Prior to school closure, our very active 1+2 Leads across Clackmannanshire hosted an event with Louise Glen from Education Scotland. This focused on progression pathways from first to second level, and was well-attended. The ‘gradient of progression’ was discussed in detail and we made plans for incorporating more live learning opportunities between secondary and primary pupils.
We are excited to be part of the SCILT offer to engage families with language learning, and two particularly enthusiastic schools, Fishcross Primary and Craigbank Primary, have teamed up with Clackmannan Nursery to get involved. This mini-cluster has already made huge progress in engaging families and recognises that language learning could help young people as well as support home engagement. Times have been testing since closure, but the plans are being adapted and it is hoped this can continue in some guise – the enthusiasm is most certainly there! By engaging families, we hope to increase the understanding that languages are for everyone.
We had a number of young people sign up for the e-Sgoil/SCILT live lessons. This has been an added bonus during the school closures and the young people have enjoyed being part of something new. The opportunity to tap into subject specialists has been a welcome addition to Clackmannanshire's 1+2 journey.
As an authority, our priority over the last term has been to engage learners and to support them. For a while, learning felt secondary to being able to check-in with our pupils and give them fun projects to keep them busy. To this end, many schools have created exciting little mini-projects with a language theme. Miss Bryden's class at Menstrie Primary enjoyed a mini-project centred on The Very Hungry Caterpillar, where pupil engagement increased and pupils expanded their vocabulary and their enjoyment of learning a language. Using literacy as the stimulus, the class shared both their language learning and their creativity on Google Classroom.
Moving forward into the recovery phase, we plan on continuing the ‘gradient of progression’ on our 1+2 journey; the importance of thinking global is more important now than ever.
