 We are pleased to bring you this next UPDATE.
Associate & Strategic Leader of Teaching & Research Schools (ESW) Roger Pope CBE reflects on the work ethic of his former pupils (working on his house) in the context of the current Department for Education (DfE) Curriculum Review and the Government's announcement to tackle the problem of the high number of people of working age not in work: "I find myself in the position of, as it were, consuming my own product. Does our school produce people who are not only good at their job, but good at relating to their clients and good at making the most of their lives?" A theme close to our hearts here in the South West, we report on the recent National Institute of Teaching study into the experiences of delivering Early Career Framework (ECF)-based programmes in different school contexts across England, with a particular focus on schools in rural and coastal communities. This resonates with the report on educational isolation at our Autumn Leadership Forum by Professor (Dr) Tanya Ovenden-Hope, Dean of Place and Social Purpose and Professor of Education, Plymouth Marjon University. Ofsted Assistant Regional Director, Sarah McGinnis reports back on the Big Listen commitment to help to build a better Ofsted. We interview Ilsham English Hub Lead and Early Years and Phonics Specialist Leader of Education, Danni Cooke with the Learning Academy Partnership South West whose dedication to reading, English and all things literacy is abundantly clear. This issue features exciting educational opportunities. If you are looking for a professional learning opportunity to visit other schools, you might wish to apply for the LSSW Connect Leadership Study Visit Programme taking place in January. School-centred charity, the Colyton Foundation is offering support for Sixth Forms for competitive Higher Education applications. Worth a read for those schools considering applications for their students to Oxford, Cambridge and universities in the USA; plus those applying for Medicine, Veterinary Science and Dentistry. If you have yet to meet The Laurel Trust, you can find out more about the work of this national charity to support schools with a funding opportunity. The theme this year is Effective Transition | Educational readiness for every school at every phase. On the topic of considered collaboration, Kingsbridge Research School provides a thoughtful feature on why it is important to engage people in planning. Our sponsor, SchoolPro Safety presents some excellent guidance on staff mobile phone safety and safeguarding in school that is a very worthwhile. We need them, but we need to use them safely and sensibly in school. Also, Exeter Supply Partnership are here/ there if you need them and with their caring ethic to support your school and the supply teacher. You can step into the world of ONVU Learning with a video demo of the 360-degree camera technology by VP Matt Tiplin and see how this can support professional development in your school and Trust. If Educatering has yet to reach your school kitchen, the pictures say it all in this issue. Healthy and exciting that bring alive school dinners with an international twist this time and support for Children in Need 2024. We hope you enjoy reading and discovering in this issue of UPDATE and we wish you all a rewarding end to the Autumn Term and a Happy Christmas very soon.
0 Comments
14/11/2024 0 Comments SWIFT EVENTS | Issue 5 | November 2024 We are pleased to bring you this next EVENTS newsletter with details of professional development opportunities.
Supporting your Professional Development This issue includes the following programmes, courses and events from our partners for your professional development intended to support and enhance the work of your school:
SWIFT Autumn Term 2024 Leadership Forum | A WEEK TODAY | Thursday 21 November 2024 Committed to bringing together leaders from all educational settings within the area, our online Leadership Forums link to the best of local, regional and national. For our 2024 Autumn Term event, we have two speakers: Sarah McGinnis, Ofsted Assistant Regional Director and Professor (Dr) Tanya Ovenden-Hope, Dean of Place and Social Purpose and Professor of Education, Plymouth Marjon University. Find more information here  We are pleased to bring you this next UPDATE.
Associate & Strategic Leader of Teaching & Research Schools (ESW) Roger Pope CBE muses on how politics sits within leadership following a post-budget discussion about inheritance tax: "The very best school leaders that I know lead from a position of deeply held beliefs and values. It is this passion which gets them out of bed in the morning and enables them to motivate others. It drives the sense of authenticity that enables others to trust them." Find out more about the the new Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator's (SENCO) National Professional Qualification (NPQ) in which 85 Programme Members are currently engaged. You can also learn about Social Stories following the recent workshop led by South West Autism Support Services and be guided to starting a story with your pupils and young people. If you have yet to do so, remember to sign-up for the Autumn Term Leadership Forum on: Thursday 21 November 2024 from 1530 – 1715 (online). Ofsted Assistant Regional Director, Sarah McGinnis will be sharing updates and opportunity for Q&A, whilst Professor (Dr) Tanya Ovenden-Hope, Dean of Place and Social Purpose and Professor of Education, Plymouth Marjon University will consider place-based disadvantage and the way it reduces coastal and rural school access to resources, especially teachers. FREE for SWIFT Members and £35 for all other colleagues, book your place here Director of Kingsbridge Research School, Jon Eaton provides clarity on schools as complex adaptive systems: "As school leaders will know all too well, there are no end-points to complex problems, where we can confidently down tools and declare things solved. For instance, literacy improvement in schools is not something that can be declared “done.”" Our sponsor SchoolPro TLC provides some excellent timetabling for success advice for those colleagues tasked with this mission and who might be already thinking about next year. Valid point by point tips for clear planning. Meanwhile our other sponsors have been busy. You can see some of Educatering's seasonal and cultural foodie goodies with children hands-on in the kitchen, and find out how Exeter Supply Partnership can support your primary teaching supply needs. You can download ONVU Learning's new White Paper "Unleash your Teachers’ Superpowers" that outlines strategies for fostering high-performance teaching and learning environments. We wish you all an enjoyable and rewarding half term and thank you for taking the time to read this issue.  We are pleased to bring you this first EVENTS newsletter of school year 2024 - 2025.
Supporting your Professional Development This issue includes the following programmes, courses and events from our partners for your professional development intended to support and enhance the work of your school:
SWIFT Membership 2024 - 2025 We would also like to take this opportunity to welcome you to SWIFT Membership for 2024 – 2025 and we are delighted that so many Schools, Federations, Multi Academy Trusts and other organisations have joined or renewed for this school year. SWIFT Membership can provide your school with significant cost savings on our programme of professional development - a number of which are free for members. You can find our full range of courses for 2024 – 2025 HERE You can register for 2024 – 2025 SWIFT Membership HERE On behalf of us all at SWIFT and our Partners, we look forward to working with you and supporting your professional development this year. 11/7/2024 0 Comments SWIFT EVENTS Newsletter | Issue 17 This final EVENTS issue for the academic year 2024 - 2024 includes a featured article, as well as highlighted programmes, courses and events from our partners to support your professional development and enhance the work of your school. Featured in this issue we have: SWIFT Membership 2024 - 2025 | Registration now open We are delighted to open registration to Schools, Federations, Trusts and other bodies to join SWIFT Membership for 2024 - 2025. Find out more in our Membership Brochure HERE and the link for registration is HERE. Highlighted Programmes:
27/6/2024 0 Comments Interview with Paul Brooks, Retiring Chair of Kingsbridge Community College Governing Body and the SWIFT Trust Board “When I was Deputy Principal, I used to say that every child in our school needs to enjoy our school and to come out at the end of each day and know that they have enjoyed something in their lessons. I believe now, as I believed then, that it is possible.” For this final interview of academic year 2023 - 2024, we were glad to speak to Paul Brooks, who is retiring from the Kingsbridge Community College Governing Body. Mathematician graduate Paul, started his teaching career in 1981 in Birkenhead and went onto teaching and leadership roles in Bideford, Bristol and Swansea, and gained an MEd in Maths Education at the University of Exeter. In 1998, Paul became Deputy Principal at Kingsbridge Community College (KCC) and played a key role in Ofsted inspections, culminating five years later in an Outstanding judgement. Paul led KCC’s successful bid to be a Specialist School in Science, Maths and Performing Arts and was keenly involved in the bid to become one of the first Teaching Schools, South West Teaching School Alliance (SWTSA), which he led from 2011 to 2016; growing a membership of 12 schools to over 130. Curriculum was always a key role for Paul as Teaching and Learning Lead; as well as Development Lead and Facilitator for Leading Schools South West on their NPQSL programme. In retirement from his leadership role at KCC, Paul has been a dedicated member of Kingsbridge Local Governing Body and also Chair of the SWIFT Trust Board. Using his mathematical tactical skills perhaps, Paul is a keen County Standard Chess Player and jointly runs Newton Abbot Chess Club and for many years he was President of the Devon County Chess Association. As a tribute to Paul and the work of all Governors in Schools and Mulit Academy Trusts, we are delighted to share Paul's reflections as he steps down (once and for all) at the end of this academic year. 1. What has been most personally rewarding from your involvement with the Kingsbridge Community College Governing Body? It has been most personally rewarding to continue to be involved in what I think is a really top-class organisation that has a very important role in our educational landscape. I have been involved in Teaching Schools from their very beginning and I immediately believed it was the very best way of developing teaching and learning within our schools. I think teaching at the moment is as hard as it has ever been, and maybe even harder and I am passionate that teachers from the start of the career and all the way through, have the opportunity to experience the very best training; because when we come into teaching, I think we all have an idea of what makes a good teacher, which essentially comes from our own background and provides a great starting point for our classroom practice. But developing and improving that practice can be challenging and I think the only way you can do it is if you have from the very start of your career the opportunity to experience high-quality professional development and support in your school. For me, this can come about by schools working together and learning from research and striving to ensure that their teachers benefit from such opportunities. This way, I believe that teachers can get the very best outcomes for their students. My involvement over the last few years as Chair of the SWIFT Trust Board has given me the opportunity to see and be impressed by the way in which SWIFT has developed from what was an idea of schools collaborating together by sharing data and seeking improvements in a much more structured way. Teaching School Hubs, like SWIFT, are providing opportunities that enable the very best development in our teachers and school leaders. That is why I am so excited that SWIFT is moving into initial teacher training, because I think that keeps the Golden Thread (as the Department for Education terms it) going from the start of a teacher's career with the Appropriate Body Service and Early Career Framework to National Professional Qualifications. For me, that is the very best model and I consider this to be a golden opportunity in delivering that best model. Being a Governor on the SWIFT Trust Board and working with the other Governors is a way to give back in helping to see and contribute to the work that is being done, monitoring and checking this work and supporting it to be the very, very best. 2. And what has been the most challenging? Truthfully, I have been pleasantly heartened in how well the SWIFT programmes have been progressing. The Appropriate Body Service and Early Career Framework roles are being led so effectively that targets have been exceeded in terms of the volume of participants and their feedback is very positive. I think that the SWIFT Team is doing a magnificent job in continually implementing, developing and monitoring this work. For me the main challenge going forward will be the successful implementation of initial teacher training, because that requires a much broader range of stakeholders and very thorough monitoring. The provision will be subject to Ofsted inspections and hence, the biggest challenge will be ensuring this provision is as effective and robust as possible. Indeed, I am a tad sad that I am leaving when the course is about to start at the end of August, because I think that it has the potential to be very exciting for SWIFT. The current biggest challenge for all Governing Bodies is to support their schools in what are very difficult financial circumstances. Schools are having to make decisions now much more on the basis of what they can afford, than on the basis of what is best for their students, than at any other time over the past 25 years that I have been involved in school leadership. Governors have a demanding role in supporting schools to make the very best decisions in these constrained circumstances.  3. What has been the most significant change during your tenure?
In my role as Chair for the SWIFT Trust Board, I would say that, the most significant change has been the move to initial teacher training and as previously mentioned, I think that this has the most significant potential in terms of SWIFT developing further as a leading provider. In terms of education as a whole, I think the whole Teaching Schools movement has been the most significant development for me and it certainly made a step-change in my role within school, when back in 2011 funding was made available for a few schools to develop structured opportunities for collaboration, training and development, alongside a professional development programme for senior leaders. It was an inspired decision and I think those participating schools have certainly benefited more than any other innovation. Previously, there was lots of chatter about how schools could work together, but without a real structure. It can only be a good thing now that we have the joined-up approach through Teaching School Hubs from the start of a teacher’s career to the end with opportunity to grow and develop and access high-quality professional development. Hence, I believe the Teaching School Hubs initiative has been the most important innovation over my past 40 years in education. 4. How has your position as Chair of the SWIFT Trust Board benefitted you? It has been the opportunity to see the excellent work that is going on and to feel as though I am a small part of the machinery in developing the brilliant organisation of Education South West and SWIFT. I have also valued keeping up-to-date with what is happening and the way in which here in the local area we are providing so many opportunities and the enthusiasm in which those opportunities are being embraced. To me, this has been a very positive personal development, because I am passionate about the idea of learning from other professionals and research and the fact that we have a successful organisation that is leading on this development work. 5. What would be your number one wish for schools in the future? I would wish that every school and every teacher in the country has the opportunities to grow ultimately to support the best learning of our students. I only hope that the future Government has the wisdom to continue to develop and strengthen the role of professionals learning from other professionals and to give schools the funding to do so. The other big elephant in the room for me, is the appropriateness of the curriculum for the modern student. I think that some content for Year 6 English lessons is reminiscent of my first year at grammar school in 1969. It might be useful, but it is not going to motivate and enthuse those students who find academic learning difficult. When I was Deputy Principal, I used to say that every child in our school needs to enjoy school and to come out at the end of each day and know that they have enjoyed something in their lessons. Not only the social side, but from a course of study that they loved and I believe now, as I believed then, that it was possible. What I hope for the future is that more common sense comes to the fore and we recognise that if we wish to have “a world class education system,” we need to resource it as a world class education system. Particularly in terms of the curriculum. My role in school was to oversee the curriculum and I think that it is impoverished at the moment for a large section of the school community. I would say that at least a quarter of the school population has a curriculum that is not really fit for purpose. I would like to see a big rethink about the curriculum, the way in which it is taught and what is on offer for our students, particularly for those who are not as academic, and who would thrive with more practical learning opportunities. I believe that many of the problems we currently have with attendance and behaviour would be alleviated if we got the curriculum right, and enabled more students to enjoy and achieve success in their learning. As an example, we used to bus some of our students to South Devon College for one or two days a week to study practical subjects that they were genuinely interested in, such as car mechanics and beauty therapy. This encouraged buy-in to the school as they really wanted to go there and it had a big impact in improving their behaviour. However, the narrowing of the curriculum by the new Progress 8 school performance measure and tightening budgets meant that we regrettably had to stop this provision. I would like to see politicians and school leaders get together to devise a curriculum that actually suits the students in school. Because at the moment, when I look back to when I started teaching, the curriculum now is only slightly better than it was then because now we have the National Curriculum and everyone has an entitlement and the teaching quality is much higher than it was 40 years ago. Also, the way in which teachers are developed is much better than it was at the start of my career. But the school curriculum itself hasn't changed with the times and still has lots of room for improvement. I remain hopeful and know that school and Trust leaders are working hard to provide the best education for their students and the work of SWIFT is supporting this work as one of the backbones for professional development. We warmly thank Paul for his commitment and loyalty on the KCC Governing Body over the past 25 years, including his recent membership of the SWIFT Trust Board and we wish him a happy and fulfilling retirement. Interview by Jude Owens, SWIFT Executive Assistant |
SWIFT News
|
RSS Feed
|
SPONSORED BY
|
|
|
|
|
Join us, be a part of our SWIFT community |
© COPYRIGHT 2022 SOUTH WEST INSTITUTE FOR TEACHING SWIFT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | Website by brightblueC
VIEW OUR PRIVACY NOTICES | VIEW OUR COURSE T&CS
VIEW OUR PRIVACY NOTICES | VIEW OUR COURSE T&CS