Parent Engagement

I read a thought-provoking article in the Times Educational Supplement over the weekend giving me cause to reflect. The following poor examples are apparently common: 1 Having reception areas that are unwelcoming and without comfortable seating. 2 Keeping parents in the dark about what their child will be learning in the week ahead. 3 Making it hard to arrange an appointment to see a teacher. 4 Not answering emails and voicemails promptly. 5 Class teachers offering a child-sized seat to a parent during a meeting but taking an adult one themselves. 6 Giving children impossible homework or deadlines and leaving parents to cope. 7 Using edu-babble and jargon. 8 Organising the PTA so that all it really does is fundraising. 9 Failing to offer parents genuine opportunities to make constructive suggestions. 10 Not acknowledging constructive feedback. I am sure that all schools get many of these wrong and we will be no exception! I will be publicising a date for the first parent engagement evening of the year this week and I must ensure that: • We have comfortable adult seats • We avoid jargon • We give time for feedback I will talk to my leadership team this week about how we can look into other improvements; I am particularly interested in no 2.

Exam grades and school tables

I spotted this article in the Times today: Over-reliance on exams leaves young bereft of social skills The Times’ Anthony Seldon says the continued focus on exam performance is robbing the young of the opportunity to develop their own “innate capacities”. He cites a paper from Harvard which argues jobs with the biggest growth since the 80s have been those that require a high degree of social skills, with women disproportionately benefiting from this shift. Described as “soft skills” by the establishment, they are left by the wayside in the UK, to the frustration of employers, says Mr Seldon. “Skills that employers want are those that computers cannot, at least for now, perform.” He calls for a better mix of academic rigour and broad education. Anthony Seldon was of course, until recently, the Headteacher at Wellington College. After our best ever exam performance it is a good year for me to comment. I agree with him of course, however in reality all state schools are at the mercy of league tables and Ofsted. We want to do all we can to help young people discover and develop their "innate capacities". As long as they also get some good results, making sure the doors to university and employment remain open to them and ensuring the doors to their school follow suit!

Screen Time

I was interested to read the following in the press on Friday: "TV hits GCSE grades Research from the University of Cambridge suggests that schoolchildren spending extra time in front of the television or computer every day could see their GCSE results fall by the equivalent of two grades. The study of 845 secondary pupils found that the average pupil spends four hours a day in front of a screen, with each extra hour of screen time seeing an average of 9.3 fewer GCSE points scored while students doing an extra hour of homework or reading added an average of 23.1 GCSE points". When I meet with students to discuss their academic performance “screen time” is often a focus of our conversation! It has been nice to hear that many students had busy summer breaks away from screens. Toby Yapp appeared or rather starred in “Life Raft” at the Bristol Old Vic (the precursor to Lord of the Flies - but at sea). He was one of the 2 leads in a story about 13 children adrift at sea in a life boat. It examines the dynamics and drama that ensues as the children try and work out how to survive. The reviews were very positive indeed. Sam Cording got through to the final of a National computer gaming programming competition. Please do follow the link at: http://youtu.be/Y_frQ3VoT4g to see Sam in action at the ICC in Birmingham. Well done to both on fantastic achievements. A number of sixth from students successfully completed their D of E gold expedition over the holidays! Not an easy challenge. Please do encourage your children to share their summer stories with pastoral and academic staff so that we can celebrate their achievements as a community.

Number 10

It was great to be invited to Downing St this week, I have always wanted to see behind the door! We were invited to celebrate the Free School programme and Mrs Yarnold and I managed to have a conversation with Nicki Morgan (The Education Minister) and also with the Prime Minister. The PM mentioned that his daughter had started in year seven that very morning. The BCCS new cohort of year seven began on Friday. They all looked very smart, though a few were still waiting on items of uniform! The new uniform suppliers have not had a good start and we will be looking into the delays in the first few weeks of term. Please be aware that lorries will be in the square for the first four weeks of term. They are moving the books from the central library so that construction work can begin. It is even more critical that you do not drive into the square. Staff are doing their bit by cycling and lift sharing and we have cut the school parking by more than a third.