07.10.10
Posted in Uncategorized tagged children, Headteacher, heathfieldcps.net, learning, staff at 4:15 pm by headteacher
I cannot believe that it is nearly the end of 2009 – 2010. Only two weeks of term left. Wow! This year really has flown by!
For those of you who don’t know me quite so well……I have been a Primary Headteacher for just over two years now. I was appointed on April 1st (hmmm) 2008. Prior to my Headship I worked in four different schools, two very different LAs, was a Leading Teacher for Early Years for some time, then was an Assistant Head, then a Deputy Head.
Luckily for me I have worked for a number of truly inspirational Headteachers who have helped to shape my values and my actions. The last two years have been very challenging but also very rewarding. During this time the governors and I have appointed four new teachers to the school, including an outstanding Deputy Headteacher who has supported me throughout the last twelve months.
Our school is moving from strength to strength! We have an outstanding team!
My staff have consistently worked hard for the last seven terms to ensure that our school develops and progresses both academically and in so many other ways. An outstanding feature of our school is the dedication that the staff have to the children. The staff will always make the time to spend with the children, before school, after school, during breaks and at dinnertimes, nurturing them and talking to them about their worries and aspirations.
Outside of the school I have been supported and challenged by Headteachers in Bolton and school has recently gained the support from a Local leader in Education programme. This help should be cross hierarchical and will filter across to all of the staff in school, including the RQTs and the NQTs.
I am happy for my staff to become experts in their fields. I have no fear that some of my staff have strengths that will exceed mine – I embrace the opportunity to learn with my staff! And I want my staff to teach me in the same way that I can teach them!
My plan for the next three years is to reach out and experience as many outstanding schools as possible and thus to develop a clear sense of the character of HEATHFIELD SCHOOL. How can my staff become outstanding unless I immerse them in outstanding learning? I want to immerse myself and my staff and my children in OUTSTANDINGNESS! How very exciting! I am already planning 2010 -2011!
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05.21.10
Posted in Uncategorized tagged blog, blogging, Headteacher, learning, primary school at 3:50 pm by headteacher
I was reading through some old notes the other day whilst tidying my office and I found this gem on a scrap of paper. I have tried to identify the author of the story, (it is copyright, I hope I have acknowledged the author properly) please take time to read and enjoy as I did.
The Road Less Travelled, 12 April 2004
Some of us stroll gently through life with our chosen paths clearly mapped out, including breath-taking views, serene rest stops and cheerfully infrequent roadblocks. The scenery is full of hand-painted signs that say, “Welcome” and “Have a Lovely Day.” Classical music plays softly in the background.
But for the rest of us, the path we stumble along is often the “road less travelled” unmarked and unpaved. Our scenery is full of garish yellow metal signs that read; “caution – bump ahead” and “danger – watch for falling rocks”. Static plays in the background of our minds. Often without warning, we are hurled off the path, getting tangled in the underbrush and ending up with agonizing bruises.
It is easy to begrudge those around us that don’t seem to struggle, but we need to remind ourselves that wisdom comes from discord. This is our opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with our own courage, to learn profound lessons and to heal.
Jose Stevens writes in “Earth to Tao”,
“…The truth is, that you learn the most about yourself and about life on earth from falling off balance, then finding your way back to balance again. Healing, then, is the balance or the neutral position of acceptance. We could therefore say that all of life is truly an attempt at healing…”
Let us journey together on the “road less travelled” towards wellness and balance and healing.
Copyright © 2004 Bernadette Ballezza
This is a wonderful little piece of wisdom which beautifully illustrates the journey of being in a job that we are passionate about.
Teaching IS a vocation; sometimes aspects of the job can break your heart.
Some days it can be the WORST job in the entire world.
Some days it can be the BEST job in the entire world.
I couldn’t even begin to imagine any other job that I could do that could bring me such a deep sense of satisfaction and pride.
Can you?
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05.19.10
Posted in Uncategorized tagged blog, blogging, CPD, Headteacher, heathfieldcps.net, learning, primary school, strategic leadership at 6:03 pm by headteacher
TODAY HAS BEEN BRILLIANT!
THE BEST CPD I’VE HAD FOR AGES!
I organised a Strategic Leadership Planning Day for today. David Mitchell has been my Deputy Headteacher now for almost one year and I felt it was time for us to have some reflection time together. There are lots of things that we do really well as a school but there will always be room for improvement and this year I really wanted the School Development Plan to reflect the needs of the school and to be extremely focused and well planned. I also wanted David to have the opportunity to look back at the impact that he has had on the school learning environment and to project forward what his next actions will be and the impact of these actions.
Sometimes we can be very busy “in the thick of doing thin things”.
Reflection time matters.
My first objective was to ensure that my DHT and myself were very clear and in complete agreement about the next steps forward for the school. I wanted us to have a shared vision for school success. We have an amazing staff team and now that we have the right people “On Our Bus” it’s time to strategically plan for the future. One of our first jobs will be to take the school Mission Statement and the School Aims back to the school community to be updated so that they are meaningful and relevant.
Using flipcharts and big pens we wrote down all of the areas that we were particularly interested in developing. I am a very visual learner and using coloured pens and mind mapping helps me to organise my thoughts and priorities. We then turned this into the beginnings of an Action Plan that will be developed next week. Absolutely key to this planning was a discussion about which staff work best in which classes and what the overall strengths of the school are.
By four o’clock today David and I had the basics of an Action Plan in place which will directly feed into our School Development Plan. What we need to do next is to organise the who, when and the intended impact of the actions.
The day was SO productive and I can honestly say that David and I are now completely clear about the direction that the school is moving in. As I drove home I began thinking about the CPD opportunities that are available to staff and how useful / or not CPD could be.
The school CPD programme will be looking very different this next year, David and I have decided that we want CPD to be much more personalised and linked to the needs of each staff member. We are very lucky because we have support from another headteacher, who is a Local Leader in Education. This will ensure that I can access training for all my staff at all levels, whether it be lesson observations, planning ideas or just by creating “link “ teachers across the two schools.
Exciting times at Heathfield Primary School?
Oh yes, I think so!
Other similar blogs that might be of interest to you:
Heathfield SEF Tagxedo
5 Key Leadership Skills
Magic Dust
The Learning Walk
I Am An Air Traffic Controller
The 5 Levels of Leadership
SAT Week
You can follow me on twitter.com:
DianneSpencer
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05.14.10
Posted in Uncategorized tagged blog, blogging, blogs, Headteacher, heathfieldcpsnet, learning, primary school, SATs, Year 6 at 8:54 pm by headteacher
This week has been extremely busy for me at Heathfield Primary School. I am the Headteacher of a small school, one form entry, nine teachers including myself.
On Monday I helped to organise and administer the Year 6 Reading SAT, which I didn’t think was too awful. Granted it was quite long and not all of the children coped with all of the tricky questions but all of the children were in good humour and had a jolly good try. (The pre SAT toast, juice and strange modern music put the children in a bit of a party mood which seemed to help!) Monday afternoon was spent madly phoning around for references so that on Wednesday I would be able to interview NQTs for the temporary position we have in September. @DeputyMitchell ran a staff meeting on ICT which went down very well.
The writing and spelling tasks were scheduled for Tuesday morning – this was a very long morning and it was a relief to get it over with, to be honest. Some of the spellings really were extremely hard but once again, my group tried their very best!
Wednesday hailed the first of the Maths papers, mental maths first and then paper A. I will be asking the staff to have a go at these soon in a staff meeting but it’s top secret so don’t tell them!
David, the Vice Chair of Governors and I then spent the afternoon interviewing NQT teachers for our one year position. Superb candidates, every one of them deserves to get a job soon. Good luck to them!
Thursday – Maths Paper B which to me did not seem quite so awful as Paper A.
I spent the rest of the day trying to catch up with all of the repair and maintenance work going on around school. I never realised when I became a headteacher that I would need my own tape measure - and I am now an absolute whizz at flicking out my tape measure just like builders do. AND I can now balance a pencil behind my ear and can convert mm into inches whilst muttering, “It’s gonna be tricky, and it’ll cost a lot.”
Today (Friday) I tried to resolve part of the paper mountain that is currently making my life miserable.I think I need to ban myself from using post-its. They just seem to increase the paperwork somehow and I can never remember why I have used them any way. I also managed to delete about 15 emails from, Annette (who is “single and wants a friend”), Nadia (who comes from “Russia and would like to meet her potential other half”), Agnetha (from Sweden,” just look at my photo”) and so on- quite funny but I daren’t open the links in case they have viruses and my pc self destructs in ten seconds.
This afternoon I had a very promising meeting with one of our LLEs (Local Leader in Education), she is a fantastic Headteacher and I’m hoping that over the next twelve months she will be able to coach myself and the staff so that we all improve our game. Hopefully the work that she does with us will be strategic and help me to reassess my vision and my direction for the school.
Having spent very little time this week in any class I decided this evening to lurk on the school blogs and see what is going on in the classes.
WHAT AN AMAZING WAY TO MONITOR THE QUALITY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING!!
I am so proud of my staff and my pupils. So much work has been going on this week. I am sorry that I have left the other classes up to their own devices but, WOW, they have really stepped up to the mark!
Take a look at some of the learning going on!
Every class is blogging!
Reception Class have used photopeach to create some lovely work on Life Cycles. Year 1 are using their class blog to practise their assembly. Year 2 are finding out their very favourite Viking names using wallwisher. Year 3 have carried out a science experiment and have recorded their results on photopeach. Year 4 have photographed themselves during a maths shape investigation. Year 5 are learning about the Ancient Greeks. Year 6 have been developing their creative writing skills using the theme of “volcanoes.”
I really cannot ask any more of my staff can I? Superstars every one of them. Lucky me.
Similar posts that might be of interest:
Do you ever wonder what the headteacher does whilst you are in your class teaching?
Blog Progress So Far
The 5 Levels of Leadership
I am an Air Traffic Controller
Magic Dust
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05.07.10
Posted in Uncategorized tagged blogging, challenge, Headteacher, heathfieldcps.net, learning, Year 6 at 8:01 pm by headteacher
We had our very first taste of blogging at the end of December 2009. In just over one term the Heathfield children and staff have worked hard to embrace the challenge of using blogging to develop and extend our learning opportunities. Please take the time to have a look at some of the great work by our pupils!
Year 6 have been using Peer Assessment to help each other with their writing skills: Year 6 Peer Assessment
Year 1 have been using wallwisher to post comments about Barnaby Bear having his holiday in Egypt: Barnaby Bear
In Year 2 Sabaa, Phoebe and Ciaran have posted their wonderful writing entitled, “The Ocean’s Fury.”
Year 4 have been using voicethread to describe their ideas about using Onomatopoeia
Year 6 have been coaching each other in maths by teaching each other different techniques for written word problems
Amongst other things, Mr Mitchell has been following the elections
You can follow me on twitter
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05.02.10
Posted in Uncategorized tagged achievements, culture, governors, Headteacher, heathfieldcps, learning, learning environment, learning walk, mrs spencer, pupils, teaching at 4:47 pm by headteacher
Two years into Headship and the learning journey continues! Every day is still a new day and I still find it incredibly challenging dealing with the unexpected every single day of the week. Without my trusty notebook there is no doubt that I would struggle to recall all of the conversations that I have on so many levels, including promising Year 4 that I will check out their blog down to promising Reception Class that I will come and see their caterpillars.
I was recently showing a visitor around the school and she was amazed at how well I knew my school. I know where the issues are and I know where the strengths are. I know what noise level to expect in each classroom, I know where the “best” learning goes on day after day. I also know which spaces are ideal for optimum learning and I know which areas, dare I say it, actually hinder learning and are a distraction.
I have worked so hard with the staff to continue to develop the school but the quest is endless and there will always be “the next project”. After only two years, we still have a long way to go to improve the overall learning environment even though the vast majority of teaching is “good”. However there is such a huge gap between the quality of the delivery of teaching and the capacity of children to engage and to learn. I firmly believe that the quality of the environment directly impacts on the quality of the learning that takes place and the way that we look after our school environment sends out strong messages to the children we teach and to the parents that we work with.
David (@DeputyMitchell - twitter) and I have spent a great deal of time “walking the school” together, clarifying our shared beliefs about the physical environment around us. It is so enriching for me to work with a fellow professional who has equally high standards and who understands that the “devil is in the detail.” Together we have been able to identify some fantastic achievements and we have shared these with the staff, but we cannot afford to stand still.
The world will never stand still. It will continue to turn and change and so must we.
I want to move on from the top down approach that I have so far been using. It is fairly common, I believe for new Headteachers who inherit schools with established cultures and habits to have to use somewhat didactic approaches at first. The key is to try to shift the current cultural beliefs within the school (which I do not accept) so that they are more in line with my own. Eventually instead of imposing my beliefs and my standards, staff will begin to accept and deliver my beliefs as their own because they have internalised them. Insistence on the adoption by everybody, of my standards is hard and because by nature, it is cultural, it will take time.
Change upsets the equilibrium.
Change challenges our norms/beliefs.
Change is scary and change is risky.
So my next goal is to redistribute the responsibility for the whole school learning environment. To do this I am going to formalise the Learning Walk approach with some staff guidance and pro-formas, where in the past it has been a strictly informal activity. David and I will support the staff to learn to look more closely at the learning environment and to be more analytical and pro-active in their approaches. I want the staff to be fully involved in this part of school improvement and not feel that once again something is being “done to them!” I am also going to involve some of the pupils in this process as well as the governors. When I have some pro-formas ready I shall willingly share them!
Wish me luck!
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04.09.10
Posted in Uncategorized tagged creativity, David Mitchell, Headteacher, heathfieldcps.net, Ian Addison, learning, SEF, wordle at 9:37 pm by headteacher
Heathfield Primary School SEF 2010
I have been encouraged by my twitter PLN (mainly Ian Addison and David Mitchell) to convert the latest school SEF into a wordle. This was quite a big job for me as I’m not particularly ICT minded. However it was great fun and I did enjoy completing it. How many professions can boast of a PLN that is available for advice and encouragement at 10.pm on a Friday evening? Thanks everybody for your much appreciated help! This used to be a 90 page document! What do you think?
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