Tuesday marked our annual ‘Teaching & Learning’ Marketplace where our teachers shared best teaching practice. All teachers at FHS join a Teaching & Learning (T&L) group at the beginning of the academic year, focusing on a range of exciting themes such as Metacognitive Learning, Finding Joy in the Classroom, Flipped Learning, Scaffolding, and Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging. The groups are designed to encourage collaboration and social support with colleagues in different departments. The evidence shows that peers who share a common language and knowledge on the problems they face in the classroom and work together to find solutions are more likely to improve their teaching practice (EEF, 2021).  Professor David Hargreaves from the University of Cambridge’s Education Faculty had a nice phrase for the sharing of knowledge. He called it ‘sticky knowledge’. So, he said “If you look around any staffroom, anywhere indeed where there is a group of teachers, you’re going to find there are 200 to 300 years’ worth of knowledge of experience. But it never gets shared, because there’s no frame for doing that, there’s no forum for discussion. And so, to get rid of this sticky knowledge, to share, this becomes the opportunity to talk to others about your findings.” The Teaching & Learning groups are an attempt to challenge this by providing regular opportunities to share ideas and learn from each other.  The marketplace was a wonderful snapshot of some of the evidenced-informed teaching strategies and conversations that have taken place during our Monday Twilight sessions.  I would like to express a huge thank you to our T&L group leaders (Mr Cheung, Ms Cooper, Ms Lewis, Mr Rocke, Mr Strathdene and Mrs Estima) who have put in tremendous effort in leading the groups.

Ms Lewis, Assistant Head (Teaching and Learning)