Case study: why Severn Bridges MAT signed their schools up to Kapow Primary
T
he 47 teaching staff at Severn Bridges MAT wanted lessons that inspire children in all their schools. But because of a lack of specialism, as well as a lack of information regarding skills and knowledge progression, the staff were struggling to ensure the units they were teaching were built in a way that was relevant for their pupils. With the help of Kapow Primary’s specialist-created schemes of work across the non-core subjects, they were able to develop the right sequencing of the curriculum for their pupils and feel like specialists themselves.
Additionally, the schools wanted exciting and engaging ideas to inspire children in their lessons. They were looking for lessons that were sequenced and built upon each other to ensure learning was embedded in the long-term memory, with assessment or proof of progress opportunities built into each lesson. The Severn Bridges’ teaching staff also wanted a cohesive package that was logically sequenced and ensured there weren’t significant gaps in coverage.
What problems were the teaching staff facing? With the schools’ need for schemes of work for the specialist subjects, as well as the staff’s varying degrees of knowledge, teaching staff were finding themselves spending a considerable amount of time researching and planning lessons. As Andrew Morris, CEO of Severn Bridges MAT, said, “where teachers are not specialists, it is difficult to plan the correct knowledge progression and skills opportunities into the curriculum or it requires a large amount of time to do this.” Their lack of knowledge often meant they weren’t feeling confident teaching those subjects. Therefore the schools needed a scheme of work that enabled them to build their subject knowledge and deliver lessons across the non-core subjects that covered the curriculum, but was also time-efficient.
‘They were looking for lessons that were sequenced and built upon each other to ensure learning was embedded in the long-term memory, with assessment or proof of progress opportunities built into each lesson.’ 28
How did Kapow Primary help them face those challenges? Kapow Primary was recommended to the trust by a Local Authority advisor as a “useful and supportive tool to planning and teaching the Curriculum in their specialist areas”. Kapow Primary was trialled internally and eventually each school subscribed to the Art and design and Computing schemes of work, benefitting from a special MAT pricing offer. “Our coordinators across the three schools meet as school Development Teams. They initially researched the Kapow Primary subject support, then encouraged other staff to try the resources. Staff liked them and decided to subscribe. From then, the MAT school Improvement Teams looked at the Kapow Primary resources themselves and decided this would work well across the MAT. Staff were supported during staff meetings in using the materials to plan lessons building from the planning and progression in the materials. The School Improvement Teams for each subject review and refine materials designed to support assessment opportunities and proof of progress tasks and opportunities or ensure children recall knowledge earned.” explains Andrew. Now, the teaching staff across all three schools coordinate their teaching plans. Year groups can easily end up teaching the same unit at the same time, though it’s up to each school to choose the theme they want to cover in those
