Llais ac annibyniaeth disgyblion / Pupil voice and independence
Yn yr ysgolion mwyaf llwyddiannus, mae diddordebau disgyblion a’u safbwyntiau yn nodwedd ganolog o gynllunio’r cwricwlwm.  Mae’r ysgolion hyn yn annog disgyblion i feddwl am eu syniadau eu hunain ar gyfer gweithgareddau llythrennedd a rhifedd.  Mae disgyblion yn teimlo’u bod wedi grymuso i gyfrannu eu syniadau eu hunain ac maen nhw’n ymddiddori yn eu dysgu ac yn cael eu symbylu ganddo.
-	The Foundation phase at George Street has the children at the heart of every decision we make. The principal is to make the children as independent as possible from the very early stages from nursery right through the setting and then on into Key Stage 2.   
-	The teachers plan for literacy and numeracy across the curriculum and they have a matrix of what skills they want to cover within that theme.
-	When we’re about to start a new topic we bring the children together to ask them the types of things they’d like to learn about in their new topic so the children are actually then picking their topic. 
-	Miss is going to leave us out some post-it notes and then we write our idea down on the post-it note. Then we have a vote to see which topic we’re going to do. I like it when I get to put my ideas forward. 
-	We call this a Knowledge Harvest so they talk to their partners and talk to their friendship groups about things that they’re interested in. From the topic title we then look at the different areas inside the classroom and outside the classroom and again the children will work with their partner or their friendship groups and they’ll talk about all the different activities they like to do in the areas linked to the topic but also linked to numeracy and literacy across the curriculum. 
-	It’s going to take me a long time!
-	The children will say what went well in an activity so it’s basically something they’ve liked doing, something they feel they’ve done really well while they’ve been working and then we look at “even better if” so if the children were to do it again what would they change to make it even better or if I were to ask the children to do that again what could I to make that activity even better to progress further. 
-	Where the delivery of the Foundation Phase becomes overly adult-directed and too formal pupils levels of perseverance and a willingness to take calculated risks in their learning reduces. They become less confident in applying their literacy and numeracy skills independently across areas of learning. 
-	What do you think went well?
-	If they’re making the decisions of what they’re learning you can see that it’s things that they want to do. They’re choosing the context and then they also are aware of the skills that are going on and the children are really good at planning how to develop the skills with facilitation from the teachers. However we do small, focused teaching so the skills are taught and then they’re taken across the curriculum into different areas. 
-	Your island must have sand, two trees, a treasure chest and sea. 
-	The children have choice boards in little photo frames that they take around into different settings and they choose what they’re going to do and where they’re going to do it. 
-	We chose to do it in the sandpit because nowhere else has sand. 
-	They’re able to self-differentiate because they have the success criteria already on these challenge boards for them and then they choose at which level they’re going to try and in which area of the classroom they’re going to do these challenge boards. 
-	Take two pieces of bread from the packet and then butter one side of each piece of bread. Tidy up and wash up the utensils you have used. 
-	What I think we do well is the collaboration for staff and pupils that everybody is treated as equally important. Teachers ideas, pupils ideas they’re all the same and that pupils are aware that they count. It matters what they want to learn about and teachers are really good at listening to the pupils and trying and researching things that are going to interest them so if they’ve got a little idea then the teachers will actually go with them. 
-	Yn yr enghraifft hon, mae disgyblion yn penderfynu trefnu’r planedau gan ddefnyddio gwybodaeth o destun.  Gwnânt ddewisiadau am ba ddeunyddiau sy’n cynrychioli’r planedau hynny orau ac yn eu rhoi yn y drefn gywir, gan wirio’u gwaith yn erbyn y testun yn rheolaidd.
-	Ydy hyn yn gallu dod mewn? Mercher wedi cael ei creu allan o cerrig. 
-	Nesaf, ni angen y Ddaear, na ni angen Gwener.
-	If I had to give advice to another school, I would say that everybody needs to have a shared vision. You’re not an island on your own the Foundation Phase needs to have continuous provision, enhanced provision that is set on a philosophy and a pedagogy that is known by the teachers from Nursery right up until Year 2 and that everybody’’s having the same values and strategies to work towards ensuring that the Foundation Phase is developed throughout the school and that you do see progression from Nursery up until Year 2.