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Since March 23rd, schools have been closed to most pupils across the country due to being on lockdown. But that hasn’t stopped Ark Teacher Training (ATT) from continuing to support trainees and NQTs!

Trainees usually come together each week for their Professional Studies and Subject Studies sessions. Since it hasn’t been possible to meet in facilitation groups each week, ATT Tutors have been working hard to convert sessions to online modules that trainees can complete at home. Completing the modules virtually has allowed trainees to engage with more reading and really reflect on their professional development.

We know that classroom practice informed by the latest evidence and research really does make the difference with our pupils. One recent online module focussed on how to support pupils with Speech, Language and Communication Needs. Many of our trainees have found this especially useful and have begun thinking about how they can use it to make changes in their classrooms come September.

Joel, a science teacher at Ark Elvin Academy noted ‘I really enjoyed this session and it was super useful. I can now see more why students don’t engage with a keyword, as they can’t pronounce it, or understand its distinction from other words, or garner from my intonation that it was important. This is why we use certain vocab techniques, to support these pupils.’ Trainees have been receiving feedback from the ATT Professional Tutor and Subject Tutors and using this time to think about making changes they can make which will have the biggest impact on their pupils when we return to classrooms after lockdown.

Our NQTs have been reading articles about working memory and long-term memory. They have selected strategies such as using dual coding, creating quizzes using ‘spacing’ and ‘interleaving’ and creating cue cards to activate working memory. They have been looking to apply these into their lessons for next year as we know that they have a huge impact on how pupils retain information. This coming term they will present to their colleagues to share what they plan and what they hope the impact on pupil learning will be!

Pupils whose parents/carers are key workers are still attending school. Some of our trainees have been in school with those students making sure they are still receiving education that they need. The support doesn’t stop there! Our trainee teachers have also been supporting pupils at home by setting work online as well as phoning home to check in on the wellbeing of pupils and their families.

Among all this hard work by our teachers and tutors, we’re busy planning for our Summer School. We’re also still recruiting for teachers with assessment and interviews taking place online too. You can fulfil your potential while helping young people fulfil theirs, so if you are interested in joining our next cohort of trainee teachers, you can apply here.

Written by Gitanjali Bajaj, ATT Tutor