On Friday, I had the pleasure of working at Green Top School. There is a strong Crew culture at the school and you can feel this as soon as you walk into the building. I am always struck by the balance of high expectations with the care and compassion that exists in every interaction I see at the school.

One of the areas that is highly prominent at the moment at the school is the focus on students building their resilience and expertise in extended writing activities. The writing is not only accurate and beautifully presented but also purposeful, as often it links to Expedition work and is evident in products that the pupils create to make their community a better place.

“The writing, at Green Top, is not only accurate and beautiful but also purposeful…”

It is important to note that this does not happen by chance: these opportunities for writing are woven into the detailed planning of Learning Expeditions and are underpinned by the culture of sharing models and improving work through critique.

The piece of writing above has been crafted by a Year 2 pupil (aged between 6 and 7) as part of their current Learning Expedition entitled, ‘Diverse Doncaster’ where the learning is driven by the guiding question, ‘Where do we belong?’ This Learning Expedition aligns with our Curriculum Seam of ‘Cultivating Diversity and Belonging’ and allows pupils to work as geographers, scientists and artists to make sense of the world around them, their community and how this relates to the wider world. In the written response above you can see one pupil’s description of the fieldwork they engaged in as part of Case Study One which centred around pupils becoming more aware of the geographical features in their community.

What you will also notice is the way in which, after peer critique, this learner has revised their writing and improved their response. This is part of the habitual culture that we develop and instil in our learners to work together to improve the quality and beauty of their work, and make progress in their learning.

“Critique is part of the habitual culture we develop and instil in our learners…to improve the quality of their work.”

In another class in Key Stage One pupils were developing their skills as geographers, building on their fieldwork experience by returning to maps of the local area and identifying streets and local landmarks. Pupils were showing great craftsmanship and quality, methodically and careful identifying features on their map and then highlighting them to further deepen their understanding. This work will culminate in the students creating community sign posts that will live out in the local area, both celebrating and also elevating the diversity of the place they live in.

As I completed my tour of the school, I stopped at the display below, which once again highlighted the culture of beautiful work at Green Top. Here, the power of critique as a methodology for improving student work is patently obvious. The process of drafting, critique then redrafting has enabled the pupils to produce work which is well crafted and skilled and that takes pride of place in an outward facing product; an informative book which honours the stories of local people and from the wider community, interviewed by the pupils, who have endured and survived the horrors of war.

This is important and powerful work and is developing young people who, through Learning Expeditions and the culture of Crew, are developing into young people who care deeply about their community, each other and themselves.

“Walk around the local area and you will see the indelible proof of activism, agency and legacy in the rich array of beautiful pupil work that lives in the community…”

And if you want to see evidence of this I would recommend you visit this incredible school or walk around the local area and you will see the indelible proof of activism, agency and legacy in the rich array of beautiful pupil work that lives in the school and the wider community. Thorne is a better place because of Green Top School and I’m not sure there is any higher praise I could give.

In short, I can’t wait for my next visit.

Andy Sprakes