Secondary Warehouse
Glossary of Terms
| Glossary of Terms |
|---|
| AEN Additional educational need. A pupil need that is identified and it is perceived that pupils with that need require support in addition to what is provided for the rest of the class. |
| AOTs Adults Other than Teachers. Anyone involved in working with pupils in schools who is not a teacher e.g. Teaching Assistant; parent helper, employer. |
| Assessment The means by which what a pupil has learned is determined. |
| Assessment for learning Assessment for the purpose of providing feedback to the learner on their progress and offering guidance for development. |
| Citizenship A statutory National Curriculum subject which was introduced into secondary schools from September 2000 and is compulsory for Key Stages 3 and 4. It can be taught as a discrete subject or within the context of other subjects. |
| Curriculum The whole range of learning experiences that take place within the school, planned and unplanned. |
| Curriculum enrichment activities The range of activities and opportunities provided by schools for their pupils beyond the statutory curriculum requirements. |
| DfES Department for Education and Skills; the government department responsible for developing and implementing the government’s policies for education. |
| Differentiation The process by which the curriculum is structured and made accessible so that it meets the needs of the full range of abilities and needs in a class. |
| 11 Plus A test that is used by a very few English Local Educational Authorities (including Kent and Medway) to select pupils at the age of 11 for transfer to selective grammar schools or to secondary modern schools. |
| EAL English as an additional language. All pupils for whom English is not their first language. |
| Form Tutor A teacher who has pastoral responsibility for a group of pupils, responsibilities include basic administration, taking the register, following up absence, maintenance of up to date records, first point of contact with parents and carers, overall progress of the pupils across the whole curriculum, collation of reporting to parents, pupil wellbeing etc. |
| Inclusion The principle and current policy to ensure that the needs of all pupils are met within the context of mainstream schools; inclusion includes AEN, gender, ethnicity, any form of disability, the gifted and talented etc. |
| Key Stage The period of time between statutory reporting of pupils’ attainment against National Curriculum Levels of Attainment: Key Stage 1 - Ages 5-7, Key Stage 2 Ages 7-11; Key Stage 3 Ages 11-14, Key Stage 4 Ages 14-16. |
| Key Stage 3 Strategy An initiative from the Department for Education and Skills to raise achievement of pupils in Key Stage 3. It was introduced following the success of the National Literacy Strategy (NLS) and National Numeracy Strategy (NNS) introduced into primary schools in the late 1990s to raise standards of literacy and numeracy in primary aged pupils. |
| League Table Term used to refer to the statistics of pupils’ performance in GCSE and other qualifications published annually LEA by LEA, enabling comparisons to be made between schools. |
| Mentor In the context of initial teacher training, the person who guides trainees in their teaching and who has part responsibility for assessment. Learning mentors are becoming more widespread in secondary schools. |
| National Curriculum The framework for the curriculum for pupils from 5 to 16 , partly statutory and partly non-statutory, specifying which subjects should be taught, the programmes of study for each Key Stage and levels of attainment that are the benchmarks for assessment at the end of Key Stages 1-3. |
| Statutory National Curriculum Those parts of the National Curriculum that are requirements of the Education Reform Act 1988 or subsequent legislation. |
| Non-statutory National Curriculum Those parts of the National Curriculum that are guidance and do not have the force of law. |
| NQT Newly Qualified Teacher; the first year of teaching after qualification, the induction year. |
| Ofsted Office for Standards in Education. Appointed by the government to inspect schools and other educational establishments regularly against a framework. |
| PPA (Planning, Preparation, Adminstration) time From September 2005 all teachers are entitled to 10% release from teaching for planning, preparation & administration, under the Workforce re-modelling agreement (See HLTA below). |
| PSHE Personal, social and health education. A National Curriculum subject that can be taught either as a discrete subject or within the context of other school subjects. It is often taught by form tutors. |
| Set Pupils grouped for teaching purposes by ability in a specific subject area. |
| SMSC Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development - a non-statutory aspect of the National Curriculum that can be taught within the context of all subjects in the National Curriculum. |
| Teaching Assistant Unqualified support for teachers in the classroom, often deployed to support pupils with AEN. Also called Learning Support Assistants (LSA) or Classroom Assistant. Higher Level Teaching Assistants (HLTA) have been assessed against national standards for HLTAs and may be deployed by a school to teach some lessons under the teacher’s direction, or to take responsibility for other administrative duties. |
Types of school
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