I’m a self-confessed history geek at heart and so I am allowed to know that in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome students at school were taught ‘Rhetoric’. The day to day meaning of that word has changed a little in the past 2,000 years, but back then lessons were very much about the art of public speaking and not just about the logic used in arguments or memorising some fancy phrases. Students were taught not just to think, but to speak – and to practice how to become powerful orators who could convince an audience through the weight of their spoken words.

Now, the curriculum is a little crowded for us to dedicate as much time as the Romans did to ‘public speaking’, but that will not stop us from trying. I think I have mentioned before that ‘Oracy’ is making a big come-back in schools at the moment and none more so that at MHS. We are leading the charge to make sure that we help our students become confident speakers as well as good writers. Two events on Wednesday this week really made me think about why this is so important, and they both happened at the same time;

1. Outside in the memorial garden after school a number of staff and students gathered for our first ever ‘speakers corner’

While, at the same time a few yards away

2. I was interviewing candidates for the position of teacher of History ready to start in September.

Firstly it was brilliant to see so many brave students put their name down to talk at the ‘speakers corner’. They spoke passionately, articulately and convincingly. The interviews in my office were punctuated with polite ripples of applause as one speaker finished and the next started, and there was a very supportive feeling amongst the speakers and the audience. Big topics were covered such as global warming and Brexit – it was a high quality event. What a great positive sign for the future of our school and our community. At the same time, I interviewed five candidates all of whom had taught good lessons earlier in the day and had so far impressed the panel. So how do we tell them apart? What makes one stand out from the other – well, we offered the job to the candidate who spoke passionately, articulately and convincingly. Their oracy skills secured them a job and the first step in their teaching career.

It made me realise even more how important our work on Oracy will be. We have hardly begun to scratch the surface.

Parents and carers have a huge role to play in our homework policy

Homework can be an emotive issue. Should schools set homework? If so, how much and of what type? Is it simply there to ‘keep kids busy’ or can it boost their learning? Is homework a ‘sin against childhood’ (as it has been called by some) or a helpful tool to enable students to reach their potential?

There are a number of recent studies that have analysed the true impact of homework, and the conclusion that we hold to at Marple Hall is that homework does have a benefit and should be used as a key part of the learning process. A good place to start if you wish to read more is here. Our belief, taken from the respected research body the ‘Educational Endowment Foundation’ is that well planned and well communicated homework can add the equivalent of three months’ progress onto a child’s learning every year, which over the course of a five year school career is significant indeed.

That is why over the past 6 months we have looked to ensure that our homework provision is nothing short of excellent. A couple of years ago we invested in the online platform ‘Show My Homework’ which is a great way for teachers, students and parents to set, see and respond to homework online. Students and parents can get notifications of homework, access the tasks, get copies of resources and even ask question of the teacher if they are stuck. It’s a really neat system…but it only has benefit if the homework that teachers set is of decent quality – ‘rubbish in, rubbish out’ I guess is the right phrase here!

Therefore this year we are working on the new idea that at Marple Hall School teachers of classes in Years 7-9 should only ever set two types of homework:

1) Embedding Tasks – short activities (10-20 mins) aimed at securing knowledge and understanding of the stuff that students have recently learnt in class. These might be quizzes, diagrams, organisers, mindmaps etc

2) Extended Practice – longer activities that are based around an extended piece of writing, no matter what the subject. The task should be well set up in lessons, modelled for students and have a decent timescale for completion. To avoid students being inundated with these long tasks all at once (like the end of a term) there is a timetable that all the departments are sticking to.

By choosing these two types of homework we are building on research into how students learn and retain information, as well as giving many opportunities to develop their literacy and deeper understanding through the extended practice tasks. We’re 6 months into the new approach and the vast majority of tasks set now fit this model, with some of the extended practice tasks being amended and altered by our homework leaders Mrs Lawton and Mr Graves before they are approved. Perhaps one sign of the success of the model is that despite the fact we only targeted years 7-9, most teachers are employing the same language and tasks with Years 10 and 11.

The model makes sense and with consistent care and effort it will work. Homework will become second nature, it will be a seamless addition to the work done in class, students will develop excellent learning habits at home and their progress will be enhanced as a result.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton