Learning walks

Ensuring the engagement of all learners in our schools

The School Council Tour

Dilwyn Jones

Senior Adviser/Uwch Ymgynghorydd

Flintshire School Improvement Team/Tim Gwelliant Ysgolion Sir Fflint

Room /Ystafell 3265

County Hall/Neuadd y Sir

Mold/Yr Wyddgrug CH7 6ND

Tel/Ffon: 01352 704037

Email/Ebost:

This booklet gives you some tools and templates that you can use to help you plan and conduct your Learning Walks.

The templates are designed to give you ideas and frameworks for planning your walk, collecting data during the walk and reflecting on what your walk has taught your walkers about the school.

When you are planning your walk you will need to agree protocols with the staff from the school where you are walking and with the walkers. Part of this agreement will be about the tools and forms that you use. You can use the frameworks in this guide as a basis for these discussions but your walk will be more successful if you adapt them to suit your context, your schools and your staff.

There are some questions your school will need to consider BEFORE you walk. Paying attention to these questions as part of the planning of the walk will help your Learning Walks to be a successful and useful learning experience for all those involved.

What will you have to do to get leaders on board and active?

Who will participate and why?

In what CPD have teachers participated? What was its focus and what were the specific outcomes?

How will you select the classrooms to visit?

What are the timing and resource implications? (before, during and after the walk)

How will teachers be notified?

How will teachers be involved?

What will be the focus for the enquiry?

What is the role of students, and how can they effectively be involved?

How and when will you feedback the data collected to the staff who have been visited?


Finding a focus for your walk.

What is our Pupil Learning Focus?
The focus of the learning walk will be ethos and tidiness around the school
The group of people undertaking the walk are:
Mr.Andrew Jones – Headteacher
Mrs.Melanie Drake – Deputy Headteacher
Rev. MacCaw – Governor
Cory Williams – Chair of the School Council
Which aspect of this are we hoping to investigate with our Learning Walk? (year group/subject/principle/behaviours)
Looking at certain areas inside the school. These will include all the classrooms and also areas outside the classrooms including the office, entrance , foyer, QAN library area, Junior corridor, Junior cloakrooms, Infant corridor, ICT Suite, Library, Staffroom and Hall
What CPD have our staff been part of that we would expect to help them with the pupil learning focus?
The issue of tidiness is in our current SDP
It is an issue / are that the school council would like to improve and monitor
What are the changes we would expect to see in classrooms as a result of the CPD?
What will our work around the pupil learning focus actually look like?
What will we see?
Displays, certain features around the school, classrooms, hall , cloakrooms, We will see whether there is a welcoming ethos as we walk around the school and see the level of tidiness around the school
On displays
Are they stimulating? Are they up to date? Are they tidy with all borders new and work mounted in an interesting way? Does it promote learning? Have the children contributed to it?
In classroom organisation
Tidiness of the classrooms – is there a good example set by the teacher? Are things kept orderly or are there things just left lying around? Do the children have pride in their classroom? Are there routines for tidying up?
In books and work
N/A
In classroom management and behaviour
Do the children engaged in their learning and appear to be enthusiastic for the work that they are doing? Is there any discipline problems
What will we hear?
When we talk to children?
We will seek their views on the tidiness of their classroom/ question the children regarding their work? Are they clear what they are supposed to be doing?
When we talk to teachers?
Any issues relating to ethos and tidiness
When we observe a whole class?
Comment on overall tidiness
Is there a welcoming / warm feeling from the children?

Capturing Data.

You will need to agree a way of capturing the data each of you walkers collects. Below is an example of a data capture sheet that your school may use/amend when investigating their pupil learning focus.

Recording Sheet for Learning Walk.

Pupil Learning Focus:

Ethos and Environment

e.g: I noticed….I saw….I heard

What did we see/ notice outside the classrooms
The team thought that the Heads office area was spacious. Nice to see the SDP displayed for all to see. There is also a new PPA area with a desk for staff to undertake their PPA. Two other notice boards include school notices and reading posters with relevant quotes regarding the beauty of reading. Kept tidy. Maybe some of the borders on the wall displays may need replacing
The entrance to the school is very secure. It includes the Eisteddfod chair from the 1921 Eisteddfod in Leeswood, together with two books’ – ‘Leeswood in the Past’ and ‘A history of Pontblyddyn Cricket Club’. Welcome display in different languages needs repairing and put back to its original form
The foyer is a welcoming area with three chairs, a table and a board which includes the school mission, aims, rules, staff photo, and awards achieved. It has also recently been revamped with an Autism Awareness table. There are also various plaques and photographs relevant the school’s achievements.
The Resource room of the foyer houses all the resources for the school.This includes books, equipment, photocopiers, Ed Tech equipment, and extra resources. It is functional and well used during the day. It does need a general tidy and timetables etc changed.
The Hall is a suitable size for the amount of children in the school. It is welcoming and has benefitted from a repaint, new curtains and new concert curtains. Hall display reflects the welcoming ethos at Ysgol Derwenfa displaying all the hands of the children as one big family. There are various storage containers around the hall owing to the lack of storage. Generally tidy.
The new ICT suite is fully equipped with 10 PC’s and is located next to the new library. ICT suite can get very untidy if work children have been working on is left or children’s books are left. The shelving is new and the school was able to purchase many new books to restock and replace older books. There are some books ‘out of place’ and there needs to be regular tidying.
The corridors are reasonably tidy and coats are hung on their pegs. The display in the corridors follows a theme, based on Religious Education. They are colourful, vibrant, stimulating and encourage learning. There is a board that celebrates the HT awards, a board dedicated to School eisteddfod (needs updating) and Urdd activities. Also a board detailing work undertaken for our Eco school project (this needs updating). Tray tops are tidy, but could do with replacing as they are showing some signs of’ wear and tear’.
The cloakrooms are fairly spacious. The mobile cloaks in the Year 5/6 could be moved back into the middle of the room to create more peg access. PE mat and corner posts need to removed. They could be tidier.
The school provides the children with fresh drinking water from the water cooler
The Art cupboard houses all the Art materials for the school. It is very small and thus very cluttered. Desperately in need of a tidy and complete revamp
Outside Mr. Godwin’s class is used as the AN teaching area and houses the reading book library. Some of the reading books need to be replaced in the correct place. Stove, cooking equipment, computer etc are located in this area. They do create clutter, but owing to lack of space unsure where they can be relocated to.
The staffroom is small and with an increased staff there is sometimes a lack of chairs to sit on. Wall displays need updating and also tidied regularly.
Year 6 D&T area is generally tidy, but could do with D&T display updated as well as Art display.
What did we see /notice inside the classrooms
Early years Unit – well equipped and organised. Stimulating displays that promotes learning Moving towards the foundation Phase
Year 1 / 2 – smaller area. Well organised. Reorganised to cater for the Foundation phase moving into |year 1 and 2. Use is also made of the classroom next door for construction , creative, role play and maths work
Year 3 – reasonably tidy. New interactive whiteboard being utilised. Lovely Egyptian artefacts display of objects that the children have brought in. Sink and sink areas are a little untidy. Probably could benefit from new tables and tray holders
Year 4/5 – generally tidy. Desk could be tidier. Vibrant atmosphere.
Year 6 - very tidy and orderly. Colourful and vibrant displays. Children enthusiastic about their learning and work
What did we see / notice outside the school building
N/A
What did you see / notice about the children?
The children were all engaged in their learning. They were ‘on task’ and enthusiastic to show their work. All classes observed showed very good discipline. The children were polite and willing to share what they were doing. There was a feeling of well being and a sense that the children enjoyed coming to school
What did you notice about the teachers
Caring / friendly / enthusiastic / professional. It felt that the teachers genuinely cared for the welfare of all the children in their care
What did you hear in and outside of the school?
N/A


Reflecting on the walk.

You will need to provide your walkers with a way of reflecting on all their observations and a way of finding common threads, issues or questions. This is done as the walkers progress round the school in the corridor debrief and during the final debrief discussion. The lead walker takes responsibility for making sure that the observations are evidence based and for leading the final debrief.

Schools may find it useful to provide a framework for individuals to make sense of their observations before they begin the debrief discussion.

This suggested framework may be further developed by your school to fit the individual context of the school and/or learning focus. Each walker could take between five and ten minutes to reflect on the walk and to collate their observations before the final debrief. As well as allowing the walkers to make their own sense of the walk it also provides valuable written observations for the lead walker.

Recording Sheet for reflecting on the walk.

Look through your observation sheets and review your notes:

Things that I liked as I was walking around the school about the learning environment:

Mr. Andrew Jones ( Headteacher)

The reception is welcoming. The SDP on the wall shows all stakeholders where the school is going. Display boards could do with borders etc replaced.

Welcoming entrance, but welcome sign needs putting back to its original state

The school foyer is very welcoming and shows what we are about at Ysgol Derwenfa. It is currently tidy, but achievement books and photo album needs redisplaying

The resource room achieves its function. There does need to be regular checks of tidiness.

The AN library is fairly tidy, but children need reminding that books need to be replaced in the correct places to avoid sense of untidiness.

Year 4/5 classroom was a ‘hive of activity’. All the children were engaged in their learning and enthusiastic about the task they had been set. Teachers desk is cluttered and needs a tidy. Some borders on displays need replacing

Art cupboard is too small. Desperately in need of a good tidy

Year 6 area is generally tidy. The D&T and art displays need changing as they are displaying previous years work.

Year 6 classroom is very tidy and organised with colourful and vibrant displays. Very conducive to learning. The children were very enthusiastic to talk about their learning

Year 3 classroom could benefit from new tables and trays, as well as new sink area. Excellent display of Egyptian artefacts that the children have brought in from home and also made.

Junior cloakroom was generally tidy – some coats and bags on the floor. The mobile cloaks could do with being put back into the middle of the room to ensure more access to pegs. Boxes need repairing / revamping.

Infant corridor is tidy. The Eco schools board needs updating / replacing. The welsh board also needs bringing up to date. Ensure that the ICT Suite are tidied regularly as well as the library

Year 1 and 2 classroom has been adapted to meet the needs of the Foundation Phase for year 1 and 2 children. Very organised and tidy

Early year’s corridor is very cramped and could benefit from more pegs. Fantastic displays of a very high standard

Early year’s classroom/ area is fully equipped and furnished to deliver teh foundation Phase effectively. Very well organised and vibrant. Super Learning environment. Outside area fence could do with repainting

Staffroom is very small for the number of staff. Display boards could do with changing and updating

The school Hall is adequate for the number of pupils at Ysgol Derwenfa. New curtains, new concert curtains and a repaint have improved the look of the hall. Owing to lack of storage can appear ‘cluttered’