THE SUTTON TRUST REPORT

“The use of teaching assistants has been shown to have very little impact on pupil attainment...”

TA’S: EQUAL AND CRUCIAL PRACTITIONERS

Robert Stafford-WilliamsWoodside High School

QUALITIES FOR TAS TO ENSURE THEY ARE EQUAL AND CRUCIAL

PRACTITIONERS

TAs:Highly educated, highly skilled graduates

Use of TAs is constructive, focused and creatively applied.

Teaching assistants at Woodside are key members of staff. We put work in to ensure their ability in key areas of student achievement such as:

Increasing baseline attainment, regardless of any students learning needs

Developing whole school initiatives in the form of school projects and extracurricular activities

Providing pastoral support to handle any issues developing that may hinder student progress

TEACHING ASSISTANT STRUCTURE

Lead TA

Teaching Assistants

Higher Level

Teaching Assistants

TA COMMUNICATION FLOW

Lead TA

Teaching Assistants

Higher Level

Teaching Assistants

Teachers

Q: In what ways does your school make use of Teaching Assistants to address students

issues with specific subjects or specific learning needs?

RAISING ATTAINMENT

Boosters based on subject specialism; science boosters/ exam practise, foundation maths skills support

Boosters based on learning needs; LUCID Exact screen for comprehension and language needs, and then progress onto: phonics software for language; TAs with experience and strong

rapport to handle behaviour as some students start off rejecting such foundation level exercises.

comprehension classes with English specialists for comprehension needs.

Re-screen! TAs trained to go through results. Important career development opportunity: TAs learn about

screening processes and specific areas of learning need. The school benefits from this increased knowledge base.

Year 11 coursework intervention:

A common practise in schools but a very important one. The focus in Woodside is on highly skilled and educated TAs providing specialist support

For example... Bilal Din, Year 11 Stargardt Disease; visual impairment to the point of near blindness. A contingent of the Teaching Assistant team are specially assigned

to support Bilal’s access to the work. This has been actioned in several ways The production of high quality MP3 audio files

The graphic re-production of exam paper images to ensure that the blown up image has a high enough resolution for his very limited eyesight.

The school have provided an iPad to assist him in his studies; allowing document navigation, audio file use, Dropbox app use. Independent access, independent revision, independent learning

This is on top of the one-to-one coursework support where TAs talk through the assignment and allow him to vocally form his coursework; indirect practise of exam format.

The results of this support:

FROM: C/D average at the start of year 10 across all

subjects

TO: A* in Applied Business controlled Assessment

and on track to get at least an A On the A/B borderline for Maths, Science and

English and All his other subjects

The effect of highly skilled and highly educated TAs!

“Effective feedback has the most impact on pupil progress...can increase a child’s

progress by up to 9 months”

EFFECTIVE FEEDBACK Teaching Assistant receive training on

providing effective feedback to students from Woodside’s AST

TAs give feedback written in books or in post-it note form Feedback relates to levels/grade of knowledge

they are working on, and need to work towards Feedback based on particular issues specific

students have so they are aware of progress

Q: In what ways does your school raise the profile of Teaching Assistants?

RAISING THE PROFILE OF TAS

The TA’s at Woodside are held to maintain a high standard and maintain a professional image.

Termly Observation cycles Knowledge of student’s needs Knowledge of class attainment Ability to apply this knowledge to effectively

support and improve the students outcomes Ensure outstanding quality of support alongside

outstanding teaching Coaching opportunity to develop and maintain the

standards of TAs whether they are new or experienced.

Added benefit: period of focus for Teachers and TAs to jointly develop their practise

Creation and contribution to Target/Strategy Documents for individual students

Learning passports Benefit from TAs close

working relationship with the students

Experience with whatworks... And what doesn’t!

Used by all teaching staff, unlike old IEPs which ended up complicated and impersonal.

These strategies and further techniques used by teaching staff and those with pastoral

roles are shared by TAs in short mini-presentations after briefing to all teaching

staff

TAs can go on to closely monitor how these (and any) new strategies and forms of

differentiation are allowing independent access. No loss of teacher contact with any

students.

Q: What Pastoral roles do your TAs take on in school.

PASTORAL ROLES Co-tutors;

in a position to closely monitor attendance and punctuality alongside close classroom performance.

Catching issues, forwarding concerns (head of year , child protection staff)

Key worker; under development Strong knowledge of attainment, strategies and

progress for key students Contact point for parents or teachers

Q: What whole school initiatives do you involve your TAs in

WHOLE SCHOOL INITIATIVES

Separate educational projects; bursaries applied for such as our maths project some students come into our school without primary

school level maths skills; bursary funded for visual aids and maniplulatives (cards, counters, “pretend cash and change”)

Sports coaching; Those who have proven their professinalism and have

a balanced attitude to education and sport additional training to develop our young football teams

going with them to fixtures to maintain consistent support which helps forge productive attitudes.

Raising attainment Effective feedback Needs based interventions provided by well trained TAs Skilled development of resources for Tas

Raising profile Observation cycles to ensure quality Involvement in strategy development

Pastoral support Co-tutors; link classroom support to attendance to ensure well being Key workers; point of contact and champion for individuals

Whole school initiatives Educational project opportunities; attaining funding and resources Sports involvement Professional development opportunities; previous TAs Teachers, HOY

Make use of, and invest in developing their skills to have a team of highly qualified and talented teaching assistants

Make use of the close working relationships with students to ensure TAs are raising attainment and ensuring that children are achieving the outcomes they aspire to.