Newsletters

From the Head

I have just started my one to one mentoring with some underachieving Year 11 boys and this has been interesting to say the least. One topic that has come up repeatedly, and not surprisingly, is the issue of organisation and the inability to know exactly where to start, in a sea of a massive list of things to do. While I sympathise with the boys, I can’t help thinking that it sounds a bit like being an adult working in a school! My main message to the boys is to try to take control. By setting out a revision schedule, by breaking things down into manageable chunks and by focusing on weaknesses, they are beginning to gain control over all of the things that they have to do. Easier said than done, of course!

My conversations with the boys has led me to consider our own feelings of being overwhelmed as professionals. Personally, I have had a constant ‘to do’ list since I set out as a student teacher back in 2000, and I have just become accustomed, I suppose, to never getting everything done. While the work will never go away, the good news is that unlike back in the year 2000, there are now a wealth of helpful hints and tips to support us in managing our own ‘sea of priorities’. One that I recently came across is the #5MinMainThingPlan which provides a structure to support teaching professionals to identify the main things to focus on in any given half term. Whilst jotting down things to do might feel like just another thing to do (!), I applaud the idea in that it recognises that it is important to keep ‘the main things’ at the forefront and to focus on what these are every half term.

With only two weeks to go until half term, I do hope that one of your ‘main things’ is also to make some well earned time for relaxation and rest.

Have a great week!

Mia

Learning and Teaching

Spotted!

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

> Jasmine Ali and Rola Harb using an individualised learner response task which highlighted specific topics for students to address after a test. 

> Tracy Cleave using images and props and her passion for Geography to really bring the subject alive to Year 7.

> Jamie Rosser, using mini whiteboards in a year 8 English lesson to really slow down the writing process so students work on one sentence at a time:

Learning & Teaching: Research the GHS Way

Who does this mystery hand belong to?

What exciting modelling technique are they trialling?

Is there any research to back this idea up?!

Find out the answers to all this, and more, in the new research based newsletter! Coming soon to a pigeon hole near you...

There is currently a big drive within the field of education for teachers to underpin their practice with research. To support teachers with this, we have updated the old teaching and learning newsletter to bring you short snippets of relevant research paired with practical examples from around the school. 

In this edition we’ve taken our reading from Allison + Tharby’s book Making every lesson count and collected some exciting examples from colleagues who have been trialling different ways to use modelling. Here’s a sneak peak of what you can expect:

Research the GHS Way will be in pigeon holes this week. Alternatively, you can access it on the VLE here.

In focus: Life before 'yellow'

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 forced choices.

How we behave is often down to a choice - this is the same for our students. The forced choice technique focuses upon highlighting this fact. This technique is often used after, or in combination with some of the other strategies that we have looked at. The most important part of this technique is using “or” - for example: You may have directed a student to work in silence, but they have chosen to carry on talking. You can now force their choice by saying “Mark, you can choose to work silently, or I will have to move you”.  

During duty you may say: “You can choose to play safely in the MUGA, or I will have to ask you leave”. When dealing with poor uniform or makeup: “You can choose not to wear makeup again, or I will call your parents”. 

There are various ways you can force a choice - the keyword is always or. This technique works well, but only if you follow-through when needed. To summarise:

> Only give options that you can realistically follow-through on. 
> Start with small consequences.
> Talk in a calm but confident manner. 
> Don’t wait for an answer, move on with the lesson. 
> Only intervene further if needed - calmly. 

As last week - these take practice. Please let me know if you have tried any of these techniques as I would love to hear some success stories!

Mark Harvey

Coming up...

Year 13 PPEs continue.

Tuesday 4 February: Tuesday meetings

Department time: 3.15pm - 5.15pm

HOY/DHOY meeting: 4.30pm - 5.15pm

HODs meeting: 4.30pm - 5.15pm