The school is looking to support moves to personalise education over the next few years and in preparation for transforming learning in the new build so that more students gain more benefit from their time in school. The phrase was coined by David Milliband when he was Education Minister (in December 2004) and he offered a view that: 'Personalised learning demands that every aspect of teaching and support is designed around a pupil's needs.'

The term personalising learning is intended to convey a process or journey of refinement for schools and teachers; seeking to improve teaching and learning, guided by students and working in collaboration with other teachers. The intention is to make small but significant changes to practice so that teachers can meet more of the needs of more students more fully than in the past. Utilising ICT enables personalisation for more students, in ways that have not been possible before.

Aims
Responding to the challenge of developing education for the future, utilising all the opportunities that communication allows, when learning has been successfully personalised students show:
. engagement in their learning
. responsibility for their learning and good behaviour
. independence in learning, with student control over aspects of learning
. confidence in their own abilities, with high self-esteem and well developed social skills
. maturity in relationships and mutual respect with staff and among peers
. co-construction by students and staff of the design of teaching and learning.

Nine gateways
were identified by David Hargreaves and others working to improve learning in schools over time:
1. incorporating student voice
2. embedding assessment for learning
3. developing learning to learn strategies
4. fully utilising new technologies
5. offering a good choice of curriculum pathways
6. routinely advising and guiding students through effective support structures
7. workforce development
8. mentoring and coaching
9. the organisation and design of the school.

The school is working towards changes to both the existing school and the new build with aspirations towards far greater personalisation.

1. Student voice
There are generally very positive relations between students and staff at the school with considerable co-respect. We are looking to develop consultation so that students have a purposeful say in how the school is run and develops, engaging them in decisions about the school community and in the organisation of lessons. At best we anticipate that such discussions will be an effective way to help transform teaching and learning and wider school provision, through the co-construction of learning.

Student voice includes and may include:

Student consultation
. Student leadership groups for various activities
. Student council(s) (attended by a member of the leadership team)
. Student focus/action groups
. Possible student involvement in teacher selection processes
. Possible student governors
. Youth parliament involvement

Input into teaching and learning
. Discussions about teaching in departments
. Student focused websites
. Student devised revision materials
. Student researchers
. Possible student lesson observations
. Curriculum co-construction
. Discussions with gifted and talented students
. Student ICT helpers

Mutual support
. Peer mentoring
. Student trainers
. Peer counseling
. Possible student mediation
. Articles written for the school website/blog

The school is exploring the potential to more fully engage students in aspects of school life and to involve them at the heart of the learning community.

2. Assessment for learning
Traditional assessment methods (summative assessments of learning) gave some picture of the stage of a student's understanding. Assessment for learning gives priority to the learning process (formative assessment) and involves giving feedback to students on how they can improve their work in the future and encourages students to follow the guidance given.

Assessment for learning can be implemented through a number of approaches. One method is to change the way that questions are asked in lessons by allowing greater thinking time and framing more open questions. An alternative is to encourage students to pay more attention to the comments teachers make in books by, for example, removing marks and grades altogether. Progress can also be made on the assessment for learning gateway through the use of student self-assessment; this often builds on prior work in the area of peer assessment.

Assessment for learning encourages students to consider more carefully the learning objectives and outcomes of each lesson and assessment task. In this way students become more active partners with their teachers: they are better able to monitor their own performance and compare it against the standards they and their teacher jointly set.

3. Learning to learn
Learning to learn approaches are being developed through an integrated cross-curricular approach (rather than a standalone package at this stage). Through a focus on metacognition, students are encouraged to reflect upon the way they tackle problems and designs and how they organise their learning. To prepare students effectively for the 21st century it can be helpful for students to be think about and become more aware of how to learn effectively.

The aim is to improve students' skills so that they are better able to reflect on their own learning and develop a wider range of strategies e.g. for revision. By encouraging independence and creativity we hope that students will become less reliant on the teacher.

4. New technologies
We are developing the availability of computers and training sessions as well as normal ICT lessons in order to enhance student engagement and independence. We encourage students to take greater control of their own learning, providing (safe) access to a huge range of resources at through the internet. We recognise that teaching and learning are not limited to the school environment, so increasingly learners are able to work from home on topics and at times that suit them best.

ICT also allows teachers and students to modify the content of courses to better meet individual student's needs in ways that paper-based resources do not allow. This reduces students' demands and dependence on the teacher, thus freeing teacher time so that they can help individuals and groups.

ICT is a tool of collaboration and communication. We are developing the website, blog and virtual learning environment (VLE) to develop the potential for students to work collaboratively with others within and beyond their own school community.

ICT offers students opportunities to create as well as use. We are developing the uses of film and podcasts to enhance the work of students.

5. Curriculum pathways
There is a wide variety of choice in the present curriculum pathways and there will be even greater choice once diplomas have been successfully introduced. Amongst the current options chosen in Y9 are college based courses and additional support for learners who need more time developing basic skills. Some subjects offer accelerated pathways to additional GCSEs as well as enabling students to begin advanced level courses early. Choice can be offered through the way that subjects are taught - we are beginning to develop trans-curricular extended projects and homeworks that encourage independent study alongside single-subject lessons. This will be further developed in the new school where adjacencies of subjects in learning zones and a certain amount of curricular freedom will provide flexibility for more project-orientated work.

The structure of how students are taught is also being considered. We are looking at ways to ensure that all students are able to progress onto extension (by depth or breadth) work in most lessons. We are also looking to having classrooms of varying sizes as well as thinking about adopting a vertical pastoral system.

6. Advice, support and guidance
Ideally, personalising learning leads a student to choose a particular pathway at school that does not limit their horizons but enables them to meet their aspirations. In helping students and parents to make informed decisions, the advice and guidance system is crucial, and needs to be offered to younger students than has previously been the case. Offering deep support may mean more than simply advice and guidance over courses; it entails working with students to overcome any obstacles or worries that they have about their progress, communicating more regularly with parents and target setting (and review) activities.

7. Workforce development
Workforce redevelopment is occurring out of a genuine desire to support more effective learning and raise achievement. Teachers need time to concentrate on planning and assessing students. The growth of numbers of teaching assistants and administrative support staff has considerably helped teaching and learning in direct and complementary ways. This has required restructured school systems as well as retraining. A priority is given to staff training, particularly in ICT. Co-coaching is used as a highly productive training model as well as visits to other schools.

8. Mentoring and coaching
Through personalising learning, teachers and other members of the school community will increasingly take on roles as mentors and coaches. There is a distinction between the terms 'coach' and 'mentor', however it is often a subtle one. Traditionally coaches are seen as having some sort of expertise. The relationship between the coach and coached is one in which the coach is in the position of authority.

By contrast, the relationship between the mentor and mentee is more balanced. The mentor does not tend to be in a position of authority, and the mentee can terminate the relationship at any point. In both mentoring and coaching, however, it is possible for both parties to gain a lot from the experience, and the benefits are usually two-way. The concepts of mentoring and coaching show that the distinction between teacher and learner is increasingly blurred.

There are three main types of mentoring and coaching:
. Student to student (e.g. peer academic mentoring, in which students teach one another or help each other to learn)
. Adult to student (e.g. a staff member or an adult from outside the school community)
. Adult to adult (e.g. teacher to teacher, as well as other adults working with school staff on professional development issues)

9. School design and organisation
Our school with a haphazard design has not helped with personalisation - there is little freedom with fixed class sizes, subjects taught to specific age groups in hour long chunks with fixed breaks and fairly large tutor groups. In developing ideas for the new school we are fortunate in being able to consider changes to the organisation of the school day and year, staffing, tutor groupings, learning support, ICT infrastructure and student groupings.

We hope to have lecture-style rooms and a central learning hub (as a development of the library) as well as rooms with moveable walls alongside the more traditional classroom in the new school and all rooms will be well equipped with internet access etc.

DfES - Unit 16 Leading in Learning
David Hargreaves - Personalising Learning
Personalised Learning in the UK
2020 Vision