Pocklington School shortlisted for Tes Award

Chatta on screen – Pocklington Prep School pupils make a presentation to the class on Chatta

Pocklington School has been shortlisted in the prestigious Tes Independent School Awards, which applaud excellence and reward innovation, providing benchmarks for the sector as a whole.

The School has been shortlisted for the Best Use of Technology award 2020, for its support and use of the innovative Chatta learning app, which has proved particularly successful in helping our Early Learners become stronger communicators, readers, writers, and thinkers.

The news comes as Chatta was also named as one of the world’s 100 brightest education innovations for the second consecutive year. It was selected by global education non-profit organisation HundrED, which highlights best practice ideas and innovations to help the future of education globally.

Headmaster Toby Seth said: “I am thrilled that Pocklington School has been shortlisted for the Tes Awards and that the potential global impact of Chatta has been recognised once more by the HundrED organisation.

 “We are ambitious for our pupils and committed to supporting them with their aspirations. One of our key strategic goals is to be innovative in our approach to learning and this is exemplified by our support of Chatta and its developer, Chris Williams. The fact Chatta’s positive impact has extended far beyond our own school gates makes our involvement with it even more worthwhile.”

Chatta is based at Pocklington School, which has supported its research and development as well as giving classroom feedback. At a time when people are communicating more, but actually talking less, the app was designed to help young children develop ‘oral narrative competence’, the biggest indicator of future writing competence. It is also used to help children with additional learning needs and people learning English as a foreign language.

Based on research relating to what matters most in learning and development, Chatta uses technology to present content in a way which mirrors the way people think and embeds in the memory. The app links images with language; users upload photos and pictures to its storyboard, talk about them and then play back, re-record, or listen to the words delivered by someone else.

Chris Williams, a former teacher who developed Chatta said he was very proud to have been recognised by both the TES awards and the HundrED organisation.

He added: “I really appreciate Pocklington School’s support and the help that everyone’s given me. It’s enabled the app to make a positive impact in the school itself, in our local community and to pupils across the world.”

Chatta is used at Pocklington School to help Early Learners gain fluency, as well as helping our overseas boarders to master the English language. It is also used at schools across the country and in Malaysia, Finland, Spain and Brazil to help teach English and aid bilingual learning, for children aged 3-18.

The app has also achieved dramatic success in Hull, leading to its roll-out to reception children via children’s centres across the city.  In spring 2018, 49.4% of five-year-olds across HU6 were working at or above age- related expectations in speaking. By spring 2019, this figure had gone up to 69.9% of five-year- olds. The overall increase was largely down to the introduction of Chatta to 542 families in the area, through Children’s Centres working with vulnerable families. 83% of those five-year-olds who had used Chatta were working at or above age-related expectations for speaking in spring 2019.

Mr Williams was in Helsinki last week as the HundrED 2020 list was unveiled, and addressed the audience of international education specialists. Chatta was selected from 2008 suggestions for the HundrED list, drawn from 38 countries. All were evaluated on the selection criteria of impact and scalability, and were reviewed by teachers, students, leaders, innovators and other HundrED Community members Katija Aladin, Education Specialist & Researcher, HundrED said: "As the world becomes more digital, the need for innovations targeting oral competencies are necessary. Chatta emphasises the importance of speaking and communication. Chatta has been showing us it can spread and is being used in various sectors of education, including special education. We want more of the world to know about it."

The Tes Best Use of Technology Award looks for evidence of its positive impact on educational outcomes of students through its use inside or outside the classroom, supporting teaching and learning directly or by easing the pressure on teachers and administrators.

Pocklington School has been invited to the Tes Awards Dinner and ceremony in London in February. More than 400 guests are expected to attend the lavish event, including government ministers and many of the great and good from the education sector.