Beam Primary School
Using the Pygmalion Effect to raise expectations for all pupils
What problems were in your school and how did you identify them?
Our staff recognised that a differentiated success criteria was putting a lid on learning, and producing a self-fulfilling prophecy for pupils leading to lower expectations.
What actions did you take?
At the beginning of the academic year, a whole school INSET was led entitled, 'exceeding expectations'. As a dialogic school, the power of talk is used to stimulate and extend pupils' thinking. This advances their learning and understanding, and is integral to our pedagogy. Where applicable, pupils with EAL or low literacy acquisition access an early intervention. This ensures there is high quality adult-child interaction enabling effective feedback and a chance to focus on positive children’s outcomes. This also provides appropriate emotional support to the children.
What were the outcomes?
Beam’s vulnerable pupils compare favourably against all pupils nationally by being in line with or exceeding measures at KS2.
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