Weirdly, it appears to be summer outside. Spring sprung several times over winter, and appears to have done its work already. Obviously, this means snow by Thursday with apocalyptic rainstorms all summer. Equally weirdly, we're almost there with year 11. Some have noted that 'exam season' seems to last all year now; this certainly has an effect on all involved in education. Luckily, this means we will be able to focus on slamming plenty of year ten through their GCSE this summer!
Your work over the last few weeks has been hugely appreciated. Please keep sending results and numbers to me. It's great to see each number change a child's future - perhaps the only instance I can think of when a spreadsheet makes me happy. Years ago, I started a short story about an office functionary who was driven slowly to insanity by meaningless and mundane tasks using spreadsheets. I might head back to that when I get a chance.
We have one week to go - I'll need all results in by the end of the week so that we can intervene effectively with the tiniest of tiny cohorts over Easter. It's being a hectic and, at time, brain-frazzling in terms of the volume of questions and requests from pupils and staff alike, but it proves how much we care for the outcomes we achieve.
Finally, a non work related point, in a way. We're looking at creating a reading culture and a writing culture, as a way of ensuring engagement and progress in the future are independent and sustainable. There's no point in making rapid progress if it falls apart with, say, small changes in staffing, or in the face of ideologically motivated onslaughts from a fascist government (apologies for the Daily Fail link). As such, we must ensure that we are readers and writers, when we get a chance, even in a small way - annotating a text with a class, writing a post on edmodo, whatever. Do it - and remember the enjoyment it brings, the enjoyment of putting together some rhymes and ideas.
Sunday, 25 March 2012
Sunday, 18 March 2012
Long
It's called long, but it will be short. It's been a long journey with this new spec, but we're almost there. A long road, you may say.
The data points to a good outcome, in general, for our students. Levels of progress look good. So do most other measures. Team work like that on Thursday makes me confident we can sneak a few extra positive results in. Let's keep that going.
QA week. Wonderfully timed, I'm sure you will agree. However, as VT made clear on Wednesday during INSET, innovation and independence are what's being measured this week, not a simple box ticking exercise measured against some criteria handed down from the firmament.
Which is nice.
Because you are innovative, interesting and engaging. Do what you always do this week, and enjoy it.
Two weeks to go. Keep a clear head, a smile on your face and the end targets in sight.
The data points to a good outcome, in general, for our students. Levels of progress look good. So do most other measures. Team work like that on Thursday makes me confident we can sneak a few extra positive results in. Let's keep that going.
QA week. Wonderfully timed, I'm sure you will agree. However, as VT made clear on Wednesday during INSET, innovation and independence are what's being measured this week, not a simple box ticking exercise measured against some criteria handed down from the firmament.
Which is nice.
Because you are innovative, interesting and engaging. Do what you always do this week, and enjoy it.
Two weeks to go. Keep a clear head, a smile on your face and the end targets in sight.
Sunday, 11 March 2012
Fergie Time
The blog's title may, this week, appear even more nonsensical than usual. It's nothing to do with a toe sucking Duchess who writes children's books about a helicopter. Or the lady from Black Eyed Peas who wonders where the love is. It's actually a reference to a man I intensely dislike, Alex Ferguson.
Don't get me wrong. Fergie has provided me with at least one great moment. Well, any time they lose a game, really. Seriously though, Sir Alex, as glory hunters fawningly refer to him, has taught me one great lesson.
His teams always win in injury time, those few minutes added on for the rolling about and general softness shown by professional prima donnas.
Our next three weeks are our Fergie time.
Thanks to your outstanding work, in lessons, and in the well attended and well staffed revision sessions, we're in a good place. It's testament to your hard work and high expectations with a challenging cohort. Some of the results stand out as truly exceptional - firsts, in many respects, for our school. I'm talking about fifth set pupils achieving C grades, EAL pupils in fourth set achieving C grades, diffident girls who often drop off achieving C grades, pupils making two grades progress in a year, despite difficulties in and out of school.
Nice one.
But that's the end of the ninety minutes. It's injury time now, and we're level. We need a winner. We need that dedication and belief that can secure what we have and push it further. There are pupils on D grades that need secure CA. Pupils on C grades that need a lot of extra marks. Pupils on A grades and F grades that can achieve something better if we work at it. All of SH band will have an extra piece this week, and another next.
We need them all there on Thursday to grab extra marks. We need those who have been absent for one assessment, but secure otherwise dragged in and caught up. Without this, we may concede a late equaliser.
And they're the worst type. The unexpected, last minute heart breakers.
Let's make sure that we don't let it happen to us.
Don't get me wrong. Fergie has provided me with at least one great moment. Well, any time they lose a game, really. Seriously though, Sir Alex, as glory hunters fawningly refer to him, has taught me one great lesson.
His teams always win in injury time, those few minutes added on for the rolling about and general softness shown by professional prima donnas.
Our next three weeks are our Fergie time.
Thanks to your outstanding work, in lessons, and in the well attended and well staffed revision sessions, we're in a good place. It's testament to your hard work and high expectations with a challenging cohort. Some of the results stand out as truly exceptional - firsts, in many respects, for our school. I'm talking about fifth set pupils achieving C grades, EAL pupils in fourth set achieving C grades, diffident girls who often drop off achieving C grades, pupils making two grades progress in a year, despite difficulties in and out of school.
Nice one.
But that's the end of the ninety minutes. It's injury time now, and we're level. We need a winner. We need that dedication and belief that can secure what we have and push it further. There are pupils on D grades that need secure CA. Pupils on C grades that need a lot of extra marks. Pupils on A grades and F grades that can achieve something better if we work at it. All of SH band will have an extra piece this week, and another next.
We need them all there on Thursday to grab extra marks. We need those who have been absent for one assessment, but secure otherwise dragged in and caught up. Without this, we may concede a late equaliser.
And they're the worst type. The unexpected, last minute heart breakers.
Let's make sure that we don't let it happen to us.
Sunday, 4 March 2012
Learning spaces.
What is a school? What does the word even mean? I just googled 'school etymology' and the results surprised me. To be honest, as a cynic, I was expecting it to be derived from some Greek word meaning 'place where people are moulded in drones, enabling them to contribute to society without ever questioning anything or beginning to possibly think for themself'.
But it doesn't. If you've clicked on the link above you will see that it has links to leisure and discussion. Clearly, the Victorians who set up our present system saw it more as a place for didactic instruction to get the odious oiks up to speed so they could produce some stuff, and earn some money to buy some of the stuff they made (my abbreviated version of the ideas espoused in The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists there).
Eventually, this brings me to my point. This year, we've had lecture style lessons delivered in the theatre, successfully engaging a challenging group of pupils. Friday saw the majority of three classes taught excellently by two staff, while a third interevned successfully with a smaller cohort. We've messed up the year 11 sets, long established into a hierarchy that has probably set many on a path to mediocrity, and the world hasn't ended.
This is brilliant. This needs to become our way of working. Next year, I want to see regular moving and rejigging within bands, so that the students benefit from a range of teaching styles and approaches. This will make a huge difference. And I think we will enjoy it too. Let's practise now. Can we, informally, swap kids about? Can we think of something for, say, 9S band, which allows a small minority to receive intervention, and the majority to engage in a dramatic and exciting learning experience? Instead of doing it as a reaction to some underperformance or concerns, let's make it our way of working.
Finally - in our classrooms, is there a way of adapting or utilising this approach? Click onto her older post for information on campfire, watering holes and caves. It's interested me for a while... incidentally, the blogger, Bianca Hewes, is a fantastic Australian English teacher, who is readily approachable through Edmodo and Twitter. #justsaying
But it doesn't. If you've clicked on the link above you will see that it has links to leisure and discussion. Clearly, the Victorians who set up our present system saw it more as a place for didactic instruction to get the odious oiks up to speed so they could produce some stuff, and earn some money to buy some of the stuff they made (my abbreviated version of the ideas espoused in The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists there).
Eventually, this brings me to my point. This year, we've had lecture style lessons delivered in the theatre, successfully engaging a challenging group of pupils. Friday saw the majority of three classes taught excellently by two staff, while a third interevned successfully with a smaller cohort. We've messed up the year 11 sets, long established into a hierarchy that has probably set many on a path to mediocrity, and the world hasn't ended.
This is brilliant. This needs to become our way of working. Next year, I want to see regular moving and rejigging within bands, so that the students benefit from a range of teaching styles and approaches. This will make a huge difference. And I think we will enjoy it too. Let's practise now. Can we, informally, swap kids about? Can we think of something for, say, 9S band, which allows a small minority to receive intervention, and the majority to engage in a dramatic and exciting learning experience? Instead of doing it as a reaction to some underperformance or concerns, let's make it our way of working.
Finally - in our classrooms, is there a way of adapting or utilising this approach? Click onto her older post for information on campfire, watering holes and caves. It's interested me for a while... incidentally, the blogger, Bianca Hewes, is a fantastic Australian English teacher, who is readily approachable through Edmodo and Twitter. #justsaying
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