Our social:

TAG: teaching

School Direct students share their COVID-19 teaching experiences

By very nature of the School Based (School Direct) route to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) course that we run, our participating students are on the front line of education. The majority of our students’ time is spent within their school setting – both primary and secondary – as functioning members of staff. As such, both their professional and student life has been subject to simultaneous and significant upheaval.

Many of our students aren’t just juggling study and work; they’re also parents, partners and carers themselves. This is especially prevalent among our School Direct cohort who typically slightly older than the average undergraduate and have many of these elements present in their personal lives.

Two of our School Direct students have volunteered detailed accounts of how life has changed through the COVID-19 lockdown period.

Claire Blackwell, School Direct Primary

“From the 18th March when the school closure announcement was made I found the atmosphere was uncertain, but united. It was a time when the whole school pulled together to provide what was needed. We ensured every child in the school went home with a blank exercise book, a bundle of reading books, and a home learning pack. The work that went into these was immense and within two days 550 learning packs had been created.

Now we have a rota system of staffing to ensure care for the children of key workers. This rota has changed as the number of children using the service has dropped and safety is a priority. Each weekly team plans activities for the week and shares this on the website, keeping all staff and children at home abreast of what is happening in school.

We have clear expectations of us for working from home which I find a great help. We are supporting our classes via email, sharing their success with home learning and answering questions and it is wonderful to still ‘be their teacher’. I have answered one girl in her own hieroglyphics and am having a daily challenge of ‘Dear Zoo Guess the animal’ with another boy, which is great fun. I am sending ‘Marvellous Me’s’ as rewards just as I would in school, keeping that familiarity and positive relationships with the children in my class. As a trust we are working in year teams across the three schools to provide additional home learning packs each week that are on the website. We have found eBook websites and continue to offer mathletics and school challenges as we would in school, plus we recently had an Accelerated Reader Quizzing Challenge.

I think one of the most important things is for the children to still feel part of the school community. We produce weekly newsletter for all children and this celebrates home learning accomplishments, challenge results, and news of what the teachers have been up to at home, keeping everyone together as a school.

Vulnerable children are being monitored by taking up a school place, or through regular phone calls to check in on them at home. Children with special educational needs (SEN) are supported with adapted home learning – I provided this for a boy in my class, as well as a designated SEN area on the school website and access to the SENCo (SEN co-ordinator) via email.
I am still in regular contact with my mentor via email and I have tried to be proactive setting myself targets.

Currently I am working alongside the Music subject lead to rewrite the curriculum and weekly plans for the school and set up a format to complete a deep-dive. This is both widening my subject knowledge and giving me a greater insight into the deep dive process and how assessment within the school works. I feel incredibly supported by my school, and know I can email my tutors with any university questions. Having done an Open University degree, working from home is not new to me, but working as part of a bigger team from home is a new challenge that I am embracing.

I find the uncertainty difficult, but am taking things one day at a time, and asking for help when I need it, it is important not to isolate yourself but keep in touch with work teams and friends to find a way through.”

Holly Bunyard, School Direct Primary

“What a time to be alive! Home Learning has become the norm for us all now. Like many others, I have become a stay at home student, teacher, and parent all wrapped into one. Juggling my studies, my students and my own child has been an interesting learning curve but it seems the kids have adapted to it better than I have!

I set weekly activities for the children to do at home. My main focus is to strike a balance between fun, engaging tasks to keep the children excited about learning and tasks that can be done with minimal support and resources to reflect the demographic of my school. It’s a hard balance to manage, but I think having my own child helps me empathise with the tremendous pressure other parents feel. Personally, I feel as long as our kids are looked after and happy during this exceptional time, then that is the best we can hope for. We can fix gaps in knowledge when children return. Not all my colleagues feel the same, which has inspired lively debate. But ultimately everyone is feeling the strain.

I have, however, found a way to stay in contact through the medium of vlogging! Somehow on the last Friday of school I won the job of taking home the class frogspawn (lucky me) and now regularly vlog for the website on the tadpoles’ progress. Many of the children love seeing my face and commenting on the videos, but are slightly gutted their teacher is fulfilling their dream of becoming a YouTuber before they are.”

Like our previous blog about student teachers from other courses and their efforts working with the children of key workers, these are just some of the stories that are happening day-in, day-out. And whilst the ending of this current period is slowly drawing closer, it’s important to remember that in the background there is still a huge amount of work still going on.

Find out more about our School Based (School Direct) course.

Five reasons to attend our Postgraduate Routes into Teaching open day

Open day at Augustine House

*Please note, this event has passed, but check back regularly for new Faculty of Education events or visit the Open Days and Events page*

On February 1st the Faculty of Education is holding an open day, giving you the opportunity to discover our postgraduate courses that can help you get into teaching. Whether you’re graduating and want to turn your hand to teaching through a PGCE, looking for a change of career or returning to work, our Postgraduate Routes into Teaching open day will provide you with all the next-step info you need.

To give you a flavour of what you can expect on the day, we’ve thought of five reasons why the day isn’t to be missed…

1. All our postgraduate routes to teaching presented in one place

Degree courses can be difficult to imagine until you’re there, in the lecture theatre, engaging with academics and your peers. Forget on and offline prospectuses; at our open day you can get a truer flavour of what each course is like to study through talks, tasters and speaking to the people who will be guiding you on your journey to qualified teacher status.

“The talks were really informative and answered most of my questions. For any further questions I had, the stands were very helpful.”

2. Meet our team

Choosing a degree can be as much about the people leading it as it is about course content. Our team will be available for you to speak to, ask questions of, and generally interrogate – in the nicest possible way, of course! We like to think we’re a friendly and welcoming bunch, but why not come and see for yourself?

“Before I went to this open day I was fairly certain that I wanted to do a PGCE, but I still needed some reassurance. My questions were answered with care and consideration, so after the event I was confident in my decision.”

3. See our facilities

The open day takes place in Augustine House which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary since opening. Along the way, Augustine House has won a few architecture awards, has enabled us to expand our library, has loads of wi-fi and audio/visual tech, and the on-site Atrium Café serves a mean panini.

4. Visit our student support stands

As if the talks and tasters weren’t enough, our student support team will have a range of stands. Some represent specific courses – such as the ever-popular PGCE Primary, 7-14 and Secondary options – and others provide more general information such as admissions, bursaries and general enquiries. The team can answer your questions and help make the next steps of becoming a CCCU student a doddle!

“I found the stands to be full of interesting, relevant information, plus the people approachable and well informed. I learned so much from talking to them!”

5. Take the opportunity to look around Canterbury

We’re really proud of our place in one of the UK’s most historically important cities, and would encourage you to also take the opportunity to explore Canterbury and immerse yourself in student life. Right next to the main Christ Church campus is St Augustine’s Abbey. Across the road from Augustine House are the Roman city walls and Dane John park. Obviously there’s the cathedral, or you could explore the plethora of narrow, cobbled streets, timber frame buildings, and – of course – amazing retail, pubs and restaurants!

There’s so much more besides, so hit the button below and book your place – for free! We look forward to meeting you on February 1st.

From track to teaching: How Dr Kristy Howells draws on her cycling success through academia

Kristy Howells cycling
World Masters Cycling womens team sprint

It has been a good season on the track for Dr Kristy Howells. The Reader of Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy has a stellar record in competitive solo and team cycling over the years; 2019 was no different.

Dr Howells’ successful year in competition was topped off by being part of the team to take victory in the Women’s Team Sprint event at the British Masters Track Championships, which took place in Newport, Wales, back in June. More recently at the World Masters Track Championships, Dr Howells’ team, Sirens of the Pine, picked up silver in the Team Pursuit event.

Their time of 4.50.070 was agonisingly close to victory, ending up just 0.02 seconds off of the gold medal place. Prior to the final, Dr Howells’ team even set a new world record time in qualifying – a record that stood for five hours before nine seconds was knocked off in the gold/silver medal ride off, which demonstrates just how strong the field is in the World Masters series.

World Masters Team Pursuit

As well as team pursuit success and a 9th placing in the team sprint at World Masters, Dr Howells’ individual performance has seen her take eighth in the World 2km Individual Pursuit, and 10th in the 500m time trial. Thanks to such a strong overall performance through 2019, she has been awarded a place on Ashford Leisure Trust’s Talented Athlete Programme (for the third time, having been awarded in 2016 and 2017). Through this, Dr Howells and other talented athletes within the Ashford borough are awarded bursaries to support them in achieving their goals in their selected sports.

Applying sporting success into research and teaching

As Reader in Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, Dr Howells applies her personal experience as an athlete to both her research and her teaching. She also recognises the importance of being a role model for both children and adults alike. By her own admission she “lives and breathes the importance of physical activity, physical education, sport and movement and fluid intake to help with physical as well as mental health”.

Unlike many academics, who have typically focused on secondary age children in their research into physical activity in the school setting, all of Dr Howells research focuses on young children. Within her doctorate she studied children the physical activity levels of primary school age. This novel focus provided useful data into how perceived and actual physical exercise matched up in a primary school setting, as well as helping to understand where these levels of physical activity sit against the WHO’s recommendations.

She continues to research and teach with a focus on Mastering Primary Physical Education and publishes both internationally and nationally on a range of areas. These include physical activity, physical education and most recently on the importance of fluid intake and young children’s understanding and knowledge of what and how much they should be drinking. This again was matched against the recommended guidance.

More recently, Dr Howells discussed the positive effect that physical activity and exercise has on the mental health of not only young people, but also on the teachers whose job it is to educate them. With teachers in such a pressured environment, she notes that it’s difficult for them to become wellbeing role models when they themselves often struggle to look after their own physical and mental wellbeing. Addressing this issue through encouraging staff to better connect with one another, take art therapy and even circuit training could be as impactful – if not more impactful – than offering additional training.

Dr Howells own involvement in sport evidently comes into play; “Being actively involved in life long participation in sport, physical activity and movement can enhance feelings of connectedness, remove the feelings of loneliness and hopelessness and thus reduce feelings of suicidal ideation,” she states.

She continues to advocate for the importance physical activity for all ages and emphasises the vital need to encourage a life wide excitement for moving, so everyone can move just a little more to ensure they have fit and healthy lives.

If you want to find out more about Dr Kristy Howells and the programmes she teaches on, visit her profile on the Canterbury Christ Church website. 

And the winner is… Art Rebels Portfolio prize giving evening

Joe Jackson, winner in the Primary School, 5-7 Years Award (Year 1-2) and his teacher, Miss Collings from Miers Court Primary School.

We are so proud to be involved with the Turner Contemporary Portfolio competition. Last night all the short-listed entrants and their guests were invited to the prize ceremony in Augustine Hall to see an exhibition of their work and find out if they had won. Winning artwork will be displayed in an exhibition at the Turner Contemporary ahead of the Turner Prize 2019.

Jean-Paul Zeevaart, entrant, Ages 7-11

Entries opened in January with children, young people, teachers, FE students and community groups from across Kent and Medway invited to respond to the theme ‘Art Rebels’.  This year a new category of  ‘Community Groups’ from Kent and Medway were invited to enter the competition including Alternative Provision, NHS Support Services and in patients, Youth Offending Services, Support Groups, Pupil Referral Units, Health and Wellbeing.

The event in Augustine House kicked off with the much-anticipated announcement of the Turner Prize nominated artists by Victoria Pomery, the Director of the Turner Contemporary Gallery followed by the award presentation by the panel of judges including BBC1 broadcaster, Gemma Cairney, and representatives from Canterbury Cathedral, Go Vicinity and the Lilford Gallery.

Peter Gregory, principal lecturer on the BA (Hons) Arts in Education said of the competition: “The Portfolio award evening is one of my highlights each year. To see the exhibition of shortlisted artworks and talk to so many proud and excited families – many of whom have never been to an art exhibition or university before – is a huge privilege. We have no idea what will result in their futures as a consequence of their involvement!”

The winners in all categories were:

  • Students with Additional Needs Award – Nessie Bigg No Words, Sandra Art4All
  • Primary School, Ages 4 -5 Award, Reception & Foundation – Luke Rogers School for Monsters, Wittersham CEP Primary School
  • Primary School, 5-7 Years Award (Year 1-2) – Joe Jackson, Blurb 3, Miers Court Primary School
  • Primary School, 7-11 Years Award (Year 3 – 6) – Abigail Vincent, The dark and delirious mind of a girl, St Peters-In-Thanet Junior School
  • Secondary School, 11 – 14 Years Award (Year 7- 9) – Nicole Shephard, Effects of Social Media, Trinity School Sevenoaks
  • Secondary School, 14 – 16 Years Award (Year 10 – 11) – Toby Woodgate, Strong and Stable, St Laurence College
  • Secondary School, 16 – 19 Years Award (Year 12 – 13) – Ella Plumb, Time, Langley Park School for Boys
  • Further Education Award – Hannah Bell, Mrs Bob without Ian the Dog, Canterbury Christ Church University
  • Staff Award – Andy Howe, Undressing in front of the whole school, Simon Langton Boys School
  • Community Group Award – Dominic Harper, Boxing Day Swim, SEAS (South East Artists) Community Group
  • David Lilford’s Most Promising Artist Award – Bethan Isaacs, Generations, Barton Court Grammar School
  • Turner Contemporary Award for Bold Conceptual Approach (Primary) – Bethany Brown, Ruined Resources, Drapers Mills
  • Turner Contemporary Award for Bold Conceptual Approach (Secondary) – Ellie Springs, By-product of Art as Art, Herne Bay High School

 

Kerry Jordan-Daus, Peter Gregory and Claire March from Canterbury Christ Church University with Alice Ross, Jennifer Scott and Karen Eslea from the Turner Contemporary Gallery.  

Congratulations to the all the winners and runners up!  It was brilliant to see such hard work and creativity from our local community.

Making a difference in children’s lives : We can all be dream makers

We have planned a number of events to celebrate the United Nations Universal Children’s Day tomorrow.  We are kicking off a series of blog posts reflecting on childhood and children with this post by Kerry Jordan-Daus, our Head of School of Childhood and Education Science in the Faculty of Education:

In my role as Head of the School, I feel it is very important that we join in and contribute to the most important debate; Children and Childhood.

Over the course of the next few days, colleagues will join me in sharing their reflections on Childhood. November 20th is the Universal Children’s Day, a day that has been marked since 1954 by the UN.

I am going to start by thinking and reflecting on my own childhood, growing up in a very small rural hamlet in rural Lincolnshire, an area known as the Fens.  Looking back at the small, rural, close knit community, I recall spending a lot of time outside playing. I read books from the mobile library which came fortnightly, grew strawberries and peas and looked after chickens. Most importantly, I spent time with my grandmother who taught me to knit and to cook.  My grandmother was my dream maker.

The bus picked us up to take us to school, 30 minutes or so to the small primary school, over an hour to my secondary school. There was very limited public transport so I cycled loads: to go to Guides, to play hockey, to see my friends. School was really special for me. I loved it. That’s not to say there weren’t unhappy times but overall I knew by doing well I could realise my dream – to be a school teacher.

Being one of five children, I now think about how hard it was for my parents. They worked long hours to ensure we were fed, we had a roof over our heads and I know that at times it was a real struggle. When my trainers fell apart, there was no money to replace them. I remember the kindness of my teachers, who made me believe I could achieve my dream through their actions. I remember Miss Lucas, my PE teacher, finding me a pair in lost property.  I remember Miss Deung, my English teacher, giving me a bag of books to read.  They were my dream makers.

Every child should have a dream and every child should be encouraged to dream and encouraged to believe that they can. As I reflect on the importance of Universal Children’s Day, it makes me both happy and sad. Sad, angry and determined: because I know that for too many children, their experiences are not joyful, but full of pain, hardship, hunger, violence, fear, loneliness and despair.

But I can make a difference and so can you. My work as a teacher, as an educator, has made a difference and will continue to make a difference. Thank you to all those who helped me achieve my dream. I have tried to do this for others.  Through that gift of belief and hope, through our words and our actions, we can all be dream makers.