Educational Investigation (a primary school situated in the diverse and central part of Hackney) - Essay Example

Educational Investigation Introduction The educational which will be investigated in this section is a primary school situated in the diverse and central part of Hackney. The school is a group of friendly and caring team members who are welcoming the diverse community and promote community involvement in order to motivate learning. It is a primary school so the students enter in the early years and then study till year 6. There are staff members who nurture and teach the students in a friendly and cooperative manner keeping a healthy and positive atmosphere in the school. The aim of the school is to enable children to become happy, confident, and creative learners and citizens who respect the diversity of the community and develop a friendly and understanding personality towards others. This is one of the most important aspects of an educational institution in a multicultural society that the students are taught the value and importance of a diversified culture (May, 2005, p. 42). It is serving as one of those educational institutions in Britain that meet the needs of the diversified society and welcomes all types of students. A school curriculum is the set of planned activities and objectives that the school prepares at the beginning of every academic year to ensure that the teachers, parents, and students know their progress and their anticipated learning outcomes (White, 2004, p. 16). This school has designed the curriculum which supports the progress and attainment of the student’s speaking and listening skills, reading and writing skills, mathematics skills, and develops a rich model which encompasses science, arts, computers, humanities, physical exercise, wellbeing, and citizenship. The daily timetable is designed according to the curriculum and it supports the focus on vital skills of the student with morning sessions to theoretical approaches in classrooms. In the afternoon, the students are given a cross curricular approach in which they chose a theme or topic to explore. With the teacher’s guidance and assistance, the students are encouraged to link subjects to the theme as much as possible and through this the subjects are taught tastefully. According to the OFSTED report which was last produced in 2012 for this school, the school had a good performance which was improved from the previous report which showed satisfactory performance. The most significant element about this school is that it is continuously improving. It is a good school according to the report and it is making efforts to be better and serve the community in a more productive manner. According to the report, the school is overall improving greatly in managers, teachers, governors, staff members and leaders who are all working hard in order to give the best quality education to the students and enhance their personality as a whole. Another significant element according to the report is that the school provides interesting learning ways and prepares useful visits for them to adopt a creative mode of learning. The school teachers have been trained to improve the understanding of the students through activities and interesting visits. Educational institutions especially at primary level must ensure that the students are given creative styles of learning and activity-based lessons as they are more helpful and interesting for the students (Woods, 2009, p. 53). Students learn much faster through activities and creative techniques rather than from fully theoretical approaches (Wilson, 2009, p. 23). The school also has a high attendance rate which is observed in the report showing that students are motivated to come to school. The senior students are eager and keen to help the younger ones by hearing them when they read or taking care of each other in break times. Social bonding between the students is important to create a healthy and positive school environment (Webb, 2006, p. 57). Teachers have been well trained by the school leaders to promote helpful and friendly behaviors amongst students (Dean, 2013, p. 3). School leaders provide the teachers with training and guideline sessions followed by checks on them to ensure that they are showing sustaining improvements. There are also some negative aspects marked in the report which restrain the school form becoming an outstanding one. There are newly appointed teachers which tend to fail to stand upon the aims and quality standards imposed by the school management. This affects the learning process of the students. New teachers often take time to settle in schools but this process affects the learning of the students adversely (Johnston, 2007, p. 68). It has also been observed that the teachers, at times, take more time to explain a single topic to the students which makes the whole process of learning slow. There is also a lesser focus on the handwriting improvement of students. This must be a part of the school agenda as it promotes a neat and fluent style of writing since an early age (Adekola, 2007, p. 21). The school has taken various steps in order to improve its performance. There is a new teaching approach which has been introduced focusing on the writing of the students. Children are encouraged to write and their work is displayed around the school motivating them to write, read, and improve them. The school is also looking for ways to improve the curriculum stimulating a model which would keep the parents and teachers posted with the successful progress. The websites are often used as important tools for schools to coordinate with parents (James, 2006, p. 65). The school is enhancing their website in order to provide the parents with a more updated and clear look at the information about each subject. There are a number of approaches which are adopted by the school to improve their position including training teachers regularly, introducing daily reading, encouraging writing at all levels, and using a systematic approach for mathematical skills. The continuous improvement shows that the school is on a good pace moving forward by every step. The school leaders, teachers, managers, governors, and staff members are who make the school successful (Grafmuller, 2009, p. 66). The whole team is motivated in making this school an outstanding school recognized by the OFSTED report. But overall the school has many significant positive aspects. References Adekola, O. 2007. Language, Literacy, and Learning in Primary Schools. USA:World Bank Publications Dean, J. 2013. The Effective Primary School Classroom: The Essential Guide for New Teachers. UK: Routledge Grafmulle,r K. 2009. The Genesis of the British Education System. UK: GRIN Verlag James, C. 2006. How Very Effective Primary Schools Work. UK: Pine Forge Press Johnston, J. (2007. Developing Teaching Skills in the Primary School. UK: McGraw-Hill International May, S. 2005. Critical Multiculturalism: Rethinking multicultural and antiracist education. UK: Routledge Webb, R. 2006. Changing Teaching and Learning in the Primary School. UK: McGraw-Hill International White, J. 2004. Rethinking the School Curriculum: Values, Aims, and Purposes. USA: Psychology Press Wilson, A. 2009. Creativity in Primary Education. UK: SAGE Woods, P. 2009. Creative Learning in the Primary School. UK: Routledge Read More