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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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