HOY interview - attainment

[apollo1]

I have an interview for a head of year post on Friday. I have to give a 10 minute presentation on raising attainment. I'm struggling to look at this from a HOY viewpoint rather than as a classroom teacher. Can anyone help with some general ideas?

data; data; data! First make sure that you show you are aware of all the data available for each child and how you will use this to highlight those underachieving and who are 'coasting'.

In order for me to give more - what year group/ks is this for as there are different theories/methods for different groups

I would also think about how you would raise aspirations as well as focusing on the equally important academic issues. High aspirations and self esteem are intrinsically linked to high attainment.

Thanks so much. It's for years 10/11 (mixed).

I agree that it is very important to track your data well and to pick out students who are underachieving.

Use your CAT/MidYIS data to its full - there is a massive amount of info there that some people just never look at.

Ask teachers to write their CAT/MidYIS score in their markbooks and always to present their test results with a column for aptitude, both verbal and non-verbal.

As HOY you can look at the big picture and see if any patterns emerge. Try to explain underachieving students and offer them additional support, eg pastoral (mentoring) or SEN assessments (eg to check processing speed).

Raising attainment is all about staff working together, so as HOY, you are in the ideal position to make this happen.

Good luck!

I would definitely come from the angle of intervention for under-achievers.
If you had the data at your fingertips I would find out who in Y10 and 11 is not meeting their predicted targets (from FFT'D' data) and then look at why this is.

As a HoY you would have much more of an overview than just the subject leaders and you can say you would suggest a programme of intervention within departments that can be overseen by you. WHY are these students under-attaining? Any SEN/LAC/FSM considerations? These students notoriously under-achieve and are not always considered when looking at the stats. Is there a big gap between boys/girls?

Under-achievement can often be linked with lack of engagement/'laziness' but not everyone looks further into why this has happened in the first place. Do they have a lack of self-esteem? Do they have a history of being moved down in ability sets due to their lack of engagement? What can be done to identify these students and the what strategis could be put into place for mentoring them as a HoY?

Thanks so much everyone, very grateful. Off to prepare now.

Don't just rely on the data to tell you who is struggling. Class teachers can also flag up any problems early if there is a clear reporting route.

Crikey ,what good practice this all sounds .

I wonder how my DS managed to slip through the net at his " outstanding " ( how I laughed ) Academy .

I like this one: at the staff meeting, you give every teacher a slip of paper and they have 30 seconds to write down the name of any pupil they think needs looking at. We have 3 broad categories. Collect slips and then see which names crop up more than once or twice. Takes almost no time, but you often pick up pupils who are consistently causing low-level problems but not necessarily 'bad' enough to stand out otherwise.

I would agree with all the other suggestions, however rather than getting staff to write a name in 30 seconds I have had a list of students on the staffroom wall and staff note down any issues etc (this is especially helpful if there is a 'dip' mid data point)

Another thing you could do is look at the baseline assessments for each child, and then to highlight any where their verbal/non-verbal/mathematical/skills scores are out of whack with the others. Then to devise strategies for helping students overcome any difficulties caused by this. For example, if a student has a low mathematical score, but high verbal score, get them (via their teacher) to read out problems in words, rather than trying to just use the figures and symbols.

(Brief Hijack) MindTheGapppp - have you got any suggestions for students with a huge discrepancy between their verbal and non verbal scores? (Verbal very low, and non-verbal very high)

Touché hijack
That sort of gap would indicate low literacy but higher spatial awareness. Difficult to say without more info about individual child, but I would go with teaching strategies that invite active learning, problem-solving and perhaps opportunities to express knowledge through visuals and discussion, to build confidence in child's ability to learn. At same time, lots of work on improving basic lit, so you're not allowing lack of literacy to mask potential ability in subject or skills knowledge, iyswim.

You don't say which phase but I'm guessing y6/secondary if they've done their CATs? Low literacy can be a huge problem in all subjects. Recent study found that average KS3 text books (most subjects) demand a reading age of 16yrs, so it's no wonder many children struggle, despite their potential & knowledge. That's why two-pronged attack (above) is necessary & lots of communication between staff so they can share methodology that works as well as reinforcing tigress in literacy levels. Literacy is BIG in new Ofsted framework, so all schools will need to brush up on whole-school literacy strategies.

Tigress = progress iPhone autocorrect

Is the Vocabulary score statistically significantly different from the NV and the overall MidYIS score? You have to look at the individual pupil records which gives error bands. If the Vocab range does not overlap with the other scores, then there is a weakness there.

Is the child learning English as a second language? Or have some history of not having access to a wide range of vocabulary? Or perhaps is part of an ethnic group where there is a good command of street English, but not formal English?

A student with a low vocab score, but otherwise healthy MidYIS, can be helped to improve. For example, they need to have enrichment opportunities to widen their vocabulary. They could up the standard of their reading, read quality newspapers, and discuss what they have read. They could also be asked to write out vocabulary lists in their individual subjects, together with definitions.

Thanks guys.

The low verbal score is due to dyslexia, and the high non verbal score due to being clever :)

How did it go?