Student Voice 2013

South West Academic Trust - Student Voice Conference, 2013
            
On Thursday 20th June four students from TGGS participated in a 'Student Voice Conference' at Exeter University. 

The students were tasked with researching the area of 'homework' and were asked to present their findings to students, staff and Senior Leaders from other South West Academic Trust (SWAT) schools.
 
The year 12 students investigated the impact of the new homework policies at TGGS which were put in place in January 2013. They questioned both staff and students on the impact of the new policies and put forward some excellent suggestions for further improvement. They put together a very professional presentations and answered some very tricky questions from other students!
 
The title for the year 10 students was 'Does homework extend learning?' They researched this by looking at studies on the internet and sent out surveys to a number of students in school. They found that homework at TGGS prepares students for future lessons well and helps to consolidate learning in lessons. They found that it could be used more effectively to extend students learning and provided suggestions for this which compliment the School Development Plan which is also focusing on 'Challenge'. The year 10 students prepared exceptionally well for this event and gave a very slick performance - they too answered some challenging questions from the audience!

The students and staff were also lucky enough to hear a keynote speech from Ms Laura Colvine who is the 'Strategy Lead' for IBM in the UK and Ireland - she was an inspirational speaker who focussed on 'How the ICT e-skills landscape is changing and how  students and educators can prepare'. Her speech was really interesting and will help our students to prepare for their future.
 
The girls involved represented TGGS exceptionally well and learnt a great deal in the process. Their findings will be used in school to improve current practice and hopefully their ideas will help to develop homework further within our school.