BESA CORNER


This month, in our ongoing feature highlighting the work of members of the UK education suppliers’ trade body BESA, we learn about BLUE SKY EDUCATION at a trust in County Durham; and find out more about online English literacy platform LITERACYPLANET.


Consistent engagement in professional development delivers improvement in student outcomes for rapidly growing trust


Advance Learning Partnership is a rapidly growing academy trust based in County Durham. The trust’s strategy is underpinned by a consistent approach to performance management and professional development that aligns the appraisal objectives of nearly 700 staff with trust priorities: improving literacy, supporting SEND


and disadvantaged students, and the use of research in improving teaching and learning.


Using BlueSky Education’s online solution allows the trust’s school improvement team to streamline the enrolment of new schools into the same appraisal, professional development and quality assurance process, while providing each member of staff with a personal portfolio of professional development.


Catherine Taylor, School Improvement Partner, explains: “We encourage staff to record and evaluate all internal and external CPD. The online system provides a portfolio they can keep adding to, which gives staff ownership of their own career progression and professional learning.”


“I think it definitely helps as staff feel invested in; we are very much focused on developing every single person as an individual, so that they know that they are getting support and time to be able to develop themselves,” says Stefanie Emmerson, Head of Governance & Compliance.


Catherine highlights another benefit of using an online system for conversations around professional development: “BlueSky is not only a personal portfolio for staff – it creates a dialogue between staff and their line manager”. Using an online platform for performance management has helped the trust to document objectives more easily, meaning less time is spent on admin and more time can be spent teaching.


The school improvement team runs an extensive programme of professional development, including bespoke courses to develop the leadership abilities of staff at different stages of their careers. Now that staff record all CPD activity in the BlueSky platform, the team can easily collate comprehensive reports to evaluate the impact of professional learning, and identify areas for development. “Being able to run trust-wide reports means we can see where we should target trust-wide CPD”, says Stefanie.


The trust has moved towards a quality assurance model based on coaching and developmental drop-ins. Using BlueSky, the school improvement team has been able to adapt the process and create bespoke forms to record observations from the coaching conversations.


“We’ve been able to develop our own bespoke framework for how we want coaching sessions to be recorded on BlueSky. The Teaching and Learning lead can draw down a report which evaluates these sessions, linked to our Teaching and Learning Principles,” says Catherine.


“We can see at a glance where there are examples of best practice and staff who would benefit from development in that area can be paired up for coaching. We can now use that information to improve the quality of teaching and learning through personalised coaching for staff that provides precise guidance on how they can develop their practice.”


Catherine is certain that this approach has a significant impact on raising standards, and boosts the trust’s mission to work collaboratively to provide outstanding learning experiences and opportunities.


“It not only allows us to effectively evaluate and analyse key information but also uses that information to support the professional development of colleagues and ensure they receive the guidance and training that they need. Ultimately this helps colleagues to develop their skills and become more effective practitioners in the classroom, which will then have a positive impact on the children and their outcomes.”


Read the full case study and learn more about BlueSky Education’s comprehensive solutions by visiting:


uhttps://bit.ly/advancelearningpartnership 14 www.education-today.co.uk EdTech’s place in improving literacy skills


Literacy is the foundation for learning. Teachers rely on students having an appropriate level of literacy to provide instruction and develop their understanding of a content area. The skills developed allow them to contextualise situations and set them up to confidently pursue their abilities and passions. There’s room for all types of imagination in education. And that’s where EdTech can support students. Used in the right way, it engages a student and instils a sense of accountability for their own learning in which they are actively involved. It’s a powerful resource to complement other teaching practices as it motivates and improves overall academic value.


LiteracyPlanet, an established online English literacy learning platform that serves thousands of teachers and millions of students worldwide, is built on a gamified experience for even greater engagement. In the company’s experience, an effective digital learning resource personalises the student’s education, providing the appropriate level of extension or intervention. It aligns with the curriculum for added assurance of learning progressions being reached, while automating some aspects of teaching administration, giving teachers time back to spend on their students.


EdTech in action


While it’s important to teach the fundamentals of literacy - phonics, sight words, spelling, comprehension, reading and writing - a child’s motivation to read is the key.


In south London’s Brixton, for over thirty years, countless women and girls have benefited from the charitable work of The Baytree Centre, an integral part of its south London community. The Baytree Centre provides holistic support through personal development activities and workshops, mentoring, and coaching.


Through the centre’s youth mentoring programme, girls receive online mentoring support, working towards their agreed goals throughout the academic year. These goals focus on academic (mainly in the areas of English and Maths) and personal development (self-confidence, organisation skills, friendship, and communication skills).


As part of this programme, LiteracyPlanet is available to girls from Years 5 to 8, for whom it is used during mentoring sessions. As an online platform, LiteracyPlanet is ideal for helping mentors structure their sessions. By sharing a screen, the mentor and mentee review activities and discuss topics one- on-one.


“We celebrate the girls’ progress and it is so rewarding to see them enjoy the experience of learning. As mentors, we know how valuable the development of literacy skills is in preparing them for their future,” says Federica Saez, Mentor Coordinator.


And it works. The offering of content across the multiple literacy strands allows for individualised teaching, where specific needs are the focus. The structure of their mentoring sessions aligns perfectly with the LiteracyPlanet approach to Learn, Practise, Test. It means they can practise as much as they need.


Making literacy learning more accessible


There’s extensive choice available for educators in the interactive learning space today. Knowing the impact or efficacy of any learning solution differentiates the best education technologies. Showing impact in real-time by bookending learning with proficiency testing is the most dynamic and reliable way to assess efficacy and learning outcomes. And that’s where the focus lies at LiteracyPlanet. A new student proficiency tool uses the foundational product and overlays a new offering called Literacy Check. Students play a short set of targeted activities and teachers see data on individual student proficiency. Once areas of improvement are identified, students begin their personalised learning experience to build proficiency.


Literacy Check is free and universally available for teachers and schools worldwide with the idea to help a greater number of students build more confidence, enjoy learning and practically apply their new-learned skills throughout their lives.


And this is where EdTech and improving learning outcomes harmoniously


meet. uwww.literacyplanet.com


January 2023


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