5/11/2008 7:15:00 AM
The Sunday Times, 11 May 2008
The Tyneside comprehensive whose star pupil, Laura Spence, was rejected by Oxford is to teach all GCSE subjects in eight-minute bursts after finding that they boosted pupils’ results by half a grade. The mini-lessons at Monkseaton community high school are interspersed with frequent breaks for sport or word games. The technique is based on neuroscience research which has found that the memory develops most effectively with short bursts of learning repeated at intervals. Monkseaton is to extend the method to all GCSE teaching from this autumn after a pilot scheme improved results by an average of half a grade for science pupils. Paul Kelley, the headmaster, said: “It may seem bizarre to teach an eight-minute lesson, break for 10 minutes to dribble a basketball and then repeat the process, but it works. “In rigorous evaluation, students show improvement regardless of subject, teacher or their ability.” Kelley and his school made headlines in 2000 when Spence was rejected by Oxford despite a prediction of five As at A-level. Gordon Brown, then chancellor, described her rejection as an “absolute scandal” and said that she had fallen victim to the “old Establishment”. She went to Harvard instead. Monkseaton, which is a comprehensive in a deprived area, consistently wins high grades and has sent pupils to top British universities and Ivy League colleges in America. Sunday Times
Secondary
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