Back to School............ Closing the Gaps in Achievement and Life Chances

‘Closing the Gaps’ is a collection of tried and tested ideas to help advance the skills, enthusiasm, and achievements in academic and non-academic areas for the variety of disadvantaged students, but they also benefit through pushing all students to do even better, to really impact on their life chances. So it really does not matter where you are coming from, what matters is where you are going and how you are going to get there.

The resources are rich points, allowing you to develop and reflect on your journey to success, keeping in mind that you will learn a lot from these resources about yourself, about your team and about the individuals in your classes, just as your students will be learning a lot about themselves and each other as they go on the journey to success.
Suitable for all ages and abilities, there is something in here for everyone.

These resources have been successfully used in pre-school lessons, elementary, junior, and primary schools, in secondary and high schools, in colleges and in higher education. They have been used in a wide variety of schools and in home schooling, and there is every expectation that you too will be remarkably successful with your students because of using these resources, paying diligence, these resources should easily and rapidly become embedded in your classroom practice.

‘Closing the Gaps’ is not just about academic achievement it is more, much more than that as it is about enriching lives, yours, and your students, and improving their life chances.
 
These resources can be successfully used in primary schools, secondary schools, high schools, free schools, academies, MATs, Charter schools, private and state schools, and colleges across the world. They can be used in various ways and here are some ideas from current users:

1. For inclusion, extensions, differentiation
2. One-to-one, in pairs, teams, and as a whole class
3. With students of all ages and abilities
4. With classes of all sizes, big or small, there is something in here for all
5. To raise questions
6. To ask for examples
7. To give examples
8. Get students to role play their answers not just write or say them
9. To generate points for discussion
10. In developing rich learning and communication skills e.g. Suppose you were…? What could be an example of…?
11. Get others into your classes and your classes out of the school for good reasons!
12. Do not try and do everything yourself
13. Sometimes you can lead with these great resources
14. Sometimes use them with another member of staff
15. Sometimes team up with a couple of students and co-run the class
16. Other times, let the students pick the page, the task and let them manage the activity
17. Extremely exciting resources, as you will learn a lot about and from your students

Each entry is important on its own, but become more important, and more powerful, when used in combinations.