Liverpool Archdiocese Secondary Schools’ Partnership Good Practice Case Studies Bellerive FCJ Catholic College
Overview We embarked on a discussion within the staff about what we as teachers could do to facilitate outstanding progress in lessons. We had this conversation at the same time as the college was building stronger links with other FCJ schools and reflecting on how best to place FCJ values at the centre of learning Purpose The staff meetings, followed by similar discussions with students, were designed to produce a series of commitments/statements to achieve clarity in setting out what we all needed to focus on to achieve outstanding progress in lessons with the catholic/FCJ ethos of the college at its core. What we did The meetings took place in Autumn 2013 and produced a series of statements. These statements were then ‘paired’: that is, we produced a series of theme (questioning, marking, persistence) showing what the teacher would commit to as well as showing how the student would respond to the commitment made by the teacher. We were anxious to place personal responsibility at the core so that it didn’t appear to be a one way street from either teacher or students perspectives. We then worked with our design company to produce a summary of the above for display around the school site. We consulted on the design with staff and students and the finished product was ready for Spring 2014. Outcome/Impact The finished document (attached) has been used as the focus of assembly time and we have used the paired statements to create a fortnightly focus on teaching and learning. Students who are deemed to have displayed the attributes we have agreed on are nominated for prizes and these awards were presented at assembly in December 2014. We are certainly able to say it has placed FCJ values at the centre of learning but the long term impact is less clear given we at the early stages of a long term process Related documents and links: Please attached for the FCJ learning and teaching mission statement