It's the end of the term as we know it...

And I feel fine. Apart from a tickly cough that's bothered me for a while now.

Regardless of Friday's impending cataclysm, an apocalyptic unveiling, it's been an eventful term. We've faced various challenges since the summer, and faced them with confidence and faith in our abilities as a team. New members of the team have made great starts, and we're focused on our goals.

Briefly, as I'm not prone to gushing, I'd like to thank HM for her sterling work as KS3 manager over the last twenty months or so. When the department was first shaken up, all of the focus went on blasting as many pupils through their GCSEs as successfully as possible, and that has, for obvious reasons, been a key focus. However, Helen has put in place excellent foundations for a high level of sustainable improvement, without which the work we have all done would be, in the long term, useless. Sustainable improvements are vital, and Helen has given us, and VQ a great base to build on. Thanks Helen, and good luck Vicky - I'm sure you can take KS3 to the next level, and we all look forward to working with you on this.

Interestingly, when the changes were being made, I wrote a list of priorities for KS3. I met with Helen, and asked her hers - they we largely the same. I then met with Vicky and, again, hers were largely the same. To me, this shows how closely we are working to the same ends.

Regardless of whether we're on the countdown to Armageddon, or if it's already Armageddon time already, or if Friday is the last day on Earth, let's enjoy this last week, and make sure we keep our standards as high as ever.

Thank you all for your hard work and great attitudes throughout this term, and I hope to be writing to you all in early 2013, when a mass coronal ejection hasn't taken down communication systems, Iran is still intact, the poles haven't shifted causing two kilometre high tidal waves to destroy civilisation and Michael Gove has proven to merely be the Antichrist.

Merry Winterval!

A time for...

It's great that we're looking, as a school and not just a department, at a range of ways to improve teaching, and it's vastly more important cousin, learning. But don't let this fool you. Not every lesson has to be, should be, or could be, flipped, flopped, thunked and crunked.

That's not to say that every lesson should be led from the front. Or the side. Or any direction in particular.

As the great Cliff Richard has said...

There's a time for didactic instruction. There's a time to flip the classroom and there's a time for thunking; a time hexagonal learning. There's a time for a challenge. As you may have spotted, there's a time for all types of learning and instruction. Break it up, break it down, do it silently, do it remotely.

Know your class well, and make sure they get what they need. Don't worry about the lists of criteria we've had drilled into us. There is no magic formula, as we've known for years. We have a strong repertoire of skills - let's use them.

If you don't believe me, read / watch the link on this blog - it reports the words of Ofsted Chief Wilshaw - words which, I believe, should give us all confidence in what we do. Because we do it well.

Bottom(s) up!

It's that time of year again. Mawkish adverts, Charlie Brooker writing sarcastically about said mawkish adverts, atheists moaning about Christmas before it even arrives and Christians bemoaning the fact that it's called Winterval by some non-existent PC town council run by Guardian reading Lib-Dem voters who don't think UKIP voters should be allowed to foster children. You gotta love it.

I'm sure that tonight you're all decking you halls with boughs of holly (I have always misheard that lyric) and decorating enormous trees. I hear that one of you is that annoying person on the street with a life-size Santa on the roof.

Take a minute, however, to peruse this blog, if you like, by a gentleman named Kevin. If you do not have time to peruse it, do not worry, for here are a few highlights - I'm not going to digitally dictate.

Agile processes promote sustainable development. School leaders, teachers and students should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.

Simplicity - the art of maximising the amount of work not done - is essential.

The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organising teams.

At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behaviour accordingly.

Clearly, and understandably, there is a improvement agenda in place at out school. If that's a surprise, I'd be surprised, if that makes sense. Sometimes, that agenda can feel a little top down, a little heavy, and even overwhelming. This member of SLT is doing this, this one that, and then that annoying Middle Leader keeps harping on about Marginal Gains and making you draw on pictures of bicycle wheels. (Just wait until I unleash the full power of my twitter research on you - cue evil laugh).

Real change needs to be bottom up. We need to be the agents of change, the ones who make that difference. If it's dictated, imposed, it will get somewhere, but the real change won't happen, because it won't be owned and it won't be sustainable.

Real change and development comes from self-organising teams, teams who look at what they do, and what they need to do, and what constraints they face, and adjust and re-tune as needed.

We do a lot of this, and I feel we move forward each time we meet - Wednesday being a prime example of a meeting where small and simple strategies were shared, strategies I'll be using - but we need to ensure that we control what is ours to control.

The school is making a bold move - timetable, curriculum, expectations - and we are ahead of the curve. We started early. We need to be that change, lead that change and develop that change. Not to be the best, or to show off, but to maintain our progress, regardless of what is slung at us by Ofqual or any such people.

This week, remember those little things - that independence, relevance, purpose, engagement, meaningful discusion, cliched lightbulb moment. Remember that you lead the change, and if we lead it, if we improve ourselves, the rest will follow.

Now crack open that Advent calendar and enjoy Homeland / X Factor / wine - and also remember those marginal gains - breakfast, sleep and whatnot!