Building school-community partnerships

scameron — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 15:24:57 +0100

Better Together

Advancing learning through KTP

scameron — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:06:05 +0000

The knowledge transfer partnership (KTP) at Bedlingtonshire Community High School is a two-year project that runs from January 2008 to December 2009 in collaboration with the Research Centre for Learning and Teaching at Newcastle University. It is one of the first of its kind in the UK and its primary aim is to improve learning for staff, students and the community.

Early Years PiP Cards: 2.3 Supporting Learning

scameron — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:28:35 +0000

Theme: Positive Relationships
‘Children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and/or key person.’

Commitment 2.3 Supporting Learning
‘Warm, trusting relationships with knowledgeable adults support children’s learning more effectively than any amount of resources.’ Areas of knowledge covered:

Early Years PiP Cards: 2.2 Parents as partners

scameron — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 10:18:54 +0000

Theme: Positive Relationships
‘Children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and/or a key person.’

Commitment 2.2 Parents as Partners
‘Parents are children’s first and most enduring educators. When parents and practitioners work together in early years settings, the results have a positive impact on children’s development and learning.’

Areas of knowledge covered:

Creating a primary school: amalgamation

scameron — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 13:30:56 +0100

We were two years into Hafise’s headship, having survived TLR restructuring, an Ofsted inspection under the new framework, and an Investors in People assessment. Hafise had completed the new heads programme, and we could have wondered what further demands could possibly arise for us, the headteacher and chair of governors of a primary school in Havering. We might have expected nothing more than having to keep up with new pieces of legislation, work creatively through the SEF and keep the school improvement plan on track. An amalgamation was not a challenge that we had anticipated!

Meeting the needs of looked-after children

scameron — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 13:24:21 +0100

The first sentence in the DCSF guidance on the Education of Young People in Public Care reads ‘Children in public care are our children.’ This is an emotive sentence. The government continues to nail its colours to the mast by declaring that it is our responsibility to ‘ensure they get the education they need and deserve.’ This is a collective responsibility. Due to the complex nature of these young people’s lives, many external agencies can be involved with them and all these agencies have to ‘share the care’.

Involving parents as learning partners

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:28:27 +0100

This teaching tool includes guidance and tips to help school teachers to involve students' parents in the learning process.

It explores the benefits of partnership with parents, and explains why and how teachers need to involve them more. It also includes a spreadsheet for self-assessment.

Written by Dr Bill Lucas

A day in the life of an extended schools manager

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:21:01 +0100

Role

Tackling underachievement: a case study

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:21:00 +0100

School context

Raising achievement by transforming learning

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:21:00 +0100

At too many schools there are too many students spending too much time experiencing underachievement, when the duty of all schools is to help every pupil achieve their potential and know success. But there are also a considerable number of schools that have found ways to overcome this dearth of achievement — and many of these have been involved in the Raising Achievement Transforming Learning (RATL) project run by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT). This articles finds out what this project is all about.

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Secondary school partnerships: the role of governors

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:57 +0100
Schools and colleges that work in partnership provide a better offer to their students, make faster progress and improve their performance. That is the core message of my study for the Association of School and College Leaders on collaborative working in the secondary school sector.

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Extended services across a cluster

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:53 +0100
This case study outlines the work that has been undertaken to ensure that our extended schools provision is strategic and joined up in reality, not just rhetoric. It also explains what makes multi-agency collaboration work for us at Coleshill Heath and in other schools across North Solihull and looks at some of the innovative ways we have enhanced our delivery and ensured it is long term and part of a bigger picture. The box below sets out the background to the development of extended schools provision in North Solihull.

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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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Collaboration and unity: the rewards of 100% specialist status

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

Having 100% specialist status in a local authority can bring major benefits to schools, teachers, pupils and the wider community if structures, personnel and initiatives are in place that facilitate and drive effective and authority-wide collaboration between schools and community partners. That is the verdict of headteachers in one of the country’s 17 100% specialist local authorities, Plymouth.

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Behind the buzzwords: Creating partnerships

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:45 +0100
Partnership is an easy concept. United we stand: together we are stronger.

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Building partnerships to boost creativity

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:41 +0100
‘Partnerships between schools and creative practitioners help unlock the creativity of learners and educators and develop creative approaches to teaching all aspects of the curriculum.’
Lord Adonis, Schools Minister

Creativity is being seen by an increasing number of schools as a process that can increase the motivation of teachers and learners, raising achievement and helping them to meet improvement targets.

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The New Relationship and SIP

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:41 +0100
I have been a school improvement partner (SIP) for three years having been trained in the first group in York. Since then I have Sipped in two urban inner-city areas and a shire county and have worked in a total of six schools. During this time I have continued to be headteacher of a very large comprehensive school which is both a training school and specialist arts college.

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Education and business working together

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:41 +0100

For us to evaluate the links between schools and business and their impact on learning we need to begin by understanding its recent history. When I completed my secondary education and headed off to university in 1971 I was largely ignorant of what business was and how it functioned. I can’t remember any attempt by my teachers to link my learning to what was happening in the ‘real world’ of business.
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Trust schools: the benefits, the law and the future

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

T rust schools sprang to life in the Government White Paper 'Higher Standards, Better Schools For All' published in October 2005, intended to 'harness the external support and a success culture, bringing innovative and stronger leadership to the school, improving standards and extending choice'.

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School improvement partners

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:33 +0100
In 2004, the Government set out its vision for a new relationship with schools, designed to give schools greater autonomy and to help them raise standards. The school improvement partner (SIP) programme was introduced as part of this new relationship and SIPs concluded their second term of work with secondary schools in England and Wales in March. This article outlines the role of the SIP in challenging and supporting the school, helping it to identify priorities for improvement and plan effective change.
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National organisations for gifted and talented

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:31 +0100
The CfBT's plans are ambitious and will help practitioners to access the rich and diverse services now available from a number of different sources. In the meantime however, we have collected together information to provide readers with an overview of what is on offer from different quarters – this month, national organisations.

NACE: National Association for Able Children in Education
www.nace.co.uk

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Shakespeare in the 21st century

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

Teachers of English know that if they can draw their pupils into the world of a play by Shakespeare they will have secured their interest for life. Demystifying the challenges that many pupils (and some teachers) see in studying Shakespeare as well as making teaching and learning an enjoyable experience has been the drive behind the secondary national strategy’s work with The Globe Education team.

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Extended services – the inside story

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:30 +0100
Hengrove Community Arts College is a mixed school for students aged 11-19. It is located in South Bristol and serves one of the most deprived areas in the country.
Just over three years ago (January 2004) it went into special measures. At that time the key issues facing the college included to:

improve attitudes and behaviour;

improve standards of oral skills, literacy and numeracy;

increase the proportion of effective teaching and learning;

continue efforts to improve attendance and punctuality.

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Learning to love languages: resources for young linguists

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

It became apparent, some time ago, that there would be a desperate shortage of gifted scientists and engineers if action were not taken to stimulate the interest of young people. Initially, efforts were made to woo older secondary pupils until it was realised that it can be too late by that stage because attitudes have hardened and other interests taken over. So universities, research organisations, businesses and professional bodies began to offer courses, summer schools, competitions and clubs to lower secondary and primary pupils.
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Students as partners in learning

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

2020 Vision, the report by the review group chaired by Christine Gilbert, recommends that a personalised approach to teaching and learning would:

treat students as partners in their learning

listen to what they think about the services they receive (see below).

What the Gilbert review said:
Reflective schools view ‘pupil voice’ as far more than establishing a pupil council. They are engaging pupils actively in shaping learning and teaching, for example, by:
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Build skills and stop gang culture

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:29 +0100

All of us crave respect. Most adults spend much of their life building a reputation based on positive recognition of who they are, what they earn and what they do. In a world where success is based on the amount of money accrued, much of the reputation and respect integral to the adult world is based on how much you have.
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Building partnerships to boost creativity

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:28 +0100

Given almost all recent education reform allows space for creativity, now is the time to increase opportunities for your students to be creative – to increase motivation to learn and boost achievement. Creative Partnerships is a national initiative aimed at helping schools develop more creativity in their curriculum.
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Reaping the benefits of going global

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:27 +0100

The students in our schools are living in exciting times. The world they will live and work in is shrinking almost daily – at least in a metaphorical sense! The big issues that concern them are global, whether it is the impact of tension in other parts of the world on where they live or the latest discussion about global warming.
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Meeting the needs of gifted and talented 14-19 students

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

For some time developing gifted and talented provision in post-16 education, particularly in FE colleges, has seemed, for many, an isolated and embattled experience. Will changes in the 14-19 landscape offer greater opportunities for G&T learners, both those following traditional routes and those such as the talented painter and decorator?
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A classroom of the future?

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

In September 2001, the then DfEE invited schools to bid for cash to build architecturally inspiring Classrooms of the Future ‘with the aim of challenging current thinking on school building design’. Over 90 local authorities and Education Action Zones (EAZs) put in bids and 12 were selected to share the £13m. Environmentally sustainable projects and those that incorporated wider community use were given precedence.
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Making the most of your TAs

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:23 +0100

Teaching assistants can provide valuable help to hard-pressed teachers – if only they are used properly. Unfortunately this is not always the case. Young, inexperienced teachers can find it difficult organising other adults within the classroom especially while they are trying to find their feet in their first job. After all, the teaching assistant will probably know more about the class than they do! While some teachers who have been around for longer regard the teaching assistant as just a pair of hands to do the dogsbody work or help out a particular child.
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Provision and support for gifted and talented children in primary schools

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

Effective Provision for Gifted and Talented Children in Primary Education (DfES-04072-2006) was published in November 2006, together with Identifying Gifted and Talented Pupils. The guidance is set out under the same five headings used for the National Quality Standards in Gifted and Talented Education. Section 4 is likely to be of particular interest to SENCOs and should inform discussions about roles and responsibilities, and all the more so at a time when the DfES and TDA are seeking to define the SENCO role more carefully.
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Teaching enterprise or enterprising teachers?

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

Enterprise education (EE) is now compulsory in the English school curriculum. Can enterprise education be viewed as a school subject or is it an attitude to teaching? How may schools ‘teach’ enterprise? And does success require basic assumptions about how schools are organised to be challenged?

What is EE?

There is a long-standing problem of definition with EE and its learning outcomes (Davies and Brant, 2006). There are three broad types of definition:
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Music Manifesto - the state of play

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

On 16 and 17 January, 2007, the Music Manifesto State of Play conference took place at the Roundhouse in the London borough of Camden. Over 1,000 music professionals, students, educators, administrators and policy makers attended the festival-style event and representatives from all over the country were able to exchange ideas and approaches to music education with the aid of performances, demonstrations, forums and practical learning experiences.

Manifesto update
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Making connections: networking to improve teaching and learning

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

Networks are an increasingly important feature of contemporary life. Modern organisations understand their importance for innovation and knowledge exchange, and within the education sector it is now understood that organisational isolation inhibits learning. There are now many schools, both in the UK and internationally, that are benefiting from working together as a network. These schools are harnessing the potential of collaboration, while reducing the damaging aspects of competition between schools.
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Networking for whole-school improvement: a case study

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

In 2003, Blackburn with Darwen’s secondary schools decided to apply to become one of the National College for School Leadership’s (NCSL) Networked Learning Communities (NLCs). John Westwell, Des Callaghan, Joanne Emberton and Jenny England describe the background to that decision.
Opportunities and principles
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Building a learning organisation

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:18 +0100

My organisation is currently contracted to provide workforce development for the new healthy schools scheme. Together with people at the Department of Health, we are determined to try and put back some of the work on adult emotional health and wellbeing that seemed to become lost as healthy schools moved on. For me, taking care of the adults working with young people is the first and foremost task. Sometimes, though, it seems as if it is the last one.
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Top tips for starting a media career

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:16 +0100

Securing a job in the media is an ambition shared by significant numbers of young people. This inevitably results in a crowded and competitive arena. It can seem impossible to find an opening when too many applicants are chasing too few opportunities, and this can lead to disappointment and disillusionment. The key to success is to have a clear strategy for getting started based on solid preparation, a clear idea of what is involved and an understanding of the experience, skills and personal qualities which best support an application.
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Energy awareness: the European connection

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:14 +0100

For the last 10 years, my school has built a very productive relationship with our local energy agency at Newark and Sherwood district council. This really started by accident as part of a European project and has grown into a partnership which has become a significant part of our programme of school improvement.
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Seeking strengthened leadership and capacity

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:12 +0100

One of the more contentious aspects of the 2006 Education and Inspections Bill, recently passed into law, was the proposal to make possible the establishment of trust schools. The key concern was that, having control of their own admissions, they could potentially disrupt local admissions procedures with a consequent negative impact on the communities that they currently serve and on other local schools.
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Links for international understanding

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:12 +0100

Amid the daily complexities of globalisation and technological change, our lives are affected by events beyond our shores of which many people have little understanding. The UK has been a member of the European Union for 33 years, but remains very much an offshore island. At the same time, the British population is increasingly diverse. A sustainable future depends on an improved level of mutual understanding and participation in world citizenship.
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Nuffield Review of 14-19 Education and Training

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:11 +0100

The Nuffield Review of 14-19 Education and Training’s 2005-06 report addresses all aspects of the subject in England and Wales. It does this by examining the relevant research literature as well as through engaging with teachers, lecturers, employers, training providers, voluntary bodies, policy makers and learners.

Positive determination

The review paints a positive picture of just how far people are determined to:
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Wales and Zanzibar: in partnership

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:11 +0100

Teachers and students from three secondary schools in south Wales took part in celebrations to mark World Teachers’ Day at the Temple of Peace in Cardiff in October 2006.
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Earning a living through horticulture

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:11 +0100

Horticulture has had a poor image as a badly paid career for unintelligent people. In reality horticulture is a huge industry with a career structure like any other expanding sector of the economy. Its spectrum of opportunities range from potting up seedlings to international marketing, designing a back garden or a golf course, selling plants at farmers’ markets, to managing glasshouse tomato production.
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2013 and the age of entitlement

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

By 2013, every young person will have an entitlement to choose any one of the 14 new diplomas. To anyone unfamiliar with 14-19 these are new qualifications that will combine practical skill development with theoretical and technical understanding and knowledge. They will offer all young people different ways of learning and a route into higher education and employment.
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Community learning environments: a business manager's perspective

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:09 +0100

As a school situated in a socially deprived area, with students unable to experience wider opportunities, Withernsea Junior School is continually looking for new ways to enrich and promote the enjoyment of its students’ education. More recently, as the extended schools agenda has gathered pace, we have also considered what we might offer to our community.
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Learning Partnerships

Developing Citizenship: about the project

Your vital role in partnership working

Working cooperatively: educational professionals in the classroom

A day in the life of a learning support assistant (LSA)

Building school-community partnerships

Advancing learning through KTP

Early Years PiP Cards: 2.3 Supporting Learning

Early Years PiP Cards: 2.2 Parents as partners

Creating a primary school: amalgamation

Meeting the needs of looked-after children

Involving parents as learning partners

A day in the life of an extended schools manager

Tackling underachievement: a case study

Raising achievement by transforming learning

Secondary school partnerships: the role of governors

Extended services across a cluster

International links for leadership and learning

Collaboration and unity: the rewards of 100% specialist status

Behind the buzzwords: Creating partnerships

Building partnerships to boost creativity

The New Relationship and SIP

Education and business working together

Trust schools: the benefits, the law and the future

School improvement partners

National organisations for gifted and talented

Shakespeare in the 21st century

Extended services – the inside story

Learning to love languages: resources for young linguists

Students as partners in learning

Build skills and stop gang culture

Building partnerships to boost creativity

Reaping the benefits of going global

Meeting the needs of gifted and talented 14-19 students

A classroom of the future?

Making the most of your TAs

Provision and support for gifted and talented children in primary schools

Teaching enterprise or enterprising teachers?

Music Manifesto - the state of play

Making connections: networking to improve teaching and learning

Networking for whole-school improvement: a case study

Building a learning organisation

Top tips for starting a media career

Energy awareness: the European connection

Seeking strengthened leadership and capacity

Links for international understanding

Nuffield Review of 14-19 Education and Training

Wales and Zanzibar: in partnership

Earning a living through horticulture

2013 and the age of entitlement

Community learning environments: a business manager's perspective