Staindrop Academy

Having converted to an academy in 2011, Staindrop Academy is a coeducational secondary school located in County Durham. Since implementing the GCSEPod content and assessment from Education Demand, the school has seen homework hand-in rates and pupil engagement improve.

Here, Amy Jackson, Associate Assistant Headteacher and Teaching and Learning Lead discusses how the software has helped drive more positive results across the school.

There were a number of objectives we were looking to achieve through the implementation of the GCSEPod. Across all departments, improving homework hand-in rates was a top priority, as was preparing KS3 students for GCSE revision and engaging them in independent study through ICT. We were also keen to use the GCSEPod content and assessment to help pupils catch-up on any knowledge missed during the COVID-19 pandemic and the lengthy periods of homeschooling.

Homework

Homework hand-in rates were an issue across the whole school before subscribing to Education Demand and as any teacher will appreciate, it takes time for pupils to develop the art of independent study. For the English department in particular, it was hoped that the GCSEPod would provide pupils with a more intuitive way to complete their homework, without feeling unsure or overwhelmed.

With pupils able to access the software from a computer, tablet or smartphone, it’s much easier to remember the tasks that they have been set, also able to view any tasks that have been set during lessons that they might have been absent for.

At Staindrop we also have a number of SEND pupils, who rely on computers and study areas being open at lunchtimes to complete their homework. The GCSEPod learning content and assessment offers these individuals the perfect opportunity to engage with short videos or tasks and prevents them from getting distracted or behind on their studies. Education Demand’s accessibility toolbar allows students to personalise their learning experience with dyslexia friendly fonts, reading guides and colour control. The GCSEPod content enhances learning for everyone.

I like GCSEPod because I lose everything! With this, I can access all of my homework and watch the videos on my phone. It’s great getting the answers straight away and being able to access homework and videos at home.

Aston - a pupil in year 7 Staindrop Academy

GCSEPod helped me understand more of my lessons and it was good for extra revision. It helped me with my homework a lot because you could do more in the same amount of time and it was available across a number of subjects.

Kyle - a pupil in year 8 Staindrop Academy

I like how you could compete against other people when answering questions and I found the pods very interesting.

Lily - a pupil in year 7 Staindrop Academy

Assignments

After setting an assignment via the GCSEPod software, teachers can access a virtual mark book, as well as a breakdown of the number of Pods watched and each pupils' score. The software also highlights where students haven’t attempted questions, allowing teachers to offer any required support or guidance via the feedback box. To save time where multiple students have not provided an answer, there’s also the functionality to send the same feedback to multiple students - saving teachers a huge amount of time during the marking process.

Should teachers identify any gaps in pupils’ knowledge, they can update lesson plans accordingly.

Students can also click back on their assessment to ‘review results’, able to access any messages left from teachers and respond to that feedback.

Results from the 2021/22 academic year:

Year 7 Average Videos: 72 videos
Year 8 Average Videos: 71 videos
Year 9 Average Videos: 185 videos
Year 10 Average Videos: 275 videos
Year 11 Average Videos: 278 videos

Total pods watched across the school: 73,315

20% improvement so far in homework hand-in for English (standing at 86% rate for first hand in)

What could we help your school achieve?

Are you a high achieving school with record results, is your Progress 8 score currently below average, or maybe you somewhere in between? No matter what your current standing, all types of schools are finding huge learning and GCSE revision success using GCSEPod. Let us show you how GCSEPod could help reach your school goals.