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Tomorrow's Achievers Masterclasses
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Master Classes 2007

As part of the County strategy for gifted and talented students, the LA wants to work with schools to establish Masterclasses which will provide greater challenge for gifted and talented students and develop resources and teaching strategies which can be disseminated to other schools around the county.

The LA wants to establish a partnership with county schools in providing Masterclasses. As part of the LA contribution to this partnership, £1500 will be made available to fund each 20 hours of Masterclasses.

Schools that are interested in running Masterclasses will have the opportunity to propose their own programme of enrichment and extension activities, a programme which should be demonstrably challenging and involving pupils from a wide range of other schools. Schools will be at liberty to determine the allocation of their budget and the timings of the classes. In order to apply to run a Masterclass, schools should complete and return the application form indicating on there what will be the school’s own contribution (resources, materials, funding etc) to the Masterclass partnership.

Criteria:

• Each Masterclass should be attended by 25-30 students recruited from maintained schools within the quadrant. The minimum number of students to participate is 25.
• Each Masterclass should be led by a suitably qualified and experienced teacher supported by other adults and/or pupil and sixth form helpers.
• The classes should run between January and July 2007 with no more than 5 hours (1 day) of activities occurring in any one month
• The school running the classes must set clear targets, monitor and support the progress of pupils towards those targets and, at the end of the classes, make this information available to the LA
• The school running the classes must take responsibility for identifying appropriate students to invite and for making appropriate arrangements to ensure that parents and other schools are kept informed about the classes.

Successful applications will be selected on the basis of:  

• The originality of the ideas behind the Masterclass proposals
• The degree to which creativity is built into the Masterclass programme
• The overall quality of the proposed teaching and learning programme, particularly its capacity to provide genuine challenge and move gifted and talented students forward
• The overall clarity of the proposal in terms of its aims, objectives, targets and approaches to identification and monitoring procedures
• The extent to which the programme includes links and involvement with representatives of the local community, businesses and other relevant groups and individuals
• The quality of the partnership contribution which the host school will be adding to the county funding for the Masterclasses
• The overall value for money offered by the proposal
• The degree to which expertise in meeting the needs of gifted and talented students can be developed, enhanced and spread as widely as possible across the county.

Completing the Application Form

Below are a series of information points which you will find helpful to bear in mind in planning the Masterclasses and completing the application form

Which subject Masterclass is the school applying to run?

• Although there is no reason why a school cannot run Masterclasses in more than one subject, or indeed more than one series of Masterclasses, the county wants to ensure that expertise with gifted and talented is developed as widely as possible. This will probably mean that where multiple schools within a quadrant apply to run the classes it is very unlikely that any single school will be able to run more than one subject or one series
• All subjects will be considered as suitable for a series of Masterclasses; Maths, English, Science, ICT and Art masterclasses have run successfully in the past but teachers may like to consider other curriculum areas as well. Schools which wish to set up and run philosophy/ critical thinking clubs/Masterclasses may also like to consider putting in a bid to give a real impetus to their Gifted and Talented programme.

Who are the classes intended for?

• The classes are intended for ‘gifted and talented pupils’ – typically those pupils in the top 5-10% of each school for the subject in which the class is being offered, although this figure should not be seen as fixed and inflexible.
• All Key Stages will be considered in the bid – as will transition phases eg KS2-3.
• It will be the responsibility of the school running the classes to ensure that all the other schools in the quadrant are invited to nominate appropriate students to attend the classes
• It will be up to the school running the classes to reflect on the nature of the proposed Masterclass programme and thus determine and communicate to other schools in the quadrant the precise criteria for identifying students to invite to the Masterclasses.
• Gifted and talented students can benefit from the opportunity to work with others gifted of different ages, so planning a series of innovative ‘vertical’classes to include different aged students would constitute good practice

When will the classes take place?

• The Masterclasses for each subject are intended to provide 20 hours of tuition.
• It is up to schools to decide whether to run the classes as four separate (5 hour) days or as eight ½ days, or in any other way that they determine, as long as the total number of hours is completed.
• The Masterclasses are intended to occur at regular intervals during the course of the spring and summer terms 2007, not all at once as a holiday programme. Schools are therefore at liberty to determine how the hours are distributed as long as no more than 5 hours (1 day) of classes occur in any one month
• Schools may decide to run some of the Masterclasses during normal curriculum time; however best practice would ensure that disruption to the students’ wider education is minimised by running as many of the classes as possible outside of usual school hours.
• Best practice would also ensure that the dates and durations of classes are planned so that they are convenient for students travelling to the classes across the quadrant.

Staffing

• Each Masterclass needs to be led by a qualified experienced teacher with expertise in the relevant subject area.
• Staffing should normally not exceed 1:15
• Schools are at liberty to decide whether to employ two teachers to run the course or a teacher and another adult who has additional expertise in the specific subject area.
• Many schools have found it beneficial to involve volunteer helpers from older year groups, and to use classroom assistants in working with gifted and talented students.
• Payment should reflect the usual rates for Summer Schools and other extra curricular activities, ie £150 per day (5 hours) for the teacher in charge, £130 for an assistant teacher, £5 per hour where student ‘volunteers’ are paid and £8 per hour for classroom assistants.
• Supply cover for time spent organising, planning and training staff can be deducted from the overall budget for the Masterclasses. Alternatively it may be included as part of the school contribution to the Masterclass partnership.

Planning the programme

• Each Masterclass programme should have a clear ‘aim’ broken down into a series of challenging objectives
• Best practice would ensure that each distinct class or teaching and learning session has a clear target with pre-determined criteria which will enable the teachers to establish whether students have achieved the target and, if not, what further support the students will need
• Best practice would also ensure that a programme of master classes for gifted and talented students would include opportunities for enrichment (broadening the curriculum), extension (using higher order thinking and problem solving skills) and inter-personal development (appreciating the role and significance of working with others)
• It is important to be clear when planning the programme how student progress is going to be monitored and recorded.

Practical details

• Prior to submitting an application there needs to be clarity about how the budget will be used. This should include details about the cost of the use of premises, equipment, staffing, materials, prizes, training, refreshments and any other costs.
• Where schools are contributing to the overall budget, either in terms of materials or finances this contribution needs to be agreed explicitly with the headteacher before submitting an application
• The organiser also needs to check and ensure that appropriate rooms will be available (ie not already booked or due to undergo decoration  etc at the time of the projected classes.
• Once an application has been successful it is the responsibility of the school concerned to contact other schools in the quadrant as early as possible informing them of the nature, dates and locations of the projected classes, inviting them to nominate an appropriate pupil or pupils
• Once pupils have been nominated it is then the responsibility of the school running the Masterclass to ensure that the parents of the nominated children are kept informed of the precise details of the classes

What support will be available?

• Subject specific advisers will be able to support schools with advice about resources, strategies and approaches to challenging gifted and talented pupils within their subject area.
• The County Adviser –Gifted and Talented will provide advice and address questions occasioned by the application form and procedure.
• County subject advisers will be able to provide advice and support to Masterclass organisers throughout the course of the classes
• County advisers will visit the Masterclasses, monitor progress and provide constructive feedback

What do I need to do in order to submit an application?

• Determine who will be responsible for drawing up the proposed programme and for managing the practical administration of the Masterclasses
• Clarify the contribution which the school will make to the Masterclass partnership
• Establish what links it is possible to forge with the local community, either in terms of visitors, sponsorship of prizes or materials etc.
• Complete the application form and send it back to Jeremy Reynolds, County Adviser - Gifted and Talented, Hertfordshire Development Centre, Butterfield Road, Wheathampstead, Herts, AL4 8RR.

 

Deadline for applications : Friday January 19th 2007

 

Application for Form for Master Classes 2007

If you are interested in organising a master class 2007, please complete the application form below:

Application Form

• Word 2003, 76kb/4 pages, 27/11/2006, masterclasses_applicationform_2007.doc