David Rogers

You may have read last week’s exploits of Priory Geography’s Student Curriculum Hackers last week.  This post is a quick update after the second session. The young people were let loose on the department’s schemes of work, which are kept in Google Docs.  Over the two hour session, they evaluated: Welcome to the Jungle (originally co-constructed with students a couple of years ago with Alan Parkinson); A GCSE Rivers and Coasts Unit; Moving Stories – migration and Restless Earth. The quality of the discussion was excellent, and I include the screenshot above to demonstrate that students a) want to be encouraged to achieve higher and b) want to be given choice as part of the Standard Operating Procedures during Schemes of Work. The next steps are important, so an outline is below.  I’ll write up with reflections and conclusions when we’re done: The students share their experiences at TeachMeet Pompey this Thursday (27th June); The Priory...

Lots of schools and teachers bang on about giving students a voice, but very few actually allow them to have one.  At Priory Geography, we have developed a strong culture of allowing young people to get involved in making decisions about school life, for example: The Space Explorers, Space Creators Building Schools of the Future Project supported by a 21st Century Learning Alliance Fellowship; Choosing our GCSE Specification during the last round of GCSE ‘reform’, and Creating the Mobile Learning Policy for Priory School. Throughout, we have always tried to engage other members of the local community, such as artists, mainly through the excellent and sadly missed Creative Partnerships project.  We’ve also always tried to ensure that the adults are the guides whilst the students drive and create. Today saw the first session designed to build upon some of the lesson learned during the recent ground-breaking Kids Meet Pompey , put together by Jo Debens and ...