Connecting Knowledge

This hub follows on from the successful Connecting Knowledge project, which was led by Rosendale Primary School and funded for two years by the London Schools Excellence Fund.

During the original project, it was found that lesson study had a significant impact on outcomes in Maths for disadvantaged pupils in Lambeth. Borough data now shows that disadvantaged pupils are falling behind their peers in writing. The current Connecting Knowledge Hub aims to address this new inequality and support improved attainment in writing. Hub leads coordinate cycles of lesson study in schools, led by trained Lesson Study Lead Practitioners. These Lead Practitioners were trained under the original Connecting Knowledge project and will in turn train a new cohort of participating teachers to be Lead Practitioners. Expectations for spelling, punctuation and grammar have increased significantly with the new national curriculum. The lesson study model focuses on the teaching and learning of these areas, whilst developing teachers’ thinking about how pupils learn to write creatively.

To get involved -

As we progressed through the year, we realised that the problems ran deeper then providing more opportunities for speaking and listening and collaborative writing. We realised that children needed to be taught strategies for how to talk to each other and work in groups . Before we could see speaking and listening having an impact on writing, we would need to address this.

It was hugely powerful to plan with really great teachers who all had ideas and experience that was different to my own. This combined with dedicated planning time allowed us to produce really innovative and research backed lesson plans. Watching and delivering these lessons really helped us to improve our teaching. We began incorporating and adapting successful aspects of lesson study into our everyday teaching.

- Participant Teacher, Connecting Knowledge