I have been thinking about how we might create a virtual school...
Interestingly, there was an article in the Times Educational Supplement last week about a science teacher who had condensed her terms work into a six minute powerpoint presentation which could be available to her students on-line. What if across Leeds we did this for every course and programme and focused staff time on coaching and mentoring and guidance. Students would merely have to access priogrammes and we could monitor their access and support them as required. Apple would add to this a series of videocasts and podcasts featuring the best scientists and historians and geographers and artists from across the world to ensure that all the pathways and programmes were rigorous, challenging and stimulating.
OK why not?
Chris
Tuesday, 3 July 2007
I went on to a meeting of Corporate Management Team with the Emergency Planning Team...
They took us through an exercise looking at how we would cope if the city was hit by a flu pandemic. Scary stuff with huge numbers affected, schools closed and lots of vulnerable people across the city dying from the virus. Still better to be well prepared in case the worst does actually happen.
Chris
They took us through an exercise looking at how we would cope if the city was hit by a flu pandemic. Scary stuff with huge numbers affected, schools closed and lots of vulnerable people across the city dying from the virus. Still better to be well prepared in case the worst does actually happen.
Chris
I went on to the Attendance Champions Celebration at the Metropole Hotel...
Attendance Champions goes from strength to strength. This year 20000 children and young people had 100% attendance during March, up from 14000 last year. Jane Hall, John Normington and colleagues are doing an amazing job.
The bit of the Celebration I managed to catch included performances from the Steel Drums at Little London Primary School who were fantastic and the guitars and choir from Bramley Primary School who were brilliant.
Chris
Attendance Champions goes from strength to strength. This year 20000 children and young people had 100% attendance during March, up from 14000 last year. Jane Hall, John Normington and colleagues are doing an amazing job.
The bit of the Celebration I managed to catch included performances from the Steel Drums at Little London Primary School who were fantastic and the guitars and choir from Bramley Primary School who were brilliant.
Chris
I spent the evening with Mick Waters...
Mick used to be Chief Education Officer in Manchester and before that worked with Tim Brighouse in Birmingham. Mick is now leading the QCA work on revising the curriculum in Key Stage 2 and 3. It was wonderful to be able to share ideas and listen to what Mick is trying to achieve at QCA. He was really impressed at what we are trying to do here in Leeds...
Mick used to be Chief Education Officer in Manchester and before that worked with Tim Brighouse in Birmingham. Mick is now leading the QCA work on revising the curriculum in Key Stage 2 and 3. It was wonderful to be able to share ideas and listen to what Mick is trying to achieve at QCA. He was really impressed at what we are trying to do here in Leeds...
- inspiring teaching;
- an engaging curriculum;
- a coaching culture;
- brilliant learning places.
We need to support Mick and the QCA who are trying to ensure that we get a curriculum that is both rigorous and challenging but also powerfully engages young people in their learning.
Chris
I went to another wonderful and powerfully moving event this afternoon...
The Willows Young Carers Project is a brilliant partnership between Barnardo's and Education Leeds. I attended the launch of the Young Carers in Education CD-ROM at Leeds Town Hall. This had been produced by an amazing group of young carers supported by Shiela Davenport and Jenny Osborne. Nathan, Tara, Cammeron, Sara, Jamie, Megan and Danny told their stories and showed us the new CD-ROM... they are a truly awesome bunch of young people caring for brothers and sisters, mums and dads and grandparents and still managing to get to school and get on with their lives. The CD-ROM aims to help schools across Leeds understand and better support the huge number of young carers in the city.
BRILLIANT STUFF
Chris
The Willows Young Carers Project is a brilliant partnership between Barnardo's and Education Leeds. I attended the launch of the Young Carers in Education CD-ROM at Leeds Town Hall. This had been produced by an amazing group of young carers supported by Shiela Davenport and Jenny Osborne. Nathan, Tara, Cammeron, Sara, Jamie, Megan and Danny told their stories and showed us the new CD-ROM... they are a truly awesome bunch of young people caring for brothers and sisters, mums and dads and grandparents and still managing to get to school and get on with their lives. The CD-ROM aims to help schools across Leeds understand and better support the huge number of young carers in the city.
BRILLIANT STUFF
Chris
Monday, 2 July 2007
Visiting the Heads of PE Conference reminded me of the Sunscreen Song. Just make sure that you read it more than once...
"Ladies and gentlemen if I could offer you one tip for the future this would be it…… wear sunscreen. The benefits of sunscreen have been proven by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will give you this advice now….
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth..never mind you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they’ve faded. Trust me in twenty years you will look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t imagine how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.
Don’t worry about the future or worry and know that worrying is about as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never cross your troubled mind… and don’t we know it!
Do one thing everyday that scares you.
Sing.
Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts and don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don’t waste time on jealousy… sometimes your ahead sometimes your behind. The race is long and in the end it’s only with your self.
Remember the compliments you receive… forget the insults. If you succeed with this tell me how.
Keep your old love letters… throw away your bank statements.
Stretch.
Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what to do with your life. Some of the most interesting people I know still don’t know what to do with theirs.
What ever you do don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself too much. Your choices are half chance… so are everybody else’s.
Enjoy your body.. use it everyway you can. Don’t be afraid of it or what other people think of it, it is the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.
Dance… even if you have no where to do it but in your own living room.
Read the directions even if you don’t follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines they will only make you feel ugly.
Be careful whose advice you buy but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia… dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, washing it off, painting over the ugly bits and recycling it for more than it is worth.
TRUST ME……"
The Sunscreen Song reminds us, in this crazy mixed up world of the National Strategies, the DFES, OFSTED that we musn't forget what is important and the things that really matter.
Chris
"Ladies and gentlemen if I could offer you one tip for the future this would be it…… wear sunscreen. The benefits of sunscreen have been proven by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will give you this advice now….
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth..never mind you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they’ve faded. Trust me in twenty years you will look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t imagine how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.
Don’t worry about the future or worry and know that worrying is about as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never cross your troubled mind… and don’t we know it!
Do one thing everyday that scares you.
Sing.
Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts and don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don’t waste time on jealousy… sometimes your ahead sometimes your behind. The race is long and in the end it’s only with your self.
Remember the compliments you receive… forget the insults. If you succeed with this tell me how.
Keep your old love letters… throw away your bank statements.
Stretch.
Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what to do with your life. Some of the most interesting people I know still don’t know what to do with theirs.
What ever you do don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself too much. Your choices are half chance… so are everybody else’s.
Enjoy your body.. use it everyway you can. Don’t be afraid of it or what other people think of it, it is the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.
Dance… even if you have no where to do it but in your own living room.
Read the directions even if you don’t follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines they will only make you feel ugly.
Be careful whose advice you buy but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia… dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, washing it off, painting over the ugly bits and recycling it for more than it is worth.
TRUST ME……"
The Sunscreen Song reminds us, in this crazy mixed up world of the National Strategies, the DFES, OFSTED that we musn't forget what is important and the things that really matter.
Chris
I have just got back from the Conference for Heads of PE Departments in our secondary schools...
The Conference, organised by my colleague Helen Plimmer, was about 'Turning Good Practice into Common Practice'. Our challenge here in Leeds is to build BRILLIANT... brilliant learning in brilliant learning places... brilliant learners with brilliant teachers and coaches. We all know that at it's best provision in Leeds is fantastic and achieving wonderful outcomes. We simply need to help the rest become as good as the best.
We need everyone to be happy, healthy, safe and increasingly successful. All the evidence suggests that we need to increase three things... laughter, chocolate and exercise! Research suggests that those young people who do lots of sport do better across the board at school. Detailed studies have shown that young people engaging in the most intensive sporting activities do eight times better at GCSE!
We are achieving great results with the quest to get all young people engaged in 2 hours of high quality PE and Sport in the curriculum every week and another two hours outside school. But there is still a lot to do with older students, girls and young people from ethnic minority communities. The PE teams across the city are doing great things and changing lives and we must all learn from their passion, eenrgy, commitment and coaching expertise to help us drive up standards and build world class provision here in Leeds.
Chris
The Conference, organised by my colleague Helen Plimmer, was about 'Turning Good Practice into Common Practice'. Our challenge here in Leeds is to build BRILLIANT... brilliant learning in brilliant learning places... brilliant learners with brilliant teachers and coaches. We all know that at it's best provision in Leeds is fantastic and achieving wonderful outcomes. We simply need to help the rest become as good as the best.
We need everyone to be happy, healthy, safe and increasingly successful. All the evidence suggests that we need to increase three things... laughter, chocolate and exercise! Research suggests that those young people who do lots of sport do better across the board at school. Detailed studies have shown that young people engaging in the most intensive sporting activities do eight times better at GCSE!
We are achieving great results with the quest to get all young people engaged in 2 hours of high quality PE and Sport in the curriculum every week and another two hours outside school. But there is still a lot to do with older students, girls and young people from ethnic minority communities. The PE teams across the city are doing great things and changing lives and we must all learn from their passion, eenrgy, commitment and coaching expertise to help us drive up standards and build world class provision here in Leeds.
Chris
Sunday, 1 July 2007
Joe Hallgarten, Learning Director at Learning Partnerships, writing in the Times Educational Supplement this week...
"Design education around one aim: to identify and nurture talent. This is talent in its broadest sense not gifted in English, maths and science and talented in art, music and PE. The dictionary defines talent as an aptitude or ability, a capacity for achievement or success. As tal;ent generators secondary schools would become even more proactive, seeking and saying yes to real learning opportunities. Primary schools need to offer greater choice over the what, where and how their children learn. We have 'Every Child Matters' and 'Every Child Counts'... How about 'Every Child a Dreamer'."
You can find out more about Creative Partnerships at www.creative-partnerships.com.
"Design education around one aim: to identify and nurture talent. This is talent in its broadest sense not gifted in English, maths and science and talented in art, music and PE. The dictionary defines talent as an aptitude or ability, a capacity for achievement or success. As tal;ent generators secondary schools would become even more proactive, seeking and saying yes to real learning opportunities. Primary schools need to offer greater choice over the what, where and how their children learn. We have 'Every Child Matters' and 'Every Child Counts'... How about 'Every Child a Dreamer'."
You can find out more about Creative Partnerships at www.creative-partnerships.com.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)