Planning for pupil engagement

Nendrum College was established in 2006, on the site of Comber High School. It serves a large rural catchment area as well as the town of Comber. It is a co-educational non-selective post-primary school.


Stephen Cowden is Head of Mathematics and Teacher in charge of Learning and Teaching in Nendrum.


Key Learning

When thinking about helping pupils to stay engaged with learning online:

  • Prioritise communication to enable pupils and inform parents

  • Try to make the learning as familiar as possible for the pupils

  • Create opportunities for two-way feedback

  • Be clear about what it is they are learning

  • Model potential approaches

  • Develop partnerships with parents so that they can support learning

  • Keep the experience of the pupil foremost in your planning


Questions to consider when planning for pupil engagement:


What are the key learning points?

Can I make the online lesson shorter?

How can I structure the new learning on the existing learning?

Can I build interactivity into the lesson? Can I create competitions/fun into the lesson?

How will I model the learning I want to encourage?

Can I build other AfL into the way the lesson has been presented? (e.g. RAG for each learning activity/topic/teaching point)

How can I best communicate with parents to maximise the learning?

How will I check for understanding? Can I set short assignments, or polling to monitor progress?


Finding out more about google classroom

C2K has a help suite for using google classroom that might be useful. Go to app launcher on your home page, click on 'view all' and select 'g suite for education' from menu on left hand side.


You can also use Microsoft Office 365 Teams for setting up your online learning environment.