In this post I thought it might be useful to share some of the start-of-year routines and initiatives that we have in place in my department - feel free to borrow anything that you find useful.
1. Classroom Routines
It's important to set behaviour expectations at the start of the year with every class, not just with new Year 7s. Everyone in my team goes through their own classroom routines and rules in their first lessons. Sometimes routines might take a bit of practice - for example, to ensure books are always handed in and out with maximum efficiency.
Starting this year, the slide below is displayed in every classroom while students pack up. This will be done all year round, so it becomes a standard part of every maths lesson. I spotted a similar slide in my daughter's RS lessons (thank you @MrC_Educate!) and adapted it for maths. After a while the words can be removed, and eventually everything will be so embedded that students won't even have to look at the slide, they will just know the expectations. For now, I'm finding it really helpful - it reminds me to check their uniform before they leave my room. I'm also getting more thank yous than I used to!
2. Corridor Etiquette
The layout of our maths department (a relatively narrow corridor with classrooms on both sides) means that we have to keep on top of things in the corridor to ensure it flows well in lesson changeovers. This year I have introduced the poster below. I decided to wait a couple of weeks to launch this because students already experience information overload at the start of the year. Next week we will talk through it in our maths lessons, and following that we will put these posters up in the corridor and by our classroom doors. Obviously the posters alone won't make a difference - staff will need to work together to help ensure that students do the right thing - but I think written reminders of what we want to achieve is helpful for everyone.
3. Launching Homework Platforms
This seems like an obvious thing to say, but I know that many schools don't do it: I think it's vital to relaunch your homework platform every year. We use Sparx, but the same goes for all online platforms, in all subjects: it's not going to be used well if you don't tell students how to use it.
For Year 7 we do a full lesson launching Sparx. We enthusiastically talk them through how it works and why it matters, we show them videos, and we do a live demo (because the whole department launches Sparx with all classes on the same day, it's not possible for us to take them to computer rooms). For Year 8 - 11, we remind them of how to log in, remind them how to get the best out of the platform, and tell them what has changed from last year. Sparx has made some excellent updates over summer which we were excited to share with students last week, plus we have switched on parent emails for the first time.
4. Student Support
I've blogged before about the student support we offer so I won't go into detail here, but I will describe how we launch our offer. Everything starts next week - we are hopeful for a similar turnout to last year, when we regularly had over one hundred Year 11s at Papers Society.
5. Communication
Last week I wrote to all parents in Key Stage 3 and 4 (I do this every year), and for the first time I also wrote to Year 12 parents. Admittedly these letters are rather long so I know that some parents won't read them, but I do always get some parents thanking me for providing the information upfront so I think they are worth sending. The letters cover all the frequently asked questions - e.g. on UKMT challenges, setting, equipment, homework and so on, which will (hopefully) reduce workload for my team throughout the year because teachers won't get individual emails from parents asking about these things.
Everything mentioned in this blog post can be downloaded here - feel free to borrow and adapt! Hope this helps.
2. Corridor Etiquette
The layout of our maths department (a relatively narrow corridor with classrooms on both sides) means that we have to keep on top of things in the corridor to ensure it flows well in lesson changeovers. This year I have introduced the poster below. I decided to wait a couple of weeks to launch this because students already experience information overload at the start of the year. Next week we will talk through it in our maths lessons, and following that we will put these posters up in the corridor and by our classroom doors. Obviously the posters alone won't make a difference - staff will need to work together to help ensure that students do the right thing - but I think written reminders of what we want to achieve is helpful for everyone.
This seems like an obvious thing to say, but I know that many schools don't do it: I think it's vital to relaunch your homework platform every year. We use Sparx, but the same goes for all online platforms, in all subjects: it's not going to be used well if you don't tell students how to use it.
For Year 7 we do a full lesson launching Sparx. We enthusiastically talk them through how it works and why it matters, we show them videos, and we do a live demo (because the whole department launches Sparx with all classes on the same day, it's not possible for us to take them to computer rooms). For Year 8 - 11, we remind them of how to log in, remind them how to get the best out of the platform, and tell them what has changed from last year. Sparx has made some excellent updates over summer which we were excited to share with students last week, plus we have switched on parent emails for the first time.
I've blogged before about the student support we offer so I won't go into detail here, but I will describe how we launch our offer. Everything starts next week - we are hopeful for a similar turnout to last year, when we regularly had over one hundred Year 11s at Papers Society.
- Posters are put up in the maths corridor and classrooms
- Maths teachers are given slides to show in lessons in the week leading up to the launch
- The same slides are put into tutor time notices, and shown on the display screens around school
- Parents are informed in a letter home (see below)
- I tell Year 11 parents in person during my presentation at Raising Achievement Evening
- Throughout the year, teachers routinely remind students of what's on offer and encourage attendance
5. Communication
Last week I wrote to all parents in Key Stage 3 and 4 (I do this every year), and for the first time I also wrote to Year 12 parents. Admittedly these letters are rather long so I know that some parents won't read them, but I do always get some parents thanking me for providing the information upfront so I think they are worth sending. The letters cover all the frequently asked questions - e.g. on UKMT challenges, setting, equipment, homework and so on, which will (hopefully) reduce workload for my team throughout the year because teachers won't get individual emails from parents asking about these things.
Everything mentioned in this blog post can be downloaded here - feel free to borrow and adapt! Hope this helps.
