Schools are awash with data these days and whilst it can sometimes obfuscate more than enlighten I spent a few hours with a colleague last week looking at our latest figures. When data is looked at with a genuine understanding of a student and their particular circumstances it can help us frame the right conversations to have with individuals. It’s not just about bashing students with a relentless ‘you must do better’ either; the conversations we have are often geared towards tweaking an element of study or clarifying an ambition and how it can be reached. So this week we have lots of ‘learning conversations’ going on with all of them geared to helping students maximise their potential.
Talking of potential, last week we had the pleasure of interviewing our year 11 students who have made applications for the sixth form. It was rewarding to see the diverse abilities and talents that will be coming in to our sixth form next year and when our external students are added into the mix we can look forward to a really vibrant cohort beginning in September 2017.
I’ve been talking to local employers this week with a view to developing relationships with them. It’s not just about employment opportunities; firms can help our students get an understanding of the local and global economy and can also work with us on employability in the wider sense. We already have plans to work with a number of local employers delivering sessions to our students on things like presentational skills and selling yourself to an employer. In the summer we are holding an ‘Enterprise, employability and Universities week’ with help from our friends at the B46 organisation in Coleshill.
The whole school has been holding ‘ERIC’ (everyone reading in class) sessions every week during tutor time and we’ve decided to adopt this in the sixth form. It works on all sorts of levels but my impression is that, apart from in exams, teenagers don’t often spend twenty minutes in silence with no other distractions. Some call this mindfulness and others call it peace and quiet but whatever the nomenclature, studies have shown that it leads to better mental health. So we’ll keep doing it.
As a Welshman and a passionate follower of rubgy please forgive me if I indulge a little in the Six Nations over the next few weeks. Surely England are too good or will a reurgent Ireland and a newly confident Scotland push them all the way? Can't wait.
My book this week is Julian Barnes’ The Noise of Time.
