Three Year 6 girls are looking over their events book and they are confused. There are photos from five years ago of them in their World Book Day costumes and they can’t work out who is who. They leaf through and come to another set of photos from World Book Day from two years ago. This time, it is a bit easier to spot themselves.
The book sets them off on all sorts of discussions, such as who has left the year group, who has changed and how far they have come. It’s a discussion that we rarely get time for in primary schools - taking the time to reflect on where we have been is so often overlooked because of the tests we are expected to prepare for in the future.
At West Cliff Primary School, our “Big Books” are similar to an early years “learning journey”, but for a whole class rather than a single child. They chart the progress of each group from Reception to Year 6. The events book is just one of several and they are partly an attempt to counter the accountability pressures and allocate time for pupils to think about their journey through school and savour the experience of education. But they also offer fantastic ways to evidence learning and inspire students.
Many schools have variations on Big Books. We don’t claim to have invented them, but we do wish to promote them to as widely as possible. This is how it works at our school.
The events book
This contains annotated photographs of every trip, every visitor, every themed day - in fact, anything special to that class. It documents the history of the class in photographs, almost like a paper Facebook page. The primary purpose of these books is for children to flick through and see their journey, but of course they are also an excellent record of enrichment for inspectors.
The science book
These are designed to ensure science is fun - activities, experiments and discussions are recorded using photographs, Post-it notes and, more recently, QR codes that link to video evidence.
The RE book
Similar to science, the pages are filled with Post-it notes and printouts from discussion apps such as Padlet - where children use their iPads to contribute to class discussions. We have a half-termly question for the school such as, “What happens when we die?” All children record their answers and these are presented in the books. Recording in a class format shows a range of thinking between individuals, and also a development in maturity when you compare different books.
In addition, we visit different places of worship regularly, and these visits are documented with photographs. This book is fabulous evidence for spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
Shared writing
This is exactly as it sounds. All shared writing is printed and added to the books as a record of the work we have collaborated on. When revisited, this acts as a great reminder of the features of particular types of text. It also shows the next class teacher what their class wrote the year before, and it’s nice for pupils to read their writing from the past to see how much better they have got.
Beach books
We are a Beach School. Much like in a Forest School, we believe that valuable learning happens outside the classroom and, as our school is situated on a cliff, the beach is our playground. In these books, we document the achievement of our “70 things to do on West Cliff Beach” - there are 10 for each year group, which become increasingly more difficult with age. Again, these are a fantastic source of evidence to showcase learning outside the classroom. As they fill up year on year, they clearly demonstrate the progress of a class, and they highlight many of our children’s finest achievements.
The rule of the Big Books is simple - they must be beautifully presented and kept up to date. After purchasing numerous A3 books from Paperchase, I discovered a brilliant company that custom-prints books cheaply for schools. Staff and children take pride in their class books and are always keen to show them off.
The children love the books for many reasons. First, it is always fun to look back at what you’ve achieved over a number of years.
Second, they mean less recording: there is no more individual recounting of trips or lengthy write-ups of science experiments. Nothing dampens enthusiasm for a trip or experiment like the thought of having to write about it in detail. Children feel that the Big Books keep the fun in learning.
Lastly, it is tangible. We use tech extensively: individual iPads for all pupils, Dropbox accounts full of evidence, and a thriving Facebook and Twitter presence that charts our daily existence. These books are important because they are physical. When a class leaves for secondary school, the books are a permanent reminder of their time here, and they can come back and browse them whenever they like - we put them in the entrance for visitors to flick through.
Of course, there’s a danger that the books will start well but then get lost. We ensure that we commit to these books and, because of this, the pupils do, too. If you want to have a go yourself, here are some guidelines:
* Leave the books somewhere in the classroom that parents and children can look through them and see their history.
* Think of them as an evidence source for inspectors just the same as individual books - remember they show achievements that RAISEonline can’t.
* Ensure they are high-quality, as they are passed on every year. Invest in the books, because they need to last.
* Insist that presentation in the books is to a high standard - in the contributions of teachers and pupils.
* Introduce the books to staff as a way to improve work-life balance. Completing two pages of a Big Book after a lesson is much more fun, and less time-consuming, than marking a class set of books.
* Headteachers: take time to look at them - they always make me very proud of the achievements of my staff and children.
Christina Zanelli-Tyler is headteacher of West Cliff Primary School in Whitby
