PROGRESS Stories

Feeling the Pulse: Releasing Energy to Improve Learning.

Antidote's role in delivering the PROGRESS Programme to schools is to ensure that all members of the school community feel safe enough to say what is happening to them, that what they say is heard in shaping a picture of what is going on, and that everyone is creatively engaged in generating strategies for shaping an even more dynamic learning environment.
Spike Island Primary School had for some time conducted annual surveys of staff, students and parents as a matter of routine. The same questions were asked year in and year out and provided Yes/No responses. These told the school there was an issue, but gave no clues as to what could be done about it.
Many of the comments made in the original survey were extremely positive:

• The staff are friendly and work very hard to try and do a good job.' 'I love working here' and 'the school has very high expectations of pupils as well as staff.
• I feel safe and supported in my position.
• It can be a very positive place to be.

But people did show the way to making things even better:

• 'I am hoping that this survey will help to bring all members of the school together to work in harmony, as a team, for the benefit of everyone'
• 'I'd like each section of the school to understand the importance of the other sections of the school.'
• 'Each key stage thinks they work the hardest! We need better understanding, greater tolerance and more coherence'.

Using these statements to inform thinking about the numbered data, we were able to engage the whole school in a creative discussion about how to improve teaching and learning. The senior team said they would have found it hard to have engaged such a meaningful exploration: they would either have been seen as taking sides or as not taking seriously enough the issues that had been raised. 

Click here for more information on the PROGRESS Programme.

PROGRESS Stories