19-10-2018
10:23
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‘So we are at the end of a gruelling autumn term. Many of us have experienced huge knock backs and are running on fumes.
It’s a good time to remember that sometimes you’ve got to stick to who you are and what you know.’
I spent three years working with experts from leading education systems in the world. Finnish/Canadian/Indonesian educationalists who advocated for play, inquiry, autonomy and freedom. I had three years of implementing relevant, real world learning experiences that were innovative, exciting and FUN! It seems to be a dirty word right now but I simply refuse to believe that making children bored and miserable is an effective learning strategy. My proof? My research? 15 years of teaching with immense success. Students continuing with my subjects (not just my main subject) and contacting me to thank me. Parents remaining in touch to give me updates and ask advice.
This week I visited the brass band that I helped instigate in a local primary school at the start of my mainstream career.
The children do not sit tests in brass playing. They do not learn silently and are not required to memorise the notes. They are instead allowed to fumble and make funny noises, stumble until they get it right and then feel the joy of creating music as part of a group when it all comes together.
6 years of brass players going through our school system. In five schools. Started by me. I worked out that, of those still playing, there are over 200 new instrumentalists in the West Midlands. That’s not counting the teachers and parents who joined in too. That’s not taking into account the community links forged and players who started again in order to help the younger generation.
My secret? I have FUN!! So much fun!!! Yes, we learn. Yes, I have aspirations for my learners. YES… we are silly and we laugh and we remember that life shouldn’t be miserable and silent and dull. Who wants to live in THAT world?! Not me!
So I WILL entertain my classes! I will make them giggle with laughter and spill out of my room buzzing with random questions. I will encourage discussion and inquiry. I will teach them to challenge the system.
If this makes me wrong then I do not wish to be right. If right is silent corridors and soundless classrooms with tables in rows and learners churning through information like automatons then give me the wrongness of subversion any day. Give me the purple streaked hair, the singing loudly, the asking constant questions. Give me unique.
I teach so that each of my students can become beautiful, individual, magically diverse beings. I will always listen to them and there I will take my lead.
The customer is always right and I have an impeccable customer service record!
Heads Up creates high performing school leadership teams that deliver consistent, high quality education every day to those children who need it the most. Maximise success with half the stress. Training is 100% recommended and highly effective.
https://www.oneeducation.co.uk/
One Education has worked with schools for over a decade, providing specialist training and consultancy services to raise standards and pupil attainment. We offer support across the whole school, empowering school leaders, business managers and teachers to champion excellence at every level.
Operoo is a school operations and productivity platform. We help thousands of schools and trusts to eliminate slow, expensive and repetitive tasks. Operoo helps schools streamline and digitise processes, drastically reducing the associated costs: From student pre-admissions, permission forms, payments, and school trips; to medical information and emergency contacts, incident reporting, staff agreements, and more in over 100 languages.
Unify is an online sales and marketing tool that allows users to create tailored personalised documents in moments.
ImpactEd's mission is to improve pupil outcomes by helping schools understand what is and isn’t working in their specific context. We are a non-profit organisation, and through hands-on partnership and our digital platform, we support schools to understand the impact of programmes they run and make monitoring and evaluation easy.
https://www.utility-aid.co.uk/
There’s nothing special about the energy we sell. In fact, it’s exactly the same energy as all our competitors provide. But there is something special about the way we do it. Where others complicate the process, we simplify it. Where others confuse customers with hidden terms, we’re an open book. And where others do all they can to make as much money from their customers as possible, we do all we can to make as little. Everything we do, we do it differently. Our customers are a privilege. One we’ll never take advantage of.
Securus provide market-leading monitoring solutions to safeguard students on ALL devices both online and offline. We also offer a full monitoring service, where we carry out the monitoring on behalf of the school, freeing up valuable staff resources. From the smallest school to large MAT groups, Securus offers safeguarding protection for all!
Vivify partners with schools across the country to hire out their facilities outside of school hours to enable them to generate much needed revenue that can be invested back into their facilities, teachers, and student experience. Opening up school facilities for communities to get together can improve mental and physical wellbeing, boost confidence, tackle loneliness and help people feel more positive about life.