Case Study
How facilitation helps schools take the lead
Ripley St Thomas Academy shares how hosting of the ITP and OTP is broadening knowledge and experience of Teaching & Learning for all.
Ripley St Thomas became an OLEVI facilitation school in April 2012. Key to the success of the programmes at Ripley is the support of the Headteacher, Liz Nicholls, who says that the programmes have helped contribute towards the development of their ‘open door’ culture.
‘Teachers are keen to have delegates come to their lessons as they have a sense of pride about what they do and value the feedback about their lessons. All teachers who join the school are awarded a place on the ITP, which has become a ‘rite of passage’ in the school. This ensures that teachers have a shared language with which to discuss teaching and learning.”
The school has gone on to develop a model of hosting the ITP and OTP which is proving to be very effective. Lead Facilitator, Caroline Stride, shares how their approach benefits delegates, facilitator and host school alike.
“We have started hosting the programme in two schools each time. For instance, our current OTP was hosted in two very different secondary schools thus giving the delegates two very different experiences. For our next OTP and ITPs we will be running one session each from a primary school, again to broaden the experience and giving our participants a greater chance to see different teaching and methodology in a different setting. Adopting this approach has meant that we are able to use classes from KS1 right through to KS5 for ward rounds and lesson observations.
Our model is being greatly appreciated and is having a broader impact on the engagement of individuals to develop their capacity to develop teaching and learning beyond their classroom.”