
THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
2| CHARLESTOWN ACE ACADEMY
Slight changes, not wholesale
swaps
Within weeks, the quality of our
teaching and learning became clearly
evident. We were thankfully able to
retain a non-teaching deputy head,
and with her years of experience, Celia
Leonard was well positioned to tweak
observation processes; this allowed
us, in turn, to quickly refer to outlined
points for development from previous
monitoring sessions. We celebrated
good and outstanding practice and
made doubly sure that we were
sharing it with one another.
Celia also supported colleagues to
challenge each other during whole-
staff moderation meetings; with
further support from our trust and
Kernow Teaching School Alliance
moderation sessions, we all became far
more confident.
Another aspect we have focused on
is coaching, both in and out of the
classroom. Middle leader development
has been key, and we regularly meet
in groups of three; one of us will act
as an inspector or challenge partner
and another as an observer while
the third colleague is asked about
their subject leadership. This has
had a really empowering effect; as
leaders, we are now all constructing
improvement and impact plans
to identify the next steps for our
respective subjects.
A creative curriculum
In 2017, after another year of good
results, we had substantial evidence to
indicate the quality of provision across
all areas. We have always had a great
reputation for sport in the local area,
but it was clear that there was much
more on offer for our children.
For example, our year 5 teacher,
Matthew Tooke, inspired his class with
the Bloodhound SSC rocket-powered
car. Not only did children visit
Newquay airport, where the car was
being tested up to 200 miles per hour,
and meet driver Andy Green, but they
also constructed their own rocket cars
and tested them at speeds of up to 38
miles per hour on their own track.
Our year 1 children built a model of
London as part of their history project
and set fire to it to illustrate the Great
Fire of London, before the St Austell
Fire Brigade kindly extinguished it; their
only comment was a request for a
bigger model the following year.
Meanwhile, our outdoor learning
team – Taryn Montgomery-Smith,
Freddy the learning dog
hard at work
We celebrated
good and
outstanding
practice and
made doubly
sure that we
were sharing
it with one
another
“
“
» CHILDREN LEARNING ABOUT LIGHTING
FIRES SAFELY
Year 6 pupils wrote instructions for their year 3 friends to learn about
lighting fires safely. For us, the most pleasing thing was when we
heard two children talking:
»Year 3 child: “I like watching the flames.”
»Year 6 child: “What colours can you see in them? Can you hear
anything?”
»Year 3 child: “It’s amazing: oranges, yellows and reds all glowing
together. I can hear a hissing sound and some crackles.”
This is an outstanding example of how practical experience can
develop academic skills, communication and resilience.