Partnership Pupil Free Days

The Department for Education provide schools with 2 Partnership pupil free days for professional learning related to Learning Design, Assessment & Moderation (LDAM). A big part of this strategy is based on Dylan Wiliam’s 5 areas of Formative Assessment, which are pictured in the table.

As educators we understand that we never to stop learning. This is not something we just teach our students, but something we model with our own professional learning each year. Teachers strive to be the best educators that they can be, for themselves as lifelong learners, and for students we teach. Our staff meetings, partnership meetings and Partnership pupil free days are a big part of this professional learning.

Our first whole partnership pupil free day this year is on the first day of term 2 and the teachers from across all 5 primary schools in the Holdfast Partnership will be exploring the best strategies for teachers to share learning intentions with their students. This is to ensure that students know what they are learning and why, what the expectations are and how to get there. Teachers will also be further developing checking for understanding strategies to monitor progress and inform the next teaching steps. Formative assessment is assessment for learning, which is assessment that informs the teacher regarding each student’s ongoing learning. Teachers will continue to develop their practice in these areas throughout the year, to gather evidence and moderate work samples, as they work together in professional learning teams across the partnership.

Charlene McGrath

Senior Leader Learning Improvement Primary (SLLIP), Holdfast Partnership