” The Smooga provided a focal point during lessons for students who weren’t taking part in a game. They formed an audience around the Smooga to make it a true arena experience.


Lunchtime staff and teaching assistants noticed an increase in other playground activities such as skipping and hoops, previously restricted due to the domination of ball games. A much welcomed Smooga side effect.


Jason concluded: “Thanks to the Smooga, we can now easily organise students in a safe environment, encourage more play, work on skills, create healthy competition and increase participation in sports. It’s definitely the best investment we’ve made in our playground.” Seven years on from when we first installed the Smooga at Marish Primary School, they are still enjoying using it.


uwww.smooga.co.uk 14 www.education-today.co.uk December 2022


Primary coding – building skills for future careers


BETH INGS, Computing Lead at the Bramham and Shadwell


Federation in Leeds, explains why teaching primary school children how to code is so important.


I teach coding every day and


I’ve seen first-hand the impact it can have in sparking children’s interest in technology. Today’s students are already tech savvy, but coding gives them hands-on experience which shapes their interest in a whole new way. It helps them to aspire to digital careers and to see themselves as the programmers of the future.


At Bramham and Shadwell, we deliver programming lessons through Discovery Education Coding. The platform helps students in KS1 and KS2 to build coding skills in line with the National Curriculum, and to have fun along the way! They can create their own games and apps, and learn how to fix and debug them. The platform is popular with students because it’s enjoyable and engaging. We try to make sure that every child has dedicated programming time at least once each week.


One of the best things about learning to code is that it builds so many transferrable skills. It’s a great outlet for creativity and it also helps with problem solving, which is a key aim of the National Computing Curriculum. Students really like the debugging aspect, where they try to fix their code using sequencing, selection and repetition. Through logical reasoning, they learn how to unpick and correct algorithms. This builds resilience, which is such an important skill and something we try to encourage across the school.


Recently, our Local Authority did a mock deep dive into our Computing provision and they were very complimentary about how we teach coding. They were particularly impressed that our students use the right terminology, because it’s constantly being reinforced in their lessons. They asked my class to explain variables and algorithms and they were able to reel off the answers! Teaching coding has helped us to embed the right terminology and to build a deeper understanding. Coding is great for building teamwork skills. Our students enjoy collaborating with their classmates, working together on different pieces of code and sharing their finished games. They’re learning from each other all the time and as teachers, we learn from them too. If I’m not sure how to debug a piece of code, I’ll stop the class and ask the children to play teacher to help me! Rather than giving the children iPads and sending them away to code, we often work alongside them.


Our students absolutely love coding and parents tell us that they sometimes choose to code at home instead of gaming! I think coding appeals to children because of the work behind it, the sequencing. They enjoy learning about how games are put together and putting this into practice. It’s not just about problem solving, it’s creative too. They can showcase their learning by creating apps and games and this gives them a real sense of achievement. This year we’ve delivered clear whole school progression in Computing. We have more students ‘meeting’ or ‘working above’ than ever before, which is something we’re very proud of. Having fun with coding is so important and because the Discovery Education Coding platform is so engaging, our students can’t wait to use it. It’s helping them to build transferrable skills and has really sparked their interest in IT. When we ask our students what they want to be, they often say that they want to work in technology. Coding is getting them ready for digital careers and opening doorways to the future.


Find out more about Discovery Education Coding and access free sample lessons at uwww.discoveryeducation.co.uk/coding


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