They say small is beautiful...



I read an article in the TES over the weekend about Jon Whitcombe, Headteacher of The Westlands School in Sittingbourne. Jon had been to San Francisco to look at the small schools movement in the United States. He has broken his school into three small learning communities plus the sixth form. Westlands is one of 28 secondary schools involved in a Human Scale Education Project with the Gulbenkian Foundation aimed at creating small learning communities and a more human experience for their students.


This article, 'Thinking big, acting small', about the project was written by Human Scale Schools Advocate Sheila Dainton and Simon Richey, Education Director of the ulbenkian Foundation... "Nearly ten per cent of secondary schools in England have over 1,500 students. A handful have over 2,000 and at least one has over 2,500. The Government is encouraging popular schools to expand. Does big necessarily mean best or might smaller be better still?
No-one wants to be a cog in a machine. Time and again parents and teachers call for
smaller classes and smaller schools where students matter as human beings. Time and
again we hear from young people about how easy it is to feel lost and confused as they
struggle to find their feet in large secondary schools. And time and again we hear of
growing concerns about disaffection and truancy, bad behaviour and burgeoning street
crime. There could hardly be a better moment to ask if even bigger schools are a step in
the right direction or an accident waiting to happen.

Secondary school size is the nettle that has yet to be grasped. This is why the Gulbenkian
Foundation is funding a seminal new project to support up to 50 large secondary schools
develop human scale principles and practices. Over the next three years the Human Scale
Schools project aims to build a critical mass of secondary schools that can stand up as
effective examples of how its principles work. This ambitious project aims to combine the best of both worlds: large schools offeringchoice and diversity coupled with human scale structures which enable young people feel valued, respected and cared for, and where they can learn well.
Many schools are seeking innovative ways of ‘growing small’. As one headteacher wrote
in her application for a grant: ‘We want to make each student known and cherished so
that we can enhance their learning potential by giving them that all-important selfconfidence
and high self-esteem.’

Imagine what a human scale secondary school might look like. There are no one-size fits-
all answers, but the project’s flagship secondary school, Bishops Park College in
Essex, is helping to pave the way. Based in the coastal town of Clacton, staff and students
work together in three semi-autonomous schools – Lighthouses, Towers and Windmills.
Headteacher Mike Davies believes that developments at Bishops Park represent the
renewal of a true vision of education. “We need a coherent alternative to seeing schools
as high-performing factories with high-stakes accountability,” he said.
Looking to the future these are just some of the things we might see a human scale
school: A structure of three or four ‘mini-schools’: small learning communities each with
a cross-disciplinary team of teachers responsible for the learning and well-being
of a mixed-age group of learners. Students work with six or seven teachers a
week, not upwards of 16 as is often the case in secondary schools. And rather
than seeing several hundred students each week, teachers work with 80 or 90
young people. A thematic, cross curricular approach which also retains the integrity of
discipline-based knowledge and skills and makes connections between and across
them. Dialogue and inquiry feature strongly in learning and attention is given to
both the practical and the intellectual.

Assessment is integral to learning. It is based on dialogue, negotiation and critical
reflection, and includes students presenting portfolios of their work to their peers.
The timetable is flexible and responsive enough to promote different types of
teaching and learning, including masterclasses, whole class teaching, small group
work and individual learning. Teachers have time to plan and evaluate
collaboratively, and to reflect on their work. Students’ views are taken seriously and acted upon. There is a vibrant schoolcouncil where debates go beyond school dinners and the state of the toilets todiscuss teaching and learning and the curriculum and assessment. Students have a
sense of authorship over what goes on in their school. They appreciate that the school experience is genuinely provisional and open to change. Caring is seen as a part of teaching and learning, not as a separate role. There isno sharp distinction between ‘pastoral’ and ‘academic’ roles. There is a strong sense of community and partnership, both within the school and
beyond. The school is working collaboratively and responsively with parents,
families and the wider community. Last but not least, and mindful that ‘staying safe’ is one of the five outcomes at the heart of the Every Child Matters agenda, students feel safe and secure in a human scale school.

But we do most of this already you might say. What’s so different about human scale
education? We believe that the education of young people flourishes when it is built on
good human relationships. This has important consequences for the scale of
organisations and the number of people involved in learning and teaching. To quote the
American small schools pioneer Ted Sizer: ‘One cannot teach a student well if one does
not know that student well.’ Small per se is not enough – it is not an end in itself. But it
is an important first step in establishing the conditions necessary to create active,
collaborative communities where young people and their learning are taken seriously."

You can find out more at www.hse.org.uk. Schools seeking further information about the project, and those wishing to apply for agrant, should write to: Simon Richey, Assistant Director (Education) Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, 98 Portland Place, London W1B 1ET.
Chris

Some people are just fantastic...

I dropped in to Elmete this morning and Margaret Dalby was a real star. She noticed that something was up and was fantastic... simply spending time talking about my Mum and her Mum. Some people are really special...
Chris

I heard the Bishop of Reading on the radio this morning...

The Bishop was giving egg timers to people on Reading Station and asking them to find time to sit and think. His line was that if we all simply found some to think we could make the world a better place. It's true... turn off the radio and the television and listen... go for a walk and listen... and you will be amazed.
Chris

Tonight I must write the saddest lines...



My Mum was a hugely important influence in my life... in many ways she made me the way I am. She died this morning so I may seen somewhat distracted for a while.

Chris

I have been thinking about our ambituous targets for 2015...

As part of the 14 - 19 Review we have said that we want 80% of our young people to get level 2 qualifications by 2015... that's 5 good GCSE's in old money! Currently 52% get to this level at 16 with another 20% achieving it by the time they are 19... so we are almost there already by 19, we simply have to do it earlier and better.

That means that our current Year 3 children, who will do their GCSE's in 2015, are the target group... real children who we can track and monitor and work with to ensure that they achieve and succeed. Another way of looking at it is that currently in every class of thirty Year 3 children only 16 will achieve 5A*-C grades or the equivalent at 16. We need to increase this to 24!

This challenge affects all of us and requires a cultural change, an additudinal change and belief across the team that this is not just possible but easy! The trick is going to be to lock together three powerful elements around our little learners:

• inspirational teaching;
• engaging and accessible curriculum pathways;
• brilliant coaching and guidance.

We can do this but our starting point has to be to develop a culture where we all believe that everyone has the potential and the ability and the intelligence if we can nurture it, develop it and release it. My only question is why were we so unambituous... why not 100%?

Remember... set the goal and invent the way, set the goal and make it happen.

Chris

The Education Leeds team move in the best circles...

Wendy Winterburn sent me this photograph of Amy Williamson, Education Leeds Choice Adviser, with the Prime Minister.

Amy is directly on his left. She reports having a brilliant time... a truly memorable experience. It's what I always say... talented, brilliant, gorgeous and wonderful colleagues are changing the world, making their mark and being noticed!

Chris

Our school buildings here in Leeds are brilliant and if you want proof...

I received this e-mail from my colleague Tony Scott.
"Chris, Some good news following the RICS Pro Yorkshire Awards Evening held at the Town Hall on Friday evening. Around 60 projects from the region were entered, and a total of 42 projects were short-listed in the eight categories. New Bewerley Community School & Children's Centre won the Community Benefit Award, and then went on also to win the Regeneration Award.

All eight category winners were then considered for the Pro Yorkshire Project of the Year Award, and I am delighted to report that New Bewerley was confirmed as the recipient of this award also. The project now goes forward to the National RICS Awards with two regional nominations!
Tony Scott Architectural Manager at the Strategic Design Alliance"

I keep on about brilliant learning places, well New Bewerley Community Primary School & Children's Centre certainly seems to fit the label.
FANTASTIC NEWS
Chris

I don’t know if it’s the influence of the blog…

My friend John Gibson has been in touch yet again… he is certainly getting around this half-term. This time he has been at Victoria Primary with Tessa Mason and her colleagues. John tells me that they have brilliant assemblies and amazing displays, that Key Stage 2 is wonderful but Key Stage 1 is simply the best!

Let me know if you have been somewhere great.
Chris

I have been reading again. It’s fantastic…

During term time I hardly find a moment to breathe let alone read but over the holidays I love to read and escape from the constant noise, the chaos and the clutter. I’ve read a couple of books so far… ‘Crazy as Chocolate’ by Elisabeth Hyde and ‘Engleby’ by Sebastian Faulks.

Elisabeth Hyde also wrote ‘The Abortionist’s Daughter’. ‘Crazy as Chocolate’ is a book about the relationship between a mother and her two daughters; about their wild childhood, the mother’s suicide and, in spite of everything, the love the girls have for their mother.

‘Engleby’ is a brilliant book and I couldn’t put it down. It tells the story of Mike Engleby who survives a private school and goes to Cambridge University where Jennifer Arkland, a fellow student, disappears. We follow Engleby’s career and his observations reveal a mystery of gripping and disturbing power.

Let me know if you have read anything good recently.
Chris

It’s funny how hectic the end of half terms are… it seems that we build to an amazing and wonderful climax every six to eight weeks and it’s fantastic! This half term has been no different and last week alongside the usual stuff I was touched by some incredible people and some wonderful places.

It’s easy in a large and complex organisation to forget what really matter and to believe that some things are simply impossible. As I keep reminding you, everything is possible if you simply believe. The impossible simply needs to be broken down into bite size chunks and while few of us have the power to change the world each of us can change a small bit of our world for the better… as Robert Kennedy said “ It is from numberless small acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped.”

So what’s the recipe for success…
¨ Be passionate;
¨ Inspire others;
¨ Practice self-belief;
¨ Do more;
¨ Take risks;
¨ Persevere; and
¨ Be generous.

Have a great what’s left of half-term…
Keep the faith!
Chris