Author: head

Reading

I have paraphrased here an internet article– ‘10 Reasons Why People Who Read A Lot Are More Likely To Be Successful;’ reliably trading in the word ‘successful’ for ‘successful learner.’ The article promotes that reading as much as possible is the pathway to success and fulfillment. Success is a little too loaded a term for me- it begins to sound like money sometimes – hence my switch to successful leaner and fulfillment which is most definitely what it is all about:-

1. Reading means you have increased focus:  ~Focus is important for being a successful learner. When you read a book avidly you simply cannot  put it down. Successful learners feel the same way about any task they set out to do.

2. Reading encourages the setting of goals:- -Readers set goals for themselves whenever they sit down with a good book. Whether setting out to read a specific amount of pages before moving on to another activity, or deciding to read until a certain concept is solidified in their mind, readers actively try to accomplish something whenever they open a text. Successful learners also set goals and continue working toward the goal until they surpass it.

3.Reading encourages us to spend time wisely:- Successful learners view their time as incredibly valuable, and seize every opportunity they have to learn something new, or accomplish a goal. Using up spare minutes on reading is time well spent for learning.

4. Readers develop a sense of perspective:-  Reading helps you understand people and the world around you- it develops emotional intelligence and empathy and sense of perspective. Successful learners are able to see all angles of an issue, because they have read a variety of literature from various perspectives. Being an avid reader allows you to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, if only for a moment; but once that moment’s over, you remember the experience for the rest of your life.

5. Reading helps you to become more reflective:-  Readers are reflective about what they have read. While gaining perspective allows a person to see from the other side of the fence, being reflective allows them the opportunity to understand how they can be productive with their new-found perspective. Successful learners see reading not as the simple act of staring at words on a page. They understand the profound effect that consuming a text can have on the mind, and how books can change a person’s life.

6. Reading helps your communication skill:-   It’s no surprise that the greatest orators and writers in human history have all been enthusiastic about reading. Successful learners draw inspiration from their role models, and utilize this inspiration to further their cause.

7. Reading increases memory:-  The more you read and learn, the easier it becomes to retain information. Successful learners simply continue to learn, and commit an incredible expanse of knowledge to memory, sometimes without even realising it.

8. Reading keeps you fresh:-   Successful learners see the brain as a muscle that needs to be worked. Just like going to the gym every day keeps your arms and legs in shape, reading keeps your mind sharp and able to easily retain knowledge. Successful learners exercise their mind on a daily basis through reading and other methods such as crossword puzzles and brain teasers.

9. Readers are educated and informed:-  When successful learners pick up a book, they don’t do so just to finish it, but to take something away from it. Reading textbooks is never just a school assignment to be completed, but is a chance to expand their knowledge even further. While reading fictional novels, successful learners take with them life lessons that they carry with them forever.

10. Reading is relaxing:-   Everyone needs to tune out the world every once in a while. There is nothing wrong with reading a “trashy magazine” or graphic novel to unwind. Reading just about anything is more beneficial than watching television or computer games. There’s no better way to chill out while keeping yourself fresh than with a good book.

We have had a number of people popping in recently to see how we teach maths- including other head teachers from DGAT, the governors and this Monday gone, our Academy Development Partner and the head of maths from Stroud High. You might conclude we’re either we’re under scrutiny for getting it wrong or we being lauded for getting it right. In reality we would see our maths provision simply as a more positive and improving picture and I encourage these kinds of visits to showcase any strengths we may have and then hence to build upon them. In other words it’s a glass half full approach to school development. One big push in maths these last few months and an emerging strength has been the determination to have problems as the starting point for lessons, as the way in; instead of being the ‘challenge’ we get to if the children have shown themselves capable enough with their basic skills. We all know as parents that the best kind of maths is usually drawn out incidentally half way down the supermarket aisle or sitting at the kitchen table, working out how much turf might be needed for the back lawn. This takes a bit of effort but it is maths with a purpose, maths that is fun, maths often with various possible solutions. When our children are starting out on their learning journey –and when they are in Nursery and the Foundation Stage, this is reliably how we present maths to them. However as they get older and the weight of the curriculum content and the pressure to reach standards grows, we all, parents and teachers alike, sacrifice our good intentions and begin to get overly functional about the process of learning maths. As a parent I have been guilty of reaching for that Letts maths book and marching my child through to the next star sticker and as a teacher I have been guilty of presenting them with a page of sums to prove to me that I taught them them. I don’t believe this is a good place to have got to—I don’t care if it’s what we’ve always done and that children like the stickers- it is reliably not the best of educations that we are offering and it does not turn our children into ‘mathematicians’—because, by the way, they can all be mathematicians.

One critical observation I have made in the last few weeks- has been that our children gain a keener grasp on their basic skills and methods when they are applying them in the context of solving a problem than when they are learning them in isolation. As often in education, this feels like a statement of the blindingly obvious – which is predictable given the basic tenets of what make for good learning have probably been around, in one form or another, since the beginning of time. What saddens me is how regularly good sense is dismantled by the pressure of accountability- both in terms of attainment and teaching standards imposed on us from elsewhere. It leads to a distracting focus on comparing oneself to others, on adult preoccupations with things like data and Ofsted. Just as a teacher conducting a Philosophy for Children session with a class finds, when they actually listen carefully to their children, they are constantly surprised and inspired by what comes bubbling up to the surface from the depths of young minds, so also we as educators looking for strategic direction, will always find greater inspiration and be surprised by how clear the way forward can be when we allow the children themselves and alone to be our raison d’etre. It does sadden me just how bold a leap of faith is required to get back to such a blindingly obvious principle.

There has been plenty of talk nationally this last year about something called ‘mastery.’ In many ways there is nothing new about the concept of mastery: it is, in essence, about encouraging deeper thinking and about strengthening children’s capacity to apply their skills. The subtle but significant shift that the mastery concept ushers in is the principle that when teaching maths, we don’t jump onto new skills and methods and knowledge until the children are ready. We look instead to spread sideways and deepen. The other important angle on this is that all pupils can and should be aiming for this kind of mastery- certainly not just those who grasp the maths quicker. We must be in the business of helping all pupils to become strong mathematicians with deep roots and thick stems as opposed to spindly little plants kept in the dark and fed on a diet of worksheets. To achieve this we have chosen to focus our efforts initially on making problem solving central and improving the quality of our questioning. Feedback thus far has been very positive. One pupil said, ‘Working through problems is so much better because it’s real and we end up talking. The process is so much more important than the solution. The solution won’t change your life.’ So there you have it- we will certainly be looking to build on this direction.

I thought it might be appropriate to update you about our academy life. We have now been part of DGAT (The Diocese of Gloucester Academy Trust) for 1½ years and the most discernible and valuable impact is still on the teaching and this comes from all the new opportunities staff, from across the Trust, have to work with each other.  We’ve never been a school to shy away from change and learning but the Trust has brought a new and quite relentless dynamic to this learning. Whether it be joint INSETS, in depth reviews of each other’s practice or action research, we are being carried along at quite a pace and, in my humble professional opinion, in a positive direction. The word ‘outstanding’ gets talked about far too much in education (to the point where I begin to feel quite bored). For me a school should aim to be outstanding in one critical aspect- in its belief that it’s not there yet (there’s that growth mindset word again- it clearly got under my skin!). Other words that come to mind are: humility, determination, an open mind- but not readily the label, ‘outstanding.’ Now I’m not trying to hedge my bets here with an Ofsted probably due, but as I age, I find myself wanting to look beyond some of the educational claptrap that hangs like a fog between us and the big blue sky. I want us defining what we want for our children: I don’t want us sitting around like cowed automatons hankering after Ofsted approval. Too often the preoccupation with Ofsted (and I assure you schools are preoccupied by this) feels like adult pride and fear for themselves and their careers. Our preoccupation and the heart of every decision we make ought to be the children and what is best for them.

On a lighter note I was amused the other day when I asked our children what they thought defined Britishness. This is, of course, in the context, of the national agenda to promote British Values to our pupils—which are summed up by the powers that be as:- democracy; individual liberty, the rule of law, mutual respect and tolerance. We try to get these across to the children in an appropriate way and get them to understand some of the history behind them as well as how they apply to them in their everyday lives. When I asked the children about Britishness, they came up with:- independent, tea-drinking, well-schooled, creative and with a good sense of humour- not bad for a first try.

We have recently introduced and/or re-invigorated several methods for helping the children to develop good reading habits. We want our pupils to become experienced readers: that is young people who see themselves as readers; who are discerning about what they like; who are adventurous in their choice of reading material; are motivated to read widely and constantly. Our practice in school is constantly evolving as we search for the way to ensure we give the greatest number of pupils the best chance possible of developing these habits. We’re not there yet but you can assume we will not rest on our laurels.

The benefits of good reading habits are indisputable. As a head teacher, on a daily basis, I see evidence of the strong link between reading and engagement with school; between reading and learning; between reading and self-discipline; between reading and an interest in the world we live in and the people we encounter. One area of our practice we are looking to develop further is something we call ‘Book Talk,’ which has us drawing on the research of Aidan Chambers in his book ‘Tell me.’ I am sharing my thoughts on this with you now because you may find it useful for when you are talking about a book with your own children.

Aidan Chambers’ approach is effectively a method for encouraging a ‘growth mindset’ in readers. He calls anyone who always sticks to the same kind of book as flat-earthers (ie people displaying a fixed mindset). They avoid exploring the world of books predominantly because of fear: the fear of boredom, of difficulty and of exhaustion. Book Talk then is about encouraging pupils not just to talk but talk well about books and hence to break through that fear barrier. It is about encouraging the part that talk plays in the lives of discriminating, thoughtful, pleasure seeking readers. When Aidan Chambers and his colleagues carried out research into these kinds of readers- there emerged several common denominators. Firstly these readers were affected by other readers who they respected, about what these other readers thought of books and how they spoke about the books they had read. They were also affected by what they themselves said to others about books. One 8 year old called Sarah said, ‘We don’t know what we think about a book until we’ve talked about it.’ In other words the process of becoming an experienced reader is very often a social process: our talking about books gives us the energy, information and impetus to explore beyond.

Aidan Chambers listened closely to what went on when experienced readers talked about books. They discovered that even experienced readers often initially skirt around deep discussions about meaning until they had heard what their friends had to say about likes and dislikes. The starting point of most discussions are quite ‘surface level’ and meaning only gradually emerges from the conversation—it is discovered, negotiated, made and arrived at organically. We try to re-create this in Book Talk by avoiding asking the question, ‘Why’, and instead saying ‘Tell me..’ ‘Why’ is rather examinational and children end up trying to play ‘guess what is in the adult’s head’ rather than expressing their own thoughts. ‘Tell me’ on the other hand suggests a desire for collaboration and indicates the adult really does want to know what you think. It anticipates dialogue rather than interrogation. We then work hard as teachers to hold ourselves back; to keep as quiet as possible and so allow the pupils to develop their dialogue about the book naturally and without our intervention. In this respect Book Talk’ feels very much like Philosophy for Children but with a book. As with P4C it is particularly critical that each response is valued. This is about personal response to a book: there is no one answer and there is no one answer better than the next.

I hope you find some of this useful and some of you go forth reinvigorated to talk about books with your children. I have attached at the bottom here some guidance about Book Talk that you might be interested in. I will put this on the school website also. I have also attached our guidance about how we can work together to help your children to become confident, experienced readers.

Happy New Year to you all!

This term’s value is ‘responsibility,’ a value that we revisit more regularly than most others because, along with ‘perseverance’ and ‘forgiveness,’ it is one of our core values.

We have discussed in assembly these last few days how important it is to take responsibility not just for yourself but also for others; that in taking responsibility for/ looking out for others – in particular important others who you are linked to directly- like family, like friends, like the school community- you are also attending to yourself because they help to sustain you in turn; that in taking responsibility for yourself you must be careful not to ‘take’ from/ upset others. We have encouraged the children to dwell on their strengths and what they can do rather than feeling put out or jealous at the strengths of others; to take these strengths and try to use them to ‘give’ of themselves rather than take. If this is all sounding a little convoluted, blame the head teacher and trust the teachers, in the coming weeks, to bring some clarity to the children’s thinking. They will be focusing on taking responsibility for what you say; for managing our anger; for our family and friends and for using our gifts responsibly.

I am really pleased that all of our children now take part in the KS2 communities because they represent a valuable and significant opportunity for the children to take some responsibility for others in school but also beyond school, in the local and wider community. Next week we will be holding interviews for new House Captains. The remit and level of responsibility these children take on seems to grow termly and we are trying to give as many pupils as possible the opportunity. This term we will be holding cooperative sports afternoons again- the aim being for pupils to build valuable experiences of cooperating responsibly as a team.

We have spent some time this week also talking about British Values and how our society expects us to be responsible citizens. Children in KS2, at least, should be able to recall some or all of these values and how they relate to their lives in school and beyond – so please do ask them. To start the conversation off, the most obvious example of democracy in action in school is how, through our School Council, all children have a vote and have a say in how the school should be run.

When it comes to behaviour, we use the words responsibility and forgiveness a lot; a lot more than we use the word ‘behaviour’ which is such a loaded term and usually has negative connotations. We look to encourage our children to take responsibility for their actions; to see mistakes in their behaviour simply as that- mistakes- and hence another very good opportunity for learning. In this sense behaviour is being seen as very much part of the curriculum as opposed to a hindrance to it. We expect the children to be honest about their mistake and, as often as we can, if there is to be some kind of ‘response’ to the mistake, we look for them to take on some kind of responsibility, one that is appropriate to the mistake. A good example I use to illustrate the point with parents was when two older children were laughing (uncharitably) at some younger ones playing in the playground. They became play leaders for a week, after which they felt impelled to sit down and write contrite letters about their actions the previous week and thereafter took on the job of play leading for the rest of the year. Of course this was a perfect strategy with a perfect outcome but we don’t live in a perfect world and it doesn’t always work so smoothly. That said- it illustrates our intent very clearly.

If you want to find out more about our values and the kind of things we try to get the children thinking about, please look on the school website.

Just before half term we had an outstanding INSET day with ex-head of Philosophy for Children, Will Ord. I have watched some very good speakers in my time but none have held my attention quite like this guy- the atmosphere was electric. Philosophy for Children is an enquiry based approach to learning which opens up children’s minds. It gives children the possibility of seeing that their ideas have value; that others have different ideas that have value too. It helps them realise they don’t always have to be right and gives them the confidence to ask questions and learn through discussion. It sits alongside and supports growth mindsets- it assumes intelligence is a flexible, growable thing and susceptible to change; that it can flourish in some circumstances and wither in others. P4C pushes us towards valuing the non-academic as well as the academic in a school environment and towards giving all children a sense of value.

P4C can be taught as a structured session that starts with a stimulus, encourages children to collectively decide on a question to explore and is followed by a discussion that is not contained but follows its own path, guided by the children’s thoughts and ideas, agreeing and disagreeing but always giving a reason for their point of view. However what we found even more exciting is its potential for informing practice across the curriculum and in all areas of learning. To this end we have instigated an approach to our professional development which hinges on joint lesson study between teachers. Teachers and TA’s are using this to explore teaching methods (which are akin to P4C) which set out to let go of the reins on learning, to encourage deeper reflection by the children and to ensure all pupil responses are valued. Of course the lesson study method itself aims to do the same for teachers- to take away the fear involved in lesson observations and to give them the license to experiment, take risks and grow.

Closely allied to the concept of a growth mindset is the concept of challenge. Challenge by its very nature encourages effort, personal investment and intellectual engagement. This in turn involves a desire to engage with and understand the world, have an interest in a wide variety of things and not be put off by complex and challenging problems. In school we have introduced children to the idea of a learning pit. When they are faced with a real challenge and are unsure which way to turn, they are in the pit. Our job is firstly to teach them a state of mind- that jumping into the pit is something worthwhile and secondly we need to help them develop the tools to help them survive in the pit and work their way up and out the other side. Don’t worry- we won’t be digging pits, any time soon, to throw your children into but we will be looking to give them the courage and resilience to get out of their mental pits.

I include here some notes that summarise some of the salient points made at the life without levels. First note please that this has to be viewed as a starting point- we going on journey on this one- one that will be very productive- but lets not assume we will all fully understand/ be fully reassured just yet.

2 things before we start:-

1. This is complex- – it involves a new way of conceiving of pupil achievement and a radical overhaul of some of our ways of working. It will take us a little time to get to grips with.
2. It is progress it is a better way of conceiving of pupil achievement and it will lead to better learning for our children

1 thing that changes right now:-

We wont be telling you whether your child is below/ in line or above expected attainment or progress right now. We will only be informing you where they lie on an effort/ attitude scale. This is an interim measure and we may not stick to this. However please note that we only started giving you a report card before a parent meeting relatively recently: this to give you a bit more of a heads up before you walked into the meeting and provide another starting point for discussion with the teacher. Note also that most primary schools simply hold the parents evening so whatever you feel about these new report cards they are still more than most parents get and, as I’ve said, they are only an interim arrangement.

1 thing to be reassured of right now:-

The school’s progress scores (as detailed on the Ofsted data report called Raiseonline) are very good. This is now the last time levels will be reported on this document and it is the best one the school has ever received. Basically the data says children progress well at our school. A change to a system without levels will not change this fact; will not change the good work our teachers do.

What you need to know:

Levels have been removed from primary education.

An Expert panel reviewed use of levels to judge children’s progress through school and their impact on learning”

They found the way they levels had developed in schools could be negative:-

1. Children were labelling themselves and comparing themselves to others in an adverse way. Their assertions on this mirror our school’s feelings about the need for a Growth mindset model in education. They said, “We need to switch to a different conception of children’s ability. Every child needs to be capable of doing anything dependent on the effort they put in and how it’s presented to them. Levels get in the way of this.
2. Schools were pushed (because of the high stakes system of accountability in education) to move pupils at an undue pace through the levels and this meant pupils were often left with important gaps in their knowledge and understanding.

The panel looked at high performing jurisdictions or education systems across the world and found a common theme. They found that, in these jurisdictions, primary school age children studied fewer things in greater depth. Tim Oates (Group Director of Assessment Research and Development at Cambridge Assessment) says, “They secured deep learning in central concepts and ideas”he concluded, “Assessment should focus on whether children have understood these key concepts rather than achieved a particular level.”

The National Curriculum has therefore been re-organised so that there are expectations for each year group rather than level descriptors. The principle here then is to not move a child onto the next year’s key concepts but to stick with those appropriate for that year group and deepen their knowledge and understanding; this by applying their skills and getting pupils to think and reason around the concepts. It is assumed that all children in a year group will be working their way through the curriculum appropriate to them.

The question that will come to mind immediately for parents is, will my child be given appropriately challenging work? The answer to this question is yes of course within each year group, children’s needs will vary as much as they have ever done and it is the class teacher’s job to provide input, experiences and support to cater for these needs. Don’t, for one second, imagine that this is about lowering expectations or aspirations or treating everyone the same. Instead of imagining this, hold onto the key concept behind this change- that we must encourage pupils to learn more deeply before they move onto the next stage, if we are to give them the best possible education.

This expects plenty from our teachers- is all too easy to move children rapidly (or competitively) onto the next thing or next level; it’s quite another to creatively stretch the learning sideways and strengthen their understanding. To do this teachers will be getting children to rehearse and apply their understanding in different purposeful contexts and in ever more challenging and stimulating ways.

Another question that you may have for me is how will we know how our children are progressing? Firstly please note that the most important information we should be discussing is the qualitative information about them as learners; their strengths, habits, needs and next steps. The whole spirit of this new curriculum and the new assessment process is to not label children and allow them to compare themselves to others in an adverse way. That said you need as much clarity as possible so that we can work together to help them reach their potential. We will be working hard between now and the Spring reports to create a system that aims to achieve both of these things.

The Big picture

How your child’s progress will officially be calculated at the end of KS2

The end of levels also means the end of calculating progress from KS1 to KS2 in terms of the difference in levels attained. A new approach will be used to measure progress to the end of KS2 from KS1 and, eventually, from the Reception Baseline. The methodology works as follows, here based on progress between the end of Key Stages 1 and 2:

1.Take a pupils performance in the end of KS2 reading or mathematics tests or writing teacher assessment.

2.Look back at that pupil’s aggregated prior attainment at the end of KS1.

3.Take all the pupils nationally who had exactly the same KS1 prior attainment and look at their KS2 results; work out the average progress made by this group of pupils between Key Stages 1 and 2.

4.Go back to the original pupil and see if she/he made more or less progress than the average. If it’s more than average, she/he gets a positive score and if it’s less than average she/he gets a negative score.

5.Repeat the process for all the pupils in the school’s Year 6 cohort and add up all the resulting positive and negative scores.

6.If its pupils have made more than average progress, the school has an overall positive score, and if they have made less than average progress it has a negative score.