Helping pupils thrive in a rapidly changing world
The second part of Abbie Wightwick’s schools’-eye view of issues facing Wales’ education system
■ These are the subjects pupils want more – and less – of...
The message was loud and clear. High-school pupils want to learn about “the real world”. Those we spoke to at Ysgol Friars in Bangor summed it up. They want more lessons on politics and money managing and less on religious education.
■ Oliver Perkins, 16: “I would like to know more about things like budgeting for student debt. We had to think about our GCSE grades for university but we weren’t told about student loans.
“I was interested in the election but felt out of touch. I would have liked to have known more about it.
■ Holly Randall-Williams, 16: “I would like to know more about reallife systems like taxes and benefits. “
■ Jade Cook, 16: “We revised a lot for exams but I don’t think you can use that information in real life. I would like to learn more practical things like budgeting.”
■ Molly Greenly-Jones, 15: “The RE syllabus should be about today’s life. It should be updated and maybe include things like terrorism. My favourite subject is geography and that does relate to life more because we go on field trips and look at things like pollution and climate change”
■ Aadil John, 15: “RE short course is compulsory. I don’t see the use of it. If I want to learn about religion I can research it and if you are religious you know about it. It’s a waste of time. The RE syllabus is pretty out of date. Science relates to life more.”
■ Elise Murphy, 15: “The GCSE history syllabus should be more British history and less American history, and there should be more political and economic history.”
■ Is this Wales’ most controversial qualification?
Students are divided on the merits of the Welsh Baccalaureate, which is now awarded at GCSE and A-level. Some think both should be optional for students, others say it helps with university application.
This is what pupils at Ysgol Dyffryn Ogwen in Bethesda told us:
■ Iago Davies, 18, Year 13: “The Welsh Bacc will get me into the best university I can. The amount of work for the Welsh Bacc is definitely not equal to A-level biology. For me it is easier to get an A in Welsh Bacc than other subjects.”
■ Rhiannon Llywd, 18: “Too much time was spent on the Welsh Bacc in sixth form. It is worthwhile and an important subject, but in Year 13 it was too much. We should have done it earlier and it should be more organised. It is a good qualification that should maybe be offered as an optional A-level. It’s an easier A-level.”
■ Pisa? What’s that?
Wales trailed the rest of the UK in international Pisa tests again in 2016. The next set of tests (due out in 2019) will be sat by 15-year-olds across Wales later this year.
But are the tests a good gauge of how we are doing and are they that difficult?
Ysgol Friars in Bangor bucked the trend, achieving some of the best Pisa results in Wales in the 2015 tests, which pitted them among the best globally.
Here’s what some pupils, chosen randomly to take the Pisa tests in 2015, think of them:
■ Louise Grimble, 18: “There was no preparation for it. It was just about things we had done in school and we were told there was nothing to revise. We were told it would be tests on literacy, numeracy and science. I remember thinking that because it was of no importance to my education, there was no need to stress about it.
“It was easier and quicker to do than other exams because it was online and there was no need to write things out. A lot of it was multiple choice and the questions were more direct. I didn’t know Wales did badly but I think if your general knowledge of those subjects was average it would be OK.”
■ Alda Crossman, 18: “Pisa tests were quite easy. They were different from other exams in school. They were enjoyable. The questions were different. They were interesting and more practical.
“It was better because you did the tests on a computer, not on paper.”
■ Mubarak Braganca, 18: “GCSEs were harder than Pisa tests. There were pictures and diagrams and cartoon pictures of real-life situations as part of the questions.”
■ Jake Owen, 18: “There was no revision but preparation wasn’t needed. It was basic numeracy and comprehension. You didn’t have to break down a question. The questions were to the point, not like maths GCSE where you have to work out what they are asking. I thought it was relatively straightforward and could do all the questions.”
■ This is what pupils think of their first year in high school
Five years ago Willows High School in Cardiff launched Journey Seven, a new system of teaching to help pupils make the move from primary to secondary and get the literacy and numeracy skills to access the rest of the curriculum.
So what do pupils think of the system and has it helped them make the leap to big school?
■ Omar Elmi, 12, says there is peer pressure to be tough if you’re a boy: “When I came up from Moorland Primary I was a bit cocky and thought I knew a lot, but I had to adjust quite quickly.
“I am happy and confident at school but at first I was worried about it being a big school and you have to look out for who you make friends with.
“Older pupils can be a bit intimidating. I will be nice to Year Sevens when I am older.
“I have never been bullied. People think you have to handle it yourself when bullies ask you to fight them because it would look weak if you didn’t. I think there is peer pressure to be tough as a boy.
“A lot of people in my class are quite clever. It is annoying if people disrupt classes.”
■ Sophie Jones, 12: “I was really nervous on my first day because some of my friends from primary didn’t go to Willows. I worried about older children because they are so tall.
“I don’t mind the uniform but in the heat the blazer is too hot. I would like not to have to wear a blazer.
“I was bullied by some girls from another school. I told my mum. With peer pressure, if you are friends with people and they are naughty at school, they tell you to be naughty too.”
■ Luke Burden, 12: “In primary we didn’t have homework but in Willows we get it in some lessons every day. I think homework helps if you are struggling because you can take it home and research it. In the first few weeks it was almost too much homework.”
■ Bethan Roberts, 12: “The hardest thing about going to high school was trying to find my way around school.”
■ Kevin Chiduku, 11: “Year Seven has been an interesting ride. You have lots of different experiences with each other and different subjects.
“It can be hard to find your friends at lunchtime because they are coming from different lessons. But I make friends easily and prefer high school to primary.
“Sport is better in high school and there are more facilities.
“We should have less writing and more experiments in science. I thought we would be doing loads of experiments in science at high school.
“If I could change one thing, it would be having one classroom or classrooms closer together.
“The best thing about high school is
making friends. I thought I would not be able to make friends but I have made a lot of good friends here.
“Maybe when it’s hot we could be allowed to wear our PE uniform but it is good we have to wear school shoes and not trainers because in primary people do make fun of you if your trainers are a rubbish make.”
■ Shazia Rahman, 12: “It’s all been good. I’ve never been bullied.”
■ Becky Badham, 12: “I was worried about making friends and was a bit shy but now I have come out of my shell. Coming to high school was really about making friends.”
■ The school with four Year Six pupils
It wasn’t the smallest Year Six in Wales last year, but Ysgol Pennant’s four-pupil class was one of the smallest. Not that the pupils minded – they believe small is beautiful. Here’s why.
Rhys Ellis-Jones, 10. Lisa Page, 11, Hazel Weaver, 11, and Robbie Marsden-Jones, 11, learned in a class of 26 pupils, with Year Threes, Fours, Fives and Sixes all together with one teacher at Ysgol Pennant in the village of Penybont Fawr, near Llanfyllin in Powys.
As they prepared to go up to the Welsh-language stream of the dual English and Welsh Llanfyllin High seven miles away, they said their close-knit primary had been the perfect preparation.
They are glad a plan to close the high school’s Welsh-medium stream was shelved and say being bilingual is very important to them, although not all their parents are fluent in Welsh.
■ Rhys Ellis-Jones: “Because it’s small, you make loads of friends. We know each other really well. If I come in in a bad mood, the others try to make me feel better. That might not happen in a big Year Six class.
“We are best friends. It makes me feel confident going to high school to have such good friends.
“I am looking forward to the food at high school – the chocolate brownies. I am also looking forward to chemistry and PE.
“On the first day I might get lost and Year Eights might think they are better than us.
“It’s a good thing to speak Welsh but I wish we could have learned more English because I want to learn it better.
“School uniform is a good idea because if you’re on a school trip they can identify you.”
■ Lisa Page: “In this primary there are not as many people, so you get to know people slowly and get to know them really well. Some school competitions only want four people, so it meant we can all be in them and don’t have to choose.
“We’ve all been through school together and know each other really well. We all support each other.
“This school is very close. I like that and it’s lucky we get to know everyone and the little kids look up to us. I remember when I was in Year One and my brother was in Year Six I could go up to him and give him a hug.
“I am looking forward to everything about high school but mostly learning engineering and film and television studies. I think i will just be nervous on the first day.
“They were going to close the Welsh stream of the high school but no-one wanted that, so they didn’t. It’s so important to learn in Welsh because we are in Wales and I am Welsh. It’s good to speak Welsh and English.”
■ Hazel Weaver: “I have really enjoyed primary. We four have stayed together. We are really close. When one of us is off ill, it is really weird. We are friends outside school too.
“Me and Lisa get on and if we fall out, we end up laughing. You have to get on when there’s four of you. We fall out about everything but make up quickly. Because we have been through school together and been friends for so long, we will be friends for life.
“This is a really special primary school. There are not many other like it. We are really lucky with digital things – we all have our own iPad in Year Six. It is nice to be close-knit.
“Being in a small school gives lots of advantages and learning welsh opens up other languages. Lots of French words are similar. I am English but I have been welcomed to Wales and now talk Welsh fluently and feel lucky to speak it.
“I would not say there is any bullying. We have a community policewoman who talks to us about cyber bullying and there is an e-safety group, so we would know what to do if we were cyber bullied.
“I am really looking forward to chemistry in high school and using bunsen burners and mixing chemicals for experiments. They showed us that on the open evening.
“I am scared of getting lost on the first day.
“I think wearing school uniform is important because if someone is in designer labels you could be singled out. Uniform makes everyone the same.”
■ This is what one pupil says about being in trouble at school
■ Callum Wiltshire, 16, Ysgol Friars, Bangor: “I lose interest in things easily. I have never been good at maths and some of the maths we do doesn’t apply to real life.
“My biggest achievement has been staying in school and staying out of trouble. I am quite hot-headed. I have had people here who have helped me get through that.
“I didn’t think I would see school through to the end. A lot of people who I know didn’t think I would stick to it, but I did.
“A lot of teachers help you. They understand me and gave me time to calm down.”
■ Learning in a digital world
With technology moving so fast experts say no-one knows what jobs our children will do in future. A number of schools in Wales have been chosen to be “digital pioneer schools”.
Teacher Louise Williams, digital lead for Cadoxton Primary – a post funded by the Welsh Government – admits some teachers are scared of digital.
“Coding and programming are the biggest fear for teachers but if you can get children skilled they will support teachers and lead learning,” she says.
“Our children have been brought up with technology so they try it with no fear.
“We use screens in every class every day, but we use carousel learning so they spend some time on a screen, some writing or with a book or game. They probably spend no more than 20 minutes on a screen at one time.
“It is about the appropriate use and balance of technology. Some children want to spend all day on technology. It’s important to get a balance.
“We are teaching them for jobs that haven’t been invented yet.”
The school uses an online maths tutor and Louise says online maths games appeal to pupils’ competitive spirit and keeps them interested.
Some pupils are spurred on to read and write better so they can communicate on electronic games.
“I had a pupil whose reading and writing improved massively because he wanted to communicate on Minecraft.
“The physicality of writing is hard for some children and they may be more capable on screen and with a keyboard, especially children on the autism spectrum with dyspraxia.
“If you are trying to do storytelling, writing can be a barrier for some so you use the appropriate tools. Those tools may be digital.”
The school also uses learning games like Mathletics which enable pupils to compete with other children around the world.
Laptops, iPads, mini pads, iPods and touch-screen blackboards are all used by 10-year-olds at Darran Park Primary, which has also taught computer coding for the last four years.
Outside class they use social media including Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook Messenger and Musical.ly. Some have up to six social media apps on their phones.
Their world is digital so it is vital they are skilled and know how to be safe online, says teacher and deputy head James Protheroe.
Every class and subject includes digital learning and pupils and teachers go into other schools to see how they learn ICT.
Some pupils in Years Four and Six are e-cadets and digital leaders, and there is a digital committee including teachers, parents, teaching assistants, a governor and pupils, which meets termly.
E-safety starts in Year One and the local community police officer comes in to talk to them about cyber bullying. Teachers also teach them about online safety.
I know colleagues who have found it really difficult in the last five to 10 years because there is so much accountability. We should be accountible, but there is so much ALUN LLYD, FORMER HEAD OF YSGOL DYFFRYN OGDEN
■ This is what headteachers say
Two-thirds of local authorities across Wales have had problems recruiting headteachers.
Issues putting candidates off include stagnant pay, too much change and bureaucracy, too little funding and too many layers of accountability.
Chris Norman became headteacher of Willows High School in Cardiff three years ago.
He loves his job and says he is looking forward to the new curriculum for Wales.
But among the challenges of the past year or two has been work to replace faulty electrics, which led to the school shutting for several weeks and classes being located elsewhere in the city.
The school is looking forward to moving in to new purpose-built premises.
In the meantime, the head and his staff are concentrating on driving up standards.
“When you think about doing something for the rest of your life, what could be more rewarding?
“As you go through your career, you realise you can inform your class – but the further you go, your influence becomes broader.
“Hopefully, as a head, I am having a positive influence on the whole school community.
“The thing about being a headteacher is you never switch off. There are no set hours. That’s why I am grateful for such supportive staff.
“As a head, you are responsible for everything from finance to recruitment to staff professional development, behaviour and attendance.
“I had one half-day training in finance. The school has a finance director. Primary school heads don’t have those.
“Being a head is exciting because the decisions stop with me, as long as I get support from the governors.
“I believe you have to have knowledge before you can get skills.”
Alun Llwyd retired as head of Ysgol Dyffryn Ogwen in Bethesda after 17 years last summer.
He said: “Concerns most headteachers have is standards, results and accountability, categorisation and Estyn.
“I had great staff but I know colleagues who have found it really difficult in the last five to 10 years because there is so much accountability. We should be accountable, but there is so much.
“In 2000, when I became a head, it was the glory days when there was plenty of money. Funding was not an issue and there was not this endless scrutiny.
“We need to be accountable but I think there is too much scrutiny now, with schools monitored by Estyn, LEAs and consortia.
“There is a buzz in teaching. You work with creative colleagues and 99% of the kids are wonderful.
“We are quite a disadvantaged area – 16% of pupils get free school meals compared to the Gwynedd average of 12% – but it’s a close community and very supportive and appreciative of the school.
“If I could say something to the Education Secretary, it would be – look again at performance indicators A* to C. They have to look across at the whole ability. We spend too much time on the C to D borderline trying to get people up from D to C – not concentrating on all pupils and their abilities.”
Annwen Watkins spent her entire career at Ysgol Pennant, a Welshmedium primary with 76 pupils and four teachers in Penybont Fawr in Powys.
Starting at the school as a newly qualified teacher in 1985, she taught Years Four, Five and Six, and combined headship with teaching.
She wanted to retire in 2016 but stayed on when no replacement could be found. A new head has now been appointed and she retired at the end of summer 2017.
Because her school was so small, a wide range of ages learn together, which she believes helps rather than hinders progress.
“Learning together is good for the younger ones because they are pushed but it does mean more work and planning for staff. You can have years of ability even in the same age group anyway,” she said.
“The school has a family feel. At lunchtime the older ones sit with the little ones, which wouldn’t happen in bigger schools, and there is a familiarity with pupils outside their year group, which is good.
“If you have Year Threes in a class with Year Sixes discussing science, it could be daunting but it must be pushing them too. It means careful planning and assessment, but it is a good thing.
“No-one has ever said it is scary to go up a class or on to high school.
“The class is the class and they don’t think of age barrier.
“We never had a recruitment problem other than headship.
“I was head for eight years. I left because I want to do other things and want to have more free time.
“It is a wonderful school and was a huge part of my life. Staff work hard and the local community is supportive. A school is a vital thing for a community.
“It is a Welsh-medium school and I believe learning Welsh opens doors and gives pupils more options looking for jobs. A lot of our parents don’t speak Welsh but opt for it in secondary. A majority of parents are not first-language Welsh speakers but the pupils are totally bilingual.
“I really enjoyed my job but workload is a concern for all teachers. It’s really difficult to switch off. It is long hours but it is rewarding.
“When I was a teaching head with a class, I was in at 8am until 6pm, then I took a few hours off, then from 9pm I would mark and plan and answer emails until about 11pm.
“I was happy to do that because I wanted the best for my children. It’s not a job. It is a big part of life.”