KS2 Continuous Provision, Flexible Lesson Design and Learning Sequences

If you've not read anything I've written previously on these subjects, you can catch up here:

KS2 Continuous Provision

Flexible Lesson Design

Learning Sequences

And now you're up to speed, you might be wondering what these three have to do with each other.

Well, let's start with a few questions that some teachers asked me recently when we were working on getting KS2 Continuous Provision right in their school:

• What is the role of the adult?

• What does timetabling look like?

• How can behaviour be managed?

• How do we ensure high quality outcomes?

• How do we ensure progression?

• What should planning look like?

The answers to all of these questions lie in the place where the aforementioned logistical and pedagogical approaches converge. Each of the three supports the others. I'll explain:

Where you have areas for provision set up in and around the classroom and you want children to access them with a certain level of independence, you have already committed to something of a flexible design for learning time: you have accepted that different children and different adults are going to be doing different things at different times.

There are two broad reasons for those different things happening:

The first happens in all classrooms: children work at different paces and find themselves at different points in their learning journey when the bell sounds to indicate the end of a traditional lesson.

The second is more likely to happen in a classroom where areas of provision are set up. This is not because there are areas of provision, but because this classroom is likely to belong to a teacher who believes that children should have more autonomy in their learning than they might have in a traditional lesson. In this kind of classroom, children might be working in a more child-led way, developing a project, following their own lines of enquiry, and so on.

Thinking flexibly about how your lessons (by which, I mean the units of time allotted in your timetable, constrained by things such as the start of the day, breaktimes, lunchtimes, assemblies and the end of the day) are structured supports both the reasons why different children and different adults might be doing different things at different times.

Further, this flexibility allows you to do a couple of really important things that are actually harder to do when undertaking more traditional whole class lessons:

• Teach small groups

• Work 1:1 with pupils

• Manage behaviour

How so? Let's take them one by one.

Teaching small groups - if you know that other pupils have got things to be doing, you can use your formative assessment to take formative action, and teach dynamically-created small groups in a responsive way.

You might have noticed a particular need the previous day and decided to pull a group together for more work. You may have seen that during a whole-class input (yes, these still have a place in a classroom that runs continuous provision) there were several children who needed some more advanced content. There are many reasons for you to create a small group to work with. This is flexible grouping.

Working 1:1 with pupils - having all pupils getting on with something slightly different sounds chaotic, but it won't be if it's well-managed by adults (see the next point). It's a misconception that no direct instruction takes place in a classroom with continuous provision. In fact, perhaps it is necessary for more direct instruction to take place: not only does the content need teaching, but the ways of working and engaging need to be explained and modelled as well. Only once pupils know how to use the areas of provision can they truly do good work in them. It's by modelling and providing examples that you lay the groundwork for the high expectations the children will be held to, both in their conduct and their output.

So, once these routines are in place (they will take a while to build - don't give up), children will be able to work more independently (never completely independently - they still need you). Whilst they are doing this, you will be able to work 1:1 with pupils. You will probably have those whom you need to check in with more regulary, and those whom will need check-ins for specific things (quality, pace, direction, behaviour, inspiration). True, all of this is possible in a more whole-class lesson, but these 1:1s become more meaningful when you are able to support children who are motivated by having some ownership over the direction of their work.

These 1:1s allow teachers to ensure that children's work is of high quality and that they are making progress. 1:1s along with group teaching, allow teachers to move children along more efficiently. This is best supported by the planning of learning sequences. If teachers haven't planned and resourced the next steps in the intended learning journey (and yes, continuous provision classrooms still have aims and goals and curriculum to cover), then it's much harder to move children on. Planning and preparing everything in advance means that children can truly work at their own pace.

Managing behaviour - this is actually just another version of the small groups point: sometimes you'll group pupils based on their behaviour management needs. You might not even need to work with them directly - they just need to be near you so you can keep an eye on them and support them when needed. This might even mean that you can oversee such a group whilst teaching another group, or engaging in 1:1 check-ins or conferences.

It can be scary to think of having all pupils working on something different at any one time, but the majority of pupils (with the right guidance) will be able to manage it. Usually, when a teacher imagines how difficult it might be, they are only imagining how difficult it might be for a small handful of children. In terms of whole class management, these children need to be at the forefront of a teacher's mind: they should be listed by name, and then should be subject to very regular check-ins. They should be supported to engage, and it might be that their journey to independence is going to take longer than other pupils - that's OK, it's not lowered expectations, it's just supporting them to work at a realistic pace in terms of their ability to self-regulate.

So, back to the questions to conclude:

• What is the role of the adult? To teach, orchestrate, guide, intervene, discuss, assess - it's a complex dance, but the adult always has something to do. It's a whirlwind but it makes both time and children fly. More here: https://www.aidansevers.com/post/what-should-adults-be-doing-when-children-are-working

• What does timetabling look like? It's flexible, it's not one lesson at a time, breaktimes move. It ensures you teach everything you need to teach, but allows the opportunity to really give the children the time and space they need to do the work.

• How can behaviour be managed? By being realistic and mindful about exactly who will need the most behavioural support. By supporting them to do their work but allowing independence where possible. By acknowledging that the pace of their journey to independence might be slower than that of others, and teaching them explicitly how to behave in the setting.

• How do we ensure high quality outcomes? By modelling everything, by getting involved with the pupils as they work, by giving specific feedback and holding children accountable.

• How do we ensure progression? By teaching everything that needs to be taught by whatever means necessary. By checking in 1:1 as regularly as possible. By being forensic with formative assessment, and obsessed with following up your findings as responsively as possible.

• What should planning look like? It's done in advance, along with the necessary prepartion of resources and materials. It has a clear end point, and a good idea of the journey pupils need to go on to get there.

  
  

If you're ready to make changes to the way your curriculum is delivered, here's your 3-step curriculum development plan:

1. Drop me an email

2. Have a phone call with me to talk about your school

3. We'll work together to empower you and your staff to enhance teaching and to enrich your pupils' lives