28th April 2023
HEADLINES
By James Saunders
LEARNING AND PROGRESS Learning and progress. Two words that are often at the heart of any conversation about school and education. They are often topics of discussion during our parent tours of the school. I have been asked many times about learning and progress. What’s learning like at Honywood? Are children making progress? It can be very hard to see learning and progress in a short space of time which makes it tricky to point people to lucid examples that illustrate my answers. Learning is not always visible in neat little chunks; it is not always tangible. What is visible is the calm and purposeful learning environment and the behaviour for learning that our learners demonstrate and model so well. It is in a climate such as this that learning and progress are able to thrive. But is it possible to see learning and progress? Is it possible to measure it? I would like to focus on sport. Over the last 5 years I have been following the progress of our school sports teams. One sport in particular that has impressed me is the progress of our netball teams. Every year they get stronger and stronger and turn in more impressive performances. This week we have seen success with our C7 and C8 team and our C11s. The C11s in particular have really developed as a team over their five years here and have achieved much success. Mrs Jones and I were speaking this week about how well they have done. Sport is an area where progress and learning can be quite visible. I have watched quite a few games where the process of coaching has really supported them. We all make mistakes. It is a vital part of the learning process. Sport is no different. It’s fair to say that even when we win (which is quite frequently) a few mistakes are made. However, it is through the coaching of our teachers that improvements and gains are made.
What I witness when watching our netball teams is tangible visible learning. They learn about each other, about the opposition, about where to position themselves, about improving their technique, and about how to work as a team. And, through that learning they make excellent progress towards a successful outcome. I am very proud of all our sports teams not just for the outcomes but because they all demonstrate how Honywood learners possess a capacity to learn though evaluating their own performance. In doing so they make excellent progress. So the answer is yes, children are making progress, our learning designs are equipping them with the ability to reflect on their performance so that they continually improve. I have often shared an image I once came across in the LA Times. It accompanied an article documenting the career of LA Lakers basketball star, Kobe Bryant. The image illustrated every shot of his career; over 30,000 of them.