Armathwaite School is a valued community resource, it is the centre for learning within our community. I would like to share with you how many people from different backgrounds and generations are sharing positive approaches to learning with each other and how together we are creating a dynamic learning organisation.  It is a model of Community cohesion.

Excitingly, we are all communicating in a shared language of learning. Learning is what it is all about.

Together we are creating a professional learning community with a shared understanding of skills needed for the future and a shared set of values.
We have designed and implemented a personalised curriculum that has moved all our learning onto deeper, more profound levels.  We have moved from the shallow learning associated with the replication of knowledge, extrinsic reward and dependence to reflection, creativity, intrinsic reward and independence. 

This has involved a change of mind set. There is no longer a sense of  "doing to "- our focus is firmly on "working with" and this model of leadership applies to pupils, staff, parents and community. Whilst we recognise the need for knowledge it?s the process, the how of learning, the way we do it that is innovative. We work with our pupils as they gain independence and ownership of their learning.  As a school team we have designed a curriculum tailored to our pupil needs and interests.  Our leadership model encourages the flexibility, creativity and adaptability needed for the 21st Century and has resulted in engaged, motivated, reflective thinkers.

Remodelling our workforce has been instrumental in building a high performing team of professionals.
 Sharing and communicating the thinking behind our way of working has really engaged the support of parents, community and business. We have created a strong and pro active team around each child.

We believe that to be successful in the future our children need to be taught the skills that will support their learning in an ever changing world. Knowledge can be accessed easily through the internet.  Our pupils need to know how to learn so that they can access what they need to learn. We have defined these transportable skills for independent life long learning and we explicitly teach them throughout the 2 interdependent parts of our curriculum – teacher directed curriculum and child initiated independent learning. Time is planned each week for both. We integrate community expertise throughout.
We have analysed these learning skills and competences and we have organised them into 3 different strands. That is the skills for thinking – cognition, personal skills and interpersonal skills. We have broken down the component of each skill further into learning objectives which we integrate into our lesson planning. 
The examples here show how creative thinking is broken down into these areas. Within our next practice project we have focussed on the component of imagining the implications of ambiguous situations and we have worked in detail developing progression and assessment of the skills of visualisation, imagination and applied imagination in creative contexts.  Developing these skills has helped our pupils progress in may areas for example visualising numbers in mathematics, generating ideas for creative writing and imagining compositions in Art and Music.
In personal skills our focus has been on managing independent learning and we have done this within the child initiated independent learning part of our curriculum which I will explain in a moment.  Within interpersonal skills we have focussed on team working, time management and problem solving. We have given our pupils a bank of strategies to support this learning. Each week pupils identify a  learning component they wish to develop and they evaluate their success in a self managed assessment system.
Incorporating process learning skills objectives alongside our subject specific learning objectives has already had an immense impact on achievement. We are devising a progressive framework for assessment which is part teacher managed and part pupil managed.

Hearing 4, 5 and 6 year olds talk about resilience and resourcefulness and fully understanding and applying the meaning of these words makes you wonder just what they could be achieving when they are 14, 15 and 16.

Our specialist teaching assistant’s new role enables her to work with identified individuals and small groups progressing and assessing process learning skills. She is applying the same degree of structure and rigour to learning skill development as to reading skill development. Sharing a vocabulary of learning with all our pupils has had a massive impact on dispositions, attitudes and behaviour.

In the teacher directed curriculum we work on a cycle of acquire new skills, apply them in meaningful contexts and then evaluate and improve learning.
 An example from Design and Technology working in partnership with Bells of Lazonby, our local sandwich production factory involves pupils going out into the community to learn and the community coming into school to share their expertise. It demonstrates the teaching of process learning skills as well as subject specific learning objectives and exemplifies the high standards that can be achieved using this combination. It involves allowing pupils to make choices about their learning giving them a sense of ownership.
 Pupils involved are aged 6,7 and 8. They begin the project by researching sandwich components. To do this they evaluate different kinds of bread, they have great fun completing a spread discrimination test and they sample a range of bought sandwiches recording their findings in graphs, charts and tables. They then visit the local sandwich making factory to share their findings with Philip the MD. He talks to them in the board room about the importance of hygiene in production and about marketing. He tells them about the need to identify a target group for their sandwich designs and the need for a healthy balance of ingredients. He shows them round the factory and how the sandwiches are produced on a production line. Back at school the children apply this learning in their own individual projects. They design their sandwiches and plan for a run of 4 sandwiches each on the production lines (which is really a roll of wallpaper made into a loop around the tables) Shopping lists have to be created and working out how many slices of cucumber will be needed for a run or how many grams of spread will be needed is really purposeful mathematics. On the day of production the lines run in school  involving  great application of team working skills. Sandwiches are made, packaged and labelled with labels created in literacy lessons applying the use of very persuasive language! Philip the MD comes to school as quality control and he takes his role seriously!!

Child initiated independent learning involves children using and applying skills and subject knowledge, gained at school and home, in meaningful and purposeful, fantastic projects which they initiate and have complete ownership of.  It is a highly motivating and engaging part of each week. Within the cycle of plan, do and review children independently challenge themselves and have the scope to take their learning on to a much higher level. Our pupils use a progressive system for recording their plans and evaluating their skills and progress.  The projects can be anything at all.  Pupils have full control of this decision. The range is wide including a James Bond movie, an animal crazy club with club magazines and planned activities, a full wedding which included designing and making the bridal gown, planning guest lists, seating plans, present lists and even included an interview process for the role of the groom!! We have had bands with written music and posters to promote performance, dances, books and poems written and models made. The scope is endless and the learning opportunities are vast.
 In year 2 and 3 pupils use an adult model of planning and they plan and evaluate learning skill objectives as well as progress with their projects.

There are exciting, implications in our way of working for the changing role of the teacher. We have moved away from the teacher as the fount of all knowledge to expert and facilitator of learning - A more rather than less important role.
It’s a highly professional and creative role for the teacher which has huge implications for teacher training. We have created a curriculum which grows naturally from Foundation stage complimenting child development.

Within the Next practice project we have developed a Virtual Learning Environment. This is a fantastic resource that has taken our partnership with our community onto a new level. Our pupils already identify using the VLE as a strategy to support their learning throughout the teacher directed and child initiated curriculum.

Our Community Development Worker is doing a fantastic job as the broker between school and the community in developing this VLE.  This involves the creation and management of a data base of community skills for sharing, alongside an overview of a forum which facilitates the exchange of ideas and knowledge creating a positive access route to available social capital at mutually convenient times. 

The powerful message our pupils are getting is that learning happens all the time. There are no stereotypical views whether you are 3 or 93 you have expertise and you belong to a strong, caring and supportive community of lifelong learners.