Planning, Preparation and Assessment school buildings

"Since 1 September 2005 all teachers have had an entitlement to a guaranteed minimum of 10 per cent of their timetabled teaching commitment for PPA.”

The National Agreement on Raising Standards and Tackling Workload states that:

“To achieve the demands of the next phase in raising standards, teachers will need to take a more differentiated approach to the needs of their pupils. And yet they are already doing too much of their planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) at evenings and weekends, and in isolation from each other. While this cannot be changed overnight, the Agreement marks a turning point in carving out some guaranteed PPA time during the normal school day.”

This is often easier said than done and finding somewhere quite and undisturbed for your teachers to get all their planning, preparation and assessments done can be even harder and taking it home defeats the purpose in the first place.

The school belongs to the pupils; it’s there after all for their benefit. But they know the staff room is out of bounds this at least belongs exclusively to the teachers so maybe you could get all your PPA done in there? If you’re using an existing staff room to get all your required PPA done you might have noticed a few problems. The staff room is somewhere the teachers can put their feet up, have a cup of tea and maybe discuss the progress of the pupils, it’s not a library and it’s not quiet. May you’ve got lucky and you have the staffroom to yourself for a while, then one of the pupils knocks on the door to inform you of an unforeseen catastrophe or a message from another teacher all of a sudden your PPA time is interrupted.

Running around trying to find an empty classroom can be even more problematic, with class sizes growing how many empty classrooms do you really have lying around?

The most obvious option is to have a room which is dedicated solely for planning preparation and assessment, somewhere that carries the connotations of the exclusivity of the staff room to the pupils yet still has the mind set of work and concentration for the teachers. Having this room away from the main school building may make it even easier to concentrate.

A Garden Escape 4 Schools building offers all the peace and serenity of a secluded work space without the hassle and interruption of erecting a bricks and mortar building, it can be placed almost anywhere and can be constructed in just a couple of weeks. It can give your teachers somewhere quiet away from the school to get all their planning preparation and assessment done and its eco friendly design can ensure it’s an aesthetically pleasing addition to the natural environment.