Dept.

of English ACTION PLAN

2009-2010

Action Point Activities Lead Timescale Resources Monitoring outcomes/progress and Success
personnel Criteria
1. Familiarize new  Ensure new staff members have copies of the ROH Sept. ‘09 Internet  New teachers will be able to access the National
members of programme of study. Curriculum website.
department with  Individual meeting to discuss and highlight key Department Meetings  New teachers will be familiar with the aims and
National Curriculum points. objectives of the National Curriculum
standards and  Continue offering training sessions on the use of  New teachers will be aware of the differences
programme of study. national curriculum levels between grades and levels.
 All teachers will be clear about their strengths
and weaknesses.
2. Continuous  Identify training needs of staff External Sept. ‘09 Appropriate internal  A high standard of teaching and learning will be
Professional  GEMS INSETS and Training Trainers, – June ‘10 and external trainers. in evidence during lesson observations.
Development of dept.  Continue to conduct dept. workshops on: ROH, MAT,  Regular use of interactive whiteboards during
Staff - Differentiation interested Literacy consultant. lessons will be observed.
- Interactive Whiteboard staff  Teachers will be more confident about taking
- Writing Lesson Plans Appropriate venues. risks and making changes in their teaching style
- Diagnostic Marking and methodology.
- Standardization in marking Release time for staff  Ideas from training will be incorporated into
- Starters and Plenaries as appropriate. classroom practice.
- Assessment for learning
3. Promote catering  Create dept. MAGT policy All staff Sept. ’09 Access to useful  Selected schemes of work will be modified.
to Multiple  INSET for dept. members on differentiation and – June ‘10 material on  Teachers will be well-planned for their lessons
Intelligence, MAGT. differentiation and and show a clear understanding of the
Differentiation, and  Create department booklet on differentiation with MAGT. curriculum to be covered for each year group.
MAGT (More Able, suggestions and strategies on how to  Use of interactive whiteboard lessons will be
Gifted and Talented) differentiate. more widespread.
 Include differentiation strategies in schemes of
work.
4. Update and  Upload resources on: All Staff Sept. ’09 Internet, appropriate  Students will access the blogsite regularly and
maintain Winchester www.winchesterenglish.blogspot.com – June ‘10 resources online discussion will be evident.
English blogsite including revision tips, interesting articles, short
 stories, and book reviews in order to encourage
independent learning and home study.

5. Encourage  Greater cooperation from parents in encouraging Sept. ‘09  Most pupils will be familiar with a range of
Reading reading. (Hand out copies of A Guide to Subject – June ‘10 Copies of Supporting books/novels appropriate to their year group.
Supporting Reading by Dept. for Education and Teachers, Reading  There will be active participation in Book club
Skills). Year group meetings and Book review competitions.
 Book Club and Book review competition. leaders Novels, newspapers,  All students will have a recommended book list.
 Introduce reading activity once a week during magazines, Internet  Students will maintain a list of books they have
registration (Newspaper clippings, interesting Student Posters, read each term.
articles, famous speeches etc) captains
 Distribute recommended reading lists for each
year group and for first and second language Form tutors
students.
6. Continue to build  Continue to save copies of assignments and ROH, Sept. ’09 Internet, laptops /  Teachers will regularly upload lesson plans,
online resource base. lesson plans online. Subject – June ‘10 access to computers, worksheets and resources.
 Update and maintain database of exam papers. teachers copies of past exam  Teachers will be able to access all past exam
 Download worksheets and save as soft copies. papers, lesson plans. papers.
 Add to collection of scanned text book resources  Teachers will regularly print off and make
and save as soft copy. class-set copies of online resources.
 Distribute list of Internet resources and English  Students will have access to list of useful
lang. websites. websites
7. Continue to  Initial meeting to discuss department grade Subject Sept. ‘09 Copies of department  All teachers will be marking using the
standardize marking descriptors, IGCSE bands, and NC Levels. teachers Dec. ‘09 grade descriptors and appropriate bands and grade descriptors.
within each year  Cross-marking sessions after term exams. March ‘10 IGCSE bands.  There will be very little variation in awarding
group June ‘10 Department meetings marks.

8 Use marking  Use marking frames prepared last year for ROH June ‘09  Students will be aware of where they were
frames for writing writing to Persuade, Argue, Review, and awarded marks for a particular assignment and
tasks Analyse; and for Summary-, Diary- and Letter- what areas they need to focus on to improve.
Writing.
9. Update  Update areas of responsibility, assessment ROH Sept. ‘09 Files, plastic folders,  All staff will have a copy of the handbook
Department objectives, grade descriptors, course outlines, copies of policy  All staff will be clear about school and
Handbook and yearly overview. documents department policies and their areas of
 Make copies for department members. responsibility.
11 Emphasis on  Training with Learning Coaches for help with Interested Sept. ‘09 Adequate laptops for  Regular use of interactive whiteboard lessons
Interactive ICT and Promethean software. Staff department staff. will be evident.
Whiteboard and ICT  External training if required.  Interactive whiteboard lesson plans will be
 Encourage teachers who are not au fait with ICT All staff Sept. ‘09 Easy access to incorporated into Schemes of work by year-end.
 to observe lessons of teachers who are. – June ‘10 docking stations and
 Compile resource bank of interactive whiteboard interactive
lessons. All staff whiteboards.
 Modify schemes of work to include Interactive
whiteboard lessons. All staff June ’09
12. Use comment  Use comments for diagnostic marking from bank ROH June ‘09 Access to National  Diagnostic feedback will be evident in all
bank for diagnostic created last year. (To be used in assessment Curriculum website marking.
marking reports and diagnostic marking at the discretion  High quality of written feedback in reports.
of the teacher).
 Make copies available online.
14. Develop AS Level  Allocate areas of responsibility ROH June ‘09 Access to CIE  AS Level teachers will be clear about syllabus
English Literature  Compile AS Level English Literature Handbook. teachers’ resources and marking criteria.
 Include course summaries, exam papers, exam ROH, MAT website.  A good percent of student grades will be in the
weight, yearly overview and grade descriptors. Subscription to A – C band.
 Write schemes of work appropriate AS Level  Adequate resources will be available.
 Prepare resource list with titles of recommended resource sites.
texts, general-, subscription-, and author-specific Adequate funding for
websites. resources
15. Encourage  Ensure students are occupied during library All Staff Sept. ‘08 SAT books,  Students will be productively occupied during
library activities lessons. Organise scavenger hunt, SAT prep, – June ‘09 vocabulary games library lessons.
vocabulary games. and worksheets.
16. English-based  One event per term: All staff. Sept. ‘09 Venue  Posters and advertisements will be on display.
extra-curricular  Conduct Spelling Bee Competition, Formal – June ‘10 Projector, laptop,  Student participation will be high.
activities. Debate, Elocution contest, and extempore speech microphones, posters  Possible teams for inter-school competitions.
contest.
17 English Displays  Appoint one teacher responsible for displays in All staff Sept. ‘09 Backing paper,  Classrooms will have neat displays that are
and English-based each English classroom. – May ’10 English language regularly updated.
assemblies.  Run one English-based assembly a month to posters, staple guns
foster a love for the language and promote a
broader understanding of the subject among the
students. (Details of each assembly to be
discussed during monthly departmental
meetings).
18. Student Subject  Appoint subject leaders from the student body in All staff Sept. ‘09 Badges, certificates  Subject leaders will display their badges and
Leaders each year group (to assist in displays, assemblies, receive certificates for carrying out their duties.
discipline, and extra-curricular activities).
19. Cover work  Build a bank of class-set worksheets to be used All staff Sept. ‘09 Photocopier  Teachers will be under less stress to organise
resources as cover in the event a teacher is absent. cover when they are ill.
20. Liaise more with  Order resources for EFL CAR, ROH Sept ‘09 – Funding for ESL  Grades of ESL students will improve.
EFL teacher  Involve EFL in department meetings (or ask for June ‘10 resources  ESL students will be more confident about their
input and feedback). language skills.
21. Yearly Overview  Create yearly overview with set time span for ROH Sept. ‘09 Schemes of work  At any given time all teachers within a year
of Syllabus each unit or module of study. group will be teaching the same module of
study.
22. Periodic Lesson  Agree on observation criteria during appraisals. ROH Sept. ‘08 Meetings  Teachers will be clear about their strengths and
Observations  Prompt feedback – June ‘09 areas for improvement.
 Scrutinise homework, files, and notebooks. All staff Lesson Observation  Copy books and files will be up to date and
 Set targets and identify action to follow up on diagnostically marked.
findings of appraisals. Allocate time
23. Effective teaching  Teachers will be required to select a small All staff Sept. ’09  Underachievers will be identified and their
and Learning number of underachieving students in their – June ‘10 Department Meetings grades monitored.
classroom who have low comprehension and  Teachers will be aware of the different methods
writing skills. Their progress will be carefully of differentiation (by task and outcome).
monitored over time by teachers.  Teachers will be aware of their individual
 Focus on differentiation in English Lessons. targets.
 Challenge MAGT students  Support lessons for IGCSE year groups will be
 Set targets for each teacher. in place.
 Maintain a record of all English assignments and
tests in order to trace progression.
24. Target Setting  Create Target-setting pro forma All Dept. Sept. ’09 Target-setting pro-  Students will be aware of their targets and will
 Feedback after each assessment cycle Staff – May ‘10 forma have the target forms in their files.
23. Train new staff in  Introduce teachers to the texts books and discuss RIN, MAT, Sept. ‘09 Exam papers, course  Students will perform well in the mock exams.
the IGCSE English as course outline, exam content, and teaching MAR, DEB content, sample  Teachers’ lesson plans reflect classroom
a second language strategies. essays activities.
course  Teach mock lessons to allow new teachers to  Scaffolding of writing tasks will be evident.
appreciate scaffolding and differentiation  Speaking and listening practice will be evident.
techniques.
 Cross marking of 2nd Language assignments.
 Regular lesson observations with opportunities
for feedback.
 Encourage lesson observations