Leadership Focus March/April 2010

Issue 42 March/April 2010

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THE BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR ALL SCHOOL LEADERS

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ROBERT SANDERS EDITORIAL

Why it’s good to listen The shortage of school leaders and the difficulty in appointing them is legendary.

It has been an issue of serious concern to NAHT for many years and statistics like those quoted on page eight are as alarming as they are predictable. This is despite the National College doing an admirable job in trying to sell headship to the leaders of the future by encouraging you to hunt out potential heads from your own colleagues (page 17).Yet it appears that the Government is in denial about the issue and is cowering behind such patches as executive headship, federations and ‘superheads’.

At the same time, the New Year honours list gives credence to the role and celebrates the amazing achievements that seem almost standard in many of our country’s schools. Individually, too, we hear long-standing heads themselves talking about their role with fondness and dedication. John Ridgley, in our ‘Heads Up’ feature (page 24), tells us that he is past retirement age and still loves his job, while Chris Harrison talks of still learning new lessons, even in his fifth decade of headship (page 44).

One of the ‘seven habits of highly effective people’ that made a particular impact on me when I read Steven Covey’s book several years ago was ‘seek first to understand, then to be understood.’

I really took that message to heart at the time. The need to give time to people; to listen and to ensure that you have really understood the meaning of what a person is trying to tell you before expressing a point of view.

The lesson is well demonstrated in Rebecca Grant’s feature about parents in schools. The school leaders who are most

effective in dealing with parents are those who communicate with them, seek their views and listen carefully when they are angry and upset.

I get the same feeling of a desire to understand the other point of view in the interview with Chris Howard when he comments on his discussions with Ed Balls – “on both sides there have been some unbreakable commitments made. Politics is about that.” At the same time Chris has visited members and listened carefully to their point of view.

The irony is that you can’t just tell people to listen. It’s no use saying: “Come on, Mr Balls – jolly well ‘seek first to understand’ like a good politician should.” It doesn’t work that way. Not many politicians want to stop and recount the opposition’s view before making their own. But wouldn’t it be wonderful if they did. The House of Commons would be a much more sedate experience.

In the past, I’ve spent a considerable amount of my own time and energy telling people to do just that – but they didn’t listen.

Do you think perhaps they were trying to tell me something?

The irony is that you can’t just tell people to listen. It’s no use saying: “Come on, Mr Balls – seek first to understand, like a good politician should.” It doesn’t work

redactive publishing limited EDITORIAL & ASSOCIATION ENQUIRIES NAHT, 1 Heath Square, Boltro Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 1BL www.naht.org.uk Tel: 01444 472 472 Editor: Robert Sanders Editorial board: Mick Brookes, Chris Howard, Mike Welsh and Robert Sanders Leadership Focus is published by Redactive Publishing Limited on behalf of the NAHT

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CONTENTS

COVER STORY PAGE

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LISTEN AND LEARN

It was once said that giving parents more power was like putting alcoholics in charge of the bar but these days headteachers are discovering that working alongside wellinformed parents can be a powerful experience.

BY REBECCA GRANT

10 NEWS FOCUS 6 SATS BOYCOTT LOOKING LIKELY The Association is set to ballot members on boycotting this year’s Sats in an effort to protect headteachers’ working lives.

6 PHOTO COMPETITION RETURNS The NAHT and AHOEC are again encouraging schools to enter the Great Outdoor Photographic Competition.

7 SCRAP LEAGUE TABLES Measuring school performance using league tables adds nothing and can harm pupils, according to new reports.

7 NEW CHIEF INSPECTOR AT ESTYN Ann Keane, strategic director at Estyn, will be the interim chief inspector until the role can be filled permanently.

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06 8 RECRUITMENT CRISISS LOOMING There are more headteachers retiring than there are new entrants joining the profession, rofession, according to the latest workforce survey.

8 BEST OF THE BLOGS Debates include the furore over a lamb raised for slaughter, Chris Woodhead’s latest views on Ofsted and why sceptics shouldn’t be too quick to dismiss the appeal of some aspects of England’s performance assessment regime.

9 NEW GENERAL SECRETARY NAMED Russell Hobby will replace outgoing General Secretary Mick Brookes at the start of September.

10 ANNUAL CONFERENCE AHOY This year’s Annual Conference, to be held in Liverpool between 30 April and 2 May, will see President Elect Mike Welsh take over from outgoing leader Dr Chris Howard.

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FEATURES

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32 LIFE IN THE FAST LANE Hotels, trains and seemingly endless meetings with Government officials: Dr Chris Howard had a busy but fulfilling year as President, he tells Steve Smethurst.

36 BRIGHT AS A FEATHER Vocational Vo education, language support and homework clubs are just some of the reasons that west London’s Featherstone High, Hig where three quarters of students speak English as an additional add language, is thriving, reports Carly Chynoweth.

42 TH THE CONSULTANT WILL SEE YOU NOW Steve Stev Smethurst reports on a scheme from the DCSF that offers headteachers a day of independent, confidential consultancy con about how to achieve value for money.

The best part of all? It’s completely free.

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REGULARS 15 MICK BROOKES COLUMN Ian Foster, the NAHT’s late Assistant Secretary, who passed away on Christmas day, was both loved and respected. He will be greatly missed, writes the Association’s General Secretary, Mick Brookes.

17 STEVE MUNBY COLUMN Headteachers can secure the profession’s future by identifying potential future leaders, says the National College’s chief executive Steve Munby.

18 BEHIND THE HEADLINES: GIFTED AND TALENTED Hashi Syedain examines the issues raised by suggestions that some schools are failing their brightest pupils.

22 TEN THINGS WE’VE LEARNED Using text speak can improve pupils’ spelling; rapper Kano earned nine GCSEs; and there are prizes for talking rubbish.

24 HEADS UP Three school leaders take the magazine’s Big Question challenge by telling us about their favourite biscuits, guilty secrets and the biggest challenge of all... to tell us a joke.

46 WHAT’S NEW All the latest books and educational resources.

49 RANTLINE What’s making you angry? Find out here...

50 BACK PAGE: SUSAN YOUNG

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The name’s Young, Susan Young: license to snigger. Our columnist turns her satirical pen on the License to Practise.

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NEWS FOCUS

Sats boycott set to go ahead Action may be needed to protect heads from the negative effect Sats have on their lives The NAHT is to ballot members on the possibility of boycotting this year’s Sats for 11-year-olds, the Association has confirmed.

Members will get the chance to vote between 15 March and 16 April to determine whether they will take industrial action, which General Secretary Mick Brookes described as “mainly about the impact that Sats have on the working lives of headteachers.”

The NUT will ballot its members on the issue at the same time.

The decision follows a motion passed at last year’s NAHT Annual Conference, which saw 94 per cent of delegates vote in favour of a potential boycott if all other avenues had failed. If members vote to take action, children will attend school during Sats week but instead of sitting tests they will have normal school lessons.

In a letter to members, the General Secretary said:

“We have no wish to take this action, but we cannot continue to allow colleagues, particularly in the toughest schools and in the most deprived areas, to continue to be humiliated and their work demeaned by the publication of performance league tables provided by statistical information from the DCSF. “Schools should be judged by the totality of their work when being held to account, not by the proxy of Sat scores, the accuracy of which has been

However, the NAHT has said that it would be prepared to stop short of taking action if test results are confidential to schools and the marker.

Speaking to Leadership Focus magazine, the General Secretary added: “Both testing methods are not reliable enough on their own.Testing should inform teacher assessment, but at a time and in a manner that is appropriate.”

Both unions promised that children’s progress would be monitored and accurately

We cannot allow colleagues to continue to be humiliated by the publication of league tables based on DCSF statistics called into question.”

If the ballot is successful and action does go ahead, this is likely to involve members: refusing to follow test opening and administrative procedures; refusing to carry out tests; and refusing to ensure that all eligible pupils take the test.This applies only to English and maths tests as there is no call for a boycott of science Sats.

reported by schools taking part in the action.

“We aim to frustrate the publication of the Sats and subsequent league tables of school performance,” Mick said.

“The current system has resulted in thousands of children moving to the next phase with misleading information about their ability. It has also led, quite unjustifiably, to schools and their

communities being labelled as ‘failing’, with the consequence of damaging recruitment of head teachers and worsening their working environment.”

The boycott should not make heads vulnerable to disciplinary action because it would be a trade dispute, the General Secretary said.

“It is mainly about the impact that Sats have on the working lives of head teachers. Dismissal for taking the industrial action would be automatically unfair.”

He added: “It would be wrong of me to deny that there is risk both for the Association and for the member in taking this action.

“However, we believe that there is a much greater risk in doing nothing.The greatest indemnity will be a massive ‘yes’ vote and solidarity among our membership.”

NUT General Secretary Christine Blower said: “The lack of a positive response from Government is disappointing.

We want to avoid industrial action and call upon the Government, even at this late stage, to enter into meaningful talks.”

Photographic competition returns in 2010 Last year’s Great Outdoors Photographic Competition was such great succes it is to return again this year. Full details of the 2010 competition will be published in the next issue of Leadership Focus – but members may want to start planning now.

There will be three school categories: primary, secondary and special. Pupils should take photographs either during an off-site outdoor/adventure activity or during a school-

based learning activity held outside the classroom. There will be a winner and runner up in each category; winning schools receive photographic equipment. The competition is organised by the NAHT and AHOEC and sponsored by Ward-Hendry Photography.

One of the award-winning photos from 2009

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Scrap league tables Measuring school performance using league tables adds nothing and can harm pupils’ learning, new reports say The NAHT has long said that school performance league tables should be consigned to history. Now, two independent studies have also criticised the effect that the tables have on schools and on pupils’ learning.

Measuring a school’s performance using league tables adds no information about the work and effort of the school and serves only to belittle students and their schools in some of the UK’s most deprived communities, according to the Association’s General Secretary, Mick Brookes.

It also presents parents a polarised view of school performance, causing unnecessary anxiety and creating an unnecessary logjam of admissions for the most highly-ranked schools in the tables.

“Politicians should cease playing political games with the achievements of young people and think seriously about the damage this system inflicts on the morale and aspirations of our most challenged communities,” he said.

His comments come after a cross-party select committee condemned the targets, tests and tables culture. Last year, exam board AQA commissioned a panel of experts to review the teaching of

mathematics, particularly at GCSE level.

The group, which included an adviser to the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency and an official from the former Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, found that schools were frequently preoccupied by tables, meaning that lessons were often reduced to rote learning to make sure pupils maximised their scores.

Another independent study, this time

Politicians should cease playing political games and think seriously about the damage this system inflicts from professors at the University of Bristol, took league tables apart to find “very little worthwhile content”.

The report’s authors, George Leckie and Harvey Goldstein, found that parents needed to be aware that the tables “contain less information than official sources imply”. Dr Leckie said: “It is also worth noting that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have either never had or have now abandoned published school league tables. Now seems a good time for England to follow suit.”

New chief inspector Ann Keane, Strategic Director at Estyn, has taken over as interim Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales.

Ann, who joined Estyn in 1984, will hold the post until a longer-term appointment is made in the autumn.

“It is an honour to take up the role of Chief Inspector,” she said.

“I am confident that Estyn is in a strong position to drive forward the good work that Dr Bill Maxwell accomplished during his leadership.

“We are on track to deliver our new inspection framework and over the next

few months I will work closely with the senior management team in order to ensure continuity throughout the interim period.”

Ann, who speaks Welsh, began her teaching career at Brentside secondary school in London before joining Estyn.

She has held a number of roles at the Welsh inspectorate, including those of District Inspector and Managing HMI. As Strategic Director she had overall responsibility for providing public accountability through inspecting education and training in Wales.

NEWS IN BRIEF BECOME AN INTERNATIONAL LEADER Applications are now open for the Leaders in International Development programme, which is run in partnership between the NAHT, VSO, the National College and ASCL. The scheme, which is designed for current school leaders, takes on 12 people each year. Placements start in January; partipants’ schools will each receive £5,000 to help to cover costs during their three-month secondments. Anyone interested in spending three months sharing their skills with senior education colleagues in a developing country should visit the VSO website, www.vso.org.uk, for more information and to download an application pack.

FUNDING CHANGES IN NI The NAHT in Northern Ireland has published its draft response to the proposed funding formula changes in 2010/11. It supports the idea of an increase in the age-weighted pupil unit (AWPU) weighting, as long as nursery and secondary budgets are protected, but says that the proposed cessation of funding for preparatory school pupils is too abrupt and should instead be phased over seven years. The Association also expresses its disappointment that the consultation does not mention nursery principals’ management ment release time or the funding of special al schools.

WHAT’S SA HEADTEACHER WORTH? If we want first class teachers we have to pay for it: that’s the message from NAHT Cymru. At the moment, however, cuts to professional development budgets and the threat of further financial squeezes mean that headteachers are worried about what the future might hold. Separately, the NAHT is also concerned that the rise of executive heads who lead more than one school has implications for pay and conditions that have not yet been thoroughly explored. It has set out the main issues, including the possibility that the new role places heads outside current legislation, in a paper available on its website

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NEWS FOCUS

Recruitment crisis looms large More than a third of primary schools are having to re-advertise headship posts within a year of first hiring Schools should prepare for a worsening in the shortage of headteachers as more heads are approaching retirement age than are being recruited into the profession.

This warning from the NAHT followed results from an annual survey of the number of senior staff appointments in schools across England and Wales.

While the number of heads retiring in 2009 was lower than expected, recruitment of new senior posts is a ‘crisis waiting to happen,’ the Association has warned.

The number of new posts advertised also dropped last year. The survey, which was conducted by TSL Education

on behalf of the NAHT, recorded more than 2,500 advertisements for headteacher posts in 2008, but only 2,338 were advertised last year.

A similar trend was seen in vacancies for assistant and deputy heads – positions that normally feed into more senior posts.

The results also show that many heads are leaving their jobs within a year of taking up a post, which could lead to a real problem down the road.

The survey found that 35 per cent of vacancies for primary school heads had to be re-advertised within the year, while re-advertisement rates for secondary and special schools were both at 27 per cent.

The new requirement for candidates to hold a National Professional Qualification for Headship before taking up a senior post is one reason that

We urge Government and its agencies to do far more to attract recruits into the top job by tackling workload issues teachers may be reluctant to join leadership teams, as is the increase of temporary posts. Increased accountability was also a factor, said Mick Brookes, General Secretary of the NAHT. Speaking about the Association’s efforts to highlight recruitment problems in the sector, he said: “We have been urging the Government and its agencies to do far more to attract recruits to the top job, including tackling workload and changing the negative culture of accountability.”

Other trends indicated that London had the most difficulty recruiting heads, and that the situation in Wales

had worsened during 2009.

Professor John Howson, who compiled the survey, said the results yielded no real surprise. “The housing market in London means not everyone can afford to be based near their school,” he said. “And in Wales, the Welsh Assembly may be asking for heads who have been trained in Wales, which is a by-product of devolution.”

The survey also showed that faith schools were more likely to have to re-advertise.

Prof Howson said: “We’ve become less of a church-going society, and so there’s been a steady decline in the number of teachers who can be heads of faith schools.”

THE BEST OF THE BLOGS CHRIS WOODHEAD VERSUS OFSTED This time it’s not schools in the firing line: Chris Woodhead has turned his critical eye on Ofsted, Susan Young writes. “Yes, I am talking about that Chris Woodhead, the man under whom Ofsted terrified an entire profession,” she says. “And, these days, the man who’s probably recalled fondly by heads and older teachers who remember the days

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when inspectors looked at a bit more than the data.” Young takes a gleeful, humorous look at Woodhead’s suggestion that Ofsted should be abolished if it can’t be reformed. www.naht.org.uk/welcome/ resources/blogs/susanyoung/?blogpost=256

LIKE A LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER Children need to know that tasty roast dinners come from cute little animals: that was the

logic behind a Kent headteacher’s decision to have children raise a lamb before it was sent for slaughter.

The resulting furore saw her step down from her post. “The rights and wrongs of what happened can be debated to death, if you’ll excuse the pun,” writes LF’s Steve Smethurst. “But why couldn’t anyone see that this was a massive news story waiting to happen? However good

the intentions, it was always going to cause upset, be controversial and have serious consequences.” www.naht.org.uk/welcome/ resources/blogs/stevesmethurst/?blogpost=255

A BIT OF A PUZZLE “Why are politicians in other countries so keen to embrace aspects of the English school accountability system which have proved so controversial over here?” asks the former

TES journalist Warwick Mansell. “From a UK perspective, this looks bizarre, but there are some reasons why league tables and national testing can be seen as attractive to governments.” www.naht.org.uk/welcome/ resources/blogs/warwickmansells-blog/?blogpost=253

For more blogs on everything from secondary to special needs to NAHT Cymru visit www.naht.org.uk

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Joining the NAHT a ‘dream job’ Russell Hobby is looking forward to getting to grips with his new role as General Secretary when he takes over in September, he tells LF The NAHT has confirmed that Russell Hobby will be its next General Secretary.

Russell is currently head of research and marketing at Hay Group, the management consultancy. He will take over from current General Secretary Mick Brookes in September.

In an exclusive interview with Leadership Focus, Russell said that when he was told the NAHT role was his, he walked into his boss’s office to resign and told him that he’d “just got his dream job”.

As yet, he has no fixed agenda for the future of the Association. “I have no plans, but I do have principles that I will bring to bear,” he said.

“I haven’t made my mind up about things as I’ll be spending the next six months talking to people and learning about the role.”

Russell already has many appointments in his diary for May. “Being on the road is going to be a feature of my life for a while,” he said.

“I need to be sure that I understand – and that there is agreement from everyone – exactly what the NAHT is there to do, what it offers to members and what it looks like when it’s doing it well.”

Russell admitted that the decision to hire a nonheadteacher was “an interesting choice”. It’s not, however, the first time the Association has gone down this route; Mick’s predecessor, David Hart, was originally a lawyer. “I think it demonstrates a progressive

and open attitude. I’ve worked with heads for a long time and I can speak up as a fan of headteachers – someone who is passionate about their job, without having done it myself.

“Sometimes school leaders don’t know how good they are because they don’t know what they do that is unusual in relation to other sectors, but I have that perspective and I know that there is fantastic leadership in schools.”

One of the strengths that Russell will bring to the role is in high-level negotiating.

His commercial backgrounds means that he is used to negotiating multi-million pound contracts. “While

it’s not quite the same, I’ve been involved with some pretty tough deals with hefty multinational organisations with large procurement teams and several lawyers,” he said.

Russell was also head of the education practice at Hay Group for several years, where he worked closely with the National College.

He reported that a consistent message he hears from school leaders is: ‘I love my job, but…’ He said: “It’s that ‘but’ that is crucial. One of the jobs for the Association is to make that ‘but’ as small as possible or even to eliminate it where possible.

“It’s the feeling that everything you do can be every undermined by a relatively unde arbitrary assessment of your arbitr performance that keeps people perfo awake at night. awak “You can add the paperwork “Yo but they and bureaucracy, b are all al the manifestations of

the accountability culture.

We know that it takes a long time to turn a school around, and context is everything, so a priority for me is to find a more realistic and intelligent way of looking at the performance of schools.”

Russell will attend the Annual Conference in Liverpool (see page 10) as part of his induction, but only as a guest, not as an active operator.

“It’s Mick’s last conference, so it will just be my chance to get my head around everything,” he said.

And he can’t wait to get started: “I love going into schools, because you always know you’ll feel better by the time you leave. You don’t get that when you’re being taken round a power station or a telecoms office.

Hopefully someone from my background can make that real for everyone else who hasn’t worked in a school.”

It takes a long time to turn a school around, so my priority is finding a more realistic way of looking at performance

WHAT THE NAHT’S CURRENT LEADERS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT RUSSELL: NAHT President Chris Howard: “He is articulate, intelligent and understands the pressures of school management. We are very pleased that one of the world’s largest school leadership organisations has been able to attract such a dynamic and highly-skilled leader.”

Russell’s considerable expertise will be leading the NAHT in what is certain to be a tough time for school leaders. He will be a strong and informed voice for leadership. I will work closely with him to ensure members continue to receive an excellent service in the months ahead.”

NAHT General Secretary Mick Brookes: “I am delighted that

President Elect Mike Welsh: “Russell will be a tough

negotiator on behalf of school leaders and will expertly promote their vital continuing role in securing high standards and a creative curriculum for our schools and the young people in them. He will also strongly represent a new generation of school leaders and allow us to build our services to members in the challenging times that lie ahead.”

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NEWS FOCUS

All change at Liverpool in 2010 The future of Sats and further fragmentation of the school system are both likely to be high on the agenda at this year’s NAHT conference.

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Mike Welsh: expecting an interesting year ahead

FREEDOM TO FLOURISH The NAHT’s annual conference will take place between 30 April and 2 May at the BT Convention Centre in Liverpool.

A full list of motions will be published on 25 February.

Timings are as follows: Friday 30 April: 2.30pm-8.30pm Saturday 1 May: 8am-6pm Sunday 2 May: 8.30am-5.15pm After Sunday’s conference there will be dinner and dancing with popular party band The Bogus Brothers.

For more details, go to www.naht.org.uk

Or read Mike’s blog, where he will be commenting on the conference, at mike999welsh.blogspot.com/

said Mike, who was heavily involved in the selection process. “Working with what will possibly be a new Government and a new General Secretary will be a challenge. But it is also an ideal time in some ways, as we are going to be taking on some significant issues regarding education policy and school leadership with the new Government. Hopefully, we can encourage

TEMPEST PHOTOGRAPHY

This was the message from President Elect Mike Welsh, who will take over from Dr Chris Howard at the Association’s annual three-day conference, which is being held in Liverpool from 30 April to 2 May. Mike, the headteacher at Goddard Park Community Primary School in Swindon, told Leadership Focus: “I’m expecting to see motions in reference to the fragmentation of the school system, because major political parties have identified one way or another that they are continuing to seek further division. “Many members feel that’s not the right way to go.

“We’re also going to be looking at the future of Sats,” he said. “It may be that the Government has responded positively to our view by then but, if not, our members, who are increasingly frustrated, may decide to move to take further action – something that the Association hasn’t seen for decades.”

Other issues, such as the accountability of schools – as set out in the NAHT charter – and whether there should be a headteacher for every school, will also be debated at the event, which has the presidential theme ‘Freedom to Flourish’.

Members will also wish to register their concern about Ofsted.

Mike hopes that several senior figures from Government will attend the conference, particularly given its close proximity to the General Election, which is expected to take place less than a week later.

“We have written to the political parties on the education of children,” Mike said.

“I’m hopeful that they will want to engage with school leaders so close to the election.

It’s a major education platform; the public will obviously draw conclusions if no one wishes to appear.”

Russell Hobby, who will take over from Mick Brookes as new General Secretary on 1 September, has also confirmed that he will attend.

“It’s going to be an interesting time,”

them to come to our way of thinking.”

He is also particularly looking forward to hearing keynote speaker Andy Hargreaves, the Thomas More Brennan Chair in Education at the Lynch School of Education at Boston College. Andy has written several books on culture, change and leadership in education.

“He was my particular choice to speak at conference. He has a very clear and well-thought-through view for the future in terms of engaging with school leaders and the general public.

“He’s recently written a book on leadership called The Fourth Way, so we’re inviting him all the way from Boston to speak to our members about it,” he added.

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Meet the standards with excellence High quality food in schools is central to children’s health and well-being. That’s why all school food is now governed by nutritional standards – something everyone involved in school food provision should address.

A confident, motivated and fully-trained school food team is key to meeting and sustaining those standards and to encouraging children to choose healthy school lunches.

School FEAST centres equip all staff in the school food team with the skills to prepare, cook and promote healthier and tastier meals that live up to new government requirements.

To find your nearest School FEAST centre or training alternative visit us online at www.schoolfeast.co.uk or call 0800 089 5001.

Remember, some cours es are fully funded.

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NEWS FOCUS

Headteachers honoured in 2010 As is traditionally the case, school leaders have featured heavily in the New Year honours list. The list this year gave OBEs and MBEs for services to education to many leaders from different areas, including nursery, special needs, primary and secondary schools Steve Munby, chief executive of the National College and a Leadership Focus columnist, is one of many people involved in school leadership to be rewarded with an OBE this year.

His message for NAHT members is that “these awards recognise that in schools all over the country, optimistic, passionate leaders, driven by moral purpose, are dealing skillfully with complex challenges, challenging low aspirations and telling the story of how the future can be even better.

“School leaders who have been honoured in this way should be a great source of inspiration to others. They are helping those they lead to achieve their full potential.”

One such leader, and one who is challenging low aspirations head-on, is Gillian Coffey, headteacher at Lynch Hill Foundation Primary School in Slough. When she arrived at the school in 1990 it was “verging on being out of control”, she said.

Since then, however, and after moving into the headship in 1996, she has succeeded in creating a school that helps not just children, but whole families to succeed.

She attributes much of her success to her work in the local community. “There are a lot of very good headteachers who are working their socks off and achieving great things,” she said. “I know that I’ve done a great deal in this school, but I would guess it’s because of what I’ve done over and above being a headteacher at the school that has got me the OBE. “The only way I really get to the community and children’s parents is by face-to-face contact. I couldn’t say we are having any sort of meeting, because nobody ever comes. The only way is to

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go out and work with individuals and help them with important issues, which are sometimes their personal issues rather than their children’s. Once you build those bridges with people they’ll go to the ends of the earth with you.”

Gillian is also a national leader for the National College. “It’s a chance to show the parents back at home that we have something so good we are marketing it to other schools,” she said.

Shiremoor Primary School in Newcastle–upon-Tyne is another to have made a name for itself recently. Its headteacher, Helen Clegg-Hood, is also to receive an OBE this year for services to education. At Shiremoor, the baseline on entry is low and there is much deprivation in the area.

“On the deprivation index we are nine, which is the second from bottom,” she

some years ago and worked with about 300 schools, so that put us in a good place to work with schools now.”

Jenny Boyd, meanwhile, will receive an MBE for services to education in Northern Ireland. She cites working with parents as being very important to her success. After becoming involved with PE curriculum-writing in 1990 when the NI curriculum was revised, she also worked with the South Eastern Education & Library Board in implementing the PE curriculum across all sectors. She’s also looked at the nursery curriculum and worked with the inspectorate as an associate assessor.

“I suppose I’m prepared to do a little bit more than just being within my own school,” she says. “One of the things I’m most proud of is that, along with Dermot Lunny, an education officer in Castle

In schools all over the country, optimistic, passionate leaders are dealing skillfully with complex challenges and helping others to achieve their potential said. “We’ve got a high percentage of free school meals and we are very committed to ensuring that the children have the best start in life.

“I’ve managed to steer what I consider to be a steady course through everything, as well as empowering very good teachers to become even better at what they do and to be very focused on the needs of the children.”

Like Gillian, Helen has done a great deal to support schools outside of her own. Shiremoor is a national support school, so Helen recently took another local school under her wing as well.

Ofsted had given it a notice to improve and she and her staff managed to get it out of that category.

“I’m also working with newly appointed headteachers to support them in developing their strategic leadership,” she said. “We do a lot on leadership and management. People are interested in our behaviour management, developing independent targets, incremental learning, and our IT. We did hold beacon status

Archdale, we made a little woodland classroom, so that’s been going for the past seven to eight years.” In this way, Jenny has stayed true to a theme in her career of learning in all environments, while also teaching children about their local environment in Enniskillen to give them a feeling of ownership.

However, Jenny did sound a note of concern when it comes to the strain that headteachers come under. “I would plead with the Government to look at the expectations that they are pushing on to principals and heads. My worry is that I have watched colleagues more mature than myself getting to a stage where they are burnt out. We lose an awful lot of wonderful experience as a result.”

One of the things she hopes to promote in the next few years is the teaming up of experienced teachers with young teachers, and using sabbaticals and part-time hours to retain people.

Jude Ragan, who will receive an OBE for services to special needs education, is in her fourth headship and her fifth year

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at Queensmill Special School for Autism in Fulham, London. She said: “Our plan has been to make sure the school remains outstanding while still trying to develop lots of other things.”

One of those developments is the decision to offer postgraduate qualifications in autism in association with Roehampton University.

The thing that makes Jude most proud, however, is that Queensmill is now able to provide secondary education for its autistic children.

“Our local authority is supportive of its special schools and I’ve been campaigning for the past five years for a secondary department. They’ve always listened and had it in their plans.”

The school also won a national training award in 2008 for best small employer for training its staff, beating other entrants from a range of sectors outside education.

“Headship is a huge responsibility,” Jude said. “But the other side of that is, as you make the school better and take

it to where you are convinced it should be, you improve prove the life chances, s, not just of the children, dren, but of the staff and d everyone else. Here, our training programme, e, for which we won thee national training awards, hadd a significant effect on staff morale.” rale.”

While it’ss not in her children’s nature to be interested in n her award, the response from om both staff and the local community ommunity to her OBE have ave been marvellous, she said.

“I received ed a letter from my GP saying ‘it’s restored my faith in the honours system to know that it goes to people who o do real jobs that affect real people’.”

Working on the front line brings its own rewards

NEW YEAR HONOURS LIST DAME

Marcia Twelftree, lately headteacher, Charters School, Windsor and Maidenhead, Berkshire.

For services to local and national education.

Peter Carne lately National Champion, Learning Outside the Classroom, and Programme Manager, Growing Schools Programme. For services to education.

CBEs

Bethan Haulwen Guilfoyle headteacher, Treorchy Comprehensive School. For services to education in Wales.

Helen Jane Clegg-Hood headteacher, Shiremoor Primary School, Newcastle-uponTyne. For services to education.

Frances Hartley lately headteacher, Deans Primary School, Salford. For services to education.

Gillian Coffey headteacher, Lynch Hill Foundation Primary School, Slough. For services to education.

Diana Lesley Morrison headteacher, St Martinin-the-Fields High School for Girls, Lambeth, London. For services to education.

Jane Johnson headteacher, St Stephen’s Primary School, Newham. For services to education.

Stephen Thurston Munby Chief Executive, National College for Leadership of Schools and Children’s Services. For services to education.

(Didsbury, Greater Manchester) Vanessa Wiseman lately headteacher, Langdon School and Sports College, Newham, London.

For services to education.

OBE s

Arlene Bell headteacher, Beechdale Nursery School, Durham. For services to early years education.

Paul Lloyd Jones executive headteacher, Blackpool, Chudleigh Knighton, Lady Seaward’s and Salcombe Primary Schools, Devon.

For services to education.

Anna Kendall lately headteacher, Christ Church Church of England Primary School, Kensington and Chelsea, London. For services to education.

Helen Mackenzie headteacher, Shevington High School, Wigan. For services to education.

Samuel Abraham McCrea principal, Ballyclare Secondary School. For services

to education ti iin N Northern th Ireland.

I l d Judith Ragan headteacher, Queensmill Special School for Autism, Hammersmith and Fulham, London. For services to special needs education.

MBEs

Valerie Edith Adams principal, Lisbellaw Primary School. For services to education in Northern Ireland.

Angela Cecile Alessendre founder, Alessendre Special Needs Dance School and the Larondina Dance Company. For services to education.

Jennifer Boyd principal, Enniskillen Nursery School. For services to education in Northern Ireland.

Philip Britton headmaster, Boys’ Division, Bolton School. For services to physics.

Margaret Crennell senior assistant headteacher, Marriotts School, Stevenage. For services to special needs education.

Denise Jane May director of sport and assistant headteacher, Budehaven Community School, Cornwall. For services to education.

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viewpoint

Mick Brookes Columnist

In memoriam: Ian Foster

The NAHT’s late Assistant Secretary was both respected and loved

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n Christmas Day last year we lost a good colleague and a good friend. Ian Foster, Assistant Secretary at the NAHT, was planning to spend the Christmas holidays with his son, Richard, and his grandchildren in Australia. Before catching the plane, however, he decided to leave his car at his daughter Rachel’s house.

Tragically, on his way there he was in a head-on collision with a lorry. Ian was able to hang on to life for three weeks, but he never regained consciousness.

He died on Christmas Day. Ian’s memorial service was a celebration of a full and varied life, anchored by almost three decades as a headteacher. We heard about his career, his lovely children and grandchildren and his life and loves, one of them being Oxford United. Ian would have been proud, flattered and not a little embarrassed to hear the things people said about him.

Everyone commented that he was a particularly nice man who commanded respect from his colleagues both by the way he dealt with issues that arose during his work and because of his sense of humour and fun. He joined in the leg-pulling that always takes place in offices, especially if you support Oxford United. “Well, someone has to,” he said.

Another thing that was mentioned at the service was his famed rabbit stew, as was the fact that he liked to travel to Switzerland and that his favourite town there was Grindelwald. Others said that, while he was always willing to socialise with colleagues, he worked extremely hard at the NAHT to promote the Primary and Early Years curriculum and was a great source of advice when giving a primary head’s perspective on the issue of the day.

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A time to pause for reflection

The shock probably hit me the hardest on the Monday after his accident. There was a Christmas card on my desk, from Ian, saying “Yippee – off to Australia.” It must have only been some 15 minutes after leaving that message that his life came to a shuddering halt.

This tragic event caused me to reflect on two things, the first so neatly summed up by John Lennon, who said: “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

In this pressurised learning environment we are so focused on planning for the futures of all of those in our care, that life passes us by – and sometimes stops us in our tracks.

We spend so much time planning what we want to achieve that we forget to enjoy our lives along the way.

This can be translated into the lives of school leaders very easily: education should be for life, and not just for exam scores.

This is not to negate the importance of qualifications, but to rebalance our thinking and realign the skills used in the classroom that enable students to make meaningful progress. Education is what happens when you’re not busy making other plans.

Enabling the disaffected to experience the joy of learning is the skill of saints. Those small miracles happen in classrooms across the land everyday going largely unreported, but not in the minds and memories of those who have, for the first time, understood the thrill of learning.

I’m thinking of those who have moved from phonics to the joy of reading, from muddle to mastery in maths, from confusion to clarity with self-awareness and actualisation.

The second reflection is a commonplace one when celebrating someone’s life: why did we wait until they were gone?

We are all surrounded by a range of amazing talent, but when was that last time you complimented a colleague on something they had done, said or accomplished? And when was the last time that someone complimented you?

We seem to work in a fault-finding, nit-picking environment where good is no longer enough, where there is an overemphasis on what is wrong rather than celebration of the things done well.

We have to stop, realign and rebalance ourselves, our classrooms, our schools and our lives because who knows when it will be too late.

Why do we wait until people have left us before we celebrate their lives? Why not compliment your colleagues now?

Mick Brookes is NAHT General Secretary

MARCH/APRIL 2010 l Leadership Focus 15

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viewpoint

Steve Munby Columnist

Time to raise your glasses Headteachers can secure the future by identifying potential leaders

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T

oday’s generation of headteachers is the best we’ve ever had. That’s great news, of course, but it’s no reason to get complacent, which is why our mission at the National College is to make sure that our schools continue to get the very best leaders. It is also why it’s so important that talented individuals who are passionate about improving the lives of children and young people are identified and encouraged to become school leaders.

Talent isn’t fixed; it depends on leadership. The best leaders know this and are great at spotting and developing talent. They also recognise that the best way to develop future leaders is to give them a chance to lead, to encourage them to believe in their own leadership abilities and to provide them with the support they need as they rise to the challenge.

The National College’s role in developing leaders has a number of strands. As most of you will know, Leading from the Middle continues to be a popular and oversubscribed programme. Heads tell us that it can make a real difference in developing middle leaders and enabling them to lead improvement in their teams.

We have now built on this success by introducing a new, cluster-based approach to middle-leadership development. Under this arrangement, groups of schools apply to lead this provision for themselves using the College’s materials and one or two members of staff trained and licensed by us to act as facilitators. Clusters can use the time in whichever way best suits their needs, and can make sure that the materials are tailored appropriately. We have 38 pilot projects underway and hope shortly to invite applications for 150 more.

The College’s Leadership Pathways programme, the precursor to the NPQH, is there for those who are already senior leaders or close to the role – three quarters of places are reserved for serving members of the leadership team. It provides participants with a coach and a personalised development programme.

In addition, we are now introducing a new programme, Accelerate to Headship, which aims to give talented and ambitious individuals who are determined to become headteachers within four or five years the development they need to achieve this.

The programme will prepare people to step up to NPQH within three years and then go on to their first headship. It is designed to support and develop the very best potential headteachers in the country. Those who apply and get through the assessment centre will be assigned a coach and will have a choice of two routes: if they want to lead in a challenging urban secondary school in certain areas of the country, they can embark

on the Future Leaders programme; if they want to lead in a primary, special or non-urban secondary school, they can choose the Tomorrow’s Heads programme.

Whichever path they select they will receive high quality, down-to-earth training and development, including a placement in another school as a key part of their learning. I hope that all heads reading this will think carefully about who they might encourage to apply.

Create your own legacy

NPQH remains the benchmark qualification for headship. It is now more targeted at those who have the skills and experience necessary to secure a headship within 18 months. Only those who really want to become heads can get on the programme, thus providing value for money to the public purse.

However, the most powerful and lasting way to develop the most critical leadership skills is through real work with support and mentoring from the best current heads and leaders. We recognise this, which is why the NPQH includes a placement in a school and input from practising headteachers.

But programmes alone won’t ensure that we get the best people.

You cannot simply design a programme and watch people come.

We need you, our current leaders, to be talent hunters: people who identify individuals who will make the grade, then encourage and support them towards their next step in leadership.

This approach is not only important to the professional Spotting future leaders takes vision standing of school leaders: it is crucial to the future of our schools in the years to come. As a school leader your legacy will be the difference those you lead today make in the schools and classrooms of tomorrow.

We need you, our current leaders, to be talent hunters who identify and encourage those you think will make the grade

Steve Munby is chief executive of the National College for Leadership of Schools and Children’s Services www.nationalcollege.org.uk

March/april 2010 l Leadership Focus 17

BEHIND THE HEADLINES GIFTED AND TALENTED

Are schools failing the gifted and talented?

The Government is shifting the onus for supporting our brightest pupils away from a national strategy and back on to schools. Hashi Syedain looks at the debate underway

18

children and has rekindled the debate about gifted and talented students at a time when Government policy is moving away from a nationally-driven strategy to one that puts a greater onus on schools.

There are several challenges at school level, not least identifying gifted and talented children without being accused of elitism. The Government definition is that the top 5 to 10 per cent of any cohort should be identified as gifted, plus those with particular non-academic talents in areas such as sport or music. But even this definition is not straightforward, as children may be gifted in one area but not another, or may change as they get older.

One thing on which all the experts agree is that gifted children need enrichment activities that challenge them to work at a higher level.

Part of this is ensuring that they are stretched in their regular lessons.

Another element may be offering them additional activities either inside or outside school, or arranging for them to attend some lessons with higher year groups.

There are a number of external organisations that offer advice, materials

and local activities and workshops, including the National Association of Gifted Children, Mensa and the National Association for Able Children in Education.

However, taken nationally, provision is patchy and, as the NAHT’s Lesley Gannon delicately puts it, “there will always be a small number of families with high cultural capital who take [disproportionate] advantage of all the resources.” It’s partly to counterbalance this that the Government wants schools to play a greater role and is moving to a model where schools get extra funding for bright children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

What was more encouraging in Ofsted’s report, meanwhile, is that the attitude of a school’s leadership made a significant difference. Successful schools, the report said, “were led by senior leaders who had involved everyone in developing a vision of what could be provided for gifted and talented pupils.” It also found that the focus on improving provision for gifted and talented pupils “had a positive impact on outcomes for all pupils” – a point echoed by many of the groups that work in this area.

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re schools paying enough attention to challenging their brightest pupils? At the end of last year Ofsted published a short report on gifted and talented provision in 26 schools, both primary and secondary. It did not make very encouraging reading; the report found that eight schools were well-placed to improve provision for their most able students, 14 had adequate capacity to improve and four were poorly placed.

Although the sample was small, all were schools whose gifted and talented provision had been highlighted by Ofsted in its previous inspection as needing improvement – in other words, the schools were already aware they had to act in this area.

Key findings showed that the less successful schools tended to have generic policies that were not effective in improving performance; that none of the schools had adequate provision for engaging parents of gifted and talented children; and that there was no systematic analysis of progression.

The report led to a raft of headlines about schools failing the brightest

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The teacher LYN ALLCOCK Teacher and inclusion co-ordinator at Westwood School in Coventry and a gifted-child consultant at British Mensa Lyn Allcock has most angles on gifted children covered. She was identified as a gifted child herself at the age of seven, is mother to a gifted son, has worked in inclusion and with gifted children in schools since the late 1970s and leads Mensa’s gifted and talented support programmes.

HER VIEWS

PHOTOLIBRARY

Lyn argues that very gifted children – Mensa focuses on the top 2 per cent – have special needs, particularly in relation to their social and emotional development when they are very young.

“They can often read and understand things earlier and are interested in unusual things, but their emotional development is normal, so that can cause a conflict,” she says.

“It’s a fine balance what schools should do. The gifted and talented provision in schools is generally where SEN was 20 years ago, so schools have a willingness to address the need but the expertise isn’t there.

“When I’m at the Education Show I get people coming up to me saying, ‘I’ve been named gifted and talented co-ordinator and I haven’t got a clue where to start’.”

People get named as gifted and talented co-ordinators but don’t know where to start

At primary school, the key is to encourage children, to try to find open-ended tasks that they can do and not to force them to go through standard stages that are already too easy for them. It’s also important to support them emotionally, Lyn says.

As pupils move into the higher primary years there’s no reason why teachers shouldn’t get work from a local secondary school for the brightest children. “I’ve put that into practice myself,” she says.

Secondary provision tends to be better because schools are more flexible, so it may be easier for children to join in some classes at a higher level or get material from a university.

“Teachers can be intimidated if they come to class with the idea that they should know everything, but if they have the confidence to say, ‘I don’t know but let’s find out,’ they will be fine,” Lyn says.

All teachers need to know the potential pitfalls for bright children.

They can become disaffected or disruptive because they are bored, or they may absorb things so easily that they never learn to study – and then end up dropping out of university as a result. “It’s important that they meet intellectual challenge and that they are taught how to fail,” Lyn says. “Otherwise it can hit them very hard.”

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BEHIND THE HEADLINES GIFTED AND TALENTED

The NAHT LESLEY GANNON Assistant director, policy HER VIEWS

20

The parent DENISE YATES Chief executive of the National Association of Gifted Children and a special needs co-ordinator and trainer HER VIEWS

The National Association of Gifted Children is drawing up a manifesto for parents on the provision for the brightest students.

Denise says that, while the approach in some schools is excellent, there’s still a widespread view in many others that provision for gifted and talented children is elitist, meaning that some schools don’t want to touch it.

“We have a culture in our society that says we can’t celebrate

If the topic was race or gender or disability there would be a public outcry

achievement,” she says. “Parents don’t talk about it, teachers don’t want to tell.

“If the topic was race or gender or disability and I talked about underachieving children, being bullied or lack of challenge, there would be a public outcry.

“But instead I’m told that clever children can’t be disadvantaged.”

In Denise’s experience, the distinguishing feature between schools that take gifted and talented provision seriously and those that don’t is

PHOTOLIBRARY/GETTY IMAGES

“I think it’s fair to say that schools face more hurdles in dealing with the gifted and talented agenda than with many other areas,” Lesley says.

“Lots of schools have found the language difficult because the implication of elitism has polarised discussions. But should all children have their individual needs met? There’s absolute agreement on that.”

She argues that the most appropriate approach is to see gifted and talented provision as an integral part of personalised learning.

“It’s about stretch and challenge,” she says. “Some schools have fantastic programmes in place to track the progress of all their pupils.”

There are several aspects to consider – including non-academic talents in areas such as music, dance, sport and drama – that can help to counter accusations of elitism and unearth undiscovered potential.

“How do you know if a child is a gifted philosopher or archaeologist?

If schools look at broader enrichment, pupils can find areas where they can excel,” she says.

Access to enrichment and support programmes is highly variable. The national initiative on gifted and talented provision has not had sufficient impact and is being gradually disbanded and devolved, so that a greater onus will fall on schools to co-ordinate their own provision.

Lesley points out that the testing culture has also mitigated against schools paying attention to their most able pupils because schools are judged on their ability to achieve the minimum standards, with no way of demonstrating success at the higher levels.

“That’s why increased use of teacher assessment is important,” she says.

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The school leader MALCOLM SALT Head of the Da Vinci programme at Ashby School

Everybody benefits if there is differentiation and good feedback to students

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HIS VIEWS

the quality and commitment of the headteacher and the quality of support from the governing body.

She advocates a combination of provision both inside and outside the classroom.

In class, the brightest children could be given additional more challenging tasks that involve greater creativity or higher-order thinking skills, she says.

Outside regular lessons, schools could offer lunchtime, after school or Saturday clubs that provide additional activities. This could even be done in conjunction with other local schools, she suggests.

“I’ve seen ‘who wants to be an entrepreneur’ clubs where children set out to invent and sell something, and I’m amazed at the skills the children have,” she says.

Good communication with parents is also vital, she adds.

“Parents need to be informed that their child is on the gifted and talented register and told what the school will do to support them.”

Ashby, a mixed comprehensive upper school in Leicestershire with 1,750 pupils, calls its gifted and talented enrichment scheme the Da Vinci programme.

Pupils are initially enrolled into the programme based on their Sats results, but some fall away and others can join as the year progresses.

Da Vinci offers a wide range of activities, including a lecture series, visits and trips and a fortnightly newsletter covering interesting developments in 17 subject areas.

One recent lecture was entitled “Mysterious paintings explained,” and involved pupils spending a morning learning how better to appreciate art.

The school’s top mathematicians and physicists, meanwhile, get the chance each year to go on a three-day residence hosted by the Culham Science Centre in Oxfordshire.

Another popular initiative is the Flight Club, for which Malcolm has become expert at going online early and bagging the £1 flights advertised by low-cost airlines to various European destinations. Some 27 students went recently to Dublin for a day of visiting museums, exhibitions, Dublin Castle and Trinity College.

Da Vinci students are also given help with interview skills for top universities, and anyone who is going for entrance exams at Oxbridge or other top universities gets a gift of two books.

Every Friday, Ashby hosts the Tip Top Club for local primary school children, an intensive session of five different activities, including maths, English and art activities, that is partly led by Da Vinci students.

Da Vinci activities are open to anyone who is interested, which, Malcolm says, helps to counter accusations of elitism.

“It’s very open in the school and not hidden or disguised,” he says.

“I would like to try to get people to understand that they are capable of more.”

Ashby’s deputy head, Sue Ridley, says that the school has been very supportive of the programme.

For example, three days a week there is a shorter lunch break and a later bus schedule to allow children from outlying villages to take part in after-school activities.

Although the school is situated in a relatively affluent market town, Sue says it has plenty of pupils from modest backgrounds.

“We are a true comprehensive,” she says.

“We have students who come here with a reading age of seven, and we have four others who are going to Oxbridge next year.

“We have spent a lot of time on assessment for learning and differentiation.

Everybody benefits if there is differentiation and good feedback to students.”

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STRANGE BUT TRUE

THINGS WE’VE LEARNED Since the last LF, we’ve learned that playing classical music in detention improves behaviour, teenage vocab is 800 words and texting impr improves spelling Diplomass have earned a good rap Kane Brett Robinson, obinson, otherwise known as rapper er Kano, has been known to write songs about bout guns, knives o been labelled a “fouland violence. He has also mouthed rapper” by Thee Sunday Times. But that ing a song about Diplomas hasn’t stopped him writing and starring in a TV advert vert to promote them. He told The Guardian: “I enjoyed joyed school. I was into art and every sport going, g, so I kept busy. I never bunked a day off, and left ft with nine GCSEs. Then, I took a BTEC National al Diploma in graphics. I believe in education, butt I think the balance has to be right between theoryy and practical experience.”

There are prizes for talking rubbish A talking bin in the shape of a caterpillar has taken pride of place at a school in Mansfield after five-year-old King Edward Primary School student Rebecca Charlton won a prize for designing it. metre tall and coloured in two shades of At one me green, Bob (the bin) lives in the school playground. people put their rubbish in him, he responds When peo by saying tthings such as “I love eating your rubbish,” and “Please “Pleas feed me more.”

C Chile-friendly schools aare expanding Yeah, no, o, but... and er 797 teen words the other Teenagers are risking unemployment because their daily vocabulary consists of just 800 words, according to Jean Gross, England’s first Communication Champion for Children. Despite knowing an average of 40,000 words, it is thought that repeated use of text messaging, social networking and internet chat rooms means that they tend to stick to a limited vocabulary. But at least they can spell (see 7).

22

M More than 16 per cent of Chilean babies aare born to teenage mothers and the sc nation’s schools are starting to react. Ignoring tight a complaints from parents, 36 public high budgets and schools across Chile have now opened day-care centres for their students’ babies. In the past, young mothers might have been expelled, but, since 2006, President Michelle Bachelet’s Government has tripled the number of day care centres for children under two. These centres are free and available for the poorest 40 percent of the population.

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Have a break, but don’t have a...

Liverpool headteacher John Waszek found his leadership skills called into question when an auditor from the city’s Transforming School Food strategy unit inspected the school and spotted a box of the chocolate treats – banned since 2007 07 – in his office.

Mr Wazsek said he often holds informal meetings with pupils to discuss progress. “I ask the students would they like a tea, coffee or hot an chocolate, and they can have a KitKat with the drink.” When told about the warning, Mrr d.

Waszek said he laughed.

It pays to keep your eye on the ball A Scottish comprehensive, Braidhurst High School in Motherwell, has received a positive report from education inspectors.

That’s not too unusual, you might think, but the school itself is – it’s supported by the Scottish Football Association.

Its School of Football otball programme ensures that some pupils benefit from additional lessonss in the beautiful game. Football iss also used as a tool to motivate te pupils; for example, a player’s r’s place on the programme depends on school attendance dance and academic improvement vement as well as their football tball skills.

It’s all Chinese to the British Government All secondary school pupils in England should have the chance to learn a less familiar language, such as Mandarin, according to Ed Balls, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families. Currently, one school in seven teaches the subject. “In the coming years I think we will see this subject sitting alongside French, Spanish and German as one of the most popular languages for d. young people to learn,” hee sa said.

Detentions mark a return to a classical education West Park School in Derby has seen an improvement in pupil behaviour since two-hour detentions, complete with Verdi and Mozart, were introduced. Headteacher Brian Walker also insists that pupils write out the t e poem poe Jerusalem. Hee said: sa d: “I try t y to pick p c music to suit the season such as oratorios at Easter, or even m medieval plain-song near Christmas and I always ensure the volume is high.” Four years ago, lo around 50 or 60 pupils at the school were losing lesson time to bad behaviour. Now that figure is nearer to 20.

REX FEATURES/ISTOCKPHOTO/DREAMSTIME

Txt spk p gr8 g 4 spelling elling You might ight find this hard eve, but a survey to believe, nd that using the has found iated language of abbreviated text messaging actuallyy improves children’s ly. Researchers ability to spell correctly. studying children aged d 8-12 found that ‘text speak’ is associated ociated with strong literacy skills. The research, part-funded by the British ritish Academy, suggests that texting requires equires the same phonological awareness wareness as learning correct spelling, ng, so when pupils replace or remove ove sounds, letters or syllables – such uch as “l8r” for “later” or “hmwrk” forr “homework” – it requires an understanding anding of what the original word should be.

For boys, bo take a walk on the child side A study fr from the US suggests that teachers need to mov move around more in foun that boys learn lessons. Researchers found better when lessons are ‘high-activity’ and teachers present idea ideas and concepts visually.

The report’s author said: “You have to provide them with something to look at. If you’re not m moving within minutes they’ll be looking at something that is moving. They w will not look at you if you’re just sittin sitting there.” The study also called for gr greater competition in schools, saying boys responded positively to it.

MARCH/APRIL 2010 ● LEADERSHIP FOCUS 23 MARCH/

22-23 Ten Things Learned.indd 23

22/2/10 11:18:32

QUESTION CORNER

JOHN RIDGLEY Headteacher, Marion Richardson Primary School, Stepney, London

WHAT TYPE OF PERSON ARE YOU? In five words: An old-fashioned, cheerful, pushy dinosaur.

Most prized possession? My model railway.

Favourite biscuit? Ginger Nut. Unmissable TV? Match of the Day. Top film? The Magnificent Seven.

Favourite song? Another One Bites The Dust, by Queen.

Best book? The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas.

Which celebrity would play you in the film of your life?

Anthony Hopkins.

Guilty secret? I’m carrying on past retirement age – although no one believes me when I tell them.

UP Three school leaders take up the Leadership Focus challenge to describe their leadership style and then tell us a joke

If you would like to take the LF questionnaire, email us at publications@naht.org.uk

24

I went into teaching because se I wanted to future pass on my love of sport to fu hat I might be generations. I also thought that quite good at it. n old-fashioned, My own schooling was in an ol. This particular single-sex direct grant school. orts teams and tight school prided itself on its sports n underlying pride discipline – but we all had an in what we were expected to o achieve.

My most embarrassing moment ment in a classroom was during my teaching practice in a secondary school, ol, when I walked into the wrong room m and started teaching history to a French class. I wondered why they seemed somewhat confused.

My leadership style is probably best described as ‘benign dictator and enabler’. I was once described as being so laid back that I was almost horizontal.

But it’s not so true these days I’m afraid. I don’t believe in democracy if the buck stops with me.

If I’ve learned one thing, it’s that if you stick to your values you will be in fashion once in every 10 years. Basic education stays the same – it just gets repackaged every so often.

If I were the PM, I’d stop changing the curriculum every few months and get rid of a lot of the unnecessary paperwork that takes up so much valuable time.

I shouldn’t be telling you this, but I should have retired a year ago and drawn my pension. I think I’m almost certainly the oldest head teacher in London.

Tell us your best joke. Tottenham Hotspur to win the European Cup. Now that would be funny – and I’m one of their fans.

No one’s shouted abuse at me yet, so I must be doing something right

DREAMSTIME

HEADS

COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING OWING SENTENCES

LEADERSHIP FOCUS ● MARCH/APRIL 2010

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CLARE KELLY

RONNIE MILLIGAN

Assistant head, Dane Royd Junior and Infant School, Wakefield

Principal, Cregagh Primary School, Belfast

WHAT TYPE OF PERSON ARE YOU? In five words: Happy, confident, driven, adventurous, caring.

Most prized possession? My horse, Lou-Lou, a skewbald mare.

Favourite biscuit? Chocolate Ginger.

Unmissable TV? The National Teaching Awards ceremony – I always need a tissue when I watch this.

Top film? The Green Mile.

Favourite song? Mr Brightside, by The Killers.

Best book? The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, by Sue Townsend.

Which celebrity would play you in the film of your life?

Kate Winslet.

Guilty secret? I own more than 75 pairs of shoes.

COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES COMPLE I went into teaching because of the work experience I did in Moscow in the early 1990s when I was in the sixth form. I was inspired by the quali quality of teaching and I wanted a profession that would allow me to travel and share my knowledge and skills with others.

M My own schooling was inspirational. I went to a Catholic middle school in Hexham, Northumberland, where I was nurtured by kind and caring staff. I hold the ethos of the schools I went to, and the life-long friendships I made there there, in high regard.

My most embarrassing moment in a classroom happened when I was teach teaching in Paris. Le Directeur popped in to see me and I said ‘thank you very much’, only for the class to giggle; apparently I mispronou mispronounced ‘beaucoup’ as ‘beau cul’, which means ‘nice arse’.

My leaders icipative. I believe a two leadership style is predominately participative. twover, I do adapt my style way communication process is vital. However, according to the group dynamics. I always encourage staff to work nal say over the decisionas a team, but where necessary, retain the final making process. Through engagement in a process people are generally more motivated and creative. nce of professional If I’ve learned one thing, it’s the importance ds charity and as a networks. As a judge for the Teaching Awards member of my branch NAHT executive I have gained some of the fessionals and visiting best CPD. The value of talking to other professionals schools should never be underestimated. nal spending review If I were the PM, I’d ensure that any national nd hospitals, and focused on enhancing funding to schools and I’d eradicate wasteful spending on needless quangos. ckname I shouldn’t be telling you this, but my nickname is Lara Croft.

Tell us your best joke. Ever wonder how blondes remember their passwords? Duringg a recent password audit, it was found that a blonde was using the following password: MickeyMinniePlutoHueyLouieDewey DonaldGoofy. When asked why she choose such a big password, she said: ‘It had to be at least 8 characters long.’

WHAT TYPE OF PERSON ARE YOU? In five words: This man is an idiot.

Most prized possession? My binoculars.

Favourite biscuit? Jaffa Cakes.

Unmissable TV? Wallander, with Kenneth Branagh.

Top film? The Wicker Man – who could forget Britt Ekland??

Favourite song? A Dustland Fairytale, by The Killers.

Best book? The Little Grey Men, by BB. I’ve read it to pupilss for 20 years.

Which celebrity would play you in the film of your life?

Depending on my mood, Tommy Cooper or Jeremy Clarkson.

Guilty secret? I’m a twitcher.

COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES I went into teaching because I used to work for the DSS, paying flu victims their sickness benefit. I had to get out so I applied to teacher training college. It was adapt or die.

My own schooling was not particularly engaging. I never really became involved with the education process until teacher training, when I found my vocation. My maths teachers at school tended to be snobs, with no time to answer ‘why?’ questions, so I had great empathy with pupils who struggled to make connections.

My most embarrassing moment in a classroom hasn’t happened.

I’m not easily embarrassed. I enjoy a laugh with the children. If a teacher hasn’t a good sense of humour, they shouldn’t be in teaching. Some of my children don’t get many laughs at home and I believe education should be entertaining as well as informative. slig My leadership style is slightly to the left of Genghis Khan. I like to lead by example, empow empowering people and encouraging them to make sensible decisions an and be their best. My door is always open to parents, children and sta staff – often I’m more of a social worker than a head teacher. I live iin my school area and meet my parents and pupils regularly when out and about. No one’s shouted abuse doi something right. at me yet, so I must be doing If I’ve learned one thing, it’s not to make rash judgments. I’m a great believer in ‘act in has haste and repent at leisure’. I’ve certainly had to do my share of re repenting.

If I were the PM, II’d ensure parity of funding for primary and secondary schools. I am fed up with having our treat like second-class citizens through children treated inequalit in the age-weighted pupil unit. If we inequality stopped having any more ‘initiatives’ and divided this saving among primary schools it would emp empower school leaders to instigate changes tha would really lead to school that imp improvement.

I shouldn’t be telling you this, but I love rock tribute bands.

Tell us your best joke. I have kleptomania – when it gets bad, I have to take something.

MARCH/APRIL 2010 ● LEADERSHIP FOCUS 25

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PARENT POWER

LISTEN AND LEARN 26

ILLUSTRATIONS DANNY ALLISON

Difficult parents can make life tough for headteachers, says Rebecca Grant, but good relationships with them can bring huge benefits to schools

LEADERSHIP FOCUS â—? MARCH/APRIL 2010

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PARENT POWER

ILLUSTRATIONS: DANNY ALLISON

J

ust before former NAHT General Secretary David Hart retired in 2005, he issued a stark warning to headteachers: “Giving parents more power is like putting alcoholics in charge of a bar.”

It would have been easy for schools to take these words at face value and put stringent restrictions on how much involvement they permit parents to have. But, in recent years, schools seem to have embraced the phenomenon that’s come to be known as ‘parent power.’

“There’s a far wider range of aspects of school life that parents are involved in now,” says Richard Thornhill, the executive headteacher at the three-school Loughborough federation in Lambeth.

“Over the past five years we’ve found that more parents are in school on a daily basis, and consequently they are far more involved.

They are better informed and empowered so they feel able to express their opinions on a wide range of issues.”

However, Richard also has first-hand experience that proves that David Hart’s warning about parent involvement in schools should be taken seriously.

“When I arrived at Kings Avenue, one of the schools in the federation, all I ever did in my first term was deal with complaints from parents, because the school hadn’t paid sufficient attention to building relationships with them,” he says. “But when you start putting systems in place, the parents then start to trust you, and eventually begin to trust the system.”

Good communication systems are vital to maintaining good relationships with parents.

David Mewes, headteacher at Cadland Primary School in Hampshire, says positive inroads have been made to improve the ways schools communicate with parents.

“The information that we give to parents on a very regular basis has substantially increased over the past 20 years, whether it be standard newsletters or information about what’s going on in the curriculum.

Our websites are also managed and continually updated, and parents are starting

to access them more and more now too.”

David also has a ‘meet and greet’ policy on the school grounds, where he is present on a daily basis to talk to parents, and listen to any questions they may have. The school also issues biannual questionnaires to ascertain parents’ feelings about the school. These lines of communication, he said, have resulted in a 97 per cent satisfaction rate among parents.

But what about the other 3 per cent?

According to Richard, no matter how good the lines of communication are, you simply can’t please all the people all the time, especially at a set-up such as the Loughborough federation, which has several

thousand parents. “Obviously, with 1,200 pupils we aren’t always going to agree with every parent – and those parents won’t always agree with us,” he says.

“It would be naïve to assume that, when you’re running a federation of schools with such a large number pupils, we would always be in agreement. There are times when parents fundamentally disagree with what we are doing,” Disagreement isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however. The trend for more parent governors in schools shows just how vital the CONTINUED ON PAGE 29 ➧

‘MY JOB IS TO LISTEN, IT’S ABOUT PEOPLE SKILLS’ After 17 years as head of Lent Rise school in Buckinghamshire, Brenda Bigland knows the best way to avoid conflict with parents: make the school’s policies clear before they enrol their children.

“I ask every parent to meet me and do a walkabout of the school before they even sign up,” she says. “I say to them: ‘this is not about me choosing you, this is about you choosing me’. That is the beginning of the partnership.”

And from the moment their child’s name is on the school roll, parents are kept constantly informed about goings on at the school. Even before their child starts lessons, parents attend a meeting and receive an information pack that includes the school’s emergency contact details and its IT safety policy, both on paper and on a USB memory stick.

Parents are given another pack at the beginning of every school year, outlining the curriculum for the year ahead and what days children will need to bring in special equipment such as PE kit. It also includes medical forms to help parents inform the school more efficiently in the event of illness.

However, Brenda says that the most successful communication tool is the school’s website, which now has a built-in learning platform – the VLE – that can be accessed by parents at home.

“Through the VLE, parents can find out about how their child is doing by accessing their child’s work in their own little portfolio section,” she says.

They also have access to the targets that are set every half term, so they know what their child is striving to achieve. It means they’re actively involved in the child’s own learning development.”

Parents can also use the VLE to contact the school and make their views known.

“They can talk to me through the VLE and via my own email,” Brenda says.

“My job is to listen. It’s about people skills, about knowing when to listen, but also when to be firm and when to explain.

“If a parent ever says to me ‘I wanted you to do this, and you are not supporting the school, then I can say, ‘no I’m sorry, you knew what the deal was when you put your child into this school.

My expectations haven’t changed, have yours?’,” she says.

MARCH/APRIL 2010 ● LEADERSHIP FOCUS 27

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22/2/10 11:22:03

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LEADERSHIP FOCUS ● MARCH/APRIL 2010

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PARENT POWER

AGGRESSIVE PARENTS CAN BE A THREAT TO TEACHERS Sheila (not her real name) had worked at her school for eight years when she had a nasty run-in with a pupil’s mother and grandmother at a parents evening.

The family was already known to the school as troublemakers; one of Sheila’s colleagues had been threatened by the mother when she had seen her out in town.

She attributes the problem to lack of communication. “The school had a new procedure of how it would work with parents but it was impractical in my circumstances, because the parents wouldn’t engage most of the time,” she says. y On the night of the parents evening, Sheila had anticipated a difficult meeting ing as the pupil had been disruptive in the classroom, but was shocked by

different opinions that they have can be to school life. “Schools now take parent views far more seriously,” Richard says. “They actively go out and seek opinion, which is collated and has resulted in action that has directed policy decisions in the school.”

Both David and Richard have wellstructured complaints procedures in ents are place within their schools, and parents he website kept updated via newsletters and the hey wish about the first point of contact if they to raise an issue with the school.

“Parents have the right to raise concerns gitimate,” and some of them are perfectly legitimate,” ware of Richard says. “But they must be aware exactly how the school best deals with complaints and how they are mostt likely to es.” get the best outcome for themselves.”

At Cadland, parents are requiredd to contact the teacher in the first instance, and from there they are referred to the pastoral leader.

If that fails to reach a satisfactory resolution, it is only then that David steps in as his capacity as headteacher.

“Parents have gone through two windows before they get to me, so it is usually a complaint by that point.”

The complaints that make it to David’s office tend to relate to discipline procedures.

“Some parents are very overprotective about their child, and when that child comes home with a situation that’s obviously distressed them, the parent’s view is that their child is in the right and the teacher is wrong, even before hearing what

the defensive attitude that the mother and grandmother took. “Before I’d even finished my positive opening remarks about the pupil’s potential, they were saying: ‘I’m sorry but what do you know about our child?’

There was no way I could get a word in without them assuming it was going to be a criticism. They’d obviously decided that they were going to give me a piece of their mind.

“I tried to be patient, but after a while I just folded my arms and smiled.

“It was probably the wrong thing to do but it was an instinctive reaction; I just couldn’t reason with them.”

It was then that the

Schools now take parent views far more seriously than in the past.

They actively seek out their opinions the teacher has to say,” he explains.

The best way for a head to approach confrontational parents is simply to listen.

“Usually, these parents come in feeling a

situation became frightening. “The mother started hitting the desk and the grandmother started saying stuff about watching myself when I was outside my house.”

Eventually this attracted the attention of Sheila’s colleagues, one of whom came over.

At that point the mother and grandmother walked out, swearing.

“I was relieved when they left, and held it together until the end,” Sheila says.

“We were all joking about it by that point, but when I got home it all sunk in. I shook uncontrollably.”

Sheila continued ggoingg to work for about a week after the event, but bu seeing the pupil in school every day proved too much and with stress. she was signed off work w www.teachersupport.info www.t

little bit tense, so by giv giving them some space and taking the time to listen to them and accumulate the inform information,” he says. “That way, you can analyse w what the complaint is about, and you’re also iin a position to give feedb feedback to the parent.”

U Unfortunately, lending a ear to parents is not an a foolproof solution.

Julian Stanley, the chief executive of the charity Teacher Support, says that tthe most extreme co confrontations are o te borne out of of often frustra frustration.

“Aggressive behaviou seems to come behaviour more from people who haven’t got the means to express themselves verbally so they become frustrated and resort in the end to making threats,” he explains.

Sadly it’s this sort of behaviour that has the most detrimental effect on the school environment. Richard says: “The big blow-ups tend to be the ones when you’re suddenly confronted by a very angry parent about something that you perhaps previously knew nothing about. It can be very difficult if you’re a young teacher in a primary school where typically it will be a young woman confronted by a parent who’s very angry, as it can become intimidating.”

Teacher Support’s stance on aggressive CONTINUED ON PAGE 30 ➧

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PARENT POWER

behaviour is clear: no teacher should ever be subjected to any kind of physical or verbal intimidation or violence.

However, a survey commissioned by the charity last November found that two thirds of teachers reported that they had been subjected to some kind of abuse by parents, with around 37 per cent saying that action taken by pupils’ parents can be damaging for their wellbeing.

“We’ve noticed that conflict is a growing issue for teachers who have been calling our helpline,” Julian says.

The problem is often down to one party’s expectations of the other. “Some teachers, often those in very difficult schools, or schools in difficult areas, might be a little bit frightened of the parents. Equally, I think a lot of parents get frightened of teachers, particularly if they’ve had poor experiences of education themselves.”

The charity is planning to run a series of pilot workshops at which parents and teachers will explore the issues that cause conflict between parents and school staff.

Julian also recommends that heads take steps to maintain healthy parent/teacher relationships in their schools.

“You should find out whether the methods you are using to communicate to parents actually are working,” he says.

“Headteachers need to protect their staff by making it very clear what the

You should find out whether the way you’re communicating with parents is actually working policies are in school about what the standard of behaviour is expected, and any difficulties that may arise with interaction with a parent that’s gone wrong.”

Richard realises just how important it is to protect the teachers at Loughborough by ensuring they are briefed every day on where to go for senior staff support, if they need it. The school also offers training in conflict resolution.

“We practise the sort of verbal responses that we would give in various situations, and we insist that any teacher who ever feels threatened in any sort of way, either verbally or physically, be protected,” he says. “And we always have senior managers who are on duty at all times during the school day.

“I spend a lot of time with my senior teachers to address issues around conflict

resolution, so if a situation does arise, we know how to deal with it quickly.”

Given that conflict resolution is now a prominent feature on the agenda of headteachers, isn’t that proof that ‘parent power’ should be approached with caution?

Not necessarily, according to Richard.

“One thing that we would like to introduce at Loughborough is a way to get parents more directly involved in the decision making processes at the school,” he explains.

“That would be quite powerful from our perspective, because if a parent comes to complain, we can remind them that, actually, they took part in making that decision, so they can’t change their minds now. That’s a very disarming thing.”

Julian agrees that schools need to embrace parent involvement in the future.

“Headteachers these days often have to be forward-facing and out there with the parents,” he says.

“They need to be looking out for every possible way to communicate with parents so that they have a good flow of information, and can make it clear to parents what’s expected of them.

“It’s a critical partnership. Teachers perform a brilliant job, and they want to be supported by parents, but parents need some support themselves because it’s an everchanging world.”

TALES FROM THE WEB: THE EFFECTS OF PROBLEM PARENTS Have got some very pushy parents this year. Does anybody please have any tips on how to deal with them? One is verging on neurotic and nearly driving me mad!

Lij63 In an ideal world we could give ‘em all detentions. Unfortunately some of the parents act in a way that would be legally actionable were it to be considered in a ‘nonschool’ context.

Tom_Bennett I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again; we, as a ‘profession’, take far too much stick and abuse from parents. How many parents who are rude, off-hand or verbally aggressive with teachers would behave the same way with their doctor, solicitor or dentist? e1whittaker I am finding that more and more parents are

30

losing sight of the fact that their child is not the only child in school!

LouiseHB There’s supportive and there’s pushy – it’s a fine line, and it’s hard to know exactly where to draw it. Some parents aren’t pushy enough and don’t give their children opportunities to find out what they can do and to develop interests. Others push too far, and don’t give their children time to relax and play and be children.

Amycat I have VERY PUSHY PARENTS. They want homework in Nursery level at ages from 2-5.

I AM HAVING COLD SWEATS. Twinkletwinklestar I remember one year we had such a nightmare parent that we had staff hiding in the loo whenever we heard her come in to

drop her kids off in the mornings!

Dizziblonde And as for those Year 5 parents who complain about one very, very slightly negative comment in their child’s report!

Wolverina A parent comes in complaining about every last little thing. During the last week of term she gathered a group of mums around her and seems to be the ringleader. She has taken to telling me how I should do my job and is hell-bent on winding up other mums. katepink This is the worst thing about ‘the job’, parents who think they know your job better than you. We all have them. heavenscent www.tes.co.uk/Forums.aspx

LEADERSHIP FOCUS ● MARCH/APRIL 2010

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MARCH/APRIL 2010 ● LEADERSHIP FOCUS 31

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IMAGES: RICHARD HANSON

NAHT PRESIDENT

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NAHT PRESIDENCY

Life in the fast lane Steve Smethurst gets NAHT President Dr Chris Howard to slow down just long enough to talk through his year

IMAGES: RICHARD HANSON

I

f you were asked to pick the five words that best describe you, which would you choose first?

And how long would it take you to come up with it? For Chris Howard, the NAHT’s National President, the first one is easy.

“Busy,” he says, with no hesitation. Since giving up his headship at Lewis School in Pengam, Caerphilly, for 12 months last May to become President, Chris has been the embodiment of the word. His working week starts long before the crack of dawn on Mondays as he travels from his home in Cardiff to London or Haywards Heath. The capital is three hours away by train and the NAHT’s headquarters 60 minutes more.

Suitcase in hand, he spends the rest of the week in hotels as he visits school leaders anywhere from Newcastle to Carrickfergus.

“It’s OK as long as you’re not ill,” he says, recalling a particularly difficult stay in Birmingham during the winter. “The hotel was very nice. Being ill wasn’t. The fire alarm in the middle of the night didn’t help, either.”

And the other words that best describe him? “Approachable, resilient…” He pauses.

“Avuncular,” he says, a little doubtfully,

before adding more definitely: “Yes, avuncular. These days. To my staff, anyway.”

For the fifth, he looks a little uncertain again.

“I’d like to think I’m experienced now.

Wisely experienced, perhaps.”

‘Wisely experienced’ is probably the ideal characteristic for a National President, given that the role involves a significant amount of political manoeuvring. Several hours after our interview, for example, Chris was summoned to a late-night discussion with Secretary of State for Education Ed Balls and schools minister Vernon Coaker to discuss, yet again, the Sats issue.

It’s almost an understatement to say that Sats has overshadowed both Chris’s and the General Secretary’s year. The period started with the Annual Conference and a presidential campaign entitled ‘Making our horizons sing’ and the aim of building on the work started by the previous year’s President, Clarissa Williams, but Sats have been the dominant issue.

But, as Chris has emphasised on his visits around the country, while the Sats campaign is making a strong political statement and drawing a line in the sand about testing, CONTINUED ON PAGE 34 ➧

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the other side of the coin is that it has reinforced the fact that school leaders stand for something other than a narrow focus on the curriculum.

“When I speak to colleagues, I ask what drives them as individuals and what’s important to them and their schools. If I try to be introspective, I can find a series of things that matter to me, and that I promote as a school leader. Teaching is a vocation and good leadership is based on a strong set of moral imperatives. I’ve tried to get colleagues to think about what those are, and how to translate them in their daily practice.”

Chris’s philosophy is that while you run schools with good planning, what you do on a daily basis is founded on relationships.

“They’re based on your personal ethos and what you take into each interaction during the day. Once you understand what makes you tick – and what stops you from operating as effectively as you might – then you have quality discourse about the job.”

This is the approach that he has tried to bring to ministers, too. “There is a renewed focus on values-based education, and getting individuals to look at this leads to discussions about the values of the community and then universal values. But when you talk to colleagues this is only one side of the job.

The other side is all the things that get in the way – whether it is the bureaucracy, health and safety, the punitive nature of the Ofsted regime, or the particular problems associated with safeguarding requirements.

“These are the added burdens that get in the way of school leaders’ day-to-day interactions, and they affect the learning of children in the classroom, which is what they’re most interested in. Part of my role is to understand these things and then explain to both national and local government leaders why our colleagues are so frustrated by it all.”

Fortunately, he has a good understanding of how government works. He was a local councillor and then the leader of Cambridge City Council in the 1980s. He even stood as a Parliamentary candidate in the late 1980s.

“I came out of that world and did 20 years in school leadership in south Wales, but now I’ve stepped right back into it,” he says.

“I don’t think local government has changed too much – although the officials are far more in control than I remember being the case.”

As for central government, he feels that, while there has been a huge disagreement over Sats, the door has never been closed on the NAHT. “We haven’t had a completely repetitive line from them. In the past we had popular support and believed that right was on our side, but we could still be

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banging our head against a brick wall. It’s not quite like that now.Their public position is well known and well-rehearsed but on a personal level they are approachable.There is a significant – possibly unbridgeable – gap over what we want, but we’ve kept a working relationship with them.”

Several obstacles have made progress difficult. “On both sides there have been some unbreakable commitments made.

Politics is about that – and staying true to your members’ values. It’s also about being able, line by line, to find some way to resolve disagreement. But it’s not been easy.”

The NAHT leadership team spent a significant amount of time in late summer and autumn talking to members and bouncing ideas around before they came up with the NAHT’s solution, the charter for assessment, he says.

“We needed something like that to prove to Government that our opposition was based on more than dissatisfaction with the current system. We needed it for the Association to be credible. The campaign had an inner coherence and could be justified in the public sense. It’s good for young people and school leaders – that was the message we needed to take to Government.

“We put a huge amount of work into discussing, researching, writing, re-drafting

and so on. The value of all that will only be seen in the long term, and our position isn’t even set in stone, but we wanted both members and the Government to use it as a working document. It was a new way of working for the NAHT.” Part of that new way of working was to hold a marathon meeting in the middle of Suffolk last August. “Rather than being stuck in meetings on top of meetings, we did it in one blast. It was encouraging and stimulating to work until the small hours of the morning. But you do invest a lot of emotional capital, so you want something to come from it.”

The charter says that the NAHT wants the testing regime replaced by a system that places most or all value on moderated teacher assessment; the Labour party is dropping hints that it will implement this by 2012, should it be re-elected.

The Conservatives are also edging towards a broader set of indicators when it comes to measurement. “They’re interested in changing the nature of the tests, perhaps locating them in secondary schools, although we don’t think that will work either,” he says.

“But it’s encouraging that they don’t see the tests as the be-all and end-all. Unfortunately, as yet they only have a skeleton set of policies so we’ll have to wait for the detail.”

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NAHT PRESIDENCY

CHRIS HOWARD ON THE NAHT’S PARTNERSHIP WITH UNICEF “One of the main thrusts of my year has been working with Unicef and promoting its Rights Respecting Schools (RRS) agenda. Unicef will be a key partner for the next three years, so the next two presidents, Mike Welsh and Chris Harrison, will work with it too. Unicef is promoting RRS across the UK and it gets right to the heart of what I’m about. I’m a lifelong democrat and believe that children should be heard as well as seen.

“RRS encourages schools to put children at the heart of everything they do and to give them a strong and appropriate voice in the way schools are taken forward. I’m always energised by the sophisticated ways schools find to do that. Schools are taking heed of the voices of their pupils in all sorts of different ways, which is a tremendous way of tapping into democracy. School children attending governing bodies, and school councils for example, but it’s also the simple interaction in the classroom between pupil and teacher, or among pupils themselves influencing the way they’re working and how they’ll progress.

“When we defined ‘teacher assessment’ in the charter for assessment, that’s what I had in mind – that it would be about a very strong interaction in real time, in the classroom, between teacher and pupil, or groups of pupils, to look at what they were doing, how it might be improved and how children get better. It’s by involving children at that level that you do something important in terms of moving them on as learners. It’s a co-operative, engaged classroom, with adults working alongside pupils. It’s being heard as well as seen, which is turning that Victorian maxim on its head. It really is important.”

The NAHT’s Education Leadership Paper on RRS is enclosed with this issue of Leadership Focus.

The Liberal Democrats have said that Sats have to stay to provide information to parents, although Chris hopes to persuade them otherwise.

So, has it been difficult for a Welshman to hold back when it comes to discussing the shortfalls of an English testing system?

“I have tried, but it’s not the best of things to say to an English person: ‘We’ve got these things right in Wales, why can’t you?’”

Instead, he has explained that devolution should work both ways and that it’s not doing its job if English government departments are not willing to learn from good experience in the other four countries.

“Let’s be frank: it would be handy if they could learn a bit quicker,” he says.

Unfortunately, the Government is sticking to the idea that what’s possible in a small country wouldn’t necessarily work in England, a much bigger country.

“I’ve argued strongly that if Government could say that it will, definitely, be different, then schools will gear themselves up to make it work. That’s what happened in Wales.

They’ll own the new system, they’ll have a deadline and they’ll want to make it work.

“But the Government, thus far, wants to give priority to the wishes of parents, as they define them – but we think they’ve defined those wishes incorrectly. They do

need information, but we don’t think they’re desperate for league tables based on a narrow test. They want a wider set of measures.”

So, will he miss the politics when he hands over to Swindon headteacher Mike Welsh at the Annual Conference in May? “I must admit I am looking forward to getting my life back. I haven’t been to a single rock concert since I became President and my golf partners have forgotten what I look like. Obviously, these past months have been an absolute privilege, and it’s been wonderful to do it, but I would like to get something back of the fully-rounded individual that I am.

“The best thing of all is that I’ve been at my school for 17 years – and it’s a 40-minute commute. I’ll never complain about that again.

“And I’m really looking forward to getting back to children. I’ve loved working in this rarefied atmosphere with people at the other end of the age spectrum, but there’s a huge sense of common purpose at my school, it’s very friendly and it’s heart-warming to go back. Although I have been reminded that there are 157 pupils who have been there for a year and haven’t seen me yet.”

The highlight of his year was the Annual Conference in Brighton. “It’s a huge event for any president. The day itself has the feel

of a wedding – your close friends and family are there. There’s a ceremony, a speech, all with our best bib and tucker on, lots of photos and a party in the evening, although it’s meant that I’ve traded my life-long partner for the NAHT for a few months.”

Fortunately for Chris, he is soon to be reunited with Keris. But he will still be responsible for a major NAHT committee – personnel – and he will work closely with both Mike Welsh and Chris Harrison, who will come in as President Elect. Between them, they will seek to guide the new General Secretary, Russell Hobby, as he takes over from Mick Brookes.

“NAHT’s National Council has set out its vision of where it wants NAHT to go.

We want the Association to remain a multisector organisation for all school leaders, operating on both local and national level.

We want it to keep a firm trade union voice, speaking up on behalf of members on wages, terms and conditions. It also needs to have a very carefully defined professional edge, a strong professional voice for the Association.”

And with that, the busy, resilient, approachable, avuncular and wiselyexperienced NAHT President is off, first to a working dinner with senior colleagues at a London hotel, swiftly followed by late night talks with Government ministers.

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MINORITY REPORT

Bright as a feather A large amount of language support, homework clubs, BTECs and IT have all played a part in the progress of Featherstone High in Southall, reports Carly Chynoweth

The sixth-form IT pod, also known as The Pineapple

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PHOTOGRAPHY: SAM KESTEVEN/ISTOCKPHOTO

O

ne of the first things that visitors to Featherstone High School in west London’s Southall notice is just how quiet everything is. It’s a huge school – nearly 1,500 students – squeezed on to a very small site in one of the poorest areas of the capital, yet when LF visits one Friday lunchtime there’s only a fraction of the noise and chaos you’d expect.

Part of that is down to the school’s decision, two years ago, to move to a staggered day, says deputy head Neil Bradford. “It’s very calm when you first arrive in the morning, too, and that’s because only three fifths of the students are here then,” he explains.

Most students – 98 per cent of whom come from minority ethnic backgrounds, while three quarters don’t speak English as a first language – are housed in a rather unlovely but very functional modern building in which all the classrooms have huge internal windows opening onto a central corridor; Neil and his senior colleagues regularly walk the halls to keep an eye on what’s going on. It’s good for students to know that senior teachers are out and about, plus it allows the senior leadership to keep a quiet eye on how teachers are coping, without having to open doors and thus disturb the lesson and potentially undermine the teacher’s authority.

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Featherstone is a big school on a small site

The new sixth-form building, built on top of the former car park and opened a few months ago, is far fancier, with a striking IT pod – rather like a wooden hand grenade or a giant wasp’s nest, although Neil describes it as a pineapple – taking up a large part of the central hall and offering A-level students access to banks of computers across several levels. They are also given access to netbooks (small laptops) while they are at school, although they are not allowed to take them home.

This emphasis on providing access to IT is very important for students in such a deprived area. “Our intake includes a lot of children on free school meals,” Neil says.

“This is a poor area with very overcrowded houses – we have a greater number of people per house than in other areas – which can make it harder for children to study at home.

If there is a computer at home there will be six children fighting to use it.”

It can also be difficult to find quiet space to study. Featherstone’s solution is to allow students to come in to homework clubs or to use computer equipment before or after their lessons finish each day.

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PHOTOGRAPHY: SAM KESTEVEN/ISTOCKPHOTO

We know exactly which bits you need.

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MINORITY REPORT

Students use computers in the IT pod

A lot of schools set aspirational targets but that means many children will constantly be told they are two or three grades behind One of the things that makes Featherstone interesting, as success stories go, is that it has seen steady, solid improvement rather than a flashy failure-to-brilliance turnaround. Its KS3 results have been improving for the past seven years; GCSEs, including English and maths, have risen from 36 per cent 5A*-C in 2006 to 52 per cent last year, while valueadded scores have risen from 995 to 1040 in the same time. More spectacularly, the 5A*-C rate for GCSEs overall has gone from 47 to 70 per cent.

The school gives children who arrive with little or no English intensive language support. They are assigned learning mentors and given EAL lessons alongside their mainstream classes, but the school’s decision to introduce BTECs two years ago has also played a significant part in the improved results, says Neil.

While it has most visibly helped improve the overall rate, he believes that the change also raised grades in English and maths.

“Offering BTECs makes a difference because it helps children get more engaged in learning. If you offer GCSEs only they

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have an academic bias and the scope is limited to traditional stuff. If you offer BTECs as well, students are not assessed by final examination and they do not require, say, really good handwriting for 90 minutes.”

The latter point is particularly important for students who struggle with English. He also finds that vocational lessons can help students to get the point of learning, which then carries across into increased motivation and confidence in other subjects as well.

Neil openly admits that he gets frustrated when he comes across people who look down on BTECs, or who imply that they’re only offered to get grade averages up. He’s certain that a strong vocational offering alongside academic options is the best thing for his pupils. In fact, recognising how to offer the right subjects to meet your particular intake is an important aspect of supporting students, he says.

“All schools have different intakes but if you see children who come in year after year with extremely weak Level 3 and they get to GCSE and get an E that’s a huge improvement, but it’s still not a pass, so you

have to ask what the point is of forcing them to go on these courses,” he says.

What tended to happen when students failed their GCSEs was that they left the school at 16 and went to an FE college to do a vocational course – the same vocational course that Featherstone’s approach now allows them to do at 14, meaning that by 16 they can step up to the next level rather than, effectively, repeating it.

“Part of our success is making sure that the school curriculum fits our intake,” Neil says. “Of course, we also have 91 students also doing academic courses. That’s one of the advantages of being such a big school – it means we can offer real breadth.”

Whatever subjects children select, they are given goals that are adapted not simply to national targets but to their own starting point. “A lot of schools go down the route of setting aspirational targets for students but the very fact that they are aspirational means that not many people will hit them,” he says.

“That means the message they get throughout school is that they are three grades behind target, two grades behind target and so on.”

Constantly missing the mark does little to encourage pupils to try harder. Instead, Featherstone looks at the standard at which students joined the school – often well below the national average – and explains to them and their parents what students who start at that level tend, on average, to get in later examinations.

Students are still encouraged to aim high, but they are also shown that a student who earns C grades at GCSE after rising three levels should be incredibly proud of a very real achievement.

“Some people worry that if we tell children the expected grade they won’t try for anything higher, but actually they are very competitive,” he says.

Reports – issued every six weeks in year 11 and each term for other year levels – give parents a standard letter grade and an explanation that contextualises it against expectations. “If it’s possible for students to get ‘exceptional progress’, the top phrase, they want to get it.”

The school leadership team at Featherstone also uses its school information management system (Sims) to see if particular students or classes aren’t making the progress expected of them, and to spot problems or inconsistencies with the way in which teachers award grades.

“In the past we have had teachers who had a very high ability group and were predicting very low pass rates,” Neil says.

“Now we can see when people are overly pessimistic or cautious, or if they [especially

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NQTs] are not familiar with the standard of work being produced.” In most cases, slightly underestimating projected grades is not much of an issue, although it does annoy students who want to use predicted grades for college entrance.

“Ultimately, of course, we are interested in how well teachers can teach, not how good they are at predicting grades,” Neil says.

“And some teachers genuinely believe that children work harder if they predict lower grades, although I don’t work like that – I encourage them by telling them what they could get.”

The system also allows the school to make much more sensitive adjustments if it sees a particular group struggling. For example, if 25 per cent of black African-Caribbean boys were underperforming, the broad-brush approach would be to say that all black boys need more support.

Neil, however, would look at the data and see which individuals needed help, rather than lumping everyone in together. He would also cross-reference the data to ensure that, for example, no teachers were treating CONTINUED ON PAGE 40➧

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MINORITY REPORT

any one ethnic group differently from any other.

This approach allows for natural fluctuation while still ensuring that individuals get the help they need; it also means that resources can be targeted exactly where they will be most useful. “We have to remember that you are dealing with 30 different individual children each year, and that their results will vary.”

This ability to spot statistical anomalies can also come in very handy during Ofsted inspections. For example, if a year group gets a particularly poor result at GCSE, Neil can use the data to show that the underperformance is limited to that one cohort and that results are expected to pick up in the next year.

Ultimately, however, it’s not data or netbooks or oddly-shaped IT pods or even staggered days and BTECs that underpin the school’s success: it’s the effort and commitment from staff and pupils.

“It’s also about the relationship between staff and children, because students want to do well for the teachers they like,” Neil says.

“They work incredibly hard. Then, when they earn great results, they thank us!

I always say no, it’s thank you.”

Books: like small computers that don’t need batteries

MAJORITY REPORT: WORKING CLASS WHITE BOYS Another school to put its Sims data to good use is Falmouth School in Cornwall, which has been giving lots of thought to how to get its boys to do better. Sue Ferris, the recently-retired assistant head, recalls that she was shocked when she realised that boys at the business and enterprise specialist school were becoming disaffected within months of starting Year Seven.

She spotted the size and extent of the problem after the school began awarding and recording ‘effort grades’ from the time students joined. The aim at that point was simply to give parents an early indication of how pupils were settling in.

“Most schools have a social meeting between parents and form tutors within a month of children starting Year Seven, but at that stage teachers often felt that they did not have enough information to make [assessment] worthwhile,” she says.

“They knew they were coming in on time and that they wore the correct uniform, but they could not give a full record of academic achievement.” Instead, she asked teachers to record grades reflecting

40

students’ effort. “When we analysed the data I discovered, to my horror, that across 13 subjects the mean for the boys was one grade lower than for the girls,” she says.

While the obvious reaction is something along the lines of ‘look, boys are already not working hard enough’, Sue felt that the problems were both deeper and indeed more subtle.

“It seemed to me that we were not assessing them in the right way,” she says.

“We realised that we were assessing social skills and the ability to impress the teacher.”

And, stereotypically enough, that meant that polite little girls who handed in neatlywritten homework without being prompted were more likely to get a good grade than rowdy boys with muddy shoes who had to be reminded several times to dig their dogeaten exercise book from underneath the football in their bags, she says.

And, while this applies to all boys, white boys are particularly vulnerable to this sort of preconception. “I think that we are more careful with ethnic minorities because we don’t want to cause offence,” she says.

The discovery made the school rethink its understanding of effort and attitude to learning. Sue realised that these negative responses to boys being boys were actually demotivating them right from the outset, so she encouraged teachers to look at what it was that boys wanted to get out of school – peer acknowledgement, being a class entertainer and so forth – and to find ways to make these goals line up with learning rather than contradicting it.

For example, she believes that all students should be given positions of responsibility, even if this means overcoming the natural tendency to want to use well-behaved girls and certainly not rambunctious boys when you need someone to help out at an open evening or other event.

“Some teachers think it’s risky, but it’s not.

If you talk to these boys and explain that the responsibility is important, you can see them grow.” It’s also far better for others in the class if the school’s natural peer leaders are working with the school’s aims rather than disrupting them, she says. www.falmouth.sch.cornwall.uk

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Steve Smethurst reports on a free DCSF consultancy scheme that is being welcomed by school leaders who want value for money

L

et’s face it, the DCSF isn’t every school leader’s cup of tea. It’s not even everybody’s cup of Bovril.

Yet, somehow, it has come up with a useful innovation that many NAHT members have welcomed.

If that comes as something of a shock, you may want to sit down at this point, because the innovation has been in existence since May 2008 and in all that time the DCSF hasn’t really shouted about it. This means that there are plenty of schools that could still take advantage of the scheme.

The innovation in question is a day’s ‘value for money’ (VFM) consultancy. Before you groan and stop reading, take note: 1,300 schools have benefited from these days so far,

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and 96 per cent of these would recommend it to another school.

The consultants are usually experienced school leaders such as former headteachers or school business managers. They are also matched with your school according to their experience and, where possible, are from the local area. This ensures that they have an understanding of the challenges you face.

They will visit you and their time is yours for the day.

Before the meeting, you have to choose two topics to focus on from the selection offered and, within that outline, you can ask them to support you as much as they can.

Schools are also encouraged to include others in the leadership team to participate, such as the chair of governors, bursar or business manager. The consultancy options

that are available are: strategic management; procurement; leadership; the wider school workforce; challenge and governance; and collaboration and partnership.

It’s also important to note that the results of the day will not be shared with anyone but you. It’s absolutely not about faultfinding – it’s much more constructive.

The scheme is designed to help schools to diagnose their problems. It’s also independent, confidential and free – the tab being picked up by the DCSF. Chris Harrison, headteacher at Oulton Broad Primary School in Lowestoft, Suffolk, tells Leadership Focus that he booked a VFM visit because he wanted a financial health check. “I’m in my fifth decade of headship but things are always changing in terms of expectations on schools – particularly how you assess the full range of resources you’re involved in delivering and how you align that to teaching and learning,” he says.

“We spend public money and we have to account for how well we spend it.VFM has to be about how we use it to support all children having equality of access and opportunity. So why not get an external perspective from a critical friend?”

ILLUSTRATIONS: EUGENE AND LOUISE

The consultant will see you now

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VALUE FOR MONEY

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12

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Looking back at the visit, Chris confirms that it was a ‘seriously useful’ conversation.

“The consultant pored over my development plan and looked at my SEF and my budget structure. Then he assessed whether there was a degree of congruence across the processes – whether teaching and learning related to the development plan in terms of a practical, operational, management delivery of my key objectives.”

The results showed that, while Chris had a good SEF and development plan, he should identify and label priority actions (for example as PA1 and PA2) and bold them up

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3

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COMMON THEMES FOR DISCUSSION ■ Falling

■ Lack

■ Managing

■ Working

or rising rolls workforce costs ■ Links between strategic plans and budgets ■ Managing contracts/service-level agreements with LAs ■ Lack of challenge on price and quality ■ Obtaining value from partnerships and collaboration

of procurement specific expertise effectively with the governing body ■ Unfavourable market conditions for procurement, including: - Limited number of suppliers - Poor quality of suppliers - Low or fragmented purchasing volumes

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VALUE FOR MONEY

or italicise them. Then, when it comes to development planning, he should make reference to it again, and likewise in his budget, so that it’s a thread that runs through all the materials, even the governors’ reports.

“That was the real nugget that came out for me,” Chris says. “I liked the fact that, even if you’re a head of however many years, you can get an outcome that says ‘this confirms the school is well-led, wellmanaged, well-governed and in a strong position to deal with eight years of challenge.’

What a lovely thing to have. That went into my SEF update. It also stems from a discussion of just three documents, SEF, SIP and budget, so it’s not difficult to prepare for.”

Chris also notes that small schools won’t necessarily have business managers in their community, so workshops – which the DCSF also offers through its VFM partner Avail – might be good for them. “It makes sense to work together to share the resource.

I have 300 children in my school and a business manager for three days – on her other two days she works for the LA – yet I still benefited from the VFM visit.”

to give them some options. For example, we might give them advice on changing utility providers and they might end up saving a few hundred pounds on their telecoms providers.You might save £30 per child, which is a good way of looking at it.

“We can also provide advice to schools on how to ensure they get maximum value from their local authority service level agreements, providing valuable feedback to local authorities on contract performance and schools’ needs. It’s a process of challenge and rigour that brings a degree of certainty to school leaders that they are doing everything right.

“The visits focus everyone’s attention on what’s important. It’s up to the schools to decide what they do with the advice. No one is going to come back and check up on them. It’s meant to build their capability to change their culture, rather than a new thing to beat them around the head with.”

Funding for the value for money scheme will last until March 2011.

It’s a process of challenge and rigour hool that brings a degree of certainty to sc right leaders that they are doing everything Helen Pyecroft, a managing consultant at Avail, suggests that another option might be seeking advice on procurement “If the school feels it’s not getting full value for money, someone at the team will do benchmarking and find deals for them

www.consultancyforschools.co.uk

CAROL HANCE: OVERCOMING MY INITIAL SCEPTICISM “Why did I do it? Because I had a three-line whip, and the school wasn’t paying for it, so I didn’t argue. It was organised by the borough with no reference to me. We went into a deficit budget last year; and this was proposed for all schools that did that.

I was really frustrated about it at the time.

The deficit was to do with a one-off staffing issue and our finances were in good shape otherwise. We’re a very small special school, with 32 children on roll and not many staff, just seven teaching, plus head and deputy.

So large outlays can hit you hard.

As that was the case, the two themes I chose were governance and challenge and strategic planning. Strategic planning is tough in such a small school, with such a small budget – there’s not much left after staffing costs. The other problem is that, as we’re so small, it’s difficult to bounce ideas off a range of people with a variety of skills.

But I was very non-committal about the whole thing. I didn’t actually say ‘I think it’s going to be a waste of my time,’ but if I’m being honest, that is what I was thinking.

But, against all my expectations, I found

44

it refreshing. The consultant, John, made contact, and he was quite persistent, so we arranged to meet. He reassured me that it wasn’t an accountant visiting – not another audit, or another Ofsted.

What I liked about it is that he took time to look around the school, to talk to me about our plans for the future and the barriers that were stopping us from doing what we’d like to do. It was refreshing to talk to someone who wasn’t judgmental in any way, but did give us things to think about.

He also met with my deputy. We talked about the difficulties that you face when there’s only two of you in the management team. Primarily, it’s time – you never get the chance to spend any time face to face and really thrash things out. Even to speak to Leadership Focus I had to put 20 minutes in the diary when I’m not available. And our children have behavioural difficulties, they can be pretty lively, so we find ourselves supporting children and not really having that very clear time for management.

John gave us one or two suggestions that were very useful. We’ve recently joined a

very soft federation – only since September.

It’s with some of the other EBD provision in the borough. The consultant said the federation could help us, as my deputy and I try to ensure we’re never off site at the same time. Currently, this means that all of our management meetings take place when we’re out of school and both tired. A lot of schools will have their senior management team go off somewhere to do their SEF. But we don’t have time to do that, so we meet at each other’s houses on a Saturday.

John suggested that the federation could put someone in for half a day while we went off to an office. I’ve since taken that idea to the federation. He also talked about shared Inset, when the federation could do an Inset for the staff while we went off to do strategic planning, perhaps for half a day a term. It’s not rocket science, but I hadn’t thought of it. And it sometimes takes someone who doesn’t know the school to come up with things like that.

Carol Hance is headteacher at Westbrooke School in Bexley, Kent

LEADERSHIP FOCUS ● MARCH/APRIL 2010

42-44 VFM.indd 44

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ROUND-UP

WHAT’S NEW?

The latest products, books and teaching resources Winning thee H Factor: the secrets of happy p pp schools

Once O nccee yyou ou B BrainPop, raainPo Po op p, yyou ou just ju ust ca can’t an’tt stop sttop

By Alistair Smith, Sir John Jones and Joanna Reid Continuum Price: £27.99 Authors Alistair Smith, Sir John Jones and Joanna Reid – a trainer, a former headteacher turned academic and a teacher, respectively – open their book with a discussion of what happiness is before moving on to the ‘H Factor’ model. They also outline current thinking on what makes some individuals happier than others. The book is laid out in a straightforward fashion with plenty of subheadings, while each chapter starts with a handy topic guide to make it easy to navigate through the material. This is particularly useful given that there’s a lot of background material alongside the practical hints and tips.

Inside my head

By Jim Carrington Bloomsbury Price: £6.99 In Carrington’s debut novel for teenagers, ‘farmer’ is a term of abuse, mothers ‘go mental’ and teachers threaten detention but don’t follow through because it would mean giving up their breaktime cigarettes. It grew out of a short story that the author, a teacher, originally wrote for an anti-bullying week. In it, he weaves together the stories of three young people: newcomer Zoe who resents having to move from London to rural Norfolk; bullying victim Gary, who struggles to control his own anger; and David, who is friends with the bully and does not know how to tell him that his behaviour is wrong. The tension between the three narrators, who are all in Year 10, builds nicely as the story progresses.

46

Multi-a Multi-award Mu i awaard dw winning iinn ningg we website eb bsiite B BrainPop rainPo Pop h has as a h hu huge uge reso resource ourcce o off curriculum-based cur rricu ulum m-baased d co content onteent for stu students tuden nts t aaged ged d 77-14.

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A life lifeline ffellin ne ffor or lliliteracy iteeraccy sskills killls ls Just u t iim imagine magin g ne tthat h hatt yyo you ou ar are re a litt little i tlee ggirl irl r ccalled aalleed Rose, Ro osee, and d a Blitz B z survivor. surv u vivo vor. That That a iss just ju ust s one ne of of the he ssto stories ories ri b be being eing ng b bro brought oug ughtt tto o sschoolchildren cho hoo olcchild i dren en b byy aaw award-winning ward-win r w nn nin ng aauthor uth tho or Kate a e Pu Pullinger ullin l nger er and a d educational edu ucattion nal p publisher ubllisheer R Rising isin ng St Stars tarss to aid 11 tto o 14 14-year-olds 4-ye year-oldss with ttheir heir lit literacy teraacyy sskills. killls. Itt ma may ay be diff difficult ficult att fir first rst ffor or cchildren hild dren n to o imagin imagine g ne eexperiences xpe periencees su such uch as lliving ivin ng in n Br Britain ritain n du during urin ng W WWII, WII, butt the these ese sho short ort films film ms bring brringg together toggeth her audio aud dio descriptions descrip ptions and and visual visu ual ima imagery ageryy to o he help elp p kkickickk start star rt classroom classsroo om discussions discussiionss and an nd ideas. id deass. Although Altho ough h primarily p prrimaarilyy an English Engglish h resource resou urce forr stimulating stim mullatin ng creative creativ ve w writing ritingg iin n th the he cclassroom, lasssroo om, Life Lifelines elinees aalso lso ma makes akess link links ks aacross cross tthe he ccurriculum urrriculum m to historyy and d gge geography. eogr graph phyy. A And nd forr any budd budding dingg film filmmakers, mmaakers, eeach ach h CD D in includes nclud des a ccollection olleectio on o off p pictures, ictu uress text tex xt an and nd ssound oun nd ffiles iless forr pu pupils upilss to cre create eate the their eir o own wn n sto stories. ories For more information, go to www.risingstars-uk.com

It’ It’s t’s th the he w way ayy that tha th hat you ttell you yo elll them them m When W hen w was as tthe he lastt tim time me yyou ou hea heard ard a go good ood d sto story? ory??

You Y ou may mayy ha have ave bee been en lu lucky uckyy en enough nouggh tto oh have avee be been een read re ead d to aass a child, d butt sch schoolchildren hoo olchildre d en ttoday oda day m might igh ht not no ot b bee aass w willing illin l ng to o bee wrenched wrenche hed away aw wayy from ffro om their th heir PSP SPP console soles es – unt until till tthe he SStory tory SSpinner pin nnerr pro project, ojecct, that hat is. Rolle Rolled R ed o out ut in tthe he Birm Birmingham i miinggh ham aarea rea as part off the t Natio National N t onaal Y Ye Year ear o off R Reading ead dingg in 200 2008, 008 8, tthe he scheme wass designed de design i ned to revive the h ancient anccien nt oral oral tradition trad raditt on no of st story to oryy ttel telling. lling ng. A co col collection llect e tion on of of 42 4 stories t e told o o on film m byy vete veteran e erran n ssto storyteller oryteller r e r Phil Phili Mc M Der Dermott erm mottt aand nd d rate rated a ed ‘Excellent’ Exxceellent l t b byy O Ofsted fst f teed were e created a d especially s c l for o u use iin p primary a scchools. h l Itt was a a resounding s n n success, u ce , thee results es t off which h h can a be seen e in a study u y conducted on u e by b educational ed c o al researchers s r e from f m the h universities n e t of Cambridge m r e and n B Birmingham. m g m Te Teachers ch rs said a tthatt thee DVDs V s fitted t in well e with w thee revised v d Literacy i a Framework m w r and n offered o e d a variety v e of assessment a e m n opportunities p o n e inn reading, e n speaking, s ea n listening l e n and n writing. w t . Researchers e ar e also a o noticed o e a raised i d attainment t n e iin reading e i aand d ‘noticeable o e b ggains’ s in n writing. r ng SStoryy Spinner p n iis now o available v a nationally. t n yy. There h e aree seven ev n DVDs V in eeach h box o sset, w with h sixx stories to e for o eeach h year, year e r, from ffro om reception rec ecept ption o to Yea Ye Year ar 6.. B Bo Boxsets oxse setss aare ree p priced rriced d at at £399 £399 99 and a individual in ndiv d vidual d lD DVDs V VD Ds att ££99.

Listen to a free story at thestoryspinner.co.uk

LEADERSHIP FOCUS ● MARCH/APRIL 2010

48-49 whats new.indd 46

22/2/10 11:36:59

B bl Bible Bib ble b lee st sstories torieeess brought b ro ought to life llif fe iin n 33D D A fun n series e s off 3D Bible b sstories r is set et to t add d aan eextra ra dimension i e o tto R RE lesson e o s.

Friends r n a and d Heroes e e follows o ow tthee adventures adv dvent e turees off a ggroup rou ro up o off ffriends rien end ds learning lear e rn nin ng lif life’s fees tou tough ough less lessons e so onss u un under nd der Roman Ro a rrulee in 669 A AD aand d is interspersed n rs e d w with sstories r s from o b both h the h O Old and d the h N New w Testaments. s m n The sseries Th e iss available v a in 110 languages a u es ass well e as a with w subtitles b le and a audio d descriptions e r t s for o the h b blind. d There h e are re 399 episodes p o s in three e sseparate a te series e s packs, pa pac cks pric pr priced ced e at ££90 90 eeac 90 each. ch Eac Ea Each ch o one n ne also l o cco comes ome mes w with ith t pup p pupil pill w worksheets orksheets o s e s aand nd dK KS2 S2 REE llesson esson s n plan plans. plans l ns For more information, go to www.friendsandheroes.com.

Career C areeer ski skills killlls showtime sho howttiime for for students stu tudents Itt ccan an b bee h hard ard d fo for or st students tudeentss to seee wh where heree skills such such h ass trigonometry triggon nom metryy could co ould d ffit into o th their heir care career eer plan plans. ns. H Happily, ap pp pilyy, Th The he R Royal oyaal A Albert lbert Hall Hall hass produced p pro oduced d a ffree ree e-le e-learning earn ningg res resource sourrce for sch schools hoolls th that hat help helps ps p place lace fu functional uncttion nal skills skillss into int to ccontext onttextt by sho showing owin ng h how ow w English, m maths ath hs aand nd ICT T wo work ork b behind eh hind thee scenes sc cenees att the fa famous amo ous vvenue. en nue. Design Designed ned for KS33 an and nd K KS4, S4, Showtime Sho owttimee features fe eatu ures videoss of thee Ro Royal oyal Alb Albert bertt Hall’s Haall’s staff stafff ass they theey show show w pupils pupills how ho ow they th hey usee subjec subjects cts theyy learned leearned at at school scho ool in in their th heirr day day-to-day y-to o-daay ro roles. oless. Fr From rom demonstrating d emonsstrattingg thee im importance mportan nce of grammar gram mmar aand nd pun punctuation nctu uatio on when wheen working w orkkingg in market marketing tingg to sho showing owin ng h how ow w ma maths athss is u used sed d to o so solve olve ligh lighting htingg problems, p rob blem ms, thiss is a po positive ositiive w way ayy to enc encourage cou uragee st students tudeentss to ma make ake tthe he most m osst o off op opportunities ppo ortunities coming com mingg their theeir way. way.. www.royalalberthall.com/explore/showtime

History H isstoryy ttold old d th the he 21 21st 1st ce century eentury nturyy w way ay The M The Muse Museum eum of Lon London ndon d ha has as o opened pen ned its t d doo doors ors to tthe he h d diggital digital revolution revolut l tion n with h its n new ew sta state-of-the-art tate-o off-tthe--art Clore Clo C ore Learnin Learnin ng C Centre. enttre.

School Sch cho ool cch children hildr dren n ccan aan lea learn earn n aabout b boutt tthe hee hist history i tor oryy o of Lo Lon Londo nd do on with with t the h help e of iiPo iPods, od dss, PPS PSPs SPss aand n nd iPh iPhones.

Pho oneess. T Technology ech e hn no ology o w will illl b bee mixe mixed m xed in n with w h moree traditional m a ti a approaches p ro c s such c aas theatre h t w worksho r hopss and n o object e handling; a d g for o example, x m e using s thee latest t t blue-screen u sc e ttechnology h l y students t e s will i be able b to t see s themselves e e e dressed r s up in n re replica i Roman Ro a ccostumes t m aand d then e ttransfer s r their e iimages ag onto to p pictures u s off Roman Ro a p potss orr mosaics. o ic T Thee e-learning l rn g centre e re w will cco over e prehistoric p i o times i s through h u tto tthe present e n day a vvia eevents n ssuch h ass the t e Great G t Fire r of London o o aand d thee Black la k Death. e . Activities c i s cater at for f all ages a s and n abilities abilitie b t es an and nd rrun un n thro throughout h ou ugghou out th the he yyear. eear For more information go to www.museumoflondon.o org.uk

The de-cluttered school

By Jane C Anderson Continuum Price: £12.99 Anyone who has to scrabble through piles of books, papers and unread Government initiatives to find their keyboard or diary knows just how distracting a cluttered workspace can be when you’re trying to get something done. It’s no different for children, argues Jane Anderson, who is a Visiting Fellow at Northumbria University and a feng shui practitioner. That’s why she’s written a book explaining both why and how schools should go about tidying up the things that no one can bear to throw out, from old boxes to demonstration models. If you’re in a rush, skip straight to chapter four and a handy checklist on how to run a de-cluttering day (the author even suggests selling it to senior colleagues as a low-cost form of CPD).

Creating tomorrow’s schools today

By Richard Gerver Continuum Price: £16.99

This book has a slightly unprepossessing look: smaall print, black-and-white snapshots and an earrnest-sounding subtitle. Open it and start reaading, however, and it’s an absorbing effort by someone who has thought deeply about a su ubject that he clearly takes very seriously.

Desspite the importance of the issues, the autthor leavens the book with a welcome sen nse of humour. Gerver questions whether thee way in which our society frames edu ucation and schooling is really the best wayy to prepare children for the future. “We neeed to create a system that creates people wh ho can make the jobs fit them,” he says.

MARCH/APRIL 2010 ● LEADERSHIP FOCUS 47

48-49 whats new.indd 47

22/2/10 12:01:13

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MARCH/APRIL 2010 ● LEADERSHIP FOCUS 45

Intel, the Intel logo, Centrino and the Centrino logo, Core2 Duo and the Core2 Duo logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Microsoft, MS and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. LoCO2PC is a Trademark of Akhter Group plc. © 2010 Akhter Group plc. All rights reserved

LFO.03.10.048.indd 45

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JN-1478-E 8-Feb-2010 E&OE Prices subject to change without notice

22/2/10 10:17:39

HAVE YOUR SAY

RANTLINE What’s driving you mad? Is it hiring staff, inspections or the inability to refer exam appeals for independent review?

AREA: Northumberland SUBJECT: Notice periods Dear editor Finding good staff is never easy but it’s made more difficult because people who leave don’t have to give enough notice.

People on non-teaching contracts only have to give four weeks’ notice, and there’s just no way I can advertise the role, conduct interviews and hire a replacement who can start in that time, meaning that pupils lose out on much-needed support. If they were required to give eight weeks’ notice it would be much more manageable.

I also think that teachers should not be able to leave a school partway through an academic year unless there are truly exceptional reasons.

It’s not unreasonable to ask them to commit to this length of time, and it would certainly improve continuity of teaching for pupils.

had no experience of the primary EBD system. We dropped from ‘good’ to ‘satisfactory’ but I know we’ve improved. The goalposts have been moved but the changes to the inspection system haven’t been explained to parents – they just see that we’ve dropped.

Furthermore, we used to get a full CV for the inspectors; this time I got two sentences saying she had been part of a senior management team at a school. She hadn’t even been a headteacher, for goodness sake.

Our inspector had no experience of the primary EBD system. She hadn’t even been a headteacher

AREA: Lincolnshire SUBJECT: Inspections Dear editor I’m the head of a small special school.

What’s frustrating me is the number of judgments where we have to compare ourselves to mainstream schools in our Ofsted – it’s ridiculous.

Take our attendance. We have fewer than 40 pupils, so if we have four off with flu, that’s a 10 per cent drop. How can we be compared to percentages at a mainstream school?

On the other hand, in other areas we’ve used borough model policies, only for the Ofsted inspector to say we’re EBD, so shouldn’t be doing it.

On top of this our inspector

AREA: Devon SUBJECT: Independent exam board review Dear editor For a long time now I’ve been drawing attention to the fact that exam boards are not independently accountable for their decisions despite the enormous effect that they have on individual pupils and schools.

It really bugs me that these boards are not subject to independent regulation or review. As things stand,

any time a school or a pupil appeals a mark, they have to accept a review decision that’s made internally by the board. The real problem with that is that these organisations have a vested interest in not supporting appeals because it would create extra work for them. They also want to maintain a public appearance of certainty so they don’t want to have to admit to mistakes.

What makes this behaviour so unjust is that it’s pupils and schools that lose out when these bodies try to protect their reputations in this way.

Clearly, students suffer if they are not awarded the mark that they earned, but there’s also a knock-on effect for the rest of the school. For example, if results aren’t right it can affect the school’s position in the league tables and even the amount of funding it receives.

Missing out on much-needed resources just because an examiner refuses to admit a mistake is galling.

I am particularly disappointed at the Government’s response to this issue. It had the opportunity to create a genuinely independent review body to monitor and regulate exam boards, but all we’ve ended up with is yet another expensive quango.

And there still isn’t anywhere for us to refer appeals when we want a genuinely independent reassessment of a result.

A PROBLEM SHARED… Angered or annoyed by something at work? Get in touch and we’ll air your grievance. You can email publications@ naht.org.uk or leave a message on our dedicated rantline: 020 7880 7663.

MARCH/APRIL 2010 ● LEADERSHIP FOCUS 49

49 Rantline.indd 49

22/2/10 12:02:08

AND FINALLY SUSAN YOUNG

Don’t be shaken or stirred

RICHARD LEVESLEY

Warning: there are no secrets when you’re On Her Majesty’s Public Service

G

ood morning staff. I trust you managed to arrive unobserved? I will be checking with that nosy woman who lives over the road to see if anyone saw you. Marks will be docked if necessary.

Right. As you all know, this is our special Licence to Practise session.

I’ve got my instructions here in a sealed envelope, which I’ll open in a minute.

But first, the ground rules: anything that happens in this room is classified, so no comparing notes with teachers who haven’t yet reached this milestone.

Please also note that I am to be addressed as H. So, you’ve all been teaching for five years without any major mishaps?

No alleged assaults, black marks from Ofsted or parental complaints? Good.

Now, have any of you been out socially more than twice in the past half term? Yes, Ms Galore, that does include visits to A&E for stapler-related injuries incurred during lesson planning.

Do any of you routinely leave school before six in the evening, except on Fridays? And do any of you manage to spend the whole weekend without marking or planning? No? Excellent.

I think we can say that you’re all doing enough lesson preparation.

Assessment next. I need to know what percentage of your pupils were

50

found to be more than a sub-level off your assessment when tested at the end of the term. Two out of 30, Mr Goldfinger? I’m afraid that falls outside the acceptable margin of error.

Now, what professional journals do you read? No, Heat won’t do. Oh, I see your point about connecting with the pupils. I’ll allow it if you’re sure it offers unique insight into the teenage psyche.

Next question: how many hours a week do you spend reading and watching professional material? No, Mr Bond, Waterloo Road doesn’t count.

The examples they give here are Teachernet and Teachers TV. Oh, and regularly logging on to the GTC and TDA websites as well. How regularly?

More than once a year, Ms Lynd.

It looks like I’ll have to mark you all down for that. None of you watching Teachers TV? I can’t believe it. That’s the kind of informal continuing professional development that all good teachers are expected to be doing, you know. That’s what it says here, anyway.

Sleep, Ms Lynd? It doesn’t say anything about good teachers needing that in this form, I’m afraid. I should think that’s best saved for the holidays.

OK, we’ve all done the regular Inset days, but it looks like we’re supposed to be doing more than that. Anyone been on any courses? Yes, I’m very sorry I wasn’t enthusiastic about you going on that one – or that one – but it looks

like we can tick those boxes. Phew.

Now, the next questions are about your private lives. Have any of you been inebriated in a public place within 100 miles of school in the past five years? Hmm, since we were all together on that occasion, Mr Bond, I think we can let it pass.

Have you ever visited a local bottle bank in broad daylight or put two or more wine bottles out with your fortnightly recycling collection where it might possibly have been observed?

Pardon? It matters because we’re role models, Ms Galore.

Now, wheelie bins. Has yours gone out even slightly open or on the wrong day? Ms Spendapenny, are you laughing?

It’s very important that we send out the right messages, you know.

Well, I’m pleased to say that you’ve all got your licences to practise. Heaven knows what I’d have done if you hadn’t.

I don’t think there’s a supply budget to cover teachers who have to be sent away for re-education.

There’s just a bit more to do before you go. I’d like to introduce you to T, who’s going to issue you with your new equipment. Yes, I know a memory stick filled with Assessment for Learning materials doesn’t really compare with a Walther PPK for the Year 9 bottom set, but we have to work with our material, don’t we?

Try not to break it, Mr Bond.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS ● MARCH/APRIL 2010

50 And finally.indd 50

22/2/10 11:39:53

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With four stages to indicate your school’s progress on the journey towards ICT excellence, the charter gives you the inspiration and confidence to continually improve the use of ICT in learning.

Schools that are committed to ICT are more likely to achieve better results and be rated as outstanding by Ofsted.

“The Next Generation Learning Charter helps the whole school improve the impact of ICT on our child’s learning.”

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Find out how your school can sign up for the charter and begin the journey towards ICT excellence: lll#cZmi\ZcZgVi^dcaZVgc^c\#dg\#j`$X]VgiZghX]ddah

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18/2/10 09:07:40

It’s like having your own PC for your PC’s SelectaDNA the second generation of forensic marking and Selectamark the world’s most proven permanent property marking system now together give the only 100% coverage for identifying property.

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Criminals have dreaded Selectamark for years and now they fear Selectadna as it links the thief to the crime which means that together they are the most cost effective crime reduction systems you can buy WITH NO ANNUAL CHARGES !

Visit www.selectaDNA.co.uk and www.selectamark.co.uk or call us on 01689 860757 to find out more.

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18/2/10 09:08:29