Pupils can have an increased chance of meeting the learning objective when presented with an opportunity to learn from a mini-plenary. Sometimes this is about optimising the cognitive load experienced by children, either providing additional challenge if the task is easily accomplished, or supporting them by drawing attention to key features, as in this case.

For example, the focus of this lesson was that pupils ask questions about light and decide on a line of investigation. The teacher adopted the use of mini-plenaries at pertinent points during the lesson to help the pupils progress. At the start of the lesson only a small number of pupils successfully ‘created’ bubbles, however, it was evident after each mini-plenary that more children were able to create a bubble. This is an example of a teacher adapting the pace of the lesson to enable all learners to achieve.

Year 5, Edwardsville Primary, Merthyr Tydfil