Stewards School
English Department
The English Department at Stewards is a vibrant, hardworking team of dedicated teachers, who work collaboratively and who are always striving to improve their teaching and their pupils’ learning.
Currently, the school is delighted with its best results at GCSE, and the best results ever seen from a school in Harlow!
Our guided reading scheme, which targets Years 7, 8 and some Year 9 classes, continues to progress from strength to strength, with new texts added to the scheme, which address wide-ranging issues as well as addressing the needs of skills in reading. Regularly, we are asked to speak about its impact when attending subject leaders' training and other CPD, as it has been recognised as an important initiative by HMI and Essex. Meetings run by the PTI have inspired us to seek out new texts, and the PTI has supported our view that whole texts should be engaged with to increase the pleasure of reading literature for life-long enjoyment.
Presently, we are in the process of completing an overhaul of the KS3 SOW, embedding APP into the SOW and the intention is to introduce this to KS4. The PTI has been instrumental in making us think about more challenging texts and embrace the teaching of Shakespeare to each year group in a more dynamic way. We are exploring another “Shakespeare Day” after our previous success! Thank you to the PTI!
Mathematics Department
On joining the PTI schools programme at Stewards we aimed to:
• Increase challenge within the curriculum,
• Further enthuse pupils through subject-based activities beyond the curriculum
• Develop staff’s own specialist subject knowledge
• Develop subject-based links outside of school.
Towards this aim we hosted numerous events for our pupils. Guest speakers were invited, allowing pupils to explore a range of topics such as at ‘Maths in Space’ and ‘Trading oil’.
Classes from years 8, 9 and 10 were treated to an out-of-this-world lesson by self-proclaimed Maths and Space Geek, Graham Coleman, visiting from Wymondham College. Year 8 saw images from the Hubble Space Telescope and discussed the Galaxy and our position in it. They figured out a way to estimate how many galaxies are in the universe, using powers of 10.
Year 9s calculated the circumference of the earth. They learned how astronomers, using plans and elevations, manage to construct 3-D models of planetary nebulae (dying stars). Pupils tried it out for themselves using interlocking blocks.
Year 10 learned about the mathematics of a solar eclipse—how the tiny moon can block out the entire sun. All Year 9 pupils took part in a fantastic BP Trading Challenge Road show. This work-related learning activity encouraged students to work in teams, competing to trade oil in order to maximise profits. Students were able to demonstrate both mathematical and enterprise skills and to develop personal qualities that contribute towards success in business.
Stewards School is a mixed school, with pupils from year 7 to 11, based in Harlow.