Learning with Purpose: How CENTURY transforms teaching and builds stronger school-home links at Tenterfields

We visited Tenterfields Primary Academy in Halesowen, to find out how CENTURY, the AI-powered teaching and learning platform, is integrated into everyday classroom learning as well as to launch the Guardian Portal.

CENTURY’s impact so far

Headteacher Dominic Simpson explained that the school is focusing on pupils developing increasing ownership of their learning and that CENTURY is a big part of enabling this.

“CENTURY provides the children with autonomy over their learning, allowing them to learn at their own pace and enabling teachers to support children more effectively.”     

All KS2 students at Tenterfields have 1:1 devices which are used as another tool for learning in the same way as books, paper and whiteboards. Pupils are confident in using CENTURY’s recommended pathway for extension activities in the classroom, as well as for directed activities by the teacher, and eagerly engage with the platform. Individual pupils speak confidently to visitors about using CENTURY as part of their journey to achieving their targets.

How staff use CENTURY

Staff are encouraged to use CENTURY’s real-time data and diagnostics to inform their planning, group work and interventions, and can rest assured that CENTURY is providing individualised recommendations for pupils, while they focus on other priorities or groups in the classroom when needed. 

“CENTURY has become a valuable part of my practice within Year 6 and I use it for far more than homework. I use it to close gaps in children’s learning as it clearly identifies strengths and areas for improvement. It shows me where I can move on or which areas need more discrete teaching. I use the platform to pre- and post-assess, to close gaps and to consolidate learning. It’s such a valuable tool.” Caroline Childs, Year 6 Teacher and Curriculum Lead

Using CENTURY at home

While CENTURY is mainly a classroom tool at Tenterfields, pupils and parents are encouraged to get involved at home too. Years 5 and 6 were asked, ‘Hands up who chooses to use CENTURY at home without being asked by their teacher’, with an enthusiastic and very large majority responding – clearly the pupils are responding to the challenge of taking more responsibility for their learning very successfully!

Tenterfields is now building on this by involving parents in CENTURY. Having set up their Guardian Portal, parents and guardians now all have their own login to CENTURY, and can see what their child has been up to on the platform, as well as gaining valuable insights into their progress. Launched in a parents’ workshop, and supported in-person by CENTURY, Tenterfield’s parents were introduced to the platform as another way to stay informed about their child’s learning and shown how they can support that learning in the best way for their specific family circumstances. 

Parents responded positively to the platform, and were joined by their children for the second part of the workshop, where they could explore the platform together and be guided by both school and CENTURY staff. “I am really pleased with how the parents embraced the portal and how it will further strengthen home/school links” said Mr Simpson. Another parent commented on how useful it is to see what is going on in the classroom and have immediate feedback on strengths and areas for focus.

We look forward to seeing how the Tenterfields’ journey with CENTURY continues!

To learn more about how to embed CENTURY in your primary school, click here. To book a demo of CENTURY, click here.