Learning from the Dragons: Theo Paphitis

In my third report about what I learned by reading a book about the stars of Dragons' Den, I will share the ideas of my favourite Dragon, Theo Paphitis.
Theo Paphtitis

• Describing when he took on the struggling business of Ryman, Theo says, 'First and foremost, I had to bring everyone on side. I needed to get them buying into my dream, my ambitions for the company and get them buying into my dream, my ambitions for the company and the brand before I did anything else. If I couldn't do that I knew I would never succeed.' This is very much the case when trying to share a vision with your staff. Everyone has to buy in to the vision so it is important to be dynamic and visionary and pull people in the same direction.
• He explains that he had to 'gain the confidence of the suppliers, restock the business and make sure that we provided the service that our customers needed. And then, hey presto, the results started coming through.' This could be a message about teaching our pupils the right way - learning about their needs and then providing them appropriately. The results will then start coming through...
• He offeres good advice for taking an interview: preparation. 'Do your homework and know your business and there is nothing that will come up that you won't be able to answer with style.' Before an interview you should research the school and position you are applying for so that your answers are relevant to your potential employer. Make reference to things you've seen in the school or what you've learned from the school website, Ofsted report and other research.
• His best rules for success are:
• Keep it simple, stupid! - 'Simple communication means everybody buys into what you'r trying to achieve'. Great advice!
• Don't Scrimp on the Technology - In an every changing world, technology is a part of everyday life and it's important that your staff have the right training and the best equipment (this includes admin staff).
• Don't let things stagnate - 'You've got to be constantly looking at how to be ahead of the game. Put in new initiatives, set new targets each year. That way your staff will get more experience, and the business stays fresh and moves faster.' Great advice I think!

The book Dragons' Den: Success from Pitch to Profit can be purchased here: Dragons' Den: Success, From Pitch to Profit

Weeknote 9

This fortnight I have:

Been painting
Last weekend I was busy painting the garage and the shelter at the front of the house. I hate painting but I need to do it. Before the end of the month I also want to paint the windows on the outside downstairs too.

Returned to school
It's incredible how after two minutes in school the summer holidays feel like a distant dream. I feel very disorganised. After a number of years knowing exactly what I'm doing in Year Six, I'm trying to get used to a new year group as well as complete all of the managerial/leadership tasks I need to do as well. I'll sort myself out soon.

Taught my new class
Whilst I love my new class, I don't mind admitting that I've not found my first week with my class easy. Pitching the lessons is very different, and, in fact, planning the lessons is difficult too. It's all because I've been in the same year group for so long. The challenge is an exciting one, but it's going to take time to adjust.

Attended meetings
Since my first day back I've been involved in meetings every day apart from one. Not having the time after school to get on with things makes a huge difference so I've been bringing too much home with me, which I've promised myself I will try not to do.

Learning from the Dragons: Deborah Meaden

I recently enjoyed reading a book about the Dragons in Dragons' Den. It struck me that the advice they give has significance in the education world as well as the business world. This week I'll consider the ideas from Deborah Meaden.


Deborah Meaden

• As a deputy head teacher I come into contact with most the school's pupils almost every day. Deborah Meaden gives some good advice about how she deals with meeting such a large amount of people. 'In a day I'd probably see a thousand people. I tried to recognise and remember most of them and if I couldn't, I learned to look as if I did. Recognise people, make them feel important, and they'll remember you - that's what I learned.' This is very much true in school. The best piece of advice I have ever been given is that you should try to have a proper conversation with every child as often as you can - make them feel special. I think that can make the difference between a good teacher and a great teacher.
• She also describes the importance of providing nice facilities. 'Provide a great social environment, make people feel welcome, make them feel a part of what's going on... The emphasis was on environment and good service; there might be seven arcades on the sea front, so how did we get people to choose ours?... Why would the customer choose you?' First impressions count. When showing visitors around your school the appearance of the school makes more of an impact than any other factor.
• She describes the way that 'an over-fluent sales pitch' puts her off a person. 'Nothing makes me more suspicious... I've got to be able to get under the skin of the person I'm talking to. I've got to be able to trust and believe in that person. People in full-on slick automatic sales mode scare the living daylights out of me.' This to me seems like good advice for when interviewing - it's all very well to talk the talk, but it's important to show character. Will the person you are interviewing fit in with your staff? Have they got the character to be an asset to the staff? Are they able to back up their words with action?
• Her tips for success are:
• Create a business plan - Today, to have a school improvement plan goes without saying. But Meaden mentions that a plan should 'be built by you, on your visions, with your knowledge and clearly reflect your goals and milestones.' It's important that the plan is inclusive of stakeholders' opinions and ideas and that it is a plan for your school - not for Ofsted!
• Don't fool yourself - 'It's easy to get carried away with a good idea: be honest with yourself. There is a difference between being passionate about your product and taking a coo, critical look at what you are planning to do.' Good advice I thought. It's easy to think your way is the only way - be reflective and evaluate your ideas.
• Stay cool under pressure - This speaks for itself!
• Research - 'Know your market, know your competition and know your basic figures'. Data has never been more important in education. It should back up everything that happens in school.
  

The book Dragons' Den: Success from Pitch to Profit can be purchased here: Dragons' Den: Success, From Pitch to Profit

Learning from the Dragons: Peter Jones

I have always been interested in the world of business. At one point, in college, I wasn't sure whether to study education or business at university. In the end I went for education and the rest is history.

I am still interested in business though, and one of my favourite business programmes on TV is Dragons' Den. I recently bought a copy of the book 'Success from Pitch to Profit' for 99p and enjoyed reading it on holiday in North Devon. Whilst reading it I couldn't help but draw some parallels between the beliefs of the dragons about how to succeed in business with some of my own beliefs about success in education and the ideals I will take with me when I eventually go on to become a headteacher.

Over the next few weeks I wanted to share what I have learned by reading this book. The first dragon's inspiring words belong to Mr Peter Jones.

Peter Jones

• Peter talks about the way he went about employing people when he first started out. He talks about 'talking to a few people and looking in the local area'. I think it's so important to base appointments on recommendations and references. I would much rather offer a job to someone who I know has a track record.
• He describes the type of person he wanted to employ: 'someone who walks into the meeting room looking sharp and clean cut, and who has investigated the business they're coming into. I wanted to know 'Why should I employ you? What is it about you that's going to make a difference? What can you tell me about my own business? What can you do differently?' Surely this applies in education too? I would want to employ someone who has done their homework about my school; someone who can offer something that will make a difference to my school; smeone who looks sharp and dynamic.
• When meeting job candidates various questions should run through your mind - just like in Dragons' Den. Jones explains, "When someone comes up the stairs into the Den I first look at their presentation - how they look, how they speak, how concise they are, are they getting the message across? Then in my head I quickly run through a few key business questions... How much have they researched their product? What's their previous history? How much experience have they had in this market before?" These are all things to consider when appointing a new teacher. Very often schools appoint NQTs who have relatively limited experience, and so then other factors play a greater role, like references, lesson observations, conduct and personality.
• Peter Jones also gives four rules to success which I think hold great advice for leaders:
• Vision - Have a clear vision - think big. 'One horizon always reveals another.'
• Influence - 'Influence is twinned with win-win.' To be a successful leader you need to have influence.
• Confidence - 'An inner self-belief is like a cornerstone under the tallest building. There is no such thing as failure, only feedback.' It's important to have confidence and belief in yourself and in your team.
• Take action  - 'Enterpreneurs make things happen.' Overcome barriers to make your vision come to fruition.

The book Dragons' Den: Success from Pitch to Profit can be purchased here: Dragons' Den: Success, From Pitch to Profit

Can't hear for all the noise

Before I continue this post I want to make it clear that I love Twitter. I love the way it has enabled me to interact with people I've never met, to share ideas with people on the other side of the world, to see that there are professionals that are as passionate about teaching as I am and to read about such a variety of people and their lives. I'm amazed by the generosity, kindness and humour shown by people who need just 140-characters to make an impact. I just wanted to record my feelings that I've been having for the last month or so.


I've been using Twitter for over two years now. I remember tentatively following those first few people. Back then it was a major decision whether to follow or not. I would read their short-bio and look at their last few tweets. I'd even look at the website which is linked to from their Twitter page. Each person I added seemed to inspire me more and more.


But I guess that what I have done over time is to get a bit blase about following. Gradually the decision about whether or not to follow was just to look at recent tweets. Sometimes I'd just quickly read the bio. Occasionally I'd just look at the username to see if it sounded like an educator.


Without wanting to offend anyone, during the last few weeks I've realised that I've begun to follow too many people. I would load up Tweetdeck during my holiday and have a read of what's going on in Twitter. But it was so hard to find meaning and inspiration when there's so much going on! I had a small cull of followers, losing a few businesses that I didn't know why I followed in the first place. I unfollowed a few people from outside the UK who I found that I couldn't really relate to and had had no interaction with. I lost various 'celebrities' whom I followed during the Twitter boom of 2009.


There are still a few things that can make the Twitter experience difficult.


I'm beginning to grow tired of the re-tweet facility (the new way and the old way). Some days about 20% of the tweets that come through my stream are retweets. (I wonder if there's a way to block these?)


Shortened links can put me off - just because they don't look very inviting. Whilst I appreciate that they are necessary to share links when you have a 140-character limit, I would prefer to know where I'm going before I click.


At time Twitter can feel quite heavy. I know that often the network is made fun of because people can tweet about mundane acts of everyday life. But sometimes I feel like people only like to tweet about school and education. I quite like to hear about what people are up to as well as develop my personal learning network.


Just by not following a few I feel like I've made a massive difference and Twitter has become inspiring once again (and I hope I've not offended anyone).


I wondered if anyone else can relate to my experiences...

Image: http://www.cashcade.co.uk/2009/05/27/foxy-love-him-or-hate-him

Monthly Review September 2010

August proved to be a much more productive month and I was pleased with what I achieved, even if some of the achievements were not targets!

Review:
Personal:

• Go running eight times - Whilst I feel pleased with my running, I feel disappointed that I didn't get myself into a rhythm and go running as often as I would have liked.
• Start playing squash again - Unfortunately my friend has been unavailable to play this month. Hopefully I can manage this soon.
• Begin to tidy up the garage - I managed to take lots of junk to the recycling centre so I was pleased. I still need to tidy, but need to get rid of an old fridge and freezer first.
• Paint the fence - It took me a while but the fence is finally painted and I was also pleased to have painted some of the outside of the house as well.

'Professional':

• Tidy up my office at home - It's not perfect, but I am happy with this.
• Set up my brand new classroom - My classroom is sorted and I'm pleased with the way it's set up.
• Move in to my office at school properly! - I've officially moved into my office and I'm looking forward to being productive in there during the next school year.
• Plan my first lessons for Year Three - All planned, but I'm nervous about pitching them right. I guess it will take me a week or two.
• Revamp my blog and Twitter - I'm rebranded but there are still one or two things to change.

New Targets:

Personal:

• Complete my 10K run.
• Play squash.
• Finish painting the front of the house.

Professional:

• Enjoy teaching a whole month in Year Three.
• Update the school website for my new year group.
• Formulate a progression of the ICT on the school and put together a software map.

Weeknote 8

A bit late, but last week I:

Played football
I played twice last week, however it can at the expense of going running.

Caught up on a few things that needed to be done
My car passed its MOT and we had the central heating serviced. Trivial but important!

Planned
Wow, it's going to take some getting used to planning for Year Three!

Painted
I painted the garden fence and the front door. Glad that job's done for another year!

Cleared the garage
I finally took some loads of junk to the tip to be recycled.

Not the most exciting week, but I'm afraid it had to be done - it's the holidays!!

Year Six Teacher is dead... Long live Year Three Teacher!!

It is a sad day for me (not just because it's the last day of the summer holidays) because as from today I will no longer be Year Six Teacher. From tomorrow I will be teaching Year Three!


This change is an exciting one, but one that also fills me with nerves!


I am moving from Year Six for one reason only - to gain more experience. I have taught Year Six since I qualified as a teacher back in 2001 and I love it! Each year I have seen our curriculum evolve and become exciting and interesting for the children and for the teachers! It really is a brilliant year group to teach and I will miss it terribly. Amongst other things, I will miss the humour of the children, the visits (especially the trip to France), the ability of the children, the way that the children approach their responsibilities so professionally, the indepenence of the children and the curriculum that we teach. However, after nine years in Year Six (and in the same classroom), it is more than time for a change.


Year Three promises to be really exciting and I'm looking forward to teaching a new curriculum, moving to a new classroom, new situations, new visits and the opportunity to help shape the Year Group into something I am very proud of. However, I am not afraid to admit that the move makes me really nervous. For the first time in nine years I'm not really clear about what I'm teaching from day to day. I'm worried that I'll pitch the lessons all wrong until I adjust. It will be a challenge to tackle situations with children with needs that I'm unfamiliar with. I will miss my old classroom too!


Over the last few years this blog has evolved into a place for me to share ideas and thoughts about issues that affect Year Six, management, technology and education in general. I wish to continue with this but there will also be an opportunity to reflect on my experiences as I move year group.


Thank you to all Year Six teachers who have supported the blog over the years and I hope that they find my thoughts as a Year Three teacher interesting. This blog will remain live for the time being, but all my new posts will be at the new blog. My Twitter username will change to @y3teacher


The new blog url is: www.y3teacher.blogspot.com

Weeknote 7

This week I have...

Been on holiday
We've enjoyed a great week in North Devon. We booked a holiday apartment for a week in Ilfracombe. We had two days of glorious sunshine and we spent these two days at the beach in Woolacombe. From the Tuesday onwards it rained... and rained... and rained. It was torrential at times! We managed to visit various places: Combe Martin, Clovelly, Croyde, Barnstaple, Bideford, Great Torrington, Westward Ho! and Appledore. We had a good day at Exmoor Zoo and watched a stunt show on the Tuesday evening. It was great to be sent some recommendations about where to eat using Twitter!

Realised that I need a Twitter cull
I have read lots of tweets using Tweetdeck during the week and I've realised that I follow so many people that it's hard to find usefulness and meaning from all those tweets. I need to look more carefully at the profiles of the people I follow.

Weeknote 6

I'm writing this from our holiday in Devon!

This week I have...

Blogged
I've caught up on blogging during the week. I wrote a review of a book by Terry Freedman which he has linked to from his website at www.ictineducation.com.

Painted
I've been painting the fence in an effort to keep up with the targets I set in my monthly review.

Set up my classroom
The drawers and cupboards are now labelled and the room is set out how I want it.

Been to a wedding
We had a fabulous day at a wedding in Whitchurch.

Driven
The journey to Ilfracombe was a nightmare thanks to an overturned caravan which held up up for two hours. Still, we are here now, and looking forward to a great week!!

Engaging with families

 A couple of months ago I raided the Becta website for publications in the fear that they might suddenly disappear. Fortunately the government's cost cutting initiatives haven't included cutting bandwidth to the Becta website just yet, so the document I refer to hasn't disappeared yet. (Incidentally, I wonder what will happen to the publications when Becta does fold?)

Messages from the evidence: Engaging with Families talks about how technology can be used to engage with  parents more effectively. It is based on research from a 2009 survey and is intended to help schools to use what technology has to offer to improve parental engagement. There is an expectation for all primary schools to offer secure online access for parents to information about their child's learning and school life (assuming this expectation still exists).

Now I am well aware that many schools are miles in advance of our school, but here are some things that our school does to use technology to engage with families and what I would like the school to do in the not too distant future.

• Text messages - we subscribed to a school texting system around 18 months ago and it has proved to be a massive hit! Staff love it because it is simple to use and it is an effective way to contact parents. the feedback from parents has been fantastic. I'm not sure how it will work, but next year I want to enable to function where parents can reply to the texts. I don't know if it will become over-complicated for our office staff to manage.
• Emails - the same texting system now offers an email package. We mainly use the system to send newsletters home, reducing the number of printed letters by 75% in the process. In the next year I want to extend this to other letters (e.g. trip letters and after school club letters). This will save time and paper.
• Twitter - although it's hard to tell how effective our Twitter feed is unless people start to follow, I'm sure the fact that our tweets are displayed at the very top of our website means that people must take some note of the news items that pop up daily. I only wish that the Local Authority would unblock it so it can be shared with the children in school.
• Blogs - the Year Six blog that my colleague and I ran has been extremely popular amongst our pupils. Next year it's time to extend this throughout the school and one of my challenges for the learning platform is to demonstrate to staff how to use the blogging tool and get them using it! A blog about our visit to France and a visit in another year group proved to be very well received! It will be important to demonstrate to parents how and where to leave comments.
• The school website (learning platform) - we are just scratching on the surface of the possibilities this offers. During the summer I will be redesigning the school's homepage to make it easier for parents to find essential information like holiday dates, diary dates and news. (I'm sure that I found a statistic somewhere about how many clicks within a website that a visitor will make before they get frustrated and leave. I want to reduce the number of clicks in order to find these items.)
• 'Enable parents to book appointments and consultations online' - blimey! The document recommends this and it would be really cool. I just haven't got a clue how to do it!
• Links on the school website - our Delicious bookmarks feed into our website (using RSS feeds) but I need to add links for parents like local council websites.
• Homework - A survey of parents in 2009 showed that 97% had internet access. I wonder if I could set staff the challenge to distribute some homework to be completed online only?
• Sessions for parents - I would like to offer sessions for parents to demonstrate how to use the school website and the different technologies we offer.
• Online reports - Next year we will be revamping our reporting process. I wonder if we can make the reports available online?

Of course, the document reminds us that,

"No one-size fits all. Good communication includes a range of options to fit around parents' different needs and circumstances, including technology strategies and non-technology strategies."

I guess you can't beat face-to-face interaction in the end! But I'd love to hear from people about how they engage with parents using technology.

Teachers Pet

In the process of setting up my brand new Year Three classroom I looked around for some classroom labels that would be good for labelling drawers, pegs and a few other bits and pieces like a visual timetable.

I was delighted to find some fantastic items on the Teachers Pet website (www.tpet.co.uk) which is completely free! I loved the animal labels in particular which I have used to create drawer labels, and the visual timetable will be perfect to use on the wall. It was good to find resources which are editable too!

If you have any labels needed for your classroom, I cannot recommend this site enough.

Go On, Bore 'Em by Terry Freedman

I wanted to write a quick review of this book by Terry Freedman which is available here which talks about why some ICT lessons can be excruciatingly dull.

Whilst very much aimed at secondary ICT teachers, I actually think a lot of his ideas can be transferred to primary school teachers, and not just for ICT.

The starter activity
The logical and scientific way that he explains the need for a starter activity is superb. When I work with trainee teachers I will pass them the book so that they can read this chapter to help them to understand the need to plan an engaging starter activity.

"In one lesson I observed, as part of an ICT inspection I was undertaking, it was 8 minutes between the first student entering the room and the last one entereing the room... The first student to enter had 8 minutes in which he was expected to sit down and say and do nothing. The second student had slightly less than 8 minutes for the same thing, and so on. In other words, by the time the last student entered the room, most of the students already in the room were now virtually unmanageable."

Doesn't that make sense? I think it really highlights the importance of planning a starter activity.

The myth of students' superior technical knowledge
I thought that this chapter would help me to get through to teachers who plan activities in ICT without planning a purpose for the challenge. It will help to show the need for the need to plan a task where pupils can apply their skills and knowledge and show real understanding of ICT.

The chapter on too much talking by the teacher will also be invaluable advice for students. I guess we all have lessons where we 'go on a bit', but again the logical reasons he uses to justify his advice are spot on!

Moving to Year Three next year is something that's on my mind. I'm not quite clear yet what the homework routine will be in this year group, but the advice about homework in this book will be useful. He argues that homework is not a bolt-on, but should be an integral part of the lesson. He writes that homework, "Should help ensure that what goes on in the lesson itself is useful and meaningful and that the time in the lesson is well-spent." This is great justifucation for making greater use of our learning platform and its forums and wikis at home to form part of the homework routine.

There's more great advice which I will offer to trainee teachers about good plenaries, but I also found the chapter on data to be very interesting, particularly after my work on data in my Leadership Pathways course.

Go On, Bore 'Em by Terry Freedman is a worthwhile read. It can be purchased here.

Weeknote 5

I knew that 'Weeknote' was over-ambitious. I know I've said it before, but I've just been so busy. There's literally been something on every weekend since the end of May and unfortunately blogging didn't get done.

Time to get back on track...

This week I have...

Sorted my iTunes
Music is so important to me that I enjoy spending time editing the information about each an every tune. When I started to use iTunes in February I didn't think the process of making sure all of the song details are up-to-date would take as long as it has, but the end is now in sight - I've finished all of the songs beginning by artists from M to Z which means that I've don't over half of the alphabet. M took forever (due to hundreds of Michael Jackson, Michael Buble etc. songs)

Watched films
It's been nice to relax with my wife and watch a few films. We watched Toy Story 3 the other day (enjoyable film). A while ago I bought the Two and a Half Men series one boxset and we've enjoyed watching these too!

Been ill
I felt really poorly from Tuesday night to Thursday morning. On Wednesday I went to bed at 6 and was in bed until 10 on Thursday morning. It's not like me to do that. Still I'm better now.

Caught up on jobs in my office
All of the pictures taken at school and home over the last few months have been uploaded to the relevant Flickr collection. I've sorted various things that needed doing in the office.

Begun to prepare for my new class
Moving to Year Three promises to be very exciting and I can't wait, but I don't mind admitting that I'm very nervous about it. So it was a relief this week to meet up with my colleague and begin to plan the year.

Monthly Review August 2010

Well, I have to say that my monthly review process has been an absolute waste of time. Of the targets I set, I have achieved very few, in particular my personal targets. I have learned a lesson which I need to try to address next year, that basically my life has been devoted to school for the last two months. The last half-term at school has been so busy that when I came home each evening I didn't really feel like doing much. But with loads of social events (I know I shouldn't complain, but there were so many) I found fitting in anything productive at home very difficult.

Review:

Personal:

Go running eight times - Disaster! Just after writing my monthly review I injured my ankle whilst running and could barely walk for a week. It meant that I didn't go running for two months! I am back on track now though.
Start playing squash again - Disaster! I didn't play at all - with many evening events with school and various social events over the last couple of months I just didn't get chance.
Begin to tidy up the garage - Disaster! I can only blame my lack on enthusiasm and lack of time for this one.


Professional:
Organise the school's 'university' project - Done! Read my blog post here.
Write my school reports - Done! Arrrgghhh! I need to write much less next year! 
Collate the pupil questionnaires - Done, although quite late. Unfortunately I had other priorities during the last few weeks at school that these sort of fell by the wayside.

New Targets:

Personal:
Go running eight times - I must do this!!

Start playing squash again - I'm looking forward to doing this
Begin to tidy up the garage - I need to do this.
Paint the garden fence - (I just need motivation and good weather)


'Professional':
Tidy up my office at home - That means complete all of the work that I've piled up in there!
Set up my brand new classroom - I'm moving to Year Three - more on this soon!
Move in to my office at school properly!
Plan my first lessons for Year Three
Revamp my blog and Twitter - Year3Teacher!
 
I plan for August to be a more productive month!! (I promise!)

Tanzanian visitors

For a year or so now our school has been involved in Tanzed's charity work by becoming a partner school with a school in Tanzania. In October, staff from our school travelled to Africa to meet the teachers from our partner school and spent a week decorating a classroom, sharing resources and learning about the Tanzanian way of life.

During a week in June two teachers from our partner school came to England to spend some time in our school. I have to say that it made me do a lot of thinking about how I take so many things for granted.

The teachers spent much of the week in school visiting classes and working with the children. They came to watch a lesson I taught, working on frisbee skills and playing ultimate frisbee with the class. Our visitors' faces began to smile as they could see the simplicity of the game and the possibility of creating new games with the frisbees. The children insisted that we gave them some frisbees to take home with them.

We had various old laptops in school which are no longer used by staff as they are too slow. We arranged for our technician to strip two of them down until the basics (an office package) and a few educational programs were on there. The school bought two digital cameras for our partner school. It was wonderful to think our visitors would be returning home with two laptops and two digital cameras - I try to imagine what a difference this would make in their school.

A local company made a significant donation by purchasing a full football kit for the children to wear in Africa! Our own school kit was purchased in 2007 and various pieces have gone missing over the years. I'm confident that in three years time the African kit will be completed and cared for.

We had an evening to celebrate our visitors when all local schools who have taken part in the scheme met together. One of our visitors made a speech and he said how privileged he was to come to our country and said how much he had learned! I don't think he realised how much we have learned from their appreciation of everything and their desire to make education better for their students!

Over the week I learned how lucky I am to work in a school which is resourced and is able to offer the children an excellent education. But I also realised how important it is to not always rely on these resources - an enthusiastic and engaging teacher is what really makes the difference.

Leavers

No one could say we allow our Year Sixes to leave quietly! A leavers' prom (organised by our network of schools) a presentation evening, a leavers' disco and a leavers' assembly all take place in the last few weeks of school!

It was really sad to see such a wonderful year group leave the school, and for my last Year Six they have been an absolute delight to teach!!

World Cup competition

Something else that has kept me busy - particularly at lunchtimes - during the last term is our World Cup competition.

The idea is simple - the children are asked to form teams and then they play against each other. In the infants the teams are picked from within their own year group and they must include at least one boy and at least one girl. In the juniors the children can pick their own teams, but they must include at least one boy and one girl and must also have a player from a different year group. This team picking process can take a bit of time, but it helps the children to develop thinking skills and social skills.

The infants and juniors do not play together (our school council said, "How can Foundation play against Year Six?") but their competitions run in more or less the same way (although with some relaxing of the rules for the infants).

The culmination of each competition is the final which is played in front of the whole school. A proper carnival atmosphere is enjoyed with classes all cheering for both teams.

22 teams played in each competition, so during the last term, six solid weeks of lunchtimes were taken up with refereeing matches! Great fun, but quite tiring too! Thank heavens I get a year off next year before the competition returns for Euro 2012!!

University

One of the reasons I have been so busy recently is because I have organised our annual 'university and college' for the whole school. Let me explain...

College
Our 'College' is for our Foundation and Key Stage One pupils. The children are all mixed into groups. The teachers and teaching assistants all choose an activity they would like to deliver to the children. The activities include things like games, outdoor pursuits and team games, cake decorating, science, floristry, drama, yoga and lots of craft activities. Over three Friday afternoons the children attend a course each week. The children love it because they are in mixed groups and are trying something different. Although it can get a bit chaotic, the staff enjoy the fact that they can choose what to offer to the children. Many parents come in to volunteer too.

University
Our fourth 'university' was a phenomenal success this year. The idea of the university is that the school offers courses in a skill that could be used in a working career, and not necessarily something normally offered in the curriculum. The children are given the option of what they would like to attend (in fact they choose their top five courses and they will be allocated one). They attend this course for three Friday afternoons (at the same time as the college took place). This year we had 25 courses - our highest number ever. The courses offered included being a librarian, team building, sports coaching, cookery, musical theatre, website design, cross-stitch, gardening, woodwork, running a supermarket and being a magistrate. The courses were run by teachers, teaching assistants, governors, parents and grandparents and members of the community. One of our local high school has become very involved in the university and they not only bring ten students to the school to assist with the courses each week, but they also took a number of pupils to the high school to take part in a music studio course. Various trips took place this year - to a local library, a local farm, a local restaurant, a local supermarket and to local allotments. It's such a team effort - over 50 adults helped to make it a success (in addition to high school students) and the university is becoming well known in the community.

After the college and university have been completed graduation assemblies are held where the pupils are awarded certificates to celebrate their achievements in their course

All of this takes a mammoth amount of time to organise but it is very much worth it.

A researcher from National Strategies came in to school to talk about the college and university with a view to including it in a publication about parental involvement (due before the end of 2010). I'm quite excited by this and I hope it can inspire others to try something similar.

River Study

Our summer topic is rivers and mountains and one of my favourite parts of the topic is our visit to a local scout camp for a river study.

Scout Camps are likely to be very busy at weekends but perhaps not during the week. This means that they are ideal for use by schools and it's worth getting in touch with a local scout camp if you'd like to arrange something similar.

We organise the day into three parts - water activities, dry activities and a barbecue.

I'll start in reverse order: the barbecue is a fantastic social event. Transport back to school is not arranged. Instead we ask parents to come to collect their child and to stay for a barbecue. Our school cooks kindly give up their time to prepare the food whilst the children play football and a dads vs children cricket game. Other parents bring chairs to have a sit down and chat. Although it is quite a way before the end of the year, it is almost like the first of our leavers' events as it is a great way for everyone to come together.

The dry activities are orienteering and team games, photography and a river walk (the children are given a list of river-related features to photograph) and a tree study (finding the age and height of a sample of trees).

The water activities are to measure the speed of flow (using a tape measure, stop watch and lots of dog biscuits!) and the depth of the river using rope and a metre stick.

All of the data collected is used in school to form photo collages, comparisons of speed on bends and on straights and graphs to show the depth of the river.