Week Ending 6th Jan 2012

Happy New Year!

With the Bank Holiday it was a short week to start 2012 and I was pleased to see that the term started in an orderly and purposeful fashion.

We were glad to welcome four new members of staff. Jude Hudson joins the school to lead our Child Care and Child Development Courses, Stephen Clines joins the Student Support Team, Fatima Sidat joins the Maths Team as their new Learning Manager and Michelle Vessey joins our Art Team. We are delighted to have recruited such quality.

 

We were also glad to welcome the new skirts. It was a shame about the delay in production, however it was really important that we had a unique plaid and also one where our parents' investment was honoured with a quality product. I think they look great!

The photo shows Phoebe Hodgson, Megan Law and Holly Avis, from Year 7, all proudly wearing their new uniform skirts.

 

 

Too much of the early part of my week was spent in offices. I appreciate that office time is a 'necessary evil'  of the job, but I had spent too much time locked away at the expense of being in touch with the real business of school. By Thursday I really felt out of touch with what was going on in the classrooms, so in the afternoon I spent time visiting in Maths, ICT and Languages, making sure that not just was I seeing, but that I was also seen.  

I did take the opportunity to do some assemblies this week. I reflected on three types of learners, the dependent, independent and inter-dependent. Each of our year groups achieve so much when their learning is inter-dependent, where they work for one another and I used a video clip of a starling murmuration to illustrate what can be achieved by loads of individuals working together. It is a remarkable sight and the clip I used can be seen <here>.

 

Regular Blog readers will recall from 09/12/11 that Miss Carter and a group of our young people entered the North of England Education Conference Schools competition, where they had to consider what learning could look like in 5 years time. I congratulated Josh Hallas, Billy Gardener, Reece Bartle Coates and James McAlpin on their work at the time, but I am delighted to report that they have won a prize for their video, and the school have been awarded a high definition video camera by the NEEC. 

 

Congratulations are also due to the latest young people who have passed their ABRSM Music Instrument Exams (the 'Grades') this week. Well done to Bryn Towning (Grade 5 Viola), Rebecca Wood (Grade 4 Clarinet), Leonie Ricard (Grade 5 Flute), Lucy Binsted (Grade 5 Flute) and Marie Hillcoat (Grade 1 Trombone). It is a big commitment in your own time to progress through the various grades, and I am delighted with their success. A 'thank you' is also due to Mrs Williams who provided piano accompaniment throughout.

The week ended with a visit form Marcia Harding. We have a long and successful partnership with Marcia, who works for Leeds, in the School Improvement team. She spent two hours with me and Mrs Rooney looking at our performance data; how we had analysed it, the actions we had taken and their impact. I am pleased that Marcia left happy and assured that standards, expectations and ambitions at Boston Spa School are secure.