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A Message from                                                                      Without an effective plenary at the end of a lesson, estimates range from 40 -
                                                                                                                                       80% of the taught information having been forgotten by students within half an
                                                   MR MURRAY                                                                           hour of leaving the classroom. And it only gets lower from there.



                                                                                                                                       But it doesn’t just apply in the classroom. I came across a fascinating take on
                                                   HEAD OF SCHOOL                                                                      the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve (www.scripturenotes.com) while researching
                                                                                                                                       my training session, one that can apply to all of us adults in everyday life, too,

                                                                                                                                       regardless of what we might be learning at the time.




                  riday afternoons are a rare
                  opportunity for our whole staff to get

           Ftogether. Often we debrief the week,
           sometimes we have a meeting, other times
           we run some in-house or external training.
           Last Friday I gave our staff a refresher on
           finishing strong. About the importance of
           ending our lessons in a way that leaves the
           content covered in the minds of the students
           for as long as possible. A method that shifts
           the content taught towards long-term
           memory. There’s a name for this in                                                                                          This graph illustrates how our retention of something we have read declines
           education: a plenary.                                                                                                       rapidly. However, we reset our knowledge each time we reread it, with the loss
                                                                                                                                       curve growing shallower each time, and the knowledge loss becoming less

           The word ‘plenary’ comes from the Latin                                                                                     pronounced. Please bear this in mind when working with your children, as well
           ‘plenus’ meaning ‘full’ or ‘complete’. In an       The period from 1980 to 2000 was a time                                  as when reading any important texts as adults.
           educational context, the plenary has evolved       of rapid global progression in educational
           to mean the ‘completion’ of the learning           discourse, with the plenary being viewed                                 At Abuja Prep, we recognise that learning is strengthened through reflection
           process, a time when the whole class comes         as a structured stage of a lesson for the first                          and reinforcement. Plenaries play a vital role in helping pupils consolidate their
           together to consolidate and reflect upon           time, rather than simply an informal recap                               understanding, articulate what they have learned, and make meaningful
           what has been learned in the lesson. Hence         or review. The early 2000s saw it adopt an                               connections to prior knowledge. Equally important are mini-plenaries — those
           this week’s quote:                                 assessment focus, with teachers using their                              purposeful pauses within a lesson that allow teachers and learners to recap,
                                                                                                                                       refresh, and refocus, ensuring that knowledge is constantly revisited and
              “Learning is not                                plenary to reflect more on progress and link                             deepened. This belief is also reflected in our carefully structured timetable,
                                                              student performance to success
                                                                                                                                       where English and Mathematics are taught daily through a spiralling
              complete until it has                           criteria. Which brings us to the current                                 curriculum that builds on previous learning, revisits key concepts, and supports
                                                              phase of thinking: that the humble plenary,
              been thought about.”                            that 5-minute window at the end of a lesson,                             long-term retention. In doing so, we ensure that every child not only acquires
                                                                                                                                       new knowledge but truly understands and applies it with confidence.
                                                              is actually a vehicle for student voice, use of
                                                              digital tools, self-assessment, and
              – Brown, Roediger & McDaniel (2014).                                                                                     Have a wonderful week!
                                                              metacognition (understanding how we
                                                              learn).                                                                  Mr Murray.








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