Leadership Vision

Radical change for schools

scameron — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:04:24 +0100

In a white paper published late last November, the government set out proposals for radical changes to the education system, some of which are already being debated as part of the 2011 Education Bill. In this article I examine the proposals and their significance for headteachers.

Are student councils the way forward?

scameron — Tue, 04 May 2010 12:39:04 +0100

Student council

The argument for having student councils is that they enable students to have a voice on key issues. In the best examples they are run by, and for, students with little or no staff involvement. They are given a budget and engage in meaningful discussions with their peers before representing these views to teaching staff. All too often, however, this is not the case. The council can become the remit of a select few who are not representative of the student body and debate rarely gets beyond school uniform, lunch and mobile phones.

Primary leaders - are you making the most of your staff?

scameron — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 10:36:18 +0000

Do you listen with envy to other school leaders speak about the staff in their school? Do they seem to have a team that pulls together through thick and thin with everyone playing their part to achieve the school’s priorities and give the children the best possible education? And do you sit there thinking, ‘How did they achieve that? I want to know their secret.’

How to make sure your school makes a difference

scameron — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:50:32 +0000

Sometimes a headline catches your eye and imagination. Recently I was glancing through the Times Educational Supplement and was struck by the headline on page 28, ‘How much difference can schools really make?’ (23 October 2009). Immediately I was transported back more years than I wish to remember to my first week at Teachers’ Training College. In a hall packed with students the college principal asked the very same question. At that time my view of education was based on my own stable but narrow experience of one primary school and one secondary school.

Taking the right road to achieve your priorities

scameron — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:35:52 +0100

I got lost this week. It shouldn’t have happened as I was on a road I know well. However, I wasn’t paying attention and before I realised what had happened I was on a different road going in the wrong direction. Has this ever happened to you? Possibly not when you are driving but perhaps you have experienced going in the wrong direction when you realise that you don’t seem to be making the progress you expected when you review improvement priorities. Your school isn’t alone in this.

School leadership: back to basics

scameron — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:44:45 +0100

Welcome back
It has been impossible to miss the signs: leaves starting to turn, lamps switched on earlier in the evening, television adverts for school uniforms, and queues of parents and children in the shoe department, resigned to a long wait for the ever-important new shoes for school. Yes, it’s the start of a new school year. May I welcome you back readers to a new term. Whatever you have been doing this summer I hope you have enjoyed a relaxing break and are looking forward to the start of the forthcoming academic year.

Primary leadership: end of year hot topics

scameron — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:33:29 +0100

Just like the Guides and Scouts, it’s good to be prepared but successful leaders know that the important thing is to focus on what is being done to ensure that every child currently in their care can make the best possible progress in their learning and development. This ebulletin looks at the differences we have made this school year, and considers what we can do to prepare for what might lie ahead in 2009-10.

Making sustainability cross-curricular

scameron — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:43:38 +0000

The new secondary curriculum introduced into schools in September 2008 has introduced the ‘global dimension’ as a key strand and this is one of the doorways of sustainability.

School 'strategy': what is it?

scameron — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:12:47 +0000

One of the more cringe-worthy moments in the Bichard Inquiry occurred during the cross-examination of one of the hapless chief constables. As I recollect, it went like something like this:

‘I suppose intelligence is a crucial element in police work?’

‘Yes, over the last 10 years we have put more emphasis on it.’

‘Oh,’ said counsel for the inquiry, ‘I would have thought it was more like two thousand years because I see on the title page of your handbook a quotation from Sun Tzu’s Art of War.’

Sustainability: what schools can achieve

scameron — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:59:59 +0000

By the year 2020 the government wants all schools to become ‘sustainable schools’, and to help make this a reality the DCSF has produced The National Framework for Sustainable Schools, which provides guidance on a whole- school approach to this development.

Workforce reform: giving support teams a voice

scameron — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:53:01 +0000

In 2005 the Education (Review of Staffing Structure) Regulations 2005 placed a duty on school governing bodies to review the school’s staffing structure, consult and prepare, by 31 December that year, a plan for the full implementation of any changes arising from the review by 31 December 2008 (1). Valley School began their initiative – Valley TEAM: Together Everyone Achieves More – to address issues using their own staff.

Curriculum planning: a new start

scameron — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:33:59 +0000

It must have been a strange feeling for those who were set free after the fall of the Bastille. They were suddenly liberated, in unexpected circumstances and probably without an idea of what to do next. ‘We are free! What do we do now?’

Making the most of your partnership with governors

scameron — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 12:52:05 +0000

Over the past couple of weeks headteachers could be forgiven if they found it difficult to stay focused on their school’s priorities. Attention-grabbing headlines – such as ‘SATS are too crude an assessment’; ‘Conservatives shun the Rose review’; High anxiety over building programme’; Tests blamed for blighting children’s lives’ – could easily divert us from the work in hand to ensure that all children in our care have the best possible experiences every day.

Focusing on relationships in schools

scameron — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:16:11 +0000

If schools are to tackle educational inequality and raise levels of achievement, they need to be re-designed with a focus around relationships, according to a paper written by policy adviser Charles Leadbeater for The Innovation Unit at the DCSF.

‘Children learn,’ he says, ‘when they have the right relationships. Those relationships make them feel cared for; give them recognition for who they are, where they come from and what they have achieved; motivate them to learn; engage them to be participants in learning.’

Leadership themes to support the professional development offer

jlee — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:43:01 +0000

In issue 5, I wrote ‘we need to have the right people in the school to do the job’. In that issue I focused on three essential ingredients for ensuring that the ‘right’ people are recruited and, when in post, supported to do their job well. This week I want to focus on a further essential ingredient –continuing professional development (CPD). No-one would question the importance of ensuring that the workforce is knowledgeable and in possession of the necessary skills to do their job well.

School leadership: effective team building

scameron — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 10:07:34 +0000

Workforce reform has seen changes in roles and responsibilities which have challenged traditional thinking about how schools are staffed. Ensuring that we focus on and respond to the learning and wider needs of children also brings opportunities for schools to think creatively and put in place staffing structures that best meet the needs of the children at the school.

What could education be like?

scameron — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:46:13 +0000

Now is a good time to dream, because it may be that we are on the cusp of major change: to use a current trend phrase, a ‘tipping point’. When a party is nearing the end of its period of government, it is often the case that it divides in two directions: to seek the party’s heartland and – conversely – to explore the policies which the party that replaces it will introduce.

How can schools achieve a creative curriculum?

scameron — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:53:20 +0000

The growth of the Foundation Stage over recent years and the movement of its ideas into KS1, have highlighted the continuous development of creativity within current educational thinking. The constraints of the QCA guidelines have in many cases led to a prescribed manner of long-term planning that in best case scenarios uses the local environment, local history and communities to highlight the learning intentions of the schemes and at worst is teaching by numbers.

Shaping an emotionally literate school environment

scameron — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:50:57 +0000

Caldecote Community Primary School was formed in September 2001 from the amalgamation of an infant and a junior school in a predominantly white area of Leicester with high rates of crime and drug use.

Among the challenges we faced were:

School improvement: professional resolutions for 2009

scameron — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 12:58:08 +0000

I have decided that this year I will not be making any new year’s resolutions. This is unusual for me and, judging by media reports, I am in the minority. Too often I have set out with the best of intentions only to fall by the wayside in a matter of days. However, a quick scan of the magazines and newspapers in the local newsagent’s shows a recurring theme of encouragement to ‘get in shape’.

CPD: a breakdown

scameron — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:35:44 +0000

The Children’s Plan, which details the government’s ambition to make this the best place in the world for our children and young people to grow up, offers a vision of a learning workforce: ‘The best teachers constantly seek to improve and develop their skills and subject knowledge.’ The aim is to make teaching a Master’s-level profession, offering a contractual entitlement to CPD and opportunities to engage in collaborative CPD that focuses on classroom practice.

Reflecting on a school private finance initiative (PFI)

scameron — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:40:58 +0000

Our PFI story has three parts. Previously in Secondary Headship I have described the chase by different consortia, all competing for the possibility of negotiating a contract with my local authority (LA).

School improvement: having a consistent vision

scameron — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 09:48:42 +0000

I was struck by a comment made by the comedian Jenny Eclair in The Observer Magazine, 7th December 2008. She said, ‘I’m very jealous of my daughter’s education. She’s been inspired by her teachers, and nobody inspired me as a teenager.’ It’s this very type of comment that confirms the importance of working at a vision that has aspiration for every child.

Secondary headship: looking back at a career

scameron — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:27:19 +0000

How do I view my career? It has certainly been long and varied. I have worked in seven different schools, and for six different local authorities, over a period of 31 years. My work has also led me to different regions of the country.

Leadership vision: fact or fiction?

scameron — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 10:46:00 +0000

It is a well-known fact that one of the most popular questions asked at headteacher interviews is, ‘what is your vision for the school?’ Well-prepared candidates have given this much thought before their interview and are able to provide a constructed response which offers governors an insight into a potential headteacher’s sense of direction, values and understanding of the needs and context of the school. The frequency of the question has significance because it will always matter what headteachers and school leaders believe in, and what they want for the children.

School improvement: intention to action

scameron — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:12:38 +0000

Welcome

Emotionally literate leadership

scameron — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:09:04 +0100

Doreen Williams embodied my idea of emotionally literate and inspirational leadership. She was tough but never shouted; she was kind but didn’t over protect; she gave freedom within secure boundaries; she knew a lot and wanted to learn more; she was curious, witty, intelligent, emotionally aware and responsive.

A different approach: teaching through the arts

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:54 +0100

Gallions Primary School opened in September 1999 on the Winsor Park Estate in the London Borough of Newham. Nearly all the children who came to the school did so because they had failed at their previous schools. They were disillusioned with the concept of education. We had to reverse their expectation.

Curriculum

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Curriculum case study: restructuring lessons

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:53 +0100

At All Saints, teaching and learning had always been a priority in the school development plan (SDP), but when, in September 2005, it was made my responsibility as part of my deputy head role, we introduced more formal methods of identifying areas for improvement. This led us to develop a concentrated focus on what makes for a good lesson as the launchpad for introducing more effective teaching strategies to transform learning across the whole school.
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Speaking school finances: business and education

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:51 +0100
A couple of weeks ago, I contributed to an online debate on the NCSL website about schools’ approach to financial management. The discussion focused on the relationship between headteachers and business managers, and on the level of understanding of finance required for the leaders of a school whose primary focus is on learning and teaching.

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Support for all: extended and outreach services

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:51 +0100

Priory School and the Borough of Barnsley
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Sustainable nursery schools: Environmental review at EYFS

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:50 +0100
Monkchester Road Nursery School and Family Centre is a local authority nursery school in Newcastle upon Tyne providing 104 full time places for three- to four-year-olds. More than half the children access free school meals and approximately 15% have special educational needs.

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International links for leadership and learning

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:49 +0100

When the mayor of Landskrona in Sweden asked British officials for examples of highly effective London schools, he was directed by the DfES to Brampton Manor School in Newham.

Brampton Manor is a comprehensive with about 1,600 students. Like many inner-London schools Brampton Manor is ethnically diverse, with students from a wide-range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds (53 languages spoken and students from over 70 countries) learning successfully together.

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Building Schools for the Future: Involvement for governors

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:49 +0100
Governors, the oft-repeated mantra goes, play a pivotal role in the ‘strategic management’ of schools in England and Wales.

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Raising achievement through extended schools

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:41 +0100
Why do the overwhelming majority of schools run a manic day that finishes around 3.15pm? The succession of bells and queues leaves little time to talk and to think. And the shortness of lessons can easily create the feeling of a ‘conveyer belt curriculum.’ And what is the point of building schools with fantastic ICT facilities if students are sent home at the end of the day to places that do not have anything like the same resources, where they cannot access professionals able to help and support them?
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Learning from business leadership - Jack Welch

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:40 +0100
Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric, considerably added to his ‘guru’ status through the books he wrote on leadership and management. The ideas in these books are generally simple and sometimes quite obvious – and in fact those who worked for Welch confirm that he operated by putting basic ideas into operation consistently and well.

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Achieving a fully inclusive school: Brampton Manor

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:40 +0100

In December 1999 an Ofsted inspection found that Brampton Manor’s academic standards were below the national average. Other failings cited included overall unsatisfactory teaching in KS3, below average pupil attendance and weaknesses in leadership and management that ‘reduced the impact of management commitment on pupils’ learning.’

I was appointed as headmaster within two months of the inspection and a recovery plan was written by the school and agreed by Ofsted for immediate implementation.
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Achieving strategic ICT delivery at Le Rocquier School, Jersey

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:38 +0100

If we were investing our own money in a high-interest account, we would want to know on a regular basis how this investment was doing, be advised and take the appropriate action to ensure a profitable return. Parents likewise invest in schools via their child and need a return for their investment.

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SLICT: how to integrate ICT in your school

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:38 +0100
It may be difficult to believe, but it is less than 10 years since teachers were attending Inset course with names like ‘IT for the terrified’. Since then, many things have changed.

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Early years: role of the key person

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:35 +0100

‘Quality in work with babies and young children can only be delivered through a caring, personal relationship between baby or child and practitioner. In nurseries, a key person system needs to link an individual practitioner with individual children and with their parent(s).’
Lindon, J (2005)

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Effective governance and excellent leadership

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:34 +0100
When I arrived at Firth Park in September 1995, there were three to four governors who ran the governors’ meetings and agenda. The other governors felt disenfranchised and marginalised. Often they did not turn up to meetings or if they did, they contributed little to the discussions.
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Is your SLT brittle, blocked, blended or blind?

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:34 +0100

Headship is a risky business. The ‘buck’ stops with the head but the huge workload means that leadership – not just the jobs – must be shared among all members of the senior team and among other teams in the school (or schools). If the head is a ‘strategic’ head with additional external roles such as heading a school federation, or acts as a SIP, there is even more pressure.
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Learning federation case study

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:34 +0100

The South Ribble Learning Federation comprises of 12 high schools, one further education college and one special school. The group have a tradition of working together over many years,and this relationship was formalised when we became a NCSL Network Learning Community five years ago. Even though this DfES/NCSL initiative has ceased, we continue to collaborate in an increasing number of projects and initiatives. In a period when often it seems we are encouraged to compete school vs school, we have enjoyed the fruits of cooperation.
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Leading authentically

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:33 +0100
In May 2007 former US president Bill Clinton told the BBC news that, in his opinion, Gordon Brown would prove to be a ‘brilliant and authentic’ leader. Later in the piece, a voiceover by the BBC’s political correspondent, Nick Robinson, suggested ironically that after the famous ‘spin’ of the Blair years, the trouble facing Mr Brown might be that by comparison with what had gone before he would be seen to be ‘all substance’.

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Vertical tutoring and the personalisation agenda

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:31 +0100

What’s long, strong and surprisingly popular? The answer, you may be surprised to hear, is a vertical tutor group. Having both worked as heads of year we had thought of ourselves as strong advocates of the horizontal, year-based pastoral system that still prevails in most schools in this country. However, we now look back on our move to a vertical system – within which tutor groups are equally comprised of students drawn from all year groups within the school – as one of the strongest school improvement measures that we have introduced to the school.

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A new era for school leadership?

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:25 +0100

The impetus for the Independent Study into School Leadership came in November 2005 when the School Teachers’ Review Body recommended an independent study to examine the roles, responsibilities, structures and reward systems for school leaders in England and Wales.
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A key role in raising school standards

ewtemp — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:21 +0100

Long gone are the days of the ‘school secretary’. School business managers (SBMs) can now look to a structured continuous professional development path, with our objectives being to help raise standards in teaching and learning and support leadership and governance in school improvement planning.
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Managing your image

ewtemp — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:19 +0100

Have you ever had that feeling that the school down the road seems to enjoy a better image than your own? Or that parents form inaccurate opinions about your school, often based on scant evidence, that make it difficult for you to harness community support? Perhaps you’re one of those schools which has experienced some negative publicity in the press and is finding it hard to build a more favourable profile?
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Study calls for reform of governing bodies

ewtemp — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:19 +0100

The report, by PricewaterhouseCoopers, is the result of a study into school leadership commissioned by the DfES in April 2006 following a recommendation by the School Teachers’ Review Body.
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Investors in People in primary schools

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:16 +0100
In 2003, Withernsea Junior School took a proactive approach to continuing professional development and performance management. We felt that Investors in People accreditation would provide formal recognition of this and would enhance the school's image and reputation. The school always looks for ways to improve and build upon its image and saw the Investors in People standards as a way of improving our existing climate and culture, with staff development seen as an essential contribution to raising achievement.
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