Fast Feedback
An innovative approach to markingWe are committed to staff wellbeing and have made great strides in reducing teacher workload, while providing high-quality feedback to all our children, through our innovative and highly acclaimed no written marking policy, Fast Feedback.
Staff are proud to work at the school and feel supported with their workload. They said that leaders and members of the governing body take consideration and care to promote their wellbeing.
About Fast Feedback
In 2016, we successfully introduced a no written marking policy, known as Fast Feedback, at Lavender and Brimsdown Primary Schools. The move was inspired after our CEO Matthew Kleiner-Mann, who was headteacher at the time, saw an NQT dragging a suitcase full of marking out of school and decided something had to change.
The workload problem in teaching has been well-documented and Fast Feedback was an opportunity to improve staff wellbeing and retention, while also ensuring that children continued to receive high-quality feedback.
Since then, Fast Feedback has been implemented at schools nationwide, featured in the press and made into a book, published by Bloomsbury Education.
At Fast Feedback schools, children mark their own work and all feedback from teaching staff is given verbally. Teachers still look in children’s books, meet with them regularly and adjust planning as they see fit, but only children get to write in their own book.
Schools that have successfully adopted Fast Feedback have seen many benefits:
- Reduced teacher workload and stress
- Improved staff retention
- More effective learning for children
Children at Fast Feedback schools take more pride in their work, are more engaged in their learning and are better prepared for secondary school because they are already confident in evaluating their own work and capable of independent learning.
If you’re interested in learning more about Fast Feedback and how it can work for your school, we have a number of options available.
Fast Feedback conferences
At our Fast Feedback conferences, you’ll discover the theory behind Fast Feedback, learn about creating the right culture and get practical tips to help you successfully introduce it in your own setting. You’ll also visit classes to see Fast Feedback in action and chat to pupils and teachers about it.
We have no upcoming conferences. New dates will be added soon.
If you have any questions about our Fast Feedback conferences, please contact Gemma Whitby at gemma.whitby@ivylearningtrust.org.
Fast Feedback book
The story of how Lavender Primary School successfully introduced Fast Feedback is now available as a book, published by Bloomsbury Education.
Written by Lesley Hill and Gemma Whitby, with a foreword from Matthew Kleiner-Mann, the book details the highs and lows of Lavender ‘s journey towards a no written marking policy. It features quick tips, reflective questions, fact files and chapter summaries for easy navigation to help you follow the same steps to reform marking at your school.
Topics covered include: success criteria, effective questioning, mindset and resilience, reward and motivation and verbal feedback.
Online training
We’ve partnered with Big Education to offer an online Fast Feedback course. This is aimed at school leaders who want to improve staff wellbeing and student outcomes.
Through live webinars and online units, you’ll learn how one school implemented an effective no written marking strategy and how to make this work in your own context.
Guest speaking and bespoke support
If you need guest speakers for your event, we can help. We’ve appeared at a number of educational conferences, including the Schools and Academies Show and the ResearchED National Conference, to speak about teacher workload and alternatives to written marking. We can host seminars, workshops and presentations on this subject.
We can also work with your school on a one-to-one basis, helping you and your team to understand the theory behind Fast Feedback and successfully implement it in your own setting.
If you’d like to discuss this further, please contact Gemma Whitby at gemma.whitby@ivylearningtrust.org.