Next Generation Learning

Next Generation Learning can be summarised with our 3 Year Vision:

In three years’ time, we will be a school where learning is not confined to the walls of a classroom, timetabled sessions, or where the teacher ‘currently’ is. Everyone is a learner and learning is everywhere. Education is facilitated by staff in an environment where children’s natural curiosity is underpinned and enabled by a distinctly 21st-century skill set.

Children have ownership over their school day and are accountable for their learning. Staff members are confident, curious and courageous and King’s Cross Academy is a beacon in education, a training school that leads the way for education in the future.

As an institution for learning, we make qualified and educated decisions on how best to educate the children who attend the academy. However, we have and always will continue to listen to the vision of the children who attend the school and incorporate their ideas into our structure.

Here is the future of King’s Cross Academy, expressed by Elvis, a child who joined us in Reception and is now a Digital Leader at the academy.

“Year 5 and 6 will be helping to teach Early Years and Year 1, education will be recycled through the school.

We will use digital devices to help us learn even more, we could use Minecraft, learn to design and build, create and reflect on our work. I want to learn this way because I think using computers is more fun and helps us to learn for our futures.

Technology can be used as part of our curriculum alongside physical and outdoor learning. Also, we should have more free time in response to our great learning. I really like writing essays and paragraphs on the computer but the whole school should not rely on technology and we should also work in our books.” Elvis, Year 6

As part of Next Generation Learning, we provide the skills for a successful education and future whilst captivating children’s imagination and creativity. We believe, much like Scandinavian schools which commonly rank highest on PISA scales, that a lack of internet is a disadvantage. That is why we have committed to providing every child with a device and every home with access to the internet.

Next Generation Learning at the academy

Why Next Generation Learning?

For us, lockdown and the forced closure of schools and the development of remote learning changed education forever. Here are our reflections and thoughts.

The Academy’s motto is ‘Love learning together’. This reflects our commitment to shared learning at all experiences. We have learned many lessons through the period of remote learning, and we are committed to growing and innovating from the experience. Remote learning has led us to question whether our current educational offer is optimal for all our learners.

The academy has identified that a technologically rich environment can decrease gaps in learning, personalise education for the individual, engage ‘disengaged’ learners, motivate, improve behaviour and encourage accountability for learning.

Educational Journalist, Laura McInerney wrote, “By accident, lockdown has shown English schools the secret of closing the achievement gap; children need different amounts of learning time. Some students grasp the content of a lesson in a snap. Others take the best part of an hour. Some need things repeated 60 times to have any chance of recall. Teachers do their best, but no human can realistically tailor every lesson to each child.” But by utilising pre-recorded content, breakout activities, spaces and effective staffing, we believe we can.”

The educational theorist Professor Stephen Heppell commented that the last change in the direction of education was 75 years ago. This now, is our opportunity to develop the legacy of the education that we offer. We all want our children to succeed. It is how we define that success that makes us different. We aim to prepare children for the modern world by making them highly successful life-long learners.

Next Generation Learning at the academy is led by our Digital Learning Lead, Philip Bhol