The 2017 Let Teachers SHINE Winners!

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We’re delighted to announce this year’s Let Teachers SHINE winners. After receiving 147 applications from Teachers across the country, we’ve selected 10 projects that use innovative teaching strategies to help children from low income households reach their full potential. We’re looking forward to partnering with these Teachers as they pilot these exciting ideas in their respective schools.

Amy Hanna: Ark Academy, London

Grammar can affect children’s written communication, confidence and achievement across a range of subjects. Amy’s Miss Hanna Loves Grammar project will work with students from year 7 and 8, the large majority of whom have a reading age below their peers. The grant will allow Amy to create 150 engaging and age-appropriate YouTube videos, covering basic grammar rules. These videos will enable Amy to employ flipped learning techniques to create more opportunities for the deliberate practice of grammar.

Andrew Otty: Exeter College, Exeter

Andrew’s Write On! project aims to produce a bespoke English curriculum for post-16 GCSE learners with very low prior attainment. It will draw on a range of skills from a GCSE specialist, an experienced NEET Teacher, and vocational tutors to create an engaging, relevant, and accessible course. The focus will be on the support of written literacy, to enable accelerated progress in the written sections of GCSE exams.

Elizabeth Hope: Children’s Hospital School, Leicester

Currently there is little provision for enabling children staying in the hospital to have access to high quality science education. This grant will enable Elizabeth to develop Science at the Bedside, a comprehensive set of teaching resources for specialist and non-specialist staff, both at her own hospital and others around the country. These resources will enable children of all key stages and abilities to have access to practical, stimulating and engaging science lessons whilst in hospital.

Naomi Bedworth: St Mary’s College, Hull

Literacy Legacy Makers is a culture-based reading project, which aims to capitalise on Hull’s status as the 2017 UK City of Culture. It pairs the school’s lowest ability readers with literacy role models from key stage 5. Beneficiaries will receive an additional hour per week of dedicated reading time to improve attainment, build up confidence and encourage independent reading. If successful, the project could be extended into other schools within the local partnership or be replicated in other subjects, such as maths.

Nola Bennett and Martin Woods: Woodlands Meed School, Burgess Hill

Mainstream reading and writing assessment tests are not appropriate for Martin and Nola’s students, who have a range of Special Educational Needs. Martin and Nola will use the grant to undertake further research into creating reading and writing assessments for SEN learners that could be used by a range of schools in different contexts. These assessments will enable Teachers to benchmark pupils’ reading and writing abilities and find areas of strengths and weakness, so they can plan and deliver inclusive and differentiated lessons to suit students’ needs.

Peter Scutt: Holy Rood Primary School, Swindon

Peter’s Creative and Memorable Science project will support primary schools with the delivery of the new science curriculum that became statutory in 2014. Not only has the expectation of Teacher subject knowledge increased, but children are now expected to understand concepts that were previously taught in higher key stages. In the pilot year, Peter will support local Teachers to deliver hands-on, creative, memorable, and meaningful science lessons to inspire the next generation of scientists.

Rachel Wilkinson: Nunthorpe Academy, Middlesbrough

Rachel’s Our Story project will help students with weak literacy skills and Special Educational Needs. The children will study successful story books, and then experience being writers for a real audience. They will create a book drawing on their own experiences and the difficulties they are facing. This approach will help them practise their literacy skills, whilst also working through their emotions. The students will receive guidance from a publishing company, and will collaborate with a children’s illustrator to complete their book.

Sarah Shergill: Brackenbury Primary School, Brighton

Sarah’s Making Maths Heroes project will support children in Year 3 to retain their love of maths and to develop a positive mindset towards their learning. A specialist maths teacher will work with the students once a week, using a number of innovative teaching approaches to promote enjoyment of maths and to encourage risk-taking. Parents will also be involved throughout the project, encouraging a strong link between the parents and their child’s education.

Simon Cox: St Mary’s Catholic Academy, Blackpool

Simon will use his Let Teachers SHINE grant to develop and trial Steps to Success – a range of free, high-quality online maths teaching resources for key stage 3. His focus will be on achieving a deeper understanding and retention of mathematical concepts amongst his students. Simon will trial his resources with his own pupils, with a focus on those who are eligible for pupil premium, to help reduce the attainment gap between these students and their peers.

For more information about Let Teachers SHINE you can visit this page. If you’d like more information about the projects described or the Let Teachers SHINE programme, you can get in touch with us at teachers@shinetrust.org.uk.