“Functional or forget it” – What is the purpose

of what you’re displaying? If you’re not using

it or it has no use – it’s probably a waste of

time.

Keep it fresh – Aim to change a display board

every half term. If you can try and keep your

displays changing, it does get noticed by

students, and is more likely to make them look

at the things around them.

New displays are

appearing around the

school!

Exc

ha

ng

eK

ee

p it

tid

y!

Perhaps if you’re not very good at displays?

See if you can exchange your time and skills

with someone who is! Barter!

If you feel competent, “Bring and buy” share

good practice and lighten your load in the

process. As a department could you or your

Learning Leaders be doing something to

facilitate this?

Don’t let your good work get dishevelled –

keep tabs on the aging process to keep

things smart.

Remember that the learning environment you

create can set the tone for the lesson – it is an

opportunity to show your passion, creativity

and purposefulness.

Why not use the school ethos in a display?

Wrapping paper can be a cheap option to bring displays to life

Places where students

congregate or wait to

enter a classroom could

be used to your

advantage

Provide legible key words / phrases that relate to current topics.

Create a “Learning Wall” and use L2L strategies

Levelling guide - As part of your AfL strategy,

displaying levelling guides will help students

understand what level they are currently at, and

what they will have to do to reach a higher level.

Make it accessible - it needs to be in a language

that students can digest.

Don’t just use whole school initiatives,

develop them – with your PEED posters,

could you model some answers from your

subject? Mix up displays with both content

and skill development.

Building curiosity - If you can

create something that makes

students ask questions about it

you are on to a winner.

Don’t do the hard work if you don’t

have to – there are some very

good premade resources available

from educational companies

which are reusable and lasting.

Have a personal space, so that a little bit

of you comes across in the classroom

and humanises you slightly from the

teaching robot. It may also cheer you up

on a bad day.

Clarity is key – make it obvious what a display item is

about, and that it is readable from where students

may be sat or can move to.

Make the delivery engaging - Use of colour, size and

font of text, pictures and placing are all things that

need to be considered. Usually the more it stands out

the better.

Be really nice to Carl – he may be vital in your printing

requests. Be reasonable in your timeframes and

expectations. ALSO be nice to Site Team.

Could you trust your

students (at least under

your guidance) to lead a

display themselves? –

Could you make a lesson

or series of lessons from it

with a tangible end goal?

Can reinforce key skills

in subject area, useful

for concepts that will

be used across year

groups and serve as

permanent visual reminders.

Ou

ter

spa

ce

Wh

ere

are

we

go

ing

?

Out of classroom spaces still contribute to

your learning environment and the

approach students take to it – why not

use it to celebrate achievement, ‘why do

the subject?’ skills learnt or an “in the

news” section amongst many other

possible items.

Learning objectives – Where are you

going? Display learning objectives for

individual lessons or a series of lessons. It

can build student awareness of where

their learning is going in the medium to

long term.

Displaying student work may act as a reward for

those students who have done well at a particular

task, fostering a sense of achievement and

potentially an encouragement to others to increase

their efforts. Also, it is useful as a point of reference to

those about to attempt a similar task.

Displayed work must be marked (If you are using

Home Learning, you could use the generic HL mark

sheet). SPAG must be corrected on the student work.

Finally, it should be rounded off with a title, year

group/focus and some questions to engage the

viewer.

What skills does your

subject teach?

Try to document or keep some of your

achievements from PD over the years

to provide a bit of nostalgia and make

the new members feel like they are

part of something bigger.

Why not provide a

welcome to your

subject – make a

statement about what it’s all about!

As well as the skills students can

learn – advertise what they

could potentially study and how

it could help them in life beyond

school.