26th January 2024
HEADLINES
By James Saunders
SPACED LEARNING During each holiday, my routine typically involves discovering a TV show I’ve heard about and indulging in a binge-watch session. It’s the only time I allocate to staying in touch with the zeitgeist. The concept of binge-watching was not a part of my childhood or early adulthood.
you do quite well in that test. Does it mean you have learnt it? The real test is if you were to test yourself again a day, a week, a month or a year later. If all we do is commit stuff to our short term memory we are not really learning. This brings me onto spaced learning. It supports the way our brains actually work, according to basic neuroscience and psychology research.
I guess the concept of binge watching all started with box sets but more recently has become available through online streaming such as Netflix or Disney+. My longest session was season 1-3 of 24; it was exhausting - 72 episodes back-to-back.
Spaced learning involves a series of short, intense learning sessions with increased learner participation, separated by short intervals in which learners do a completely different activity (Emsley, 2016).
Why am I going on about box sets? I want to take the opportunity to talk about spaced learning. Spaced learning is connected to the process of moving learning from short term to long term memory - this is what ensures greater exam success. I would like to use boxsets as a way to illustrate this concept. You see when a regular series like Game of Thrones is broadcast each episode tends to be a week apart. When I look back on my 24 days, the one series that stands out in my memory is series eight: the one that I watched every Sunday for 24 weeks. Sure, I can remember parts of series 1-3 but I don’t remember them as clearly as series eight and I don’t feel as emotionally invested in the characters - because I didn’t commit as much to my long term memory. Each episode started with a recap of the previous week. Just as the memory of what happened before was fading, this little recap helped to bring it back to the front of my mind so that the next part of the story would be easier to follow. By watching the series this way, the way it was originally intended, I was able to learn and remember so much more of the narrative and plot. Each weekly revisit and refocus helped to move what I had learnt from my short term to my long term memory in a way that never happened when I watched the whole thing in one go. Now let’s apply that to learning. Imagine that you learn a load of stuff in a short space of time (just like a binge watch) and then test yourself on it at the end. Imagine
Spaced learning is often paired up with a method known as interleaving: Interleaving refers to the benefits of sequencing learning tasks so that similar items – two examples of the same concept, say – are interspersed with different types of items rather than being consecutive. This results in a more variable and challenging task but is associated with benefits in terms of memory and transfer, which apply to concept learning as well as other domains (Kang, 2016).
Combined, these two methods really represent what happens when comparing a binge watch to watching over time. Recently I have seen a lot of teachers doing tests with their class to check their understanding of the content that has been taught this term. I have done this myself in my computing lesson. However, we will not be leaving it there as learners need to revisit learning at intervals to ensure the process of moving it into long term memory occurs. If you are interested in spaced learning and want to find out more here are a few useful links to a blog post, an education endowment foundation study and an article from the chartered college of teaching: h t t p s : // 3 s t a r l e a r n i n ge x p e r i e n ce s .w o rd p re s s . com/2017/10/31/tips-and-tricks-for-spacedlearning/ https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/ public/files/Projects/Evaluation_Reports/EEF_ Project_Report_SpacedLearning.pdf https://impact.chartered.college/article/firth-spacinginterleaving-classroom/ I wish you a lovely weekend. James Saunders
Enrichment Activities/Clubs Spring Term 2024 Staff Name
Club on Offer
open to which cohorts?
Where?
Which day
When (lunch/after school)
AHa
Geography Case Study revision
C9,10 & 11 (Email sent each week)
HU5
Monday
Lunchtime
ASa
Drama revision
11
DR1
Monday
After school
RCo
KS4 art catch up
C9/10/11
AR2
Monday
Lunchtime
PDw
Food Preparation & Nutrition NEA support and revision
C11
TE3 TE1
Monday
Lunchtime
KHo
Dance
KS3
MH1
Monday
After school
ASA
7 and 8 drama club
7/8
DR1
Tuesday
After school
ATo
Table top RPG Club
All
ML4
Tuesday
After school
DBR
GCSE Badminton
9.10,11
PE2
Tuesday
Lunch
DSp
Pride Club
All
B4
Tuesday
Lunchtime
GWl
Basketball shooting
all
PE1
Tuesday
Break
GWa
History revision
C11
ML5
Tuesday
Lunchtime
GWl
Table Tennis
All
PE1
Tuesday
Lunch
RPh
Keyboard/piano club
All
MU2
Tuesday
Lunchtime
GWl
Table tennis
All Cohorts
PE1
Tuesday
After school
LBo/FJo
C7, 8 9 Netball
7,8,9
Tuesday
After school
LPu
Health and Social Care Support C10 and C11
A9
Tuesday
After School
KHo
Dance
C11
DR1
Tuesday
Before school
C11 Maths Foundation in A7 C11 Maths Higher in A3 & A4
C11
Tuesday
After school
Art
C11
Ar1
Tuesday
After school
Business Studies
C11
A11
Tuesday
After school
Computer science
C11
Tuesday
Lunchtime
DBr/DSc
Rugby
C9, 10 11 Boys
Wednesday After school
English team
GCSE revision
C10 and C11
FJo
Netball
C10 and 11
Wednesday After school
GWl
Basketball shooting
All cohorts
Wednesday Break
GWl
Table Tennis
All
GWl
Football
C7 and 8
JSa
Minecraft
All
A11
Wednesday Lunchtime
RPh
Guitar/ukulele club
All
MU2
Wednesday Lunchtime
JSa
Minecraft
All
A11
Wednesday After School
GVa
RCo
Graphics
B block
PE1
Wednesday Afterschool
Wednesday Lunch Wednesday After school
JSa
Computer Science Support
LPu
A11
Wednesday After School
Health and Social Care Support C10 and C12
A9
Wednesday After School
LPu
Science Drop-in Revision
C11
A9
Wednesday Lunch time
RCo
GCSE art catch up
C10/11 art
AR2
Wednesday Afterschool
7-10
Main hall Wednesday Afterschool
English
C11
B2/ B4/B10
Wednesday After school
RSo
History Revision
C11
HU3
Wednesday After school
AMr
German speaking
C11
B10
Wednesday After school
PBL
French Speaking
C11 (after Feb half term)
FJo
Badminton
All
GWl
Basketball shooting
All
GWl
Table tennis
All
GWl
Basketball shooting
All mixed
RPh
GCSE Music Study
C9-11 music
JSa
Mental Health Champions
RPH.ASA.KHO School Production
C11
Wednesday After school Thursday
Lunch
Thursday
Break
Thursday
Lunch
Thursday
After school
MU2
Thursday
Lunch
C7 Mental Health Reps
A11
Thursday
Lunchtime
Graphics NEA
C11
TE1
Thursday
Lunchtime
Music Theory
C11
MU2
Thursday
Lunchtime
Science – trilogy and Triple
C11
Thursday
After school
ASa
Drama revision
C11
DR1
Friday
lunchtime
ATo
Table top RPG Club
All
ML4
Friday
Lunchtime
AHa
Geography Case Study revision
C9,10 & 11 (Email sent each week)
HU5
Friday
Lunchtime
GWl
Basketball shooting
All
Friday
Break
GWl
Table Tennis
All
Friday
Lunch
JSa
Minecraft
All
A11
Friday
Lunchtime
JSa
Minecraft
All
A11
Friday
After School
LBO
Badminton
All
Friday
Lunch
RPh
Music tech club
All
MU2
Friday
Lunch
JWi
History Revision
C11
ML5
Friday
Before school
Asa
GCSE Drama
C11
Friday
Lunchtime
JWi
History revision
C11
ML5
Friday
After school
HGo
Media Studies
C11
A10
Friday
Afterschool
RHo
German speaking
C11
B10
Friday
After school
RPh
PE2
PE1
Dates for the Diary Mon 5 & Tues 6 Feb
C11 LGL Photos
Wed 7 Feb
C11 Geography Trip
Fri 9 Feb
C10 Careers Visit
Fri 16 Feb
Ski trip departs
Mon 19 Feb - 23 Feb
Half term
Wed 28 Feb
C8 Mercury Theatre visit