CPD Project's Training Days Fill Within Two Hours

The Bridge Building Bridges to Better Learning in Numeracy & Literacy Issue 2 KS2-KS3 CPD Transition Project New Look CPD Project’s Training Days Fronter Fill Within Two Hours Website The Literacy and Numeracy CPD Project Fronter website has been streamlined to make it even easier for teachers to access hundreds of teaching resources within a few clicks! The new look also includes an updated Fronter icon for the project, click on the Fronter icon as shown above and select the TPL units pictured below. More than 46,000 teachers and educationalists now have access to resources, videos and information relating to the CPD Transition Project. All teachers cross-phase and across the curriculum have access to the Fronter website. Teachers attending training sessions can locate the TPL Units, which include all PowerPoint presentations, videos and resources, used on the days, in the Fronter website. The TPL unit training materials can then be downloaded and The Wallace High School, Lisburn pupils Rebecca and Sarah with their character saved for use in staff and departmental jars inspired by the CPD project training days. cascading sessions following the training days. The demand for the CPD Transition teams’ Literacy and Numeracy cross-phase training days has been so high, the courses became oversubscribed within two hours of the dates being released. The training events were held in six venues located all over Northern Ireland. However, many teachers unable to secure a place in a centre closest to their schools opted to travel long distances to attend the two Teacher Professional Learning Units. A waiting list of 178 teachers for the training has led to two extra days being released per unit. Additional days will be held in Newry and Antrim in February and March. The first TPL Unit in October focused on Thinking Skills and Oracy. It was then followed by the second TPL Unit on Differentiation. The resources and PowerPoints for both of these training days are available on the CPD Project’s Fronter website. Mrs Tracy Morrissey, Numeracy Co-ordinator at Carnmoney Primary School attended the recent training. “The CPD Transition Project training has greatly helped in developing the teaching and learning of literacy and numeracy within our school,” she said. Mrs Gillian Weir, Head of English at The Wallace High School, Lisburn also commented on the impact of the literacy training in her classroom. “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the CPD Project as it’s encouraged me to be much more creative in my classroom. My Year 9 pupils have produced some amazing personal writing using visual stimuli and Year 10 have been working on iMovies based on Heaney’s ‘Mid Term Break’.” Contact: Mrs Pat Delaney The third TPL Unit focuses on teacher peer observation and will take place in January Newry Teachers’ Centre and early February. It is aimed at Heads of English and Mathematics in post-primary Email: [email protected] schools and Literacy and Numeracy Co-ordinators in primary schools. This will be Tel: 028 3026 2357 followed in March by the fourth TPL Unit which looks at gender in the classroom based around encouraging resilience and improving attainment. a C 1 23 The Bridge - 1 Limavady’s Digital Literacy Focus on Workhouse Woes! Craig Graham, Flynn Harrison & Jamie Craig of Limavady Central PS Limavady pupils stepped back in time to recreate the lives The pupils worked in pairs, on newspaper clippings from the of their Victorian ancestors on film, as part of the transition Victorian era followed by a Moving Image Art exercise which partnership between Limavady High School and Limavady incorporated a Hiring Fair role play inspired by the actual Central Primary School. fair that used to take place in the town. The teachers involved were inspired by the digital literacy Mrs Caskie explained that channels of communication that strategies they saw at the CPD Transition Project training didn’t exist previously have now been opened for the two events last year. schools because of the CPD Transition Project. “For year one a central benefit has been communication,” she said. Mrs Jennifer Given, P7 teacher at Limavady Central Primary School and her colleague Mrs Joy Caskie, a P5 teacher She added that any weaknesses found by Year 8 teachers explained that film was a popular focus for their partnership with regard to literacy, can now be communicated and could as they had used one from The Literacy Shed selection be addressed in the partnership’s new Action Plan for 2016- successfully with accompanying support resources from the 2017. Project’s training days. Mrs Devine is keen to develop consistency in literacy cross- “We taught fairy tales through digital literacy to add that phase throughout the range of subjects on offer in Limavady little bit of extra impact in the classroom and the film High School. Staff training days on consistency in report and resources we discovered at the training days really helped newspaper writing etc are planned, events that her primary with story boarding,” Mrs Given said. school partnership colleagues are keen to share in. Mrs Shauna Devine, Head of English at Limavady High School Mrs Devine found watching the exemplar lessons from the also attended the CPD Project training events and agreed primary school teachers very informative when she attended that the close proximity of the town’s workhouse would be the CPD Project training. an inspiring focal point for their pupils. “When I watched the primary lessons my expectations of “Limavady is steeped in Victorian heritage, as the old pupils entering Year 8 were immediately raised. If that’s Limavady workhouse has been preserved as part of the what teachers are doing in primary school then we are not town’s heritage trail,” Mrs Devine explained. doing enough with pupils in Year 8,” she added. Mrs Caskie and Mrs Given gave schemes of work and other Prior to contacting the Limavady Central Primary School, useful information to the Limavady High School teachers to Mrs Devine carried out a whole staff audit which revealed inform the planning for the transition day activities. that teachers of all subjects were keen to know more about what the pupils did in primary school. “Our initial focus will Mrs Given attended the transition day with her pupils. be on literacy and numeracy and then it will widen out to “The pupils enjoyed the day enormously and it was most incorporate other subjects,” Mrs Devine added. educationally beneficial,” she added. The P7 pupils enjoyed the event so much that they all wrote thank you The Limavady teachers are planning to extend their letters to the transition day organisers at Limavady High transition partnership events with a focus on Victorian School. poetry next time. Mrs Devine has also commenced on the Teacher Placement Bursary Scheme with the Transition The partnership teachers were synonymous in their Project which will enable her to expand and develop her praise for Mr George Dallas, Head of History and Religious knowledge of learning cross-phase. Studies who brought the historical aspect of the Victorian experience to life on the day. 2 - The Bridge Newcastle Schools’ Transition Partnership Adds Up! Shimna Integrated College students are inspiring and She added that working with her Primary 7 colleagues encouraging pupils in local primary schools by sharing in local primary schools has enabled her to improve the their mathematical expertise in the classroom. planning of teaching and to set higher, yet achievable expectations for Shimna Integrated College students. Mrs Pamela McDade, P7 teacher at Cumran Primary School in Clough said that the visit from the Year 9 pupils had “Being afforded time to work collaboratively cross-phase is created a great deal of excitement last term. invaluable and enriching to both the staff and students in the primary and post-primary settings,” Mrs Samuel added. “The use of KS3 pupils as teaching experts in a P7 class, has been an exciting development of our transition “As a P7 teacher, it has been interesting to see the maths partnership,” she said. content and activities carried out in a KS3 classroom. This has been important in setting goals and targets for the Mrs McDade was impressed by the Year 9 mathematicians’ class.” Mrs McDade said. contributions to her classroom. “These could be our maths teachers of the future,” she added. “Staff training has also enabled sharing of good practice and this has been an excellent way of developing ideas and Mrs Sarah Samuel, the Numeracy Co-ordinator at Shimna activities that create a continuum between the two key Integrated College explained that more innovative cross- stages,” Mrs McDade added. phase classroom initiatives are planned as part of the partnership schools’ new Action Plan. “Year 8 students at Shimna will use iPads to record themselves teaching a mathematics topic to the rest of their class, this will then be used in the partner primary schools to teach lessons. The P7 pupils will then record their own videos to teach Year 8 classes in the form of a flipped classroom,” Mrs Samuel explained. The other schools involved in the CPD Transition Project partnership include All Children’s Integrated Primary School and St. Mary’s Primary School. Newcastle Primary School has also joined the cluster recently. The partnership schools have created a shared notice boards system, where they display what is happening in mathematics classes in each other’s schools. “The sharing of resources and events means that the new Year 8 students joining each September arrive with drive, confidence and a more positive attitude to mathematics. They recognise the links between their learning in Shimra Integrated College students in teacher role at Cumran primary school and that in Year 8,” Mrs Samuel said.

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