Newsletters

From the Head

A couple of weeks ago I talked to students during assembly about how we can overcome our circumstances with the right mindset and attitude, using my own father, who started out as a disadvantaged child, as an example. It’s important that our students know that, with the right effort and work ethic, things can improve and that it is never too late to make changes. This is something we have always been very good at as a school and we have seen many students overcome their challenges by simply persevering. I will be reiterating this message with some of the underachieving Year 11 boys that I will be meeting with individually each fortnight over the coming weeks in the lead up to exams.  I will share a list of the boys I am meeting with, so that teachers can also ‘check in’ with them.

You may have noticed that we have advertised for a Head of Post 16. This is an internal appointment and is an opportunity for somebody who wishes to gain experience in order to progress onto a Senior Leadership position within the next few years. This role has been created to increase capacity at Post 16 and will see the successful candidate working with the AHT i/c of Post 16 and other SLT on continuing to drive forward our Post 16 Centre. See Internal Vacancies on the VLE for more details.

In relation to Post 16, can I please ask that, following my request at the staff meeting, we ask Post 16 students to take their coats off during all lessons and during tutor time. This is a culture amongst our Post 16 students that I would like to change and we will be reminding students of this by popping into lessons and challenging this where necessary.

Thank you for all of your hard work at Parents’ Evening last week. We are definitely on countdown to the exams now and I know, and very much appreciate, that everyone will be working extremely hard to secure the best possible outcomes for our students.

I hope everyone has an enjoyable week.

Mia

Learning and Teaching

A round up of all the great learning and teaching strategies we’ve noticed being used around school recently…

Spotted!

> Sima Bhudia in a practical DT lesson, asking her students to identify their specific focus for the lesson so that she could monitor and support where appropriate:

> Hanad Mohamed creating a positive atmosphere full of energy in the lab with his Post-16 class.

> Katharine Peters using the examiner’s report to target specific skills required for exam questions and support the teaching of these.

Learning & Teaching: Questioning

“Barak Rosenshine’s synthesis of research-based principles of instruction has found the most effective teachers tend to ask more questions than the least effective…they also check the responses of as many students as they can, as often as they can.”

Eliciting the right answers from students can be tricky. They will sometimes give a shrug of the shoulders or a weak response. Sometimes a few students will chant a ‘chorus’ answer together and avoid having to expose themselves at all. Try out a few of the strategies below to really ascertain who knows what in the classroom -you might find this especially useful at Post-16:

Kelly McCarthy

In focus: Life before 'yellow' champions

The GHS Champion from last week is Mrs Phull, who has used partial agreement with a Year 11 student. To quote -  “Miss, I can’t stay until 3.15 to do my detention, I have an appointment.” Mrs Phull’s reply - “Maybe you can’t stay until 3.15; But, can you stay until quarter past?” the student responded “Yes Miss”.

This week, we will continue to focus on the ‘life before yellow card’ strategies’ we discussed at the staff meeting. This week’s focus is on conditional permission.  

Conditional permission is when you stipulate that there is a time and place for everything with your use of language. For example: “When you have written down your homework, then you may leave my lesson. When you have sat down and taken your jacket off, then you may start your do-it now activity.” 

You can also use 'yes - when' or 'after - then' as the same principle applies. E.g. “Yes, you can enter the classroom, when you have said good morning and taken your hood down”.

GHS Champion: Kathryn Thomas will often use this strategy within lessons - I have witnessed Kathryn adopt this strategy within her classroom to great effect. If you want to witness this in action, try and catch Kathryn teaching her Year 9 Set 5 class.  

Mark Harvey

Coming up...

Tuesday 21 January: Tuesday meetings - mid-year appraisal

Department time: 3.15pm - 5.15pm

Additional meetings:

KS4 cohorts: 4.15pm - 4.45pm

KS4 core & BTEC course leader meeting: 4.45pm - 5.15pm

Thursday 16 January: KS3 Interim deadline