Dear All
No doubt the exertions of the first half-of-term have got to most of you; thanks for the really quite lively response to my ISANet post of last week – http://goo.gl/n8Qjj

It could just have been a dead cat bounce (http://goo.gl/4aOTe) and when I met with Dave Orchard earlier today from Canbury School, he was indeed afeared that ISNet colleagues were struggling to keep their vital digital signs alive. Now it may be that many ISANet colleagues are planning their Google Teacher Academy application (go-on, have a go, 2 minutes of form filling and a quick face to camera on your mobile phone), or otherwise polishing their Digital agenda.

The Good news is the 100th Individual through the Google Apps trainng program is walking through the doors of the Sixth GAPPs course at my Alma-Mater on Wednesday – be assured the prize is worth winning – the teacher together with 6 students from their school is to visit the Google London Offices in Victoria, London, meet William Florance, CEO EMEA EDU, have the opportunity to learn about Google & have some of their questions answered, lunch in their restaurant and … sometime this summer term, the 200th visitor will be through our training academy, so each milestone is worth working to and for – the ISA Google Apps for Education project will keep the buzz+ going.

Do you think you have a 13-18 year old young sicentist capable of inventing something? $50,000 Google prize for further education PLUS $50,000 Science in Action prize PLUS a trip to the GALAPAGOS islands for 13-18 year old plus 15xChrome books for regional winners. We are hosting at Claires Court, 1 College Avenue Maidenhead Berks SL6 6AW the first UK based Introduction to the Google Science Fair. Saturday 25 February 9am-12 noon, free for child and adult, a knock-out for any keen young scientist and parent – read more about the Science fair here – http://www.google.com/events/sciencefair/

Booking for the Claires Court Schools’ event is here – http://goo.gl/Y68Mp – I am delighted to report that the Association for Science Education is supporting the event, and we’ll either have no-one or loads! Consider this like so many other ISA events – great to take part in, and there for the children!

And finally, I’ll give you an otherwise link-free half-term break. Please do get involved by blogging your own ideas on the ISANet, please encourage your other colleagues into action too, and help build our ISA community still further.

I’m off to Berlin with Year 11 Historians at 4am in the morning – brrrr! All part of the joy of working in the UK – I can’t imagine the PISA leaders in the league tables have time for some real hands-on education, but hey, thats’ the joy/price of being allowed to think for ourselves.

BW
James Wilidng
jtw@clairescourt.com
@james_wilding

On of them, Dave Orchard at Canbury School, decided my presentations from the Google Stand at BETT 2012 needed pimping a little – so here it is in full slideshare glory - http://portal.sliderocket.com/BBRKY/ISAGrid-for-L3arning

The Kids in Sport Video was made by past pupil, Toby Hefferman, assistant director on Clash of the Titans, Pirates, stuff…
… in memory of another old boy of ours Julian Budd, who died tragically of a rare throat infection aged 33.

Anyway here’s the link…http://goo.gl/lVuyf

The stage was set at the start of the day, with my assembly focussing more generally on the arrival of Citizenship with the Romans – one of those ‘What did they ever do for us’ moments. Our Year 11 Public Speaking team had won the local Rotary speaking competition in Henley last Monday, so it seemed sensible to bring them into focus, and Mr Hogg, their trainer, gave them a good write-up and they were re-presented with their cups and medals.

Just as they thought they were going to sit down, I established that they, together with Mr Hogg and the Head of History, were going to represent the UK in a live ‘British Citizenship’ test against 5 of the school’s finest foreigners. Step up 4 staff and Oskar (much to his surprise). Live on the big screen, question after question was shown to the 2 groups, who could confer for 30 seconds before being pressed to give their answers. We only had time for 6 questions, and the home team slunk in 2 points to 1, a narrow win for England!

Now when I sat the full practice test last Wednesday, I genuinely gave of my best, but I simply did not know some of the mindlessly silly facts our ‘aspiring’ UK citizen is forced to learn – scoring a healthy 73%, I really did not expect to find this was not good enough, and it meant I did not qualify!  Woe was me.

You can see the Assembly presentation I created for the event here – http://prezi.com/_9zvxwpi-__q/citizenship-from-ancient-rome-to-the-present-day/.  The live bit was of course when the link to the UK Citizenship test link appears, and you can click on that in the Prezi as well as here - http://www.ukcitizenshiptest.co.uk/.   Fortunately for me, despite suffering this terrible humiliation, Border Control Agency Guards have not appeared at my house or at school to take me away, nor indeed did school feel I should be deported either.  That’s probably because they were just as ‘snookered’ as I by the sheer range of useless facts it appears we need to know as Brits.

Oskar was presented with all sorts of CCS goodies, including one of our anniversary pin badges and a signed ‘Malo Mori’ card from all his year.  As a citizen of Europe, he has the right always to return to the UK, and if he does, it’s fair to say our country will be the richer for it.  I wonder how many of our Year 11 will think about popping overseas for a month or two this coming summer after their GCSEs; in the past, our keen linguists took the opportunity, but these days I am afraid such impetuous behaviour is rarely seen.

My worst answers in the Quiz were to the following:

How many parliamentary constituencies are there?

In which year did married women get the right to divorce their husband?

The number of children and young people up to the age of 19 in the UK is?

The percentage of people in the UK in 2001 who said they were Muslims was?

Anyway, I don’t need answers on a postcard, because the practice test helpfully allows you to run through the Feedback to see what went wrong.  This meant that when I took the test again, I got a whopping 100% – but that’s cheating!  I have recommended to Year 10 that they have a go, and let’s see quite how well CC is educating them as Citizens of the UK.  I suspect not quite as badly as their boss did, partly because being an on-line test, they’ll pop open another window and use Mr Google to provide some help!  After all, with 45 minutes to take the test, there’s bags of time to complete the test and reach Angry Birds level 6 – sadly another life skill currently not yet achieved by yours truly!

Schools are rapidly adopting a more professional approach to the use of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube to protect and ‘build’ their brand. ISANet’s technical officer Ian Nairn has produced this report on a major broadcast in the states on the use of Social Media in Schools – http://goo.gl/uatnF

Notwithstanding the Google things I am up to my ears in (see here for the latest courses we are running to end June 2012) , I am researching ‘whither science, computers and schools’? The whole Brian Cox thing, sexing up Physics, bringing on a new generation enthused with the idea of studying the ‘stars’ for a degree is real, not imagined. Today’s celebration of 70 years of Desert Island Discs has arguably the world’s most famous naturalist, and Frozen Planet didn’t t just attract 6.8 million viewers for fun. Science is back with a Big Bang.

That’s why I am highlighting the arrival this year in the UK of the Google Science Fair,
Here’s the link – http://www.google.com/events/sciencefair/
Here’s the link for teachers to plan – http://www.google.com/events/sciencefair/educators.html
Here’s help – http://www.google.com/events/sciencefair/site.html

As well as Natural Science, Computer Science is in our face too – recent reports have trashed what we are currently doing, and here’s the underpinning thoughts for a new curriculum from start to finish – http://goo.gl/8GJ1K, endorsed by BCS, Microsoft and Google. And here’s a fun site for Computer Science – no that’s not an Oxymoron – seriously, get your school back to the future by engaging the Geeks! Oh, and if you are really all in the dark about what Computer Science is all about, here’s some easy stuff from the folk at Bristol University.

“The countdown is on… Stay tuned for updates from the world’s biggest blogging project that will see blogging stripped down to just 2 clicks! Feb29th.net is a global blogging project that will cross all age groups and continents. As soon as Feb 29th 2012 begins in Tonga, the Feb29th.net will open up for posts for one day only. This blog will capture posts from all over our planet on this rare day until midnight in the Western Pacific. The result will not only be a celebration of technology, but a celebration of audience and purpose, who will be the youngest author? Who will be the oldest? Which country will top the most posts? Will there be any marriage proposals?
The aim is to allow any visitor on 29th Feb to post; these will be moderated on the day, as this will also be open to pupils in educational establishments across the globe. Please add your email address in the box below to subscribe to this site. Also feel free to spread the word using the Twitter and Facebook icons below.
Together, we will prove that blogging is safe and there really is POWER in the audience!”

Here’s the link: http://feb29th.net/

So many junior schools are raising their pupils’ literacy in great leaps and bounds through blogging and tweeting, you ought to have a look!

James Wilding
jtw@clairescourt.com
@james_wilding
jameswilding.wordpress.com

With such manic activity, it’s quite clear that there are indeed pearls to find in the verbiage; the Secretary of State’s word count must top all in Government, and he has certainly become a major character in this Coalition, but how can you stop him throwing out the baby with the bathwater?  Well that must be the Commons education committee in Parliament’s worry too, as they have enlisted public support to provide a raft of challenging questions for Mr Gove.  And they have enlisted the support of Twitter – to suggest a question for Mr Gove, all you have to do is tweet that with the hashtag #AskGove.  Now you don’t have to have a Twitter account to watch the Public Storm in return – go to TwitterFall, type #AskGove into the Search button and watch the TwitterFall happen.  My best question at the time of writing was ‘why did you slap an injunction of the Daily Telegraph revealing your immoral 2nd home expenses fiddle?

Now TwitterFall is one of those great headline readers that lend themselves to all sorts of teaching opportunities – your ideas to James please if you are already playing.

• On the broader picture of Education on-line this week, I spotted this great piece of work on Digital Citizenship on the edorigami.wikispace (I know, it’s amouthfull!) in which is identified the 6 tenets of Digital Citizenship and a nice hierarchy for primary and secondary schools to include –

Senior Students                       Middle School Students         Junior School Students

Respect yourself                     Looking after yourself                        Looking after me

Protect yourself

Respect others                         Looking after others               Looking after others

Protect others

Respect Intellectual Property  Looking after property            Looking after stuff

Protect Intellectual Property

Please have a look at the intellectual stuff behind; if nothing else you’ll find the broader work this site highlights in the world of digital education.

• Staying with the Citizenship scene, I also found the work ‘Digital Demons Code of Conduct’ down-under in Victoria, highlighting how youngsportsmen could develop appropriate behaviour online, and assisting them to use social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook safely and responsibly.

And for Teachers working as 21^st Century educators, the Twitterforeducation wiki has hugely valuable resources for those thinking about introducing ICT on-line for their children – nice link here to the 5 things children understand about online searching before starting middle school

And finally; back to Mr Gove and that stuff he said at BETT about Programming.  Have read  of this not totally hostile view of the current world debate about Learning Code.

Footnotes:

I am working up a piece for next Week on how Schools can join the Google crusade to encourage Great Science  – the prize being $50,000 plus great trip across the pond.

1. Well done to the 8 GAPPs delegates at the Dixie Grammar School on Saturday, beginning their quest to discover about the 6 tools for Education.
2. •February Google Training Courses – there are 15 people already booked on the Halliford Course (4th Feb); 4 people booked on the Claires Court course (15th Feb), no people booked on the Red House Course (28th Feb); 3 people on the Bridgewater Course (3rd March) and 3 people on the Heathfield course (14th March).  You can find all the links on the ISANet site and here.
3. And for Teaching Professionals seeking to attend the 2012 Google Teacher Academy in London, the deadline for applications is the 9^th February, more info here http://www.google.com/educators/gta.html

Have a great week and enjoy the ‘new model’ winter – it’s like living on Cyprus here in the Thames Valley, warm, balmy and dry.

?Follow me on Twitter? @james_wilding

Here’s my latest post, which nicely links to some of the ideas in today’s other blog, and also shows the direction of travel of my own thinking for developments within CCS.

ISANet Newsletter 2 Monday 16 January 2012

The current series of ISA GAPPs courses recommence this weekend at Dixie Grammar School – 4 places left – find that link and the details of all the courses to May here - http://goo.gl/4SoF4

Many thanks to the gallant band of ISANet supporters who attended the BETT show last Saturday;  apparently the chair of our beloved ICT committee, Jim Stearns, got lost somewhere in the halls, so much was there to see! Joking apart, there were over 20 supporters of one kind or another (plus a lot more of the general public) to watch my 1.45pm Saturday Google talk on their stand to highlight the GAPPs training we are running, and that was heart-warmingly gorgeous of all!  Here’s the 2 slide shows I talked all over - http://goo.gl/TYYNS & http://goo.gl/Yj811

As a serious point, the two major Education shows a year are amazing, free CPD for teachers, with many stands running ‘celebrity’ chats from leading exponents in the field.  I am so convinced in the value of such shows to ensure Teachers update their professional and vocational knowledge, it seems a no-brainer to run a similar ISANet day at the education show at the NEC Birmingham on Saturday 17 March.  So if there are any regular attendees at the NEC Education show, please let me know so we capture the Zeitgeist first time round!  I have posted this date in the ISANet calendar.

Edutone Tablets: The ISANet team at BETT12 chose to visit the CUP stand on which their partners from the USA, Edutone, were showing their latest Android 4 tablets – sizes at the 7”, 8” and iPAD buster 9.5”.  Their VP, Michael Awerbuch has suggested he will ship to the ISANet project 30 such slates for review – some at the 8” size (circa £100 + vat), some at the iPad size at circa £150+ vat.  Battery life is circa 5 hours now, OS is Android 4.0 (ice cream) and the slates come with a leather case and inbuilt keyboard.  The slates play Flash (unlike iPads and in addition have an usb port (in addition to the other media outputs).  Edutone can brand tablets with school logos!You can see some info here -http://www.edutone.com/products/et-persona-tablets/ . 

Once I have confirmation of the shipping and arrival of Edutone slates, I’ll open a shared document so that ISANet schools can book them for a 1 week trial.  The point here is as follows – we have been looking for an entry price slate big enough to use as a book replacement, access point for cloud computing and cool enough to win hearts and minds.  I can imagine some schools taking these slates on for school use, whilst others will suggest their pupils bring them as part of their uniform!

Google Science Fair 2012 – first prize $50,000 plus

The 15 finalists (5 in each age category) will be awarded the Finalist Prize, a trip to Google Headquarters in Mountain View, CA to participate in the final winner selection event to be held on or about July 22 – July 23, 2012. Finalists will be required to attend the event for two days.  Above and beyond this are 2x$25k runners-up prizes and the grand winner a £50k award!  You can read a whole lot more here -http://goo.gl/U23pT

Entrants can submit Projects in any one of the following categories:

• Computer Science & Math

• Earth & Environmental Sciences

• Behavioral & Social Sciences

• Flora & Fauna

• Energy & Space

• Inventions & Innovation

• Physics

• Biology

• Chemistry

• Food Science

• Electricity & Electronics

Google UK are planning to have local winners too – Robin Morgan is responsible for marketing for Google UK, and more info will be released shortly.  The 3 age ranges are: 13-14, 15-16, 17-18, and in team entries it is the oldest age that counts.

Other points of interest arising early in 2012:  An interesting state-side initiative running for the last 11 years is the Freechild project – I rather like their Ladder of Youth voice and their ideas for different roles young people can play in society – read more here -http://freechild.org/.

Mr Gove has blasted ICT teaching in schools – Jose Fraser is one of the brightest thinkers in the UK on ICT stuff – here’s her take on what’s the difference between computer science, and the broader and much to be desired development in all schools, Digital Literacy. – http://goo.gl/fPsTh

I caught up belated with a Letter to New Teachers, http://goo.gl/zxPi4  written by Peter Gow, which strikes all sorts of plus points in advising new colleagues about the profession they are joining.  Written prior to the start of the Autumn, Term, it sits well now too, at the start of a new Year.

Some real fun for February 29^th?  One of the UK stars of school blogging is David Mitchell, and he has had the bright idea that everyone on the planet should Blog on 29^th Feb.  Now be honest, had you yet turned your mind to that crazy event, our Leap year 0f 2012?  Find out more here - http://feb29th.net/ and here - http://goo.gl/4j70T

I do hope your Lent Term 2012 has started off with a smile on your school’s face.  I hear today that ISI start ringing headteachers tomorrow to let them know that their Unified Inspection is to start in 5 days time.  GULP!

James Wilding, jtw@clairescourt.com

It’s with a rueful smile that I report that Mr Gove doesn’t actually thing schools are doing a good job with technology; in his view lessons are dull and boring, and what we should be doing is to be far more innovative and imaginative and teach children computer programming.  Yep, that’s right – instead of encouraging children to engage with tools, ideas, technology and the 21^st century, our Secretary of State  wants us to go back (1980s) to the future and teach them ‘coding’.  Hmmm.  Even with the best will in the world, the vast majority of the flower of British Youth will tell Mr Gove precisely what he can do with that kind of prescription.

It’s not that Mr Gove is wholly wrong; we need to help our ‘computer experts of the future’ have the opportunities to acquire such skills at a young age.  The company behind www.clairescourt.com is run by a past pupil, Bob Barker whose one of the brightest I know at this coding stuff, and our virtual school has been a standout plus point for the organisation for a decade or more, thanks to Shinytastic.  But the trouble is, we don’t actually know the jobs we need to be training them for; one man’s Website meat is another man’s mobile App poison.  You see the thing about a virtual world is that it is at least as big as the world, and actually in many ways can be a whole many more dimensions larger than that, because it can be.  Our digital guru has as many different roles as business will permit; ‘coding’ is just one part of a myriad of solutions we need. Who is going to ensure we are ‘favourite’ on the search engine’, whose going to blend our channels, etc (I am making the language up!).  In addition to our traditional website presence, we are currently running a School Management system integrating our entire working community, together with an entirely separate Google Apps domain for teaching and learning, an increasingly complex Facebook and Twitter presence to watch and comment, with lots of blogging and posting in all sorts of ways.  What with one thing and another, we are in danger of having up to 1500 people online for CCS every day in some way or other, pupils, teachers, LSAs, admin, Sysadmin, not to mention our ‘digital’ visitors.

But Mr Gove is of course focussing in on the children, and there are indeed plenty who complain that their experience at school is SOOOO much duller than their life at home, on screen.  And given that Electronic Media is big business, why wouldn’t we want to rally to the cry to populate the next generation of C++ jobs when they arise, rather than outsource the work (and therefore the Jobs) to the 1 billion South East Asian graduates who can do the work?  And Mr Gove is right to point out the differences between school and home; he does it all the time.  After all, he believes children should read 50 books a year, and that children should read the Harry Potter oeuvres by 11.  Indeed he quotes the Charter School exemplar in the States that do just this, knocking UK child readers from 17 into 25 place in the world order of things.  And I’ll even go with him on the ‘spare the teenage Nation ‘Of Mice and Men’ – though a great book and one everyone should read, but not the only one for goodness sake that is the required read at 16?

The trouble is that it’s case of throwing out Babies with Bathwater; if  we ditch teaching Digital Literacy in favour of Computer programming as he directs, it would be as heinous a crime as if we ditched teaching reading and spelling in favour of writing.  Where on earth are the JK Rowlings of tomorrow to come from if the breadth of their education is narrowed to just one of the composite of skills we actually need to teach.  The real point is that the nations’ children don’t have a proper balanced programme young enough.  I am utterly fed-up of being lectured to by Government ministers and educational experts alike who keep referring to achievement outcomes of 16 and 18 year olds, without recognising that it actually all happens between the ages of 6 and 13.  So narrow is the diet of the junior National curriculum before age 11 as measured by primary school league tables, that the whole focus is on English and Maths, and sack the rest of it.

So yes, let’s teach programming to our children, but let’s also teach blogging and collaborating, sharing in real time and using technology, and lets make sure that all those at primary school can be have the opportunity to be inspired by paint and craft, bat and ball, dance and public speaking and fill their boots to overflowing too.  And I wo9uld say that wound’t I, because I know there is one school in our town where that happens in abundance – just go here to see what younger children can achieve in their virtual worlds – CCS has been digital since the ZX81 and BBC micro, and it shows - http://goo.gl/G4kPZ .

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 3,800 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 3 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Those that know me well are aware I also run a private network for teachers and fellow workers within ISA schools, known as the ISANet, a Blogging career for me that is now three years’ old. The two blogs serve completely different purposes; the ISANet exists to build a digital community around sharing resources, sharing experiences and sharing services, and through this collaborative working develop an understanding of how 21st century learning includes using digital tools.  The Google collaboration has been the latest of a series of high profile developments that have assisted many of the the 300 schools within to make considerable progress within elearning.

What this blog has allowed me to share through conversation and argument what I feel a modern, relevant education should be striving for.  I have every hope that in 2012, I can double my readership cover the globe perhaps a little more effectively, and ensure that our work within Claires Court Schools becomes even more widely known.

So here’s a promise that 2012 will be the most remarkable year yet in our school’s history (51 years young); notwithstanding the bitterness of the western world’s recession, centres of excellence are thriving, and innovation and excitement permeates our educational atmosphere at the turn of the year.  I also promise to keep some of my CCS hyperbole down a bit too.  :o)

James Wilding

jtw@clairescourt.com

Our U12 boys’ rugby squad were unbeaten all term, coming back from the recent Berkshire Rugby Festival winners overall of the 46 teams competing. Going one better, our senior girls’ hockey team won the indoor county championship (beating Wellington College in the process) and went on represent Berkshire in the southern regional stage in which they came 4th, holding their own against schools with vastly superior numbers of girls to choose from. The Young Enterprise team is building its new business case with the help of Cisco’s mentors, while Year 13 pupils are being invited to interview and receiving offers from Universities. We deliver a winning balance of size and engagement – small enough as a school so that everyone gets a chance and big enough to compete with the best in the country! You can see further evidence of this approach in the enclosed Achievements and Scribblings magazines which chronicle the life, work and times of our particular community in all its guises, from Nursery to Sixth Form. What I hope we exemplify best within is just how much your sons and daughters achieve in the round, with every aspect of their lives here filled with opportunities to succeed. We want our pupils to be fundamentally happy at school, to grow in self-worth, to achieve across the broad sweep of school life, and in so doing become the resilient men and women set to survive and prosper in an uncertain world.

I hope it is a “given” that we are a school for all abilities. So we should be, for those who join at 3 years of age have their whole futures ahead of them – we must hold open every possible door to them so that, in every sense, they can explore whilst within our bounds. We are a school of high Expectation, grounded in reality in terms of age and circumstance: our purpose is to nurture high Aspiration amongst our young. Aspirations are what drive boys and girls to be what they will become. As teachers, it is our duty to provide the type of school environment which will enthuse students to do more, to be more and to reach beyond their imagination! As 2012 arrives, it’s time to share with you our next major development plan. As I do so for the next 4 years, it is with some humility! It’s difficult to see ahead quite as clearly as one wants; back in 2008, I had little foresight of the coming chaos in the financial markets, in business and in society at large, and no view at all of the sweeping changes that a Coalition Government would bring to Education. Clearly far more devastating for our families has been the continued turmoil in the global economy, and for the time being there seems little to cheer on that front, though Hope springs eternal, so please read on! Because we have indeed done well despite that bleak backdrop to meet the 8 targets set in 2008.

The first target was to extend what we teach and learn well beyond the confines of the National Curriculum. What happens in the classroom needs to be around a rich and diverse provision; few junior schools have a curriculum as broad as ours so well supported by specialist staff teaching with an obvious love for what they do. There is an alarming gulf growing between the education experienced by our own pupils in these formative years and those in state primary schools. It is the main reason for new junior pupils to join, and it is the main reason why pupils should stay on with us into the secondary years. During the Key Stage 3 years our pupils enjoy a huge diversity of visits and experiences providing brilliant handson learning. Most of the local secondary schools do none of this, and it shows. As a school for all abilities, we are not in the race to be the best just for the clever. The Department for Education’s own research recently published shows that all the plans to fast track more able pupils in the state sector to take GCSEs earlier and accelerate their learning has had precisely the opposite effect – lower achievement, more resits and increased pupil disengagement from the very subjects such as Maths and English in which the Government expects success. But there’s something even more worrying about the state sector’s curriculum changes over recent years, and that is that with such a shortening of the curriculum, the inevitable consequence is ‘teaching to the test’ and head examiners ‘cheating’. Compare and contrast that with our delivery of a broad curriculum supported by an appropriate artistic, sporting and extra curricular provision, the whole evidenced by our successes this term. You can see some great slides from our recent Netball tour to Malta here – http://goo.gl/Cw7Uv.

Our second main target was to refurbish our school environment, and we have made notable steps on all three sites. Yes, we have more to do but the changes already wrought have significantly improved provision across all age groups. Building developments for 2012 include the renewal of the Ridgeway swimming pool, with plans being submitted to the RBWM panel as I write. We start using our new playing fields at Taplow soon, a useful and important addition to our facilities for field games. You can see a slide show of our various developments here: http://goo.gl/nC80M

We live in a digital age, and it has remained important that we use those tools to enhance learning in many and diverse ways. We are well-resourced in this area and the development of our Google ‘Claires Court Hub’ has ensured that our pupils have access to anytime, anywhere tools for learning, and a service that can only grow and keep us at the forefront of digital engagement in the 21st century. Expect us to manage this roll-out carefully though, because these are new skills to lie alongside the old, not to replace them. Reading, writing, drawing, debating, questioning and working hard and with gusto is how we already nurture talent beyond the imagination – that skill-set remains an absolute requirement. But what these tools allow us to do as never before is to collaborate across time and place, to enjoy the excitement of creating with others wherever they are in the world, and to recognise it is the ability to be flexible and adaptable learners that are now the prime requirements for successful employment.

Our fourth aim was to engage more closely with our town and surrounding area. Our 3for3 charity work has and will retain close links with those in our community who are challenged, who don’t have our benefits of background and success, or for whom terminal illness blights their future. Our sponsorship of Art on the Street has assisted in the rejuvenation of the wider Arts community and brought the work of our own young artists onto the High Street. Take a look here at our workshop in operation: – http://goo.gl/wJCdm. The David Course Challenge has brought a new major sporting event to the Schools’ Rugby calendar; indeed whatever the sport you’ll find us working hand in glove with our local clubs and county associations. Outdoor education and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme are embedded well now for both boys and girls, providing further stretch and challenge. Our own Holiday Club offers not just care and activity for children outside of term-time, but excellent employment experience for the young graduates of our sports leaders and child care programmes. The other 4 targets – to promote further Staff professional development, greater PTA Liaison, maintenance of outstanding Pastoral Care, and an enhancement of pupil discipline and attitude to learning – are not so measurable. In these, we have delivered really well and they will remain core to our future development.

See my next Blog on how all this is moving forwards into our next School Development plan.