Taith

We have been extremely lucky to be a part of an educational project collaborating with Canada – Ontario funded by Taith, Wales. The objective for our project is to work collaboratively to support curriculum progression and professional development, resulting in high functioning inclusive learning for all pupils, using a pupil centred approach with learning-based assessment. We will link with three schools in Canada, a world leader in curriculum reform, to research, identify, develop and implement a range of methodologies, ideas and insights, internationally, in order to continually develop a highly effective inclusive curriculum for all school partners and to see first-hand how the government policies translate into practice. We have looked at individual and joint targets, linked to School Improvement Plans that we can address during our project. All partner schools will have detailed objectives and success criteria that we hope to achieve through international visits to schools with expertise in inclusive education. These priorities and objectives, with continued research projects, agenda and actions that we can embed in our own settings, will develop new practice and drive change in all partner learning organisations. This will, in turn, develop innovative pedagogy, authentic learning experiences for pupils and professional development for staff. Carrying out this project, is necessary for the schools involved to collect evidence and data to produce an output aiming to support Welsh schools, locally and nationally with;

• Further developing and embedding curriculum planning systems to meet expectation for curriculum reform in Wales

• Exploring and continuing to develop innovative and person-centred approaches for the application of the Curriculum for Wales for pupils with additional learning needs. 

• Developing progression pathways and assessment methods, linking to Ontarios’ assessment policy ‘Growing Success’

• Implementing pupil-centred feedback strategies, engaging pupils in identifying next steps to support progression of learning. 

These will be achieved through a range of activities, including professional collaborative meetings, learning walks and professional enquiry groups, with each member of staff having a specified focus. Each partner school will provide an opportunity for peer observation in a range of classes alongside discussion and sharing of resources and materials. There will also be opportunities for the partner schools to experience the culture and languages of the hosting school through pupil-lead activities and events.  A range of specialised staff will be travelling in order to maximise the learning and range of dissemination, this will include specialists in curriculum development, highly effective teaching, ALN, MOVE programme and speech and language specialists. The outcome of the project will be to develop a portfolio of findings, resources and practical applications of the curriculum in specialist and non-specialist settings, meeting the expectation for the curriculum reform. This will include enrichment programmes and content for all Areas of Learning, to improve curriculum design, assessment, feedback and how different settings engage pupils in next steps to support progression of learning. We will be exploring a range of holistic assessment strategies ensuring a high level of teaching accuracy leading to impactful pedagogy. The outcomes will be disseminated in a range of avenues, including in the media, portfolios and case studies, in both digital  and literature form.

As a school we are very excited to be a part of this project. Our visitors from Canada will be joining us for one week on Monday 10th March 2025. We will then be visiting two schools in Canada – Ontario in the Easter holidays.

We will keep you updated about our project.