- The Friday Mindset
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- Friday Mindset #153
Happy Friday!
The week has ended.
Boost a brace of biscuits from the office, brew up, and let’s dive straight in.
Something to try...
After last week’s Richard Feynman quote, we had a few folk getting in touch. Feynman urges us, “Don’t think about what you want to be, but what you want to do.” And afterwards, we mentioned that our concept of ‘be’ goals versus ‘do’ goals was developed without knowing Feynman advocated the same thing.
But, some of you have asked, quite reasonably, what even are ‘be’ goals and ‘do’ goals? It’s true there’s not a distinct, stand-alone VESPA activity that covers these concepts. We mention them in The A Level Mindset revised edition and touch on them again in The VESPA Handbook in an activity called Diver Goals and Thriver Goals, but only kind of tangentially, so we need to tidy it up and nail it down.
With that in mind, Martin’s recorded a brief explanation. Should be suitable for staff, students or parents, and is, of course, evidence-informed. Hopefully it’s of use when discussing student aspiration.
So once exam’s season’s over and you’re taking 10s or 12s into the remainder of the summer term, talking about hopes, schemes and what the future might hold, this could be one to refer to.
Enjoy!
Something we're reading...
What have we got for you this week?
An analysis of 10 years’ worth of Maths marking - that’s 350,000 pieces of work - looks at how marking standards differ via teachers’ differing informal grade boundaries. Even in Maths, an outcome that might be given a ‘C’ grade from one teacher might get a ‘B’ from another due to personal judgement and preference. So what’s the effect on progress of having a ‘positive’ (or ‘soft’, depending upon your take) marker, rather than a tough one?
Get yourself to page 6 to have a look at the outcomes, but for us it’s page 11 that strikes us as important; the study looks at whether expectations are lower at certain types of schools in certain socio-economic areas. The study’s an American one, so equivalent analysis would be needed in British schools but even so, it’s an issue that feels hugely important.
If you’re into assessment practices, tracking and monitoring and intervention - or you’ve been tasked with looking at the current state of assessment in your organisation - this is a good read:
btw - surely the writers missed a trick with that title. Grade Expectations, isn’t it? Or is the pun implicit and we’re just a bit slow? Occam’s Razor says it’s the second 🤣
Portal Talk...
Woop!
We’re approaching a year since we launched our revamped VESPA Coaching Portal, and to help spread the word further, we thought we’d let our users do the talking! Here’s a selection of the feedback we have had this year from our fantastic schools. The very generous comments reflect platform-use across the UK and beyond, and from a diverse range of socio-economic environments…
“We use VESPA with all students but have additional coaching sessions for disadvantaged students focusing particularly on Vision and Systems, which our data showed were areas of greatest need.
VESPA has transformed our approach to GCSE resits, with pass rates increasing from 56% to 74% for Maths and from 61% to 82% for English over the past two years.”
“Approximately 65% of students actively implement feedback suggestions. Common actions include creating revision timetables, implementing the Cornell note-taking system, establishing study groups, and practicing retrieval techniques. The specific, actionable nature of the feedback makes it particularly effective.”
“Our scholarship students have shown remarkable improvement using VESPA - their average grades improved 14% more than non-scholarship students. The scaffolded approach helps bridge gaps in prior educational experiences.”
“The structured approach and clear expectations have helped close gaps in cultural capital.”
“VESPA has significantly improved our GCSE resit results. Last year, Maths resit pass rates improved 11% and English 8%. The structured approach to addressing specific weaknesses has been particularly effective.”
“The VESPA portal is exceptional at providing immediate feedback to learners. Pupils have access to their personalised reports which highlight both strengths and weaknesses. The visual presentation is particularly accessible for our learners.”
“Schools across the region have used the VESPA activities and revision resources on the portal to support students in preparing for their resit examinations. Feedback from students and teachers has been extremely positive. The platform has provided students with activities and resources to build and practice effective revision strategies and boost confidence levels.”
We’re also currently preparing for our very own end of term awards assembly on 10th July, as we’ve been nominated for the BESA (British Educational Suppliers Association) - Evidence and Impact Award 2025! *insert cheering SFX here* 😊
More about that next week.
Meantime, if you’re interested in learning more about the portal and would like to arrange a demo, please get in touch at [email protected] or use my link below to arrange an online meeting.
Our latest offer...
OK folks, we’ve got three staff training slots left during this summer term. (They’re not particular dates - though lots have already been booked in - we’ve just got a limit on how much we can do.)
Would you like a staff CPD date in June or July, led by Martin?
We’re going to quote you 20% less than our usual price if you get in touch at [email protected] and request some staff training - just mention the newsletter so we know you’ve seen this - so we can get these last three filled and get back to booking in training for September ‘25.
Our most commonly-requested sessions are (i) an introduction to VESPA, (ii) effective coaching (iii) building independent learning (iv) building aspiration and (v) effective evidence-based revision,
…but if there’s something else you want to discuss, just give us a shout!
Alrighty. That’s us done for this week. All the best to you and yours,
Martin, Steve and Tony
p.s. You’ll have seen this before - it’s fifteen years old this year, blimey, - but an ex-student mentioned it to us last week, and the memories came flooding back. We used to swear by this as a video to use in an ‘importance of exam preparation’ assembly. You can imagine the gist: prepare well, and the tip of a single domino can move mountains etc etc.
Might get you out of an assembly-crisis in the coming weeks or, at the very least, if you’ve never seen it before, give you a five-minute treat:
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