Coronavirus – distance, online and e-learning ideas.

Well this is such a strange time with everyone in lockdown due to the pandemic of coronavirus. I hadn’t realised how long it was since I last posted. As usual life took over mainly health related to family and sadness and has been a big part of that.

I am currently still teaching albeit it remotely so thought as all my lessons are ready for delivery next week I would start to continue my journey with this blog as well. As many of you know I have been blessed with a very varied teaching life in England and Wales, a teacher of many subjects, to HoD of both English and Science, HoY, SLT, DH and consultant for schools in special measures. In this role I was actively in schools to see exactly what needed changing as my feeling is it isn’t helpful for OFSTED or ESTYN to come along and say this needs changing if there isn’t the follow up of experience and knowledge to make this happen. The last role being my favourite as I love the challenge of keeping staff jobs safe, learners getting the best possible experience and ultimately results for them and the school being relabelled Good. Of the three schools I actively supported all moved from special measures to Good and 1 with excellent aspects.

Important things for families and teachers to know starting next week.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zn9447h – From 20 April, you’ll be able to access regular daily lessons in English and Maths, as well as other core subjects, in an expanded version of our website and also on special programmes broadcast on BBC iPlayer and BBC Red Button.

Science resources.

Maggie Moate – https://www.maddiemoate.com/ brings science to life so may support families depending on their current topic.

8 Planets, 8 Experiments, 8 Minutes! | Maddie Moate – really interesting youtube video

https://www.sciencekids.co.nz/videos/physics/gravity.html – cool site for secondary use 7th and 8th grade although the others are fun to watch as well.

https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/category/discover/science/ – may look primary but for secondary its worth dipping into. For example in Secondary one topic is habitats here is a good link to look at one specific animal https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/primary-resource/siberian-tiger-primary-resource/

https://www.homeschooling-ideas.com/easy-science-experiments.html – it has an easy to understand explanation of why the experiments work. Most things c an be found in the home ….. or just do the things you are interested in or supports the topic you are doing with your teacher.

For Teachers

https://www.stem.org.uk/secondary-science – lots of different things for Biology, Chemistry and physics. Many can be used with the new AoLe’s in the new curriculum.

https://www.thenational.academy/ – Example below of year 7 lessons but look for all other years as well. Starts on 20 April 2020

Year Group Subject Focus
Year 7 English

● Intro to Greek Myths: The Myth of Prometheus
● Pandora’s Box and the creation of mankind
Maths ● Algebra
Science

● Biology – Ecology + digestion
● Chemistry – Chemical reactions + Atoms
● Physics – Forces + energy
● Ecology – Feeding relationships and adaptations
History Medieval power and rebellion, Medieval life and War of the Roses
● Barons or families: who had most power?
Geography ● Map Skills
● Weather & Climate
Spanish ● Surviving in Spain. A focus on transactions.
● Arriving in Spain
French ● Surviving in France. A focus on transactions.
● Arriving in France
Latin ● Chapter 1: Subjects and Objects; Gladiators & the amphitheatre
RE ● Judaism: beliefs, teachings and practices
● Jewish beliefs, teachings and practices
Art ● Approaches to drawing, painting and sculpture
● Artist research, responding to an artists work

Maggie Moate as above

BBC Bitesize – I think we all know about this but it is worth remembering there are tests for the e-learners to help them see what they have learnt and what they need to review.

https://www.teachitscience.co.uk/ – usually a mix of free and paid items but currently all is available.

hhtps://thescienceteacher.co.uk/ – all subjects with some interesting video links. Some need to be paid for but many free.

#StaySafe

THINGS have gone from bad to worse for Torfaen’s education department in the past year. If you need help Bob or Mary please just ask.

All I can say is what a shame. It had such good foundations and structure what has gone wrong? One person who throughout my life I have aspired to follow is Mary Barnett who has been steadfast about ensuring the right education for the children must be devastated by this news.

http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/gwentnews/10306565.Torfaen_education_goes_into_special_measures/

“Greater change and pace are required in order to bring about further improvement.”

It goes on to criticise a failure by the authority to spot underperformance and its impact on learners, and says that: “the authority does not identify clearly for schools, managers and elected members the extent of the improvements required or the pace at which progress is needed.”

Good Old Bob, but why and how did it happen? or are these just the fall guys for a broken education process?

Council leader Bob Wellington and Ms Ward said: “We accept we have fallen short of our own expectations, the expectations of residents and the minister’s expectations, for which we apologise.

Torfaen council leader Bob Wellington told BBC Radio Wales they accepted the report’s findings and were prepared to work with whoever was appointed to help the authority.

“Patently it hasn’t improved enough and it hasn’t gone deep enough, or indeed, been fast enough,” he said.

“We don’t accept that we didn’t make any improvements. In, fact we consider that we had made improvements.

“A lot of people have put a lot of effort in to this, certainly at a managerial level and other levels.

“I think we’ve done everything we can to try and improve, but we recognise that we need external assistance in the same way that the other local authorities that are in the same place are receiving now.”

If you ever need help from me Bob you know you only have to ask. l.foxwell@languageawards.com

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-21889693

Welsh Education …my worry

Over the past week I have read numerous reports about the Welsh education System being found unsatisfactory at LA level. To date Blaenau Gwent, Anglesey and Pembrokeshire, Merthyr Tydfil and Monmouthshire are all in special measures and more worryingly on a normal curve there would be the same amount recognised as being outstanding, but this is not the case.

Having worked in areas where schools are deemed to be in Special measures it is really difficult to sum up the feeling of worthlessness and lack of support the individuals in this situation feel, as well as the disbelief at the people who should be helping who either can’t or talk the talk and sadly can’t walk the walk, yet they are making the crucial decisions and walking away scott free whilst pointing the finger.

Has anyone actually thought about what these people are now feeling? Many will feel isolated and teams will also feel isolated but it wont stop them trying to do the best for their staff and pupils, but without any support. To make the necessary changes it takes strong people confident in their ability to make change without the support of those set up to support them.

What does surprise me is this statement

It’s no coincidence that many of our councils look to England for inspiration, with several directors of education (the majority experienced in working in deprived areas) parachuted in from across the border.

Why are they looking over the border? I am sure they have schools which have been judged outstanding by ESTYN so why don’t they harness these staff, they are relevant and in touch with todays policies, strategies, parents expectations and pupils needs. All too often we look to those above us, or in this case those in a different system. A few years ago there was a lot of work done about 360degree evaluation which sadly in many cases meant looking at what is worse below us and improve it rather than looking at what is best practice and bringing it through.

This together with the fear of staff re job losses due to our current national financial situation, who works well in a climate of fear? The way many councils have dealt with this is to cut the necessary staff needed to do these jobs, this together with the cutting of wage levels so that a different level of staff are attracted i..e. rather than paying for Local Authority Consultants at deputy Head level many have opted for the equivalent wage of a head of department, in that way they get heads of departments and not people with the educational depth and knowledge needed to support and improve practice.

Finally from a story at Wales Online

Mr Andrews’ bullish reaction was to be expected. Having already threatened to pull education from council jurisdiction, Estyn’s findings were more power to his elbow.

My concern is that if this continues and staff morale decreases, parental support is diminished it will open a wide chasm for someone like Capita to sweet talk The Welsh Government that they can do better and education in Wales will never be the same again. Capita and similar companies will always have the verbal verbosity to explain the reasons why the LA’s or schools should be in specials measures, but are not necessarily caring about the children and learning but more about profit as we can see from the recent translation debacle, but if this happens the Welsh Govt will have no way back and that will be a very sad day for Welsh education for everyone.

Remember the reason we are in education and making policies about teaching and learning is because we want to support our children.

LLantarnam School in Special measures – Why?

I read with interest and dismay about Llantarnam School being in special measures and wonder where did it all go wrong? Surely the educational choices of management over the years have led to this insecurity of both pupils and staff. This did not just happen overnight and those in authority must have been aware of the failings, just looking at recent data should have sent alarm bells ringing. Where were the Local Authority advisers? Where was the support of the teachers, head and governors in the previous years to stop this slide from happening?

Perhaps I write with rose-coloured glasses but as a product of Llantarnam school and its then wonderful teachers I am disappointed by the educationists within the system as they let this happen. It has always been in the Croesy is a much better school – left over from the old grammar system – battle despite being the first comprehensive. This immediately makes the learners and I suspect teachers feel it they are second best – yet they can shine as I know.

Recently I applied to help and support the Welsh assembly via their system leaders but lost out in the first stages so at that point immediately wondered what they were looking for. I might not be the best candidate but I can offer having being asked twice to help to successfully turn around a school in special measures with not dissimilar problems to Llantarnam. In the past I helped other school out of difficulties and departments improve practice all successfully and with praise from LA and HMI. Currently I work part-time with my husband and his translation company but have kept helping schools with good practice on my free days as well as directing, organising and developing the Primary Language Awards of which I ensured Welsh was an inclusion and its own category. NB Entries are currently open for schools to enter and each category winner receives £500 of langauge resources. www.languageawards.com

Yet having such experiences meant I didn’t even get an interview, maybe they feel my other work is a conflict of interest but it my mind it clearly isn’t, for me its a daily reminder of the difficulties learners have in school with literacy and my first experiences as a teacher. How many other educationalist have first hand experience of successfully turning around schools and still want to achieve it for others… I suspect not many. I made the decision years ago not to become a head but preferring instead to offer support to those school labelled as unsatisfactory. The reason being that either OFSTED or ESTYN quite rightly made their judgements but no one then wanted to help. LA staff whose job it should have been just pulled away and began pointing the finger whilst school staff and pupils were left demoralised like ‘billy no mates’.

When at Llantarnam I was inspired by my teachers from my form tutor Mr Harrison who also played cricket, and Terry Cobner who played a bit of rugby through to my history teacher who became a pastoral leader later in her career, geography teacher who later became a head. I was even blessed with one term of Ken Jones teaching me and the class poetry…I dont think many of my class liked poetry but he said he liked my poems and writing so hopefully he will be looking down on thsi and smiling and saying as he did then …if you think it write it… and I remember it fondly. I was the first to get a GOLD Duke of Edinburgh award and although at the time in sixth form not knowing what I wanted to achieve I was allowed to do woodwork and Mr Jarvis my 5th form form tutor tested me on wiring a plug, changing a washer and similar things. I was only ever nurtured on the unconventional things I liked like the discus in PE and not liking food technology.

It will be no surprise then that in later life after getting annoyed because the boys wouldn’t let me saw the piece of wood they always wanted to help…love them, my dad always let me use wood but watched like a hawk and if I wanted to use metal not understanding my interest in welding but my grandfather letting me play in the shed I trained to become one of the first design technology teachers wood, metal, plastic, control and textiles. Not an easy feat as even in teacher training at Croesy, Bettws and Llantarnam I kept getting offers to do food technology whilst I was confident to do what felt right education wise, I was never a great speaker and this is still something that everyday I struggle with and didn’t get my NQT job at Llantarnam because I got very tongue-tied. It takes a while for people to get used to me but through a mix of my mentoring and my willingness and ability to achieve especially where there is a struggle involved and the willingness to show practically what the theory means in the classroom means that over time I have become respected within my field of support.

I wish the new person overseeing it from Croydon well and will read with interest the developments in the next months. I only hope that they do not underestimate the desperation of staff not sure they are doing a good job and the risk of them leaving, parents taking children out to another school leading to a more falling role means that it is a task that will take years rather than months to improve. What it needs is a clear vision, a charged up and interested staff that can get help without feeling they are inadequate and positive experiences by the pupils which will feed interest and success vibes into the parents and community.

And finally to the Welsh Government, Torfaen LA and the schools governors before you start being negative about all the practice remember:

there are some really good ones that need pulling through and building on
each child every day is their first it cannot be regained further down the line they must get the best education that the teacher can give that day
From a management point of view ‘no one gets up to do a bad job, but circumstances and policies in the day to day running lead to the best not always being achieved’.
If you look out to find the worst and always talk about that and not balance it with the successes it will always be a failing school for all within it.

see the full report here http://www.torfaen.gov.uk/en/News/2012/November/21-Council-response-to-Llantarnam-Estyn-inspection.aspx

ESTYN – Good practice bilingualism

Team teaching and the pivotal role of the Welsh co-ordinator to implement the clear shared vision has ensured a school in Aberystwyth has developed bilingual practice according to ESTYN.

In 2012, as a result of prioritising bilingualism in the Foundation Phase…the school can now offer pupils a realistic choice of bilingual secondary education as they enter key stage 3 and parents realise the benefits of their children being bilingual in our community.

link to the original report : http://www.estyn.gov.uk/english/docViewer/257739.3/welsh-second-language-comes-first/?navmap=33,53,158,

Ysgol Plascrug is situated in the town of Aberystwyth which lies on the coast of Ceredigion. Approximately three-quarters of the pupils are white British while a quarter of pupils are from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds, originating from 38 different countries. Less than 1% of the pupils come from homes where Welsh is the main language. Thirty-five per cent of pupils live in disadvantaged areas and approximately 12% are entitled to Free School meals.

English is the main medium of teaching. Nearly all pupils learn Welsh as a second language. For many minority ethnic pupils, Welsh is a third or even fourth language for them to acquire. The school’s provision and comprehensive professional development programme for all staff in the development of Welsh is judged as sector leading. As a result, pupils’ standards in Welsh second language are deemed excellent.

The school has a firm, clear vision to prepare pupils to become inclusive members of the bilingual society of Wales and nurture pride in the language, heritage and culture of our country. The introduction of the Foundation Phase curriculum also highlighted the need to improve pupils’ bilingual skills at a very early age.

Description of nature of strategy or activity:

This vision is shared with all staff and over recent years has become a high priority in the school improvement plan. In order to fulfill the vision of creating fully bilingual pupils in a natural Welsh ethos, the school is committed to offering excellent provision to its pupils and exceptional opportunities for staff to improve their professional skills in Welsh language provision.

As part of the school’s strategy for raising standards in Welsh, the school improvement plan gives particular emphasis to the continuing professional development of staff.

The Athrawes Fro service provides effective support for Welsh language development on a weekly basis. It complements a team-teaching approach and offers helpful guidance on planning and resources. This allows the school to implement a ‘target group’ teaching approach at key stage 2.

The Welsh coordinator has a pivotal role in planning and integrating the teaching of Welsh.

The governing body recognises the benefits of releasing this member of staff to model good teaching approaches, monitor planning, provision and standards, and provide suitable resources and appropriate guidance and support to colleagues. The enthusiasm and passion of the coordinator is evident as Welsh is increasingly becoming the everyday informal language of the school.

In recent years, the school has focused upon developing bilingualism in the Foundation Phase. Welsh is now used as a medium of teaching for 40% of the timetable. As this progresses throughout the school, there is a direct impact on standards in Welsh and at key stage 2, pupils are able to access more subjects through the medium of Welsh. For example, physical education, art, design and technology and music can now be taught through the medium of Welsh.
In 2012, as a result of prioritising bilingualism in the Foundation Phase, 85% of pupils achieved Outcome 5+ in Welsh second language.
The school can now offer pupils a realistic choice of bilingual secondary education as they enter key stage 3 and parents realise the benefits of their children being bilingual in our community.

Bilingual Case officer – Bristol

Bilingual Case Manager (Welsh) Bilingual Case Officer (Welsh)

You will work with senior inspectors as part of a team handling applications for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) such as nuclear power stations and large wind farms.

As a bilingual case manager you will take a lead role in managing and supporting the process for a number of projects. You will be highly organised and able to project manage a team. You will also be involved in representing PINS in the Welsh media so will be a confident communicator. You will be expected to uphold the highest standards of impartiality.

As a bilingual case officer you will support case managers and will have responsibility for handling queries and cases in the Welsh language. For both roles you must be fluent in the Welsh language with excellent oral and written communication in both English and Welsh.

Closing date: 28th September 2012.

http://jobs.planningresource.co.uk/job/306980/bilingual-case-manager-welsh-bilingual-case-officer-welsh-/