Issue 05 December 12

The proposed KS4 and KS5 reforms in a nutshell

LeadingChange . Issue 05 . December 12

Leading Edge – leading change

Welcome to the 5th edition of Leading Change. We hope that you find that it is full of ideas and inspiration. We are delighted that Professor Mick Waters and Professor Guy Claxton have kindly agreed to contribute articles for this edition alongside those from schools within the programme. Thank you to everyone that has taken the time to write a piece at a very busy time of year.

At the last meeting of the Leading Edge steering group, there was much discussion about the proposed KS4 reforms. I know that many Leading Edge schools also attended the briefings held by SSAT last month. Several members of the steering group commented that announcements seem to be coming at such an unrelenting pace that can be difficult to keep up. To that end, we thought it would be helpful to provide an overview of the proposals that you may wish to share with your staff.

The visit programme is now well underway and as ever, it is inspiring to hear about the quality of the work taking place within Leading Edge schools. We hope that the directory has proved helpful in helping you to establish links with colleagues in other Leading Edge schools.

Thank you for your support of the programme in 2012, we wish you and all of your colleagues a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The Leading Edge team

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Key stage 4

Why are the changes being made?•Perceivedlackofrigourinthe exam system.

•Beliefthatthestandardsofliteracy and numeracy amongst school leavers are unsatisfactory.

•‘Theracetothebottom’–thebelief that accountability measures have encouraged schools to opt for the least challenging examinations in order to improve results.

•DesiretoaligntheEnglishsystemwith the best international standards.

•Concernthatstudentsfromdeprived backgrounds are frequently directed towards non-academic subjects.

The English Baccalaureate (EBacc)ToachieveanEnglishBaccalaureate(EBacc),studentswillneedtoachieveEnglishBaccalaureateCertificates(EBCs)in five of the following subjects (including English,MathsandScience):

•English(LiteratureorLanguage)

•Maths(pureorapplied)

•Science(Biology,ChemistryorPhysics)

•History

•Geography

•MFL

Who will take the EBacc?The aspiration is that 90% of students willachievetheEBaccbeforetheyleavecompulsory education at 18. It may be that some students take their exams at 16, some at 17 and others at 18. StudentsthatdonotachievetheEBaccwillstilltakeEBCsandwillbeissuedwitha Certificate of Achievement.

When will the EBacc start?•Coresubjects(English,Maths,Science) will be taught from 2015 with the first examinations in 2017.

•History,GeographyandMFLwill be taught from 2016 (subject toconsultation).

What will EBCs be assessing?•Literacyandnumeracylevels

•Understandingofsubject

•Readinessforfurtherstudy

How will EBCs be different?

•Newgradescales(likelytobe1,2,3 ratherthanA,B,C).

•Nointernalassessment(atleastfor EBaccsubjects).

•Notieringofexaminationpapers.

•Examinationaids(calculators,periodic tables,settexts,sourcematerial)willbe ‘vigorouslydiscouraged.’

•Opportunitiestoteachtothetestto be removed (limit past papers, mark schemes,examinersreportsetc).

•Nochoiceofexaminationboards– each subject will be allocated to a specific board.

•Terminalexams–nomodules.

Post-16fundingwillbedependentonthe school or college being able to supportstudentsinachievingEBCsinEnglish and Maths.

Key stage 5

What is the Secretary of State proposing?•AreviewofA’Levels

• IntroductionoftheAdvanced Baccalaureate(AB)

•AStobeaseparateexam–an alternativetoA’Level,notthefirst part of a KS5 qualification.

What would the AB consist of?•Agroupof‘contrasting’subjects,with breadth(soastudentwouldn’tstudyall artsorallSciences).

•Atleasttwosubjectsfromthe followinglistdrawnupbyRussell GroupUniversities:

•Maths

•FurtherMaths

•EnglishLiterature

•Physics

•Biology

•Chemistry

•Geography

•History

•ModernorClassicalLanguages

•A5,000wordextendedessay

•Terminalexams(nomodules)

•Anelementofvolunteering.

Some additional questions for schools to consider:•Howshouldtechnicalandvocational pathways be managed?

•Howcantheroleoftheartsand othernon-EBaccsubjects be protected?

•Giventheraisingoftheparticipation age, are examinations needed at 16?

•Howcanteachersandstudents adapt to the requirements of terminal exams?

•Willyourcurriculumofferand approach to teaching and learning need to change as a result of the proposed reforms? Do students need earlier experience of terminal exams?

•Whatissuesmighttheintroduction ofEBCsraiseintermsofstaffing?

In this issue...Redesigningschooling 4Bestfootforward 6AnOutstandingall-roundeducation 8GoingforGold:AKeyStage4interventiontoclosethegap 10Practitioner-ledINSET 12PromotingG&Tacrossagroupofschools 14OutstandingachievementinScienceduringuncertaintimes 16RokebyBusinessSupportGroup 18

It’sschoolgym,butnotasweknowit 20Howdowemakeschoolsintoakindof‘virtuegym’where students get to practice their mental fitness, notjust talk about it? 22Co-operative values to ensure outstandingprovision for SMSC 25Celebratingwomen’sachievementsinScienceandinspiringthe next generation 26

In the last edition of Leading Change there was an error and an omission in the list of schools that had received celebration certificates from the SSAT.

Harris Academy Chafford Hundred was one of only three schools nationally to receive a certificate in all three categories.

Waldegrave School was one of a small number of schools that received a certificate in two categories (value-added achievement andachievementatA/A*).

The celebration certificates were awarded for schools in the followingcategories:

• Top10%ofschoolsintermsofthepercentageofpupilsto achieve 5+ A*-A grades including English and Maths.

• Top10%ofschoolsintermsofvalue-addedscoresforthe achievement of 5+ A*-C grades including English and Maths.

• Top10%ofschoolsintermsoftheimprovementmadeinthe percentage of pupils achieving 5+ A*-C grades including English and maths from 2008 -2011.

Apologies, additionsand corrections

The symposia will focus on:• Purposeofeducationandskillsand knowledge needed by students in a globalised world•Whatkindofteachingforwhatkind of learning?• Personalisationandengagement: curriculum and different pathways•Qualifications• Funding• Accountabilityandintelligent inspection

The symposia will build on a number of the work strands of SSAT (personalising learning, globalisation, raising achievement,systemredesign,etc.)and will have inputs from organisations and partners. SSAT held a conference in September to discuss the situation regardingtheGCSEEnglishresultsand the consultation on key stage 4 qualifications. SSAT responded to the consultation and has already held a think tank.FromOctober-November,SSATheld five regional, school-based twilight sessions to raise awareness of the proposals and encourage responses. On28thNovember2012,MikeTomlinson chaired an employer/headteacher event to look at possible options going forward.

The National Conference in December focused on shaping the thinking around learning for the 21st century and BrianLightman,ASCL,presentedoncourageous leadership. The outcomes from the conference and discussions with partners and academics will feed into the symposia.

BetweenJanuaryandMarch2013,thesymposia will be held in the north and south of the country. The sessions will be led by leading thinkers and academics includingProfessorsGuyClaxton,BillLucas,TimOates,DylanWiliamand

ChristineGilbert.Therewillalsobeinputsfrom international educators, including DrEricMazur(theflippedclassroom),AlanNovember,andProfessorAndyHargreaves.

TheRedesigningSchooling website is now live. Visit www.redesigningschooling.org.uk to get involved.

The site will be open to all to post experiences, ideas and comments; and to co-create the recommendations for creating a world-class system.

Followingthesymposiaaseriesofpamphlets will be published, based on research and international comparisons, making recommendations for the way forward in developing England as a world-class education system. The pamphlets will capture the thinking and practice from the symposia and on-line forums.Thelikelystructureis:

Pamphlet 1–Globalisationandthereasons for changing the English educationsystem:economicprosperity,digitalisation, disaffection of young people.

Pamphlet 2–Whatkindofteachingforwhatkindoflearning?Balanceofknowledge versus skills for students. Impact of technology. How do we achieve excellence for all?

Pamphlet 3–Personalisationofthecurriculum–whatfreedomsdoschoolshave? What are the principles of curriculum design? What is the difference between national, local and school curricula? Different pathways. Hierarchy of subjects. How can we ensure that different pathways for students have parity of esteem with an academic pathway? What can we learn from other countries?

Pamphlet 4–Aworld-classqualificationssystem–whataretheprinciples and practice of a world-class qualifications system? When and how should students be tested? What lessons can be learnt from around the world?

Pamphlet 5–Accountabilityandintelligentinspection–howshouldtheaccountability system evolve to support a more autonomous, diverse and self-improving system?

Pamphlet 6 –Summaryofrecommendations for redesigning schooling.

SSAT will also be working with students to capture their views on how schools should be redesigned and a decision will be made on the best way to publish these views i.e. as part of each pamphlet, separate publication and/or an on-line resource.

We will be working with Lead Practitioners,InnovationFellowsandschool leaders to encourage and develop school-based enquiry into best and next practice. We will use steering groups and regional forums to disseminate and debate new ideas and practice.

This means that we will be presenting the views of headteachers, teachers, governors, academics, thought leaders, parents, business and industry, higher and further education, and students on the redesign of schooling.

Redesigning Schooling

Leading Edge – leading change

In a diverse system of schooling, with greater emphasis on school autonomy and accountability, what do we need to do to become a world-class system? SSAT, working with academics, headteachers, teachers, leading thinkers and partners, will be holding a number of symposia and events to debate and identify the core education principles for redesigning schooling.

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GETInvoLvEd!To register your support for theproject,pleasevisit:www.redesigningschooling.org.uk

Add your comments, blog postsand suggestions.

Sue WilliamsonChief ExecutiveSSAT

I meet school leaders in a variety of settings; almost always by invitation. I get asked to speak at conferences at an average of two or three a week and I visit schools about three times a week.

Most school leaders are naturally concerned about covering their back, coming to terms with the latest set of indicators and ensuring compliance. Who wouldn’t be?

OverthelasttwentyyearsthecombinedpressureofumpteennewOfstedinspection frameworks, league tables, national strategies and directives on every aspect of schooling have made leaders veryawareofwhattheirroleis.Policiesabound. I was in a school recently which hadreceiveditsacademychain’spolicyon shredding; it began by explaining that a tie should not be worn when shredding (somuchforreducedbureaucracy).Another chain has a policy for ladders, presumably it is about tights.

DataiseverywheresothatFFTDandRaiseonlinearetalkedaboutwithgravitas even though they are entirely built on results from suspect test and examinations.Policychanges,andthereisacalculatedswitchtowardstheEBaccsubjects or a move towards a new emphasis on the teaching of phonics. The whole movement is brought into harmony around the potential for forthcominginspectionwithOfstedcallingthe tune.

Most school leaders work out how to win in this game. They see the next attack coming; it was safeguarding and now it is performance management, and they work out ways to head it off as though they were moving chess pieces to defend their king. Some struggle against the odds; just as the bishop moves to fend off the attack from the attendance diagonal, so the castle gets caught out with the performance management vertical shift.

Sir Michael Wilshaw, HMCI recently described‘outstanding’schoolleadersas‘sunny’.Thequestioniswhetherthe sun comes out because they are ‘outstanding’orwhetherbeingsunnycausestheschooltobe‘outstanding’.

The problem with endless compliance is that it causes clouds; clouds of self-doubt, clouds of conformity, clouds of threat, and clouds of stagnation.

Most school leaders want to be in a school with a degree of self- determination. They can set their own challenges with their own communities and work out how to meet them. They know there are some givens but after that they need to create, invent and sparkle. They want the talk of autonomy, innovation and collaboration to be a reality rather than rhetoric. Yet we know that it is very hard to unleash exploration. Apparently, turkeys that are kept penned in a barn for a few weeks are reluctant to step outside when the door is wide open. The first ones may risk being picked off. It is safer in the confines we know than to be alone on the outside. Exposure is lonely and dangerous but we do want the free-range experience and the golden eggs that come with it.

Yet school leaders do it. They innovate quietly. A primary school in Dudley using iPadstoencourageparentstohelpwith

homework and reception aged children to begin forming letter shapes. A secondary school in Essex organising their learning to the extent that learners talk of their teachers as guides and mentors, recognising that spoon feeding is futile and knowing that their teachers ‘willnotgiveuponthem’,thoughthe mindset is theirs to develop. The secondary school in Hull where work experience and civic contribution sit alongside academic and vocational pursuitsinaModBacc–asanalternativeto the proposed government imposition of narrow learning for teenagers. These are a few examples among many where the school leadership knows there hasto be another way, where they remember what they said at the interview that so excited the panel and secured their appointment.

The big question now is how we encourage school leaders to really lead. The National College was doing that but a couple of years in a full nelson have just about caused a submission. The professional instincts of school leaders burn as strongly as ever. We need to encourage each other and cease looking over our shoulders to cover our backs. Peoplewhocontinuallylookbackwardseventually miss their footing. Instead we need a forward-looking, dynamic, engaging, active leadership approach that makes people believe everything might be possible...and that it is worth having a go.

Ratherthanthesignoutsidetheschooltelling us what the compliance checkers thought, our accolades should come from each other and from the pupils, families and communities we serve. We need to think of ourselves as professionals with the confidence, ability and desire to make the world a better place. You get the picture. Lead on.

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Wolverhampton University . West Midlands

Mick WatersProfessor of EducationWolverhamptonUniversity

Best foot forward‘we need a forward-looking, dynamic, engaging, active leadership approach that makes people believe everything might be possible... and that it is worth having a go’.

Ofstedrecognisedsomethingspecialabout our learning culture that flies in thefaceoftheCBI’srecentdamningpresentation of some schools as merely ‘examfactories’.LVCisaschoolthatworks very hard to provide a broad and deep curriculum and to stimulate enterprise and curiosity in its young people. We are very far from being an examfactory,although,asOfstedpointsout,‘allgroupsofstudentsperformexceptionallywell’.Ourfeelingisthattheydothisbecausetheeducationis‘whole’.

Emphasising the moral imperative to provide an all-round education to our students could not be more important atthispointintheschool’s75-yearhistory. As an academy, we have the freedom to shape our own curriculum in the face of whatever content the new national curriculum presents to us. As an outstanding, Leading Edge School, we must join with others to resist the temptation to abandon breadth in our curriculum and slavishly teach to the tests. It is, I believe, about holding our nerve and trusting that if teachers teach a subject well and develop robust, curious and enterprising learners, those learners can then apply their skills to whatever is thrown at them. The combination that works most powerfully at Linton is outstanding teaching (over 60% of lessonsseenwerejudgedtobeso)and the rich programme of curricular and extra-curricular opportunities that we offer.

During their time at the college, every child experiences a varied programme of activities beyond the classroom. They traveltoFrancetopractisetheirFrenchinshops; they visit a local company to find out how it works; they set up a business and sell its products to the public; they go on a residential trip for a week; they meet an author, try out new sports and

learn to play musical instruments. All students have the opportunity to perform inaShakespeareFestival,achieveanArts Award, vote in mock elections, meet Holocaust survivors, solve a murder mystery and complete a 10k sponsored walk. More than half of our students are involved in the Duke of Edinburgh scheme. The choir sings in the local church at Christmas, the wind band tours EuropeandGCSEmusicstudentsgoto the opera in London. A whole school musical production takes place every year and attracts a large community audience.Ourstudentsraisethousandsof pounds for charity each year and the school council organises fundraising ventures for our partner school in South Africa as well as causes closer to home. Students learn a huge amount from all of these activities.

They also learn a huge amount in lessons–notbycopyingdownlearning objectives or jumping through assessment hoops, but by being asked deep and probing questions, being encouraged to explore solutions, consider alternative answers and become genuinely fascinated with what they study.

The curriculum at LVC is not the national curriculumortheEBCoranysuchnarrow definition of what children should belearning.Itisan‘all-round’education.The kind of education you would want for your own children.

When our school, Linton village College in Cambridgeshire, received its ofsted report inMay 2012, there was one phrase of which we were particularly proud:

8 9Linton village College . Cambridgeshire

Caroline derbyshireHeadteacherLinton Village College

An Outstanding all-round education

‘Linton Village Collegeprovides an outstandingall-round education forits students.’ofsted


10 11dunraven School . London

It is now accepted that schools need to take direct action to ensure that students on FreeSchoolMealsandthosedesignated as Looked After achieve in line with their peers and that disadvantage should not dictate academic success. However, many initiatives to ‘Close the Gap’ are often aimed solely at such students, marking them out as somehow different. nationally, the gap remains stubbornsothatasFSMstudents improve so do their non-FSMpeers.Thissuggeststhat a different strategy is required if we are to really close the gap. At dunraven School therefore, we have tried a more inclusive approach which has had a dramatic impact on closing the attainment gap over the last two years.

Jessica Westdeputy HeadteacherDunraven SchoolLondon

Going for Gold: a Key Stage 4 intervention to close the gap

In September 2011 we initiated a Key Stage 4 intervention plan which we entitled‘GoingforGold’.Theaimwasto ensure all students reached their academic potential, not merely those on the C/D border or those identified asvulnerable:allstudentsinthecohortwould be involved in intervention at some level. The motto at Dunraven is ‘ExcellenceforAll’andweusedthatasa driving force for ensuring nobody was left behind. All students in year 11 are partoftheGoingforGoldinterventionprogramme throughout the course of the year.

The cohort is divided into three teams, Diamond team - targeted to achieve at least 5 A*-C grades or equivalents; Goldteam-targetedtoachieve5A*-Cgrades including English and Maths; Platinumteam–targetedtoconverttheirBgradestoAsandA*s.Eachteamthenmeets regularly with their team leader for assemblies and workshops tailored to their personalised goals and needs.

Within each team, the leaders are provided with up-to-date information regarding academic performance so that each individual student can be given a performance target detailing which subjectarea(s)requireextraattentionfrom them. Subject leaders are then responsible for delivering the specific intervention that will help the students maximise their performance in these areas.

Behindthescenesatschool,leadersof core subjects meet fortnightly with members of the Senior Team and the Year Team leaders to discuss the progress of individual students towards

their targets and to determine the best methods of intervention for those individuals.Progressisupdatedregularlyby subject staff to inform interventions and timetables are personalised for students where appropriate.

Publicly,studentscontinuetomeetwith their teams. They are issued with stickers for their school planners showing their targets and where those are met, celebrationsareheld.Familiesarecontacted and informed for their support. Crucially for students, should they meet or exceed their targets, they can migrate across teams in order that they can see that their own dedication and effort drives their success; data is not something we produce for students but something which they produce, influencing their own progression.

Attainment has risen over both years of the programme so far, which is a really positive boost for the students and the school, but what really matters for us is ouraimof‘ExcellenceforAll’.Throughgiving every Dunraven student a tailored programme of intervention and marking no oneoutas‘different’wehaveclosedtheattainment gap significantly over the two yearswehavebeenusingtheGoingforGoldprogramme.Againstanationalpicturelast year of a 29% attainment gap - or the high performing London region with a gap of21%,DunravenstudentsonFreeSchoolMeals achieved within 1.1% of their peers at the marker of 5 A*-C grades including English and Maths. Without English and Maths, the attainment gap at Dunraven is 0.6%.Ourexperiencewouldsuggestthata policy of intervention for all really does facilitate‘ExcellenceforAll’.


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Canons High School . Middlesex

As part of our drive to build capacity towards Teaching School status, Canons hired six Pedagogy Leaders from across the staff to put rocket boosters onto our existing outstanding Pedagogy Project (oPP as in our twitter handle). The project, as I have blogged about previously is to capture the art, craft and science of effective teaching as it best suits the context of our school community, students and teachers in order to gather the strands into a Canons Pedagogy or house style of teaching and learning.

Keven Bartledeputy HeadteacherCanons High SchoolMiddlesex

Practitioner-led INSET Thefour-termroleofthePedLeaders,aswe have come to call them, was to bring two years of work to a conclusion and identify the core ethos, structures and techniquesoftheCanonsPedagogy,toshare these with staff and students and tocreateasustained(andsustainable)programme for a full implementation through collaborative pedagogic development practices. Most of all, their jobhasbeen–andcontinuestobe–toengage and enthuse staff in this process, to retain a bottom-up focus and to find the surplus of excellent practice rather than start from an assumption that teachers’classroompracticeisabrokenthing in need of a quick fix.

We are now at the end of the first full term of their work and the results have beenmagnificent.TheteamofPedLeaders is made up of two Heads of Department,anAST,aTLRholderandtwo NQTs covering five different subject areas and they have attacked their brief with relish, skill and sensitivity. Their first major public challenge was to plan and deliver an INSET day to introduce the core principles underpinning their CanonsPedagogy.

Their first significant task in the process wastorelegatetheDeputyHead(me)andAssistantHead,RenataJoseph(@renniesherrie)totheroleof‘guidesontheside’andtoignoreourguidanceonhow they should do the day completely. Isay‘relegate’butthetruthisweweredelighted at their chutzpah and sense of adventure (or risk as Alistair Smith - @alatalitemighthaveit).Theytrashedeverything about the way in which INSET days are normally done (not in the Hall, no Head or SLT introduction, a welcome breakfast, a full programme, Subway lunch,etc,etc)andtheyinvitedtheirSLT leads to get involved purely to assign to us admin tasks to support their vision of the day (our watchword became ‘whatthePedLeaderswant,thePedLeadersget’).

Andtheirproduct?TheLazyTeacher’sINSET day (we have apologised in person to @lazyteacher and now hope that the copyrightinglawsaren’ttootough).

The aim was to introduce the overarching structureoftheCanonsPedagogy–essentially the Accelerated Learning Cycle–andtoshowcasearangeoftechniques to exemplify each phase of the cycle through pedagogy with our teachers as learners. Their determination toavoidaPowerPointlectureapproachand to model the techniques and structure we were advocating throughout the day was a testament to their concern that the actual classroom be the focus of the INSET.

The only problem with this approach wasthatitmadethePedLeaderstheteachers of their peers, and as the day approached some of them began to express concern that it might all fall flat and that colleagues might not participate as learners, particularly in the highly active sessions.ThiswaswhereRenataJosephand I were able to feel a real sense of participation in the organisation of the day.But,ofcourse,theirconcernswereunfounded and once the day was upon us they came to realise that engaging and enthusing learners is pretty much a constantwhethertheyare13or31ortwice that age. They were helped by the fact that the cafeteria staff had played a blinder with their full English breakfast that got the staff buzzing from the first moment; a reminder that the little things often make all the difference to large groups of people.

Ontheotherhandthoughfoodalonewon’tmaskthefaultsofapoorINSETday and the real quality was in the sessionsthemselves.ThePedLeaders,JoeFreeman(@biomadhatter)andmyself (I was allowed off the leash as a teacherontheprovisoIdidn’tletthemdown!!)deliveredsessionsthatreallydiddemonstrate how to get the students working. A typical comment between us was how little we were doing beyond the initial planning and our in-session facilitating (apologies but I had to use theFword)andhowhardour‘students’were working - a fact that was not lost on the teachers we exhausted that day. At least three members of staff reported that this was the first INSET day where they

had not looked at a clock or watch for the entire day.

When we read the evaluations (written on cups in free form style as requested bythePedLeaders).Readingcommentslike‘thebestINSETever’,and‘canwegetstartednow’,and‘soinspired’,andvariations on that theme was truly one of the most pleasurable parts of my career, but it was the way that they immediately beganbuzzingabout‘whatnext?’thatreally flabbergasted me.

ButofcourseINSETdayshavenomeaning if they have no impact beyond the feel-good vibe of the day, however welcomethatis.It’stoosoontofullyevaluate at the moment, but it is clear from discussions with key departments and individual teachers that the Accelerated Learning Cycle is liked and understood,thatFlippedLearninghasenthused many, and today I have worked withtheREdepartmenttoapplySOLOto their lesson planning processes. In the meantime the only people in the school who are less than content with the measures of impact of the INSET day arethePedLeadersthemselves,andthey have once again side-lined their SLT ‘guides’topreparethenextphaseofstaffengagementinpedagogy.I’dwishthemgoodluckinthis,buttheydon’tneed it. What they need is for me and my SLT colleagues to stand back, let them loose, support them when needed and watch them as they change the nature of teaching and learning at Canons in a way which exceeds outstanding because it is practitioner-led to its core.

You can follow this project on twitter - @canonsoPP and @kevbartle


1514Warden Park High School . West Sussex

The Central Sussex Locality Group is a loose federation of two large secondary schools and sixteen primary schools serving the West Sussex town of Haywards Heath and the surrounding villages. one of the secondary schools and one of the primary schools work together in an academy trust. The other schools are maintained by the Local Authority and seven of these are faith schools. Recently the academies and schools in the Group established a community interest company to help to develop our partnership further. our area is more prosperous than most but has pockets of deprivation in the town and in some of the villages.

Untilrecentlywehavetendedtorelyon the Local Authority to run special courses for gifted and talented children. Some of these courses have been very good but they can be expensive and some parents have found it difficult to access venues that may be up to thirty miles away. While most of our schoolshaveG&Tco-ordinators,theyhave tended to work in isolation and so provision across our schoolshas been variable.

Steve JohnsonCEoWardenParkAcademyTrustHeadteacherWardenParkHighSchoolWest Sussex

Promoting G&Tacross a group of schools

SchoolsintheGrouphaveworkedtogether over several years on joint projects and programmes. So far our work has focused on improving prospects for our most vulnerable learners but, for 2011, we decided that it was time to focus on the needs of gifted and talented students and their parents.

We had not chosen a particularly auspicious time do this.

• ItwasclearthatfundingfromtheLocal AuthoritytoLocalityGroupswould dry up.

•Allschoolsintheloosefederation were increasingly concerned about their budgets.

• TheLocalAuthoritywasreducing itssupportforG&T.

It was also clear that our provision forG&Tchildrenwasunevenacrossour schools and that parents were concerned generally about the quality of maintained provision for their children.

The factors above made it particularly important for us to make sure that our G&Tprojectwouldhavethefollowingfeatures:

• Theproject’smainaimwouldbe to build capacity in our schools and

encourage staff to work together with asharedvision.(Followingourlaunch conference, our school co-ordinators have supported each other to achieve thatvision.)

• Theprojectwouldneedahighprofile immediately to engage parents directly and generate interest across the whole community.

•Enrichmentopportunitieswouldneed to be equally available to gifted and talented children from all the locality group schools.

• Theparentsofchildrenidentifiedas having special gifts or talents would be engaged as partners in the project.

•Childrenandfamiliesfromoutsidethe locality and children educated outside themaintainedsectoror‘otherwise’ would be welcome to participate in the project.

•Aftertheuseofapump-priminggrant to get us going, the services provided by the project would need to be fully sustainable from individual school budgets, course fees and sponsorship.

We also realised that any serious project would need to be supported by the services of a committed professional co-ordinator.

The Project

Phase 1Initiating the projectAutumn 2011A project launch day took place at WardenParkAcademyinNovember2011. We were fortunate that Denise Yates from the National Association forGiftedChildrenagreedtoleadtheconferenceandweengagedG&Tco-ordinatorsfromwithintheGrouptolead afternoon workshop sessions.

The objectives of our launch conferencewereto:

1 Clarify the characteristics of gifted and talented children and the differences between gifted children and talented children.

2 Provideadviceontheidentificationof such children.

3 Share examples of good practice in developingfurtherthechildren’sgifts and talents while at the same time addressing their social and emotional needs.

4 Clarify ways in which parents can be engaged as partners in the support of gifted and talented children.

5Reviewanddevelopcurricularand extra-curricular opportunities for gifted and talented children within each participating school/academy across the locality and beyond.

Groupschoolssenttwostafftothelaunch day including one with direct responsibility for gifted and talented children in their school.

Parentsofgiftedandtalentedchildrenattending local primary schools were also invited to a 90 minute presentation by Denise the same evening. We used direct email to all parents of children on our G&Tregisterswhichprovedtobeaveryeffectivewayofreachingpeople.Ouraimwas to help parents to be more confident in supporting their child at home and workingproductivelywiththeirchild’sschool. The conference was very well attended and well-received.

Phase 2developing the project in schools and sharing good practiceSpring 2012We planned that each participating school should be able to claim up to £300fromwhatremainedofourcentralLocalityGroupbudgettocoverthecostofproducingorrefiningaG&Tplanfortheir school. The plan had to include the organisation of at least one extra-curricular event or educational visit to take place in the second part of the spring term which would be open to children and parents across the locality. Smaller schools were invited to make joint contributions if appropriate.

We included all of these contributions in a local directory of opportunities for gifted and talented children and their parents. Paymentofstaffforthedeliveryofthecoursesoreventsisincludedinthe£300that each school could claim. This helped keep paperwork to a minimum.

An afternoon conference took place atWardenParkinearlyFebruarytoshare outcomes and plan phase three of the project. The project co-ordinator supported and monitored this phase of the project and drew up the locality directory.

Phase 3 Taking the project to the communitySpring/Summer 2012The directory and the events and visits it contains was promoted as the Haywards HeathFestivalforGiftedandTalentedChildren. This was such a success that anotherfestivalistakingshapefor2013.Otherfestivaleventswereorganisedbythe co-ordinator for children and their parents.Parentswillbeexpectedtocontribute to the cost of events taking place outside school hours but schools cover fees for children/families entitled to free school meals or looked after children throughthePupilPremium.

Phase 4Consolidating the projectSummer 2012 onwardsFollowingaveryfavourableevaluationoftheFestival,weareholdingsomeregularevents and additional visits for children and parents across the Haywards Heath area.Ournewsletterandprogrammealso publicises courses provided by the Local Authority and other organisations for gifted and talented children.

Schools are now ready to subscribe to the service provided by the co-ordinator a cost of £1 per pupil on roll.

How are we doing?The launch conferences for staff and parents were very well-received. We now have a directory of parents so we can keep in touch with easily throughout the project. The success of the project has depended on the enthusiasm and confidence of teachers and support staff to contribute courses and events. While we are paying staff for this additional work, it can still be a stressful experience for colleagues organising a course or event but fortunately staff have taken the plunge. The future for accessible and well-targeted provision for gifted and talented learners will depend on whether clusters of schools can work together independently of local authorities. We have made a start in trying to do this and so far so good.

SteveJohnsonisCEOoftheWardenParkAcademyTrustandHeadofWardenParkSecondaryAcademy.He has previous experience of training teachers in provision for gifted and talented learners. Steve has planned the project on behalf of the Head Teachers andGovernorsintheCentralSussexLocalityGroup.

16Bodmin College . Cornwall

Outstanding achievement in Science during uncertain times

17

As the needs and demands of the Science curriculum seem to change virtually daily what can a successful Science department do to ensure that it continues to provide an outstanding education to its pupils?

As the needs and demands of the Science curriculum seem to change virtually daily what can a successful Science department do to ensure that it continues to provide an outstanding education to its pupils?

WeatBodminCollegebelievethatthekey is a curriculum model that allows for flexibility and choice for pupils to be able to achieve to the best of their ability.

This means a range of courses that allows pupils to progress beyond the ‘standarddefault’optionoftwoyearsofdoubleScienceGCSE.Weshouldrefineour suite of options so that with careful monitoring and informed advice, pupils can opt for a course that stretches them and allows them to progress and succeed.

During the stability of the last five years our curriculum model has led to a marked improvement in attainment and progress for our cohort that joins us in year 7 below the National average. We have moved from 45% two A* - C to 92% with three levels of progress over 80%. At the same time the percentage of pupils opting for triple Science has risenfrom12%to35%.Anotherdefiningfeature is that at the end of KS4 the majority of pupils have more than two level 2 qualifications at C grade or above.

Like many departments we begin KS4 in year 9, but we ensure that the first tranche of qualifications are achieved by the end of year 10. This frees year 11 to focus on a progression from the results they have achieved so far. It goes beyondsimply‘moppingup’pupilswhohave missed out on two grade Cs as the majority have already attained this level by then. Year 11 is a medley of new courses, working to achieve higher grades and other enrichment opportunities including our triple scientists taking AS Science to help with the KS4-KS5 transition. OurappliedandvocationalpupilshaveenjoyedgreatsuccesswithGCSEAppliedScience,BTECAppliedScienceandOCRnationalatbothpassandmeritlevel. Their transition to KS5 has been

exceptional,withAppliedScienceA’levelatBodminCollegebeingmentionedintheGoodSchools’Guideinthreeofthelast four years.

We now find ourselves in a complicated transitional period where we need to ensure that we help our pupils achieve to the best of their ability whilst keeping a careful watch on how various qualifications are perceived in the wider world. The problem as we see it is how to maintain flexibility in the curriculum now that qualifications are terminally assessed. What we have particularly found useful in the past has been the ability to regularly monitor achievement. We plan to try and maintain this for vocational pupils by progressing through theBTECcourseandcertificatingeachyear. We will then continue to have the freedom to challenge pupils to further extend their progression during year 11. We feel that a similar approach can be adopted for our academic pupils. This will involve teaching the triple Science curriculum but assessing the pupils using Science,AdditionalScienceandFurtherAdditional Science qualifications over three years.

To conclude, the current and proposed changes provide real challenges for any department that wishes to adopt a thorough monitoring and intervention programme to help ensure maximum progress of its pupils. However we hope that the model we have outlined above will allow our cohort to continue to gain relevant qualifications at the highest level possible.

dave SalterHead of ScienceBodminCollegeCornwall


18Rokeby School . East London

In 2007 Rokeby School embarked upon an innovative project that aimed to forge effective partnerships between the school and local businesses. Working in conjunction with the East London Business Alliance (EBLA) the school set up a Business Support Group (BSG) which meets termly with members from Accenture, theFinancialServiceAuthority,Pinsent Masons, Barclays, Man Group, London City Airport and KPMG.

Rokeby Business Support Group

The premise behind the project was to bring the businesses and schools together, to engage in a meaningful way which would have a long lasting impact on the school. To do this it was important that the work coming out of thegroupwasrelevanttotheschool’sneeds. As such the school would identify the challenges it was facing and the areas in which they needed support, the businesses would then outline how they could utilize their resources and expertise to support the school.

ThisprovidedtheBSGwithamodelwhich was flexible enough to adapt to the changes the school has been facing over the past few years and produced a diverse range of interventions, which supported the school, its staff and studentswhichhasincluded:

•BTsecondingtwooftheiremployees to help project manage the school move to a new school building on a different site in 2010.

• LondonCityAirportprovidingcustomer service training for administrative and front of house staff in the school.

•Are-brandingexercisefortheschool

• Volunteersfrombusinessesjoiningthe school as governors.

•Mockinterviewpracticeandpersonal statement support for Year 11s, ahead of their college applications.

• Leadershipconferenceforstudent leaderswithManGroup.

•Barclaysrunningareadingskills programme with the school.

•Accenture’sIberianandLatin American network running workshops fordisaffectedPortuguese-speaking students in the school.

• 150Year9studentsvisitingbusinesses to get an insight into careers.

• ThomsonReutersandFSAworking with the student council to train students in areas such as project management and chairing meetings.

In2011,theRokebyBSGwasawardedthe Times Educational Supplement BusinessPartnershipAwardinrecognitionofthegroup’sachievements.Thejudges’citationfortheawardread:

‘Rokeby’s links with businesses are an outstanding example of what a community partnership should be – a genuine two-way alliance. They have yielded remarkable benefits in respect of the school’s achievements, its relations with the local community and the aspirations of its pupils.’TheELBAhasbeenfundedbyKPMGand Newham council are hoping to replicate the model in secondary schools across the borough in order to grow the programme and achieve sustainable partnerships between businesses and schools.

To learn more about the programme pleasevisitthewebsite: www.elba-1.org.uk/what-we-do/newham/project/education

BusinessSupportGroupmemberPinsentMasonshostsaworkshopintroducingRokebystudentstocareers in law.

VolunteersfromBarclayswithYear11Rokebystudents


19

It’s school gym, but not as we know itProfessor Guy ClaxtonOnceuponatime,avillagebecameworried about the fitness of its children, so the villagers built a brand new gymnasium and filled it with all the latest equipment. They had cross trainers, steppers, pecs machines, dumbbells and loads more.

Every day, after school, the children would walk down to the gym, sit quietly on the floor and learn about the equipment. They studied the history of the cross trainer and the construction of the pecs machine, and they calculated the weight of the dumbbells. Every so often, they were tested on the knowledge they had gained, and they did pretty well (except for a long tail of children who didn’t).Buttothepuzzlementofthevillagers, they did not seem to be getting any fitter.

So they sought high and low and appointed a new director of the gym. He was called grand operational visionary executive, and he instantly saw what the problem was.

‘Tut,tut’saidtheGove.‘Youhavebeenusing quite the wrong equipment. I have been to visit a people called the Ebak who live in a far-away land, and I can tell you that those new fangled machines will never build the kind of fitness our young people need. The Ebak have the solution.’

‘Youneedtoreplacethosetinnymachines with tried and tested equipment that has stood the test of time.’

So out went the pecs machine and the stepper, and in came big old-fashioned medicine balls, low benches, skipping ropes and a lovely old vaulting horse. The Govekeptthedumbbells,becausetheirvalue was beyond question.

Everyday, after school, the children walked down to the gym. They sat quietly on the floor, studied the history of the medicine ball and wrote creative stories about the life of the vaulting horse. They measured the strength of the skipping rope and calculated the weight of the dumbbells.

Their understanding of the equipment was tested more frequently and more rigorously.TheGovefoundthatthetestscores went up by a percentage point or two each year and he was well pleased. Butthevillagerswerepuzzled,becauseno-one could understand why the children were still not getting any faster or stronger or fitter.

Onedayawomanwanderedintothevillage. She asked a passer-by why all the children were so fat and sluggish and why the grown-ups looked so perplexed and dejected. They explained their puzzlement and she went to see the children in the gym for herself. She said hernamewasVita,whichdidn’tstandforanything.

She hummed and harred for a bit and thensaid:‘Buttheyaren’tactuallyusingany of the equipment are they? They aren’treallyexercising.’

‘Whatonearthdoyoumean?’saidthevillagers.‘Theyarestudyingashardasthey can and they have some excellent teachers.’

Vita said that she would show them what she meant. She stood up, stripped off her jacket and started to throw the heavy medicine ball up and down in the air until she got red in the face. She stepped up and down on the low bench till sweat started running down her arms, skipped till she was out of breath, and lifted the dumbbells up and down till her arms weresotiredtheycouldn’tliftanymore.

Thevillagerswerehorrified.‘Wecan’thavethat,’theycried.‘Thechildrenwillget upset if we make them struggle like that.Theyaren’tusedtogettingsweatyand tired. They will feel inadequate, and their self-esteem will suffer, especially the high-achievers.’

‘Tough,’saidVita.‘Ifyouwantthemtobuild up their strength and their fitness, they will just have to. No-one ever won the 100 meters by writing an essay aboutit.’

The villagers grudgingly admitted she might have a point, so everyday after school, the children went down to the gym.Butinsteadofsittingquietlyonthefloor, they started to use the equipment to stretch their muscles, build up their stamina, become more flexible, and develop their co-ordination.

Quite soon the children got used to getting sweaty, hot and tired, and they began to enjoy the experience of being reallystretched–eventhehighachievers(though it took them longer to get the idea).Theybecamemuchmorenimbleand their stamina and energy increased by leaps and bounds.

Thevillagersweren’tquitesurewhatthey had unleashed and were a little dauntedbythechildren’senergy–butthey thought it was good. An important group of villagers called the Employers were very happy indeed. And so were thefitnesscoaches(calledtheTeachers),because most of the children had become a pleasure to teach. And they lived vigorously and inquisitively ever after.

20 21Leading Edge – leading change


How do we make schools into a kind of ‘virtue gym’ where students get to practise their mental fitness, not just talk about it?Professor Guy ClaxtonOneofthethingswehavelearntisthatgetting the language right is important. Too often character aspirations are so vague that they are pretty vacuous. Does‘respectingtheenvironment’meanlobbyingtheG8?DemandingJamesLovelock come and talk to the school? Insisting that school-meals are organic? OrmerelywatchingAnInconvenientTruth, not dropping litter, and grudging trips to the bottle bank? Is it always agoodideato‘approachunfamiliarsituationswithoutanxiety’?Throwingrocks at an old bomb on a beach is not sosmart.Isitalwaysgoodto‘persistinthefaceofdifficulty’?IcertainlywishIhadlearntearlierinmylifethatitwasOKtoleave unrewarding books unfinished. The virtues we want for children have to be clearly enough expressed that they can think about them, not just obey them, and can easily relate them to their own experience.

If education is to change, it will not be simply by government fiat. It will be because thousands of young people and their families and teachers understand the value of the changes and start to

demand them with greater urgency. We need to communicate the real practical rewards of cultivating virtues like tolerance andpatience:beinggratefulandkindarestrongly correlated with measures of well-being and life satisfaction. Crudely, nicer people are happier people. Everyone needs to know that.

More urgently still, we need good ways of talking about the epistemic virtues in particular:thehabitsandqualitiesofmindthat make someone a confident, powerful learner(andwordslike‘prosocial’and‘epistemic’arenottherightonestouseonparents’evenings).Itisimpossibleto‘improve’therunningofschoolsunlesswe have a clear idea of what those virtues are, and we need an agreed vocabulary to do that. Without that clarity, all educational innovation falls back obsessivelyon‘raisingstandards’astraditionally, and inadequately, defined.

InmybookWhat’sthePointofSchool?(2008)Ihadastabatdescribingthevirtues that make people good at coping with uncertainty and complexity. Since then,I’vebeenrefiningmyideasasI’ve

worked with hundreds of schools and thousands of teachers around the world throughtheBuildingLearningPowerprogramme. Some of my virtues are drawn from the research that lies behind positive psychology; some are derived from asking teachers and young people themselves; and some are suggested by the burgeoning literature of the learning sciences.

I think it is important that the virtues of uncertainty are broad enough to take beyondtheschoolgates:that,surely,isthe point of learning how to learn. Dealing with the real uncertainties of modern life, anddevelopingone’sownpassionateinterests and avocations, are usually not at all like school. The carefully planned, predigested, sequenced and graded kinds of bite-size learning in which conventional schooling trades are not the kinds of learning for which young people need to be prepared. An apprenticeship in passing exams leaves even the most successful with a skill for which there is little call once they have left university.

22Leading Edge – leading change

23


‘Try again. Fail again. Fail better.’Samuel Beckett

24


Fewjobadvertsspecifythatapplicants‘mustbeabletositstill,copydownnotes,and regurgitate disembedded chunks of informationunderpressure.’Sowhatarethe learning virtues that I think are most important?Thereareeight:

1 Curiosity is the starting point. If you are not interested in things that are difficultorpuzzling,youwon’tengage.Curious people have an abiding sense of inquisitiveness. They wonder how things come to be, how they work, whether they might be otherwise. They live in a wonder-full world, not a world of dead certainties and cut-and-dried rules. They know how to ask good, pertinent, penetrating questions. They have a healthy scepticism about what they are told.

2 Young people surely need courage; not necessarily physical valour but the capacity to be up for a challenge, to be willing to take a risk and see what happens, not always playing it safe and sticking to things they know they can do. Courageous learners have the determination to stick with things that are hard, (although it is also a virtue to know when to quit, not because you are feeling stupidbutbecauseitreallyisn’tworthit).They bounce back from frustration; they don’tstayflooredforlong.

3 Exploration is the active counterpart of curiosity. Inquisitive people enjoy the process of finding things out, of researching(whetheritbefootballers’livesorparticlephysics).Theylikereading,but they also enjoy just looking at things, letting details and patterns emerge. They can let themselves get immersed in a book or a game; absorption in learning is often a pleasure. They can concentrate. Theylikesiftingandevaluating‘evidence’,not just reading or surfing the net uncritically, and their exploration usually breeds more questions. Explorers are also good at finding, making or capitalising on resources (tools, sources ofinformation,people)thatwillsupporttheir investigations.

4 Experimentation is the virtue of the practical inventor, actively trying things out to see if they work. Experimenters like tinkering, tuning and looking for small improvements.Theydon’thavetohave

a grand, ostensibly foolproof scheme before they try something out; they are at home with trial and error.

They spend a good deal of time just playingwithmaterials–paint,cogs,computergraphics–toseewhattheywilldo,uncoveringnew‘affordances.’Theyare happy practising, they enjoy drafting andredrafting,lookingatwhatthey’veproduced–agardenbed,anessay,amelody–andthinkingabouthowtheycould build on and improve their own products and performances.

5 Imagination is the virtue of fantasy, of using the inner world as a test-bed for ideas and as a theatre of possibilities. Goodimaginershavethevirtueofdreaminess:theyknowwhenandhowto make use of reverie, how to let ideas come to them. They have a mixture of healthy respect and sceptical appraisal toward their own hunches and intuitions. They use mental rehearsal to develop their skills and readiness for tricky situations. They like finding links and making connections inside their own minds. They use imagery and metaphor in their thinking.

6 The creativity of imagination needs to be yoked to the virtue of discipline; of being able to think carefully, rigorously and methodically, as well as to take an imaginativeleap.Reasonisn’tthebe-alland end-all of learning by any means, but the ability to follow a rigorous train of thought, and to spot the holes in someoneelse’sargument,aswellasyourown, is invaluable. Disciplined learners can create plans and forms of structure and organisation which support the painstaking‘crafting’ofthingsthatusuallyneedstofollowthe‘brainwave.’

7 The virtue of sociability, and of judiciously balancing sociability with solitariness, also seems essential. Effective learners know who to talk to (andwhonot),andwhentotalk(andwhentokeepsilent)abouttheirownlearning. And they are good members of groups:theyknowhowtolisten,howtotake turns, what kinds of contribution are helpful. They have the knack of being able to give their views and hold their own in debate, and at the same time stay open-mindedtoandrespectfulofothers’views:

of giving feedback and suggestions skilfully and receiving them graciously. They are generous in sharing information, ideas and useful ways of thinking and exploring; and they are keen to pick up useful perspectives and strategies from others.

8Finallythereisthevirtueofmindfulness,in the sense of being disposed to reflection and contemplation, taking time to mull things over, take stock and consider alternative strategies. Not paralysed by self-consciousness but capable of self-awareness, reflective learners can take a step back every so often and question their own priorities and assumptions. Thinking about your ownthinkingisn’talwaysuseful(despitethecurrentfadfor‘metacognition’)but it is needed at strategic moments. Mindfulness means giving yourself the time to go deeper, to see what conclusions you may have leapt to, and let a bigger picture emerge.

This list is merely a provocation, an invitationtoargue.I’dliketohearsuggestions for how it can be improved. ButIhopeitsoundsplausible,evenfruitful, both to 11-year-olds struggling withFrenchand55-year-oldsstrugglingwith golf or postmodernism; to people who think and intellectualise their learning alot,andthosewhodon’t;topeoplewho work at Aardman Animations, ManchesterCity,GoldmanSachs—andatthelocalhairdresser’s,motormechanic’s,orschool.Nodoubtthelistcanbeimproved,butasSamuelBeckettsaid,‘Tryagain.Failagain.Failbetter.’

Co-operative values to ensure outstanding provision for SMSC

25Lipson Community Academy . Devon

When HMI described us as one of the best secular school in England in terms of SMSC what they were reflecting were our co-operative values. our co-operative values are fundamentally about democratic fellowship and emulation. The impact is that students are highly skilled effective participants in both learning and increasingly in civic society.

Co-operation has been described as ‘putting community back into community schools’ because there is far more discussion and consultation with members having a greater sense of buy-in. over the last few years we have begun to define our ‘co-operative academy’ as one which not only has a co-operative dimension to its learning, curriculum, or governance structure but which reflects co-operative values in its whole ethos.

Co-operative learning is a general term for a pedagogic approach that is value-driven and centred on high quality dialogueintheclassroom.Foundedonconstructionist theories of education, so

inaco-operativeclassroomstudents’understanding is uncovered by teachers actingasa‘guideontheside’broughtabout by the use of challenging questionswheretheteacher‘meddles’with their thinking. Conceptualisation is then expanded through new learning experiences that the student can relate to. Learning, then, involves active participation achieved through rich dialogue within a safe, supportive setting.

Forus,co-operativelearningcanbeexplained by the descriptors we refer to asthefourPIES:

• ‘PositiveInterdependence’ - we instead of me

• ‘Individualaccountability’ - me instead of we

• ‘Equalparticipation’-nologsorhogs

• ‘Socialinteraction’ - respectful communication.

Teachers and students address learning tasks together (predominantly in heterogeneousgroupsoffour).Teachersand students listen to each other, share ideas and consider alternative viewpoints. Students articulate ideas freely, without fear or embarrassment, helping each other to reach common understanding. Teachers and students build on their own andeachother’sideasandchangetheminto coherent lines of thinking and enquiry.

The co-operative values have helped us to build social capital and knowledge capital throughout our school improvement groups, and as a consequence we have more collaborationandmore‘outstanding’

teaching than ever before. Through working in a co-operative way in the SchoolImprovementGroups,weturninnovation to confidence, and confidence to performance and we gain alignment and resonance throughout the College.

SIGsareSchoolImprovementGroupswhere teachers research and trial new co-operative pedagogies and solutions to seemingly intransient barriers to learning. SIGletsaresub-setsofthesebasedonWEDeming’sPDSAcycles(Plan,Do,Study,Act).Itishighlycollegiate;somethingthatStolletal(2003)suggestis one of the most fruitful strategies for fostering teacher development. It takes professional learning further than reflection and beyond dependence from outside experts to a place where teachers develop together new ideas.

Byworkingtogether,beingcreativetogether, and learning from each other we have developed a sense of solidarity though openness and honesty. Outcomesfromthispracticeincludethenumber of post-graduate qualifications undertaken by the teachers and support staff. 40% now have M-level qualifications, and two teachers are working towards D-level.

ThefullOfstedBestPracticeCaseStudyavailableontheOfstedWebsiteisentitled‘Raisingachievementbypromoting outstanding spiritual, moral, social,andculturaldevelopment:LipsonCommunityCollege’.

Steve BakerPrincipalLipson Community AcademyDevon

2726Mulberry School . East London

AchievementShow 2013Friday21JuneTwickenham StadiumLondon

Save the date!

The largest one day practitionerevent in the UK.


Bookings are now open atwww.ssatuk.co.uk/achievementshow

Ticketsare£175.00(forSSATmembers).SchoolsthataremembersofLeadingEdgefor2013-14areeligibleforupto3discountedplacesat£99each.

Celebrating women’s achievements in Science and inspiring the next generation

26

Mulberry School held its first, inaugural ‘Women’s Science Summit’, on Tuesday 23rd october 2012. over two hundred young women and men between the ages of twelve and seventeen, and positive female role models working in Science today, came together to celebrate women’s achievements in Science.

WeweredelightedtowelcomeBaronessSusanGreenfieldasourkeynotespeaker.Otherspeakerswhotheyoungpeoplehad the opportunity to meet included a palaeontologist, a geneticist and an ethicalinventor.Oneofthehighlightsofthe event was a panel on which speakers discussed the delights and challenges which they have come across in their careers and what the future holds for their areas of Science.

Oneoftheeventaimswastodemonstrate to young people the wide range of idiosyncratic careers to which studies in science can lead; with this in mind we offered interactive workshops on diverse topics, from the design of environmentally friendly tube trains to the relationship between science and faith.

The event promoted the culture of innovation and imagination that exists at Mulberry School and that inspired the interests and aspirations of the young people involved.

MulberrySchoolforGirls,intheLondonBoroughofTowerHamlets,is a successful, high achieving comprehensive school for girls aged eleventoeighteen.Ouraimistodevelop‘confidence,creativity,leadershipandaloveoflearning’withouryoungwomenas we believe this enables our pupils to lead successful, happy and fulfilled lives, making a contribution to their own community and wider society.

Jo LathamMulberry SchoolEast London

SSAT,5thFloor,142CentralStreet,London,[email protected]

SSAT(TheSchoolsNetwork)Ltd,aprivatecompanylimitedbyshares.RegisteredinEnglandandWales,CompanyNo.8073410Printed:December2012

Issue 05 December 12

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Transcript of Issue 05 December 12