Revision

 At Birchwood, we want our students to practise the very best revision strategies. For this reason, the key techniques that we recommend are rooted in sound research and evidence. We know that, by using these strategies, our students will be able to maximise the learning that they complete in class and ultimately further their knowledge and enrich their understanding.

For revision, we follow three key ideas:

1.      From reading lots of evidence, we know that trying to learn lots of information in one sitting is not very effective: this is why we have put lots of time and effort into organising our curriculum to ensure that all information is introduced and revisited in thoughtful way. We also encourage students to revisit key knowledge strategically through homework retrieval schedules to help them to retain it for longer.

2.    Research also indicates that just reading or highlighting information is not an advisable way to revise. For this reason, we encourage students to actively engage with the information that they need to learn: this could be through flashcards, quizzing apps, question booklets or past papers. We know that by quizzing themselves on the information, rather than just reading it, students could retain up to 50% more knowledge in the same amount of revision time.

3.    Finally, we know that combining words and well-chosen images can give students two ways of remembering the information that they need. For this reason, we will support students in combining text and a visual (this might be a flow chart, a diagram, a graph) to help them to be to recall the information more confidently.