Learning and teaching in learning hubs

Shoba Segar

Being part of a brand new school from day one - it’s an honour, it’s a privilege. I think that’s another thing besides the teaching, being a member of this staff is something I’m really proud of.

Stonefields School has learning hubs where students are taught by a team of three teachers.

Charlotte Hinge

We have guardian groups, so we’re all kind of responsible for a group of children in the hub, so in a sense I guess other teachers might call that their class in a way, but, the kids know that you’re their guardian but they don’t treat you any differently to how they would treat the other teachers and they don’t see you as their teacher, it’s just ‘Oh yeah, so Miss Hinge is my guardian and Mrs Segar takes me for writing and Miss Jackson takes me for maths.’

Katherine Jackson

It’s about giving up on that thing where you say that’s my class, yet they’re all our children all of the time. And it doesn’t matter where you are it’s like the proverb of the village raising the child. Everybody in the school, everybody in the community raises these children.

Shoba Segar

To be an effective teacher in this environment, I feel we all need to know the learner really well. Because that’s our starting point. What does this learner need? What have they come with? What do they need? Where am I going to take him or her to? And that’s done in collaboration. In the past we did it on our own and we did it the best we could, now we’ve got three expertise to tap into and that is such an added bonus.

Charlotte Hinge

The leadership team must have spent so much time on putting together the programme as to what we were going to cover as teachers and one of those things (was really that whole day really wasn't it?) was spent on collaboration, how it’s going to work, what challenges might you face and if you do clash, and if you do have those rubs, how are you going to come over them?

Shoba Segar

We had a three day induction retreat and that was a very good opportunity for us to meet each other in a non-threatening sort of environment. It was relaxed, it was get to know each other, and we talked about a lot of the vision for the school, what are the expectations? We talked about effective teacher practice. Talked about lots of things, and that gave us a chance to get to know each other not just as teachers but more as individuals.

Katherine Jackson

I think the fact that there are three of us and if you have children that are just starting school who need a little bit more support in the transition to school, it has been really really useful having other adults within the environment to help support the child making the transition into this particular learning environment.

Shoba Segar

I think at the planning stage that’s critical, we spend a lot of time talking about what the learners need. We plan using Google docs so we might spend time planning together on a Thursday afternoon but then we can add to it in our own time. And everyone has access to it.

We’ve made a very conscious effort to help children make those connections because I might have little Johnny for reading, but Charlotte might have him for writing so we talk about what his needs are and how we’re going to help him make those connections. And put that into our plan.

Katherine Jackson

In this environment if children are needing that little bit of TLC or individualised education we can do it. That’s reflected in our planning. The fact that we withdraw small groups when the bigger group may be doing a warm-up session, or is needing extra push in a certain area, be it in writing or reading or maths, we can always be really flexible and engage those children - and also their parents. It’s a really, it’s a good process to go through.

Shoba Segar

Advice to any teacher who wants to come into this environment, you have to be a confident teacher, confident in yourself to work with others and to be able to share with others and collaborate with others. If you don’t have those skills, the confidence, the collaboration, the sharing, flexibility, sense of humour - all those skills makes a good teacher in this environment.