Class Teaching

Blog of the week:

Really enjoyed this piece from @EfratFurst on how to effectively utilise prior knowledge to support learning.

Durrington Research School Resources:

One new entry from the Durrington Research School team this week:

Co-Director Ben Crockett discusses the perhaps slightly neglected recommendation 3 from the EEF Guidance Report on Effective Professional Development and explores how leaders can ensure a school environment which promotes professional improvement – click here to read the full blog.

We are delighted to say that Durrington High School has become a Steplab Hub School and we will be hosting a day to demonstrate how we have used Steplab systems to support our PD model. You can find out more about the day and how to sign up here.

Twilight Training:

We are currently finalising our training program for next year including our after-school webinars and twilight sessions. This year we are offering schools in our locality (West Sussex, East Sussex, Brighton & Hove) the opportunity to sign up for one twilight program and get attendance to a second one free of charge!!! We have already confirmed twilight programmes on topics including:

• From Inclusion to belonging: Creating schools where every student thrives
• Unlocking the Power of Oracy in Schools
• Breaking Barriers: Tackling Education Disadvantage for Lasting Change
• Adaptive Teaching – Every Learner, Every Lesson: Mastering Adaptive Teaching for Success

You can find out about all our confirmed twilight programmes and be the first to know of what other twilights we will be offering by following our social media page – just follow this link!

Other useful links:

Our colleagues at Town End Research School are running a free webinar on Thursday 11^th June on developing metacognitive talk in the classroom. You can find out more and sign up here.

Fiona Matthews explores how metacognition can support student thinking for English GCSE resits.

Simon Beale talks about crafting a vision as a department lead and avoiding becoming entrenched in a to-do list when thinking about what next year will look like in our department.

A great Clips from the classroom from Lancashire Research School on “Closing the word gap: opportunities for language learning”

Co-Headteacher, Shaun Allison, discusses the “hinterland” of teaching – those hard to measure things that the best teachers do that is beyond just what and how they teach, but “how they are”.

Blog of the week:

Kat Howard, echoes a lot of our thinking around quality assurance in subject areas, in this great piece on “Curriculum and Leadership: Who owns quality in subject?”.

Durrington Research School Resources:

Two entries from before the half term break from the Durrington Research School team this week.

Co-Director Ben Crockett has been reflecting on the risk of sunk cost fallacy and hwo to mitigate this when evaluating the important work of schools pupil premium strategies.

In this short blog we share some of the excellent examples of DHS staff taking this on board following department meetings to launch our teaching PIP around “means of participation”

We are delighted to say that Durrington High School has become a Steplab Hub School and we will be hosting a day to demonstrate how we have used Steplab systems to support our PD model. You can find out more about the day and how to sign up here.

Twilight Training:

We are currently finalising our training program for next year including our after-school webinars and twilight sessions. This year we are offering schools in our locality (West Sussex, East Sussex, Brighton & Hove) the opportunity to sign up for one twilight program and get attendance to a second one free of charge!!! Our first twilight program is on “Adaptive Teaching – Every Learner, Every Lesson” and is being led by Co-Director Ben Crockett. For more information includes time, dates and how to sign up please follow this link.

Other useful links:

Our colleagues at Town End Research School are running a free webinar on Thursday 11^th June on developing metacognitive talk in the classroom. You can find out more and sign up here.

Tom Sherrington has released a new series of Kitchen Pedagogy videos. While all great I particularly like the “What are your students thinking with?” which explores the problem of what is going on in the heads of students when they don’t know an answer but we ask them to think, and how can support better thinking when students don’t know.

Alex Quigley reflects on the KS3 RISE Alliance and its role in championing the importance of KS3 once again through a literacy lens and how this can “pave the way” for GCSE success. Read more here.

Jon Tait talks about how precision in instructions and timings given to students in the classroom can improve student productivity and immediacy of beginning work.

Durrington Research School Resources:

Two new entries for the Durrington Research School team this week.

Co-Director Ben Crockett has been reflecting on the risk of sunk cost fallacy and hwo to mitigate this when evaluating the important work of schools pupil premium strategies.

Last forntight, our Deputy-Director, Jody Chan, has been writing about the “what, why and how” of meaningful participation. This week we share some of the excellent examples of DHS staff taking this on board followig department meetings to lauch our teaching PIP around “means of participation”

Just a reminder as well if you haven’t had a chance to read these yet – DMAT Director of Primary Education Charles Lindsay makes his blogging debut with not one, but two great pieces around the trusts work on attendance. In his first blog Charles talks about the importance of attendance and how members of the trust are using research and data to inform their strategies to drive attendance. In his second blog Charles talks about the practical ways that school within the trust are acting on this evidence to tackle attendance.

We are delighted to say that Durrington High School has become a Steplab Hub School and we will be hosting a day to demonstrate how we have used Steplab systems to support our PD model. You can find out more about the day and how to sign up here.

Other useful links:

No blog of the week this time round but two great pieces for a bit of half term reading can be found below:

Dr Jennifer Barker (Ormiston Academies Trust) and Peps Mccrea (Steplab) explore the evidence behind several common SEN interventions in mainstream classrooms.

Deans for Impact have released an updated version with an updated research base to their Science of Learning resource.

This week at Durrington our curriculum leaders led our department SPDS with a focus on means of participation. Jody, our Deputy Director recently wrote about why focusing on means of participation is so important in this blog, so it was great to see this forming part of ongoing school wide approach to teaching. In SPDS staff were asked to think about upcoming lessons and then rehearse with colleagues the opportuntities within these lessons where they could be really precise about the means of participation expected from students. Below are just a few examples of the excellent practice we have seen around DHS since Monday’s meetings.

Emma Gover – Maths:

Really good means of participation. checking everyone’s understanding of pie charts and what equipment they will use before they start. I loved the cold calling and deliberate mistake they had to spot. You used the prompt everyone thinking perfectly here.

Buce Gurgen – Science

It was great to see you set really clear means of participation with Year 9. During the practical you stopped the class, ensured you had their full attention with hands free before explaining the next step in the practical. This helped to break a complex practical down into smaller steps.

Sara Gerlings – DT

All students were working on varnishing their blocks, you had given them clear instructions of what to do and were then circulating to support ensuring they were all on task.

Andy Tharby – English

Really clear means of participation meant that all students were working in silence, independently, having enough time for some deliberate practice.

Maddie Foster – English

You had good participation during MWB task when they described a section of the picture in a circle. I loved the level of challenge but also the means of participation – it must contain x,y,z.. making it clear how they needed to complete the task.

Megan Lamper – English

You were really clear in your instructions to your year 8 class and repeated to ensure all students were following ‘one sentence about….’ ‘on whiteboard’.
You used 3,2,1 when you wanted students to show their response and circulated assessing their work.

I am sure there are laods of great examples I have missed but as ever it is great to see how quickly all the DHS staff take on board our approaches and starting making them happen in the classroom.

Have a great haf term!

Whilst aimed at the Geography teachers amongst us – I think there is a lot that various subjects can take from this post by Mark Enser on “What kinds of questions does Geography need?” and as such it has gained Blog of the week status! Don’t be put off reading it if you are not a geography teacher – this blog has got me thinking about questioning across the school!

Durrington Research School Resources:

Just a reminder that there was deluge of blog from the Durrington team last week, with:

Co-Director Ben Crockett has been reflecting on the importance of reflection as a behaviour for implementation in this blog.

Our Deputy-Director, Jody Chan, has been writing about the “what, why and how” of meaningful participation.

DMAT Director of Primary Education Charles Lindsay makes his blogging debut with not one, but two great pieces around the trusts work on attendance. In his first blog Charles talks about the importance of attendance and how members of the trust are using research and data to inform their strategies to drive attendance. In his second blog Charles talks about the practical ways that school within the trust are acting on this evidence to tackle attendance.

We are delighted to say that Durrington High School has become a Steplab Hub School and we will be hosting a day to demonstrate how we have used Steplab systems to support our PD model. You can find out more about the day and how to sign up here.

Other useful links:

Primary Phase:

Katrina Di Girolami, Great North EYSPH Lead, explores how picture books can strengthen early mathematical learning by combining storytelling with engaging visuals.

Cross Phase:

The EEF has recently updated its Implementation Guidance landing page, making it much easier to navigate and focus in on different aspects of the process. Attached to each section of the guidance page are a series of blogs from across the research school that expand and exemplify the implementation process – 3 are from the Durrington Research School team!

An excellent post by David Didau from his series of “five principles” of various aspects of teaching and education. In this blog David discusses what he believes to be the 5 core principles of effective feedback.

Alex Quigley reflects on the successes we have had in closing the reading gap but also what work still needs to be done.

Secondary Phase

Great piece from Passmorespedagogy discussing curriculum design and the year 7 dip, with a focus on the importance of the transition between KS2 and KS3.

Blog of the week goes to this excellent post by Pamela Snow on the merits of cold calling – the whole piece is great but I particularly like this quote – “Above all, cold-calling is done to foster a climate of safety and trust in the classroom, because of its patterned routines and the way it normalises contributions from all students across the ability spectrum. It in fact gives the quieter, more reticent students a voice in the classroom that they may not otherwise have.”

Durrington Research School Resources:

It has been a busy week of blogging on at Durrington with 3 new pieces on our class teaching page.

Our Deputy-Director, Jody Chan, has been writing about the “what, why and how” of meaningful participation.

DMAT Director of Primary Education Charles Lindsay makes his blogging debut with not one, but two great pieces around the trusts work on attendance. In his first blog Charles talks about the importance of attendance and how members of the trust are using research and data to inform their strategies to drive attendance. In his second blog Charles talks about the practical ways that school within the trust are acting on this evidence to tackle attendance.

Co-Director Ben Crockett has been reflecting on the importance of relection as a behaviour for implementation in this blog.

We are delighted to say that Durrington High School has become a Steplab Hub School and we will be hosting a day to demonstrate how we have used Steplab systems to support our PD model. You can find out more about the day and how to sign up here.

The Research school network is collating various clips from the classroom to create store of videos explaining how to implement evidence informed practices. You can find the full collection via this link and our most recent one looking at the use of worked examples in maths to reduce cognitive load via this link.

Other useful links:

Cross Phase:

The EEF has recently updated its Implementation Guidance landing page, making it much easier to navigate and focus in on different aspects of the process. Attached to each section of the guidance page are a series of blogs from across the research school that expand and exemplify the implementation process – 3 are from the Durrington Research School team!

I found this short piece from Bron Ryrie Jones on the pitfalls of using success criteria really thought provoking.

Joel Kenyon reflects on how he has been trying to move away from powepoints as part of his recent series on lesson planning. This is not to say that I think we should all get rid of our powerpoints (and Joel definitely does not advocate for this) but I like the simplicity with which Joel’s new approach allows him to keep the main learning of the lesson at the forefront of everything he does.

The ‘What’ of Means of Participation

At Durrington High School we have 15 Teaching ‘Principles in Practice’ Guidance Cards. The Principles in Practice (PiPs) are a series of teaching routines that support, and do not replace, the delivery of rich subject-specific pedagogy. We will soon be turning our whole-school focus onto ‘meaningful participation’. Put simply, this is about clearly communicating, without ambiguity, exactly what we want pupils to do. This means explaining what task they are completing and how. This requires us to clarify whether they are working in silence, whether they are answering in their books or on mini-whiteboards, how long they have to complete the task, whether they are using their notes, etc. To do this successfully requires us to have clarity ourselves about how we want it completed.

The ‘Why’ of Means of Participation

It seems so obvious, doesn’t it?! Of course we need to do this, but how many times have you clearly explained what you want students to be doing, only to get a hand up asking, ‘What are we doing, Miss?’ or ‘Where am I writing this?’ or ‘How do I start?’ I am sure we have all experienced giving instructions and then, when you set students off, having to stop the class and re-explain what they are doing or how they are doing it because many have not understood. By giving really clear instructions the first time, there is less wasted time in a lesson. Time is so precious in a content-heavy curriculum that often every second of a lesson counts.

Giving the instructions, followed by a prompt such as ‘Pens in hands, go’, and checking all have followed the instruction means that everyone is ready to start the task at the same time. It is so frustrating if some students have completed the task whilst others are still getting their pen out or trying to find their calculator. This means that we can inadvertently widen gaps in understanding, as those who are slow to start the task will be unlikely to finish it in the allotted time. It is also possible (and often likely) that these are the same students each time who are slowest to start or who did not fully listen to or understand the instructions the first time. Therefore, they frequently do not finish the task in time and keep missing out on opportunities for deliberate practice and feedback. It can also give rise to unnecessary behavioural issues, as those who have completed the task have to wait for others to catch up, which can lead them to start chatting to others in the class.

The ‘How’ of Means of Participation

Firstly, think about how you want the task carried out. As mentioned before, think about whether you want it done in silence, whether they can look at notes, whether it is group work, how many are in a group, who is in the group, how they are collecting their equipment for a practical, and so on. Pre-planning this in advance gives you clarity, which you can then share with the class. Pre-plan your instructions and then break the procedure into manageable chunks. Be really specific, for example: ‘You are doing this in silence, in your books, without looking at your notes. You have five minutes.’ Or, ‘You need to start by working out… followed by… You must use a ruler.’ Or, ‘You are starting by drawing…’

Make sure you have the full attention of everyone in the class, especially those who most often ask ‘What are we doing?’ or are always last to start working. I always stand in the same place when I give my instructions; it is my cue that they need to be listening. I do a countdown, pause, check for full attention, then give my clear instructions with actions and outcomes.

The part of means of participation that cannot be overstressed is checking understanding before starting them off. Check with more than one student to repeat back your instructions. I will often check with up to three students, either getting them to each tell me what they are doing or to give the next instruction following on from what the previous student said. This keeps them all on their toes and shows them they all need to be listening. It is so easy to assume pupils have understood or been listening, but it is vital to check. If you took a minute to give the instructions and a student zoned out for that minute, then they have missed your instructions. Whilst it may seem like it will waste lesson time asking several students to repeat your instructions, it will mean your lessons go more smoothly. The more students get used to having to be ready to repeat your instructions to the class, the more they will listen the first time you give them. Once this has all been done, give them a clear signal to start.

The beauty of Means of Participation is that it is important in whichever subject or key stage you are teaching; it is equally important in KS1 PE as it is in a Year 11 drama or maths lesson.

Deputy Director Durrington Research School

Jody Chan

While our strategic direction is clear, the real impact of attendance improvement lies in everyday practice. Across DMAT, schools are translating insight into action in ways that are relational, timely and firmly grounded in the needs of pupils and families. In my last blog I talked about the theory behind our work to improve attendance – in this blog I look at some of the practical strategies being implemented by our schools.

Early Intervention That Makes a Difference

At Ringmer Primary School, leaders identified a small group of disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils whose attendance was causing concern. Rather than relying on letters or delayed meetings, the school trialled a simple but powerful approach: same‑day phone calls from class teachers as soon as an absence was identified.

Supported by a clear script that balanced reassurance, relationship‑building and expectation, teachers were released during assembly or the first lesson, with senior leaders covering classes. This sent a clear message that attendance is a leadership priority.

The impact was immediate:

• shorter absence episodes
• reduced multi‑day absences
• improved overall attendance for targeted pupils
• stronger home–school relationships
• more precisely targeted support

This practice has since informed wider trust discussion about how early, personal contact can transform attendance from a retrospective issue into an opportunity for support.

Learning Across Phases

Trust‑wide dialogue has enabled schools to learn openly from one another – across both primary and secondary phases.

At Durrington High School, the STREAKS approach has successfully tapped into pupil culture by celebrating continuous attendance over time, rather than focusing solely on isolated rewards. This has strengthened engagement and reinforced attendance as something to be proud of.

Primary leaders have been keen to adapt this thinking, trialling age‑appropriate versions that still emphasise routine, belonging and consistency. This willingness to adapt rather than adopt wholesale reflects a growing maturity across the trust.

STREAKS as Part of a Wider System

At Durrington High School, STREAKS sits within a carefully structured, relational and data‑informed system. Central to this is the Daily Durrington Attendance Tracker (DDAT), providing all staff with a shared, live picture of attendance, including current attendance percentages.

Particular attention is given to pupils in the 91–87% range – a group which evidence suggests often responds most effectively to timely intervention. Pupils are supported through three strands:

• STREAKS, focusing on sustained attendance and visible recognition
• Check‑ins, offering relational, non‑competitive support
• Meetings, providing structured, solution‑focused conversations with families

This flexible approach ensures high expectations are balanced with genuine care, and that support is adapted to individual need.

Building Expertise Through Professional Learning

Professional learning has underpinned all of this work. Through RISE seminars and trust‑wide discussion, leaders and attendance teams have strengthened systems, clarified roles and embedded approaches that are sustainable rather than reactive.

Attendance is increasingly understood as everyone’s responsibility – from senior leaders to classroom staff – supporting cultures where care and challenge coexist.

Early Impact

While this work is ongoing, there are already clear signs of impact across DMAT:

• strengthened attendance evidence and inspection readiness
• improved collaboration with Local Authority SEN and Inclusion teams
• earlier, more proactive responses to absence
• sharper focus on punctuality and learning time
• attendance featuring more prominently in safeguarding and inclusion conversations

By Charles Lindsay

DMAT Director of Primary Education

Attendance That Changes Lives

At DMAT, we believe that attendance is about far more than simply being present in school. Every day matters because every day shapes children’s life chances. Our shared moral purpose is clear: ensuring that every child – particularly our most vulnerable – feels supported, included and able to thrive.

As a research‑informed and forward‑thinking trust, we continually ask ourselves: What’s working? What’s making the biggest difference for children? And what can we learn from one another? Attendance has become one of the most powerful examples of how this reflective mindset is driving improvement across our schools.

Recent Ofsted framework updates, particularly around Behaviour and Attendance, have provided clarity and focus. Rather than viewing inspection feedback as an endpoint, DMAT schools have used it as a springboard for discussion, collaboration and improvement. This has led to a sharper, more connected approach to attendance, grounded in evidence, professional dialogue and a strong belief that improvement is always possible.

Attendance as a Collective Responsibility

Across the trust, attendance is inseparable from conversations about equity, safeguarding, inclusion and long‑term outcomes for pupils. It is no longer seen as the responsibility of an individual, but as a collective priority.

Our involvement in the DfE’s RISE Attendance and Behaviour Hub has strengthened this approach. Through RISE visits, seminars and peer support, leaders and attendance teams have been able to:

• share effective practice
• reflect honestly on challenges
• explore research‑informed strategies
• identify practical actions that make a tangible difference

Importantly, this work has shifted the perception of attendance from something done to schools, to something owned together across the trust.

Using Data Intelligently – for Children, Not Reports

Attendance data only adds value when it leads to better decisions for pupils. While schools have always had access to data, the real change across DMAT has been in how intelligently and purposefully it is used.

Tools such as View Your Education Data (VYED) and Monitor Your School Attendance now enable schools and trust leaders to work with live information. This has moved conversations away from retrospective reporting and towards timely, proactive intervention.

Schools now routinely explore attendance patterns for different groups, including:

• pupils with SEND
• pupils eligible for Pupil Premium
• pupils with English as an Additional Language

Refining datasets – for example, focusing on current pupils, separating leavers and removing nursery data where appropriate – has brought greater clarity and sharper decision‑making, particularly for vulnerable groups.

From Insight to Action

To support consistent, meaningful dialogue, DMAT has introduced a one‑page “Attendance Summary” for each school. These live documents bring together:

• current attendance and persistent absence figures
• year‑on‑year trends
• clear breakdowns of vulnerable groups
• an honest narrative of actions where performance is not yet strong

Crucially, these summaries are developed with schools rather than for them. They promote shared ownership, professional trust and collective accountability – and they ensure that effective strategies are quickly shared across the trust.

Looking Ahead

Improving attendance, particularly for vulnerable pupils, is complex and ongoing work. However, the progress being made across DMAT shows what is possible when high expectations, strong collaboration and research‑informed practice come together.

By continuing to learn from one another, sharing what works and keeping children’s life chances firmly at the centre of our work, DMAT remains committed to ensuring that every day in school truly counts.

This blog is the first in a two-part series on our work as a trust tackling attendance, with the second one looking at the practical strategies schools across the trust have been implementing in regards to attendance.

By Charles Lindsay

DMAT Director of Primary Education

Blog of the week

Mark Enser talks about the potential pitfalls of guided practice in this piece entitled “I Do, We Do, You Do – Or Do We?”, focusing on how often the “we do” part can run the risk of just becoming a second model rather than a collaborative process.

Durrington Research School Resources:

There are two entries from the Durrington team:

1. Our Co-Director, James Crane. Shares some guided practice brightspots he has seen from around Durrington and one from his time doing a triad visit at Dorothy Stringer as part of out Brighton Project.
2. Our other Co-Director, Ben Crockett, reflects on some recent work he has been doing as part of our partnership with the Ogden Trust looking at how you can utilise the explore tool and implementation framework to ensure enrichment is purposeful.

We are delighted to say that Durrington High School has become a Steplab Hub School and we will be hosting a day to demonstrate how we have used Steplab systems to support our PD model. You can find out more about the day and how to sign up here.

The Research school network is collating various clips from the classroom to create store of videos explaining how to implement evidence informed practices. You can find the full collection via this link and our most recent one looking at the use of worked examples in maths to reduce cognitive load via this link.

Other useful links:

Cross Phase:

The Finish Line Fallacy – Jamie Clark adds another item to his collection on poor proxies for learning based on the work of Professor Robert Coe.

Inner Drive have produced this really insightful piece of analysis into over 400 OFSTED reports on curriculum and teaching to identify common threads and patterns.

One from a little while back but popped up on my feed again; Alex Quigley talks about how need to make teaching inclusive by design rather than by accident.

The FFT Education Datalab reviews the data on the transition from year 6 to year 7 for SEN students.

Secondary Specific:

The EEF have recently released a summary of research into the impact of setting vs mixed attainment class teaching for year 7 and 8 pupils in maths, providing updated data to the thinking around setting in maths.