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Department Handbook

Department Handbook Template by Mrs Humanities

ContentsAcademic Statement Department Vision Departmental DevelopmentDepartment Staff Curriculum Lesson Planning Feedback and Assessment Behaviour and RewardsLearner Responsibility Reports and ExamsTrips and Fieldwork Day to Day

Academic Statement1


In the academic statement, set out the role of your subject – short, medium and long term. ConsiderWhy is it worth studying?What value does it have?What do we want students to take away from their geographical studies over the 3, 5 or 7 years in which they study it?

Department Vision In the department vision outline how as a department you are going to achieve the above and how your department fits into the whole school vision and development plan

Department Vision Outline how the department aims to develop over the next 3 years. This could include a hyperlink to the school/department development plan.

Department StaffRoles and responsibilities

Name Role Responsibilities

ExampleMrs Humanities Subject Leader

Geography and ESS Develop and update department policies Map the curriculum and produce

overviews Prepare schemes of work Monitor progress and achievement Quality assurance of lessons and marking Analyse data and report to line manager Exam entries and internal moderation Health and safety Department handbook/SEF Preparing controlled assessments Organising trips and fieldwork Developing enrichment activities Mark books in line with department policy

Teaching ResponsibilitiesYear Staff 1 Staff 2 Staff 3 Staff 3

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Year 7Year 8Year 9Year 10Year 11Year 12 Year 13

Other responsibilitiesStaff Member

Example: Geography Photo Competition Staff 1

CurriculumBreak down the curriculum by key stage, providing vital information about

the topics and specifications studied, the examinations under taken and the options selected.

Key Stage 3At KS3 the curriculum approach is followed in a way that allows for students to access their future studies in Geography at GCSE.

Below is an outline of the topics studied across key stage 3

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9

Key Stage 4The KS4 curriculum is taught over 2 year. Students will follow the “insert exam specification”. Paper Topics Studied Options Exam % of

grade

Key Stage 53


The key stage 5 ‘insert subject’ curriculum follows the ‘insert exam specification’. Paper Topics Studied Options Exam

Timings% of grade

Assessed WorkOutline whole school/departmental expectations for assessing work and/or learning.Example:

Lesson ObservationsOutline whole school/departmental expectations for lesson observations.

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Assessed Work Minimum ExpectationsAssessed pieces must be completed THROUGHOUT the topic to allow the teacher to assess

student understanding and application. In doing so the teacher can implement timely interventions during the topic teaching.

GCSE Per topic students must complete a minimum of 2 PPQs and an end of topic test in year 10 and up to February in year 11. IB – CORE and OPTIONSPer unit, students must complete a minimum of 2 PPQs and an end of topic exam in year 12 and up to Christmas in year 13IB – HIGHERA minimum of 1 essay per unit. Ideally students should be given tasks that assess their understanding and can be assessed by the teacher.

Assessment for learning strategies should take place in lessons in addition to the assessment of written work.


Add hyperlinks to documents.

Lesson Planning Outline expectations for lesson planning – short, medium and long term. Add hyperlinks to documents, resources and folders. ExampleIt is expected that every lesson, pupils will know the learning objective and should be given the opportunity to reflect and assess upon their progress within the lesson and where possible, overtime. Lessons should be guided by the unit plan at MYP and the exam specification at GCSE and IB.Evidence of the following should be evident in teaching and learning over time:[insert list of expectations for T&L]

Feedback and Assessment Outline the role of feedback and assessment in your department. This may be linked to whole school policy. ExampleThe department adheres to the whole school assessment and feedback policy to ensure effective assessment for learning. For further reading on the power of feedback click here. For assessment to be effective it must:

Be formative, diagnostic, evaluative and summative Be accessible to students, teachers and parents/carers to effectively inform current and

future teaching and learning Involve students in assessing their own work and setting targets for future

achievements Be an important part of learning and should be planned Be collected and collated electronically using the departmental system Be reported appropriately in line with TGS statutory requirements to students and

parents/carers

In relation to assessment, marking and feedback all members of the Geography Department Teaching staff must:

Make clear to students what they are intended to learn through the use of learning objectives

Use a variety of assessment techniques – both formative and summative Focus on the attainment of individuals in feedback

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https://mrshumanities.com/2019/03/09/resource-the-power-of-feedback-download/


Periodically mark work in depth with constructive comments using the departmental approach

Apply a feedback-feedforward approach to work Keep records of student’s attainment in the departmental assessment spreadsheets Use attainment data to identify any students that are a cause for concern

FeedbackTo ensure the same high-quality experience for all students, the Geography Department will provide students with regular constructive feedback through a variety of formats including written and verbal feedback. All staff must

Plan for self and peer assessment Plan for feedback-feedforward cycles Provide developmental comments that students can act upon, these can be codes

shared with the class, comments in a feedback grid or other such techniques. Provide time in lessons for students to act on feedback Collate formative and summative data in the departmental assessment spreadsheets Level and/or grade summative work based on the MYP levels, GCSE grades or IBDP

levels The assessment of work from split groups is the responsibility all teachers that take

them

In general, for each unit of work there are 2 formatively assessed pieces of work and a summative.

Departmental Feedback StrategiesTo create a consistent approach across the department the following strategies are in use and are encouraged to develop a feedback-friendly learning environment. As the classroom teacher, you have the autonomy to select the appropriate strategy for your students. These strategies can be applied by the teacher and students via peer assessment.

ACE or SpACE peer assessment

The aim of this strategy is for students to truly think about the work in which they are reading. Using their own knowledge and understanding they consider the accuracy of the content and opportunities for improvement. This strategy allows students to see approaches that can influence and inspire their own work.

Accept – The work the student considers to be correct or well written they tickChallenge – The work that the student considers to be incorrect or inaccurate they question Extend – The work that the student considers could be extended in order to improve they comment onSp – The student checks the work for spelling errors and identifies errors with Sp, particularly useful for checking subject specific terminology.

Students should be given the opportunity to read and act on the feedback given by their peers.

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RAG123

The aim of this strategy is for students to self-reflect on their progress and approach to learning. All Geography classrooms should have this poster visible. At the end of the lesson or piece of work students should reflect and write in the margin of their book the level at which they place themselves e.g. R3, A2 etc. Staff should take a look through these self-assessments when marking books in order to support planning of future lessons and to support their judgements when it comes to report writing.

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Live MarkingTo check progress and to reduce workload, staff would live mark where possible. Live verbal feedback is a highly effective way to provide feedback in a timely fashion and enables the opportunity for student action on the feedback in the same lesson. SuccessesTo support students in developing good practice in their work, staff should provide students with feedback that illustrates what the student has successfully achieved. This can be done through written comments or a code that is shared with the class, students should be expected to either write down the corresponding feedback to the code or to be given a copy of the list of codes for reference.Double tick This method encourages students to reflect on their successes. As staff assess work rather than ticking and flicking and leaving a comment at the end, double ticks identify to students that these are particularly strong aspects of the work and staff should discuss verbally with individuals or with the whole class the reoccurring successes in order to give students in sight into their own achievements. Following verbal feedback students explain through annotations in the margin or at the end of their work why it was double ticked – this should be in relation to the skills used within the work such as the use of evidence, use of case study facts, stats and specifics and so on, rather than topic specific achievements. Double ticking can take place as you wander around the classroom or as you complete a Whole Class Feedback sheet (see below).

Next Steps

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Next steps are the steps students need to take to improve their work or to ensure future progress, for example staff may write a question to move the students understanding on or to develop an answer they’ve given or it can be a target they need to focus on in the remainder of the topic again to move their learning and progress on. These can be associated with a code (e.g. A4) that is shared with the class, students should be expected to either write down the corresponding feedback or to be given a copy of the list of codes for reference.Students require time to act on next steps if it is something they can do in the current piece of work. Whole class feedbackIn order to reduce the time spent marking and feeding back to our students, staff may wish to use a whole class feedback approach. Instead of writing similar diagnostic comments in student’s books, complete it on a feedback sheet and share with the class. How to useLook through the books one at a time and fill in the sheet as necessary. Look for students which require praise for any particularly outstanding work whether it be attainment or quality based, reoccurring successes, any students with unfinished work, any reoccurring misconceptions and SPaG errors and next steps that apply to more than 1 student – code these and write the code in the margin of the book. Use the misconceptions and next steps to plan the following lessons – ensure there is opportunity for re-teaching and to record and act on next steps. Scan the feedback sheet and project on the whiteboard, verbally discuss with the class and ensure they write down any comments that apply to them. There are templates in the T&L in Geography folder but you may wish to make your own. Staff should keep hard copies of all completed whole class feedback sheets in a designated folder for future reference.

Behaviour and RewardsOutline whole school and departmental approaches to developing positive learning environments, positive attitudes to learning and reward provision.

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Additionally, outline any specific approaches to sanctions.

Example

If students do not have their homework, please follow the following procedures1. Record the missed homework in the student planner2. Set a deadline for the end of the next day and record in SIMs/PARS3. If students fail to submit their homework by the extended deadline a subject

detention is to be set for the next Friday lunch time. 4. Record the student detention in the spreadsheet here

Equipment including textbooks1. If students do not have the correct equipment to be ready to learn e.g. their

workbook or textbook please record in SIMs/PARS, repeat offenders should be issued a detention.

2. For IB and GCSE students, if students are not ready to learn by failing to bring their textbook with them, record it in SIMS/PARS and set them a detention.

3. Record the student detention in the spreadsheet here.

Learner ResponsibilityIf applicable, outline how you expect students to take a degree of responsibility for their learning.Here you may outline

- approaches to self or peer assessment- personal target setting- strategies used to develop student independence- or similar

Trips and Fieldwork Outline any specific procedures in relation to running trips and carrying out fieldwork. You may split the responsibility of running trips between the team and therefore may wish to detail this in the handbook as shown below.

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Year group Location Date Responsibility of…

7 Birmingham 23rd November Staff 18 Kew gardens 9th April Staff 29 Dungeness 14th January Staff 110 Herne bay 29th June Staff 211 London 4th October Staff 3 & 412 Brighton 14th September Staff 3

Day to DayOutline any of the day-to-day information that in particular, new staff may need to know that won’t be in the school induction pack. For example:

- how the printers work and who to go to if there is a problem- who and where the IT support department are- who to talk to if you have a problem with…- who deals with what

Key DatesA copy of the school calendar can be found here.

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