Academies

It was just a matter of months after Rodborough achieved its "Outstanding" rating from Ofsted that Michael Gove wrote to the school inviting it to be an Academy. The previous Government had an Academy programme that was aimed at helping schools struggling in deprived areas to improve their standards. The present Government scheme is only open to "Outstanding" schools.

So what does it mean?

The new Academies are designed to give schools independence from the Local Authority. The new buzz phrase is "autonomy" for schools and so, under Academy status, schools can (if they wish):

• Have freedom from the National Curriculum
• Vary the pattern of the school day and term dates
• Set its own terms and conditions for staff
• Be free of any interference and bureaucracy from the Local Authority
• Directly receive monies held centrally, by the Local Authority, for children's services.
• Own the land, the buildings and directly employ staff.

One of the school's Governors summed it up by describing it as "being like an independent school without the ability to set the fees."

Do we want it?

Well, the educational benefits seem a little tenuous. It's nice to be given autonomy but some of the freedom we have already and some we may not want! However, if there is a significant sum of money that could be delegated to schools, that was previously held by the Local Authority, then this is worth further investigation. Clearly, if the money is delegated, we also lose the services that were provided centrally by the Local Authority. If we don't want or use those services or we can find them cheaper elsewhere, then the notion of Academies will have to be given careful consideration.

Furthermore, in the week before the Comprehensive Spending Review, we know we will soon have cuts to contend with. It may just be that the greater flexibility and control of the monies available under Academy status is one of the solutions to the difficult times ahead.

What's in a name?

Well, the first blog of a new academic year and with this new start I am pleased to announce some rebranding of the school and important additions to our website.

When I first became Headteacher of the school I took the line that if “Rodborough Technology College” was our name then we should use it and use it properly. Over the last five years it has become clear that many people who do not know us misunderstand the name. As a “College”, they expect us to have older students and often “Technology” gets changed to “Technical”, especially by those who remember schools of the past with that name. For those who do know us, we have always been, and I suspect always will be, “Rodborough”. So we have changed our name to “Rodborough” and when we use it in places where people don’t know us we have a “strap line” of “A Specialist Technology School” to help them understand who we are. So increasingly now you will see this change seep through all the things we do. Our new signs at the front of the school already show the change.

Have you logged onto our website recently? If you haven’t, then I encourage you to do so. There have been radical changes to the front end and two major additions. If you log on you will see the screen split into three sections (under our old name of course…… it will take a while!). The “Eco” part of the site is dedicated to Martin Davies – our former Head of Technology who, sadly, died in the summer. This part of the site was inspired by him. If you go into it, there is an attractive, interactive graphic which, if you click onto various parts, takes you into the work the school is doing on the Government’s eight sustainability themes: Traffic and Travel, Energy and Water, Local Wellbeing, The Global Dimension, Purchasing and Waste, School Building and Grounds, Inclusion and Participation, and Food and Drink. Plus our own weather station information. There is a lot we have achieved already and plans for much more work in the months and years ahead.

The other section on the website is labelled “Travel”, which is an important part of our “Safer Routes to School” work. Part of the site is aimed at encouraging pupils to cycle to school with information, guidance and practical tips. The other part is an interactive forum for pupils to discuss cycling and link to other cycle users. We currently have about 60 regular cyclists to school and, at a peak in the summer, this rose to 100. It is so popular that we are looking for new cycle shed facilities.

This year, each department is looking at their Departmental space on the website with a view to getting more homework tasks, more materials, presentations and revision materials on the site. If it doesn’t work for you, please let us know through info@rodborough.surrey.sch.uk so that we can take your views on board.

Results or Creativity?

We are in a results led culture. Young people need good results to progress through the stages of education towards the best job prospects possible. This now applies to everyone as the Government expects all young people to stay in education and training until the age of 18. Schools too, are judged by their results by students, parents, the local community, the Local Authority and Ofsted. When Ofsted last visited us, it was very clear that, no matter what they saw or were told, all judgements would be made based on our last set of results. You are only as good as your last set of results!

Yet when I first came into teaching the driving force was creativity. I was trained to try and understand how children learn. It was important how you presented work, the questions you asked and how you inspired young people to want to learn rather than just do as they are asked. As a young teacher in my first job, I was teaching a course for which there were no text books. We wrote all our own materials and we were engrossed in producing work that inspired our students, gave them responsibility for their own work, offered them choices, honed their study and research skills and yet ensured they learnt the key teaching points. Time was not so much of an issue and if students got really involved with their studies then you let them carry on.

In the mid 1980’s the introduction of the National Curriculum imposed a different driving force on education. There was a body of knowledge that teachers had to deliver and that body of knowledge was huge. The driving force was getting through the materials and delivering the course. It had many advantages in that you knew exactly what to teach and you knew that everyone else was teaching it too. Text books were focused on teaching the National Curriculum but, if an area of work wasn’t in the syllabus, it was never going to get ‘air space’ and there certainly wasn’t time to go off at a tangent. In the pursuit of delivering the content, the skills of how to present materials in an exciting way were set aside. It was all about ‘what we taught’ not ‘how we taught it’.

Looking back on it now, things needed to change. We needed sharpening up as a profession and made more accountable for what we were delivering. But, as is so often the case in education (and probably other areas of life), the pendulum swung from one extreme to another and, as a result, a lot of good practice was lost. So is it impossible to have an education system where results and creativity are inclusive? I don’t think so; there are changes being made now that give us a chance of bringing the pendulum towards the middle and our students gaining advantage of both.

At Key Stage 3, there have been changes to the programmes of study that are less prescriptive and content led. The changes give some subjects more choice about the examples they can use to exemplify teaching points. The content has become less heavy. In addition, there is a growing emphasis on skills, in particular thinking skills, moving us more towards the application of knowledge rather than the consumption of it. At Rodborough we have begun to take advantage of these changes. We have been working for over a year on the development of our own thinking skills work. Starting in September 2008, Year 7 are to receive three thinking skills lessons during the year from every subject they study. The work developed by staff uses a common language and approach with the intention that students can see the links between subjects and apply their skills to any situation. It is early days yet but early indications show that students really enjoy these lessons and are motivated by the challenge of them. Teachers have also gained much from working together as a team to deliver a coordinated project across the school. The emphasis is definitely about ‘how students learn’.

We have no intention of losing sight of our responsibility to help young people to achieve the best results they possibly can. These are the passport to their future. We would, however, like those young people to leave us, enthused about learning and with the skills and confidence to be independent learners for the rest of their lives.

Changes, changes ... everywhere!

"The only thing constant in life is change" (Francois de la Rochefocauld c1650)

"Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future" (J F Kennedy)

There has been constant change in education throughout my career. That change seems to be accelerating and I suppose that is only to be expected to reflect life elsewhere.

Students beginning school in September 2008 (our present Year 7) will be the first cohort required to stay in education or training until the age of 18. We do not know exactly what this entails but first indications are that it is not a compulsory raising of the school leaving age. It is more likely to be that students cannot start proper employment until the age of 18, ensuring all young people have appropriate education and training. Currently 90% of Rodborough pupils go on to Further Education courses at Godalming or Guildford. No doubt making suitable provision for the final 10% will be the most challenging.

New GCSE courses are about to be implemented in September 2009 in all but Maths, Science and English and so staff are planning their time in the coming months to prepare for these changes. Coursework is likely to change to timed in-school tasks and many subjects are being offered modular testing throughout the course. There are many advantages to this for students but we are concerned about the exam culture it will bring if students sit modules in all subjects on a termly basis. Oh, and then there is the matter of resits!

September 2008 saw the roll out of the new Diploma qualification. Offered at three levels up to and including 'A' level, the first 5 of 17 Diploma subjects have started: Construction and the Built Environment, Creative and Media, Engineering, Information Technology, and Society, Health and Development. Rodborough and the other Waverley schools have decide not to rush into these as there is so much uncertainty about their status, the programmes of study and the qualification structure.

The Diplomas are made up of various components:

• Principal learning, the knowledge and skills of the Diploma subject applied through situations and problems related to work;
• Generic learning, which is common to all Diplomas, based on functional skills in Maths, English and ICT;
• Additional learning which may be other GCSE courses and the Project.

The Diplomas also include 10 days (minimum) work experience.

For schools like Rodborough, giving students access to 17 Diploma subjects whilst maintaining a full programme of GCSEs is challenging, to say the least. Uptake for any of the Diploma lines of learning is likely to be small and so Waverley schools are working together to ensure we can deliver in this area. The Waverley Federation has just applied to offer Diplomas in Environmental and Land Based Studies, Hair and Beauty, and Sport and Active Leisure. If we are successful in our bid, we hope these may be on offer for a September 201o start.

September 2008 saw the introduction of new programmes of study at Key Stage 3. Generally they are less prescriptive and give greater flexibility to teachers. This feels quite strange to teachers after so many years of being told exactly what to teach, with programmes of study so crammed with content that it was almost impossible to complete it all. Of course, this year there have also been changes to assessment at Key Stage 3 with the Government withdrawing Key Stage 3 tests in English, Maths and Science. I saw a newspaper article recently complaining that many schools were going to continue to implement tests for 14 year olds this summer (the tests are already written and available to schools). It is hardly surprising that these changes, brought in at zero notice, without consultation, a few months before the end of a three year cycle, when schools have built their systems around them, find schools without a ready made alternative to put in place. We broadly welcome the changes but just need more time to plan and develop alternative systems. It looks as if the Government may well be doing that for us with their plans for Assessing Pupil Progress.

Education needs to keep moving to be relevant for a new generation and the challenges they face. As with all change it has to be managed well in order to create the best experience for all involved. As teachers we are always keenly aware that students only have one chance and therefore all change must include sensible precautions to protect those experiencing it.

If you live very locally to the school you are probably aware of the Witley Community Recycling Centre a few hundred yards away from us on the Petworth Road. There are plans to upgrade and extend it to make a modern recycling centre which will be easier to use and can accommodate more visitors.

Rodborough is proud of its growing green credentials. We have just received the Government's Eco School's Silver Award. We are recycling more and more materials and, behind the scenes, we have improved our energy efficiency by the replacement of light fittings, fitting more effective control panels on our heating and by turning off lights and computers. I am in favour of an enhanced community recycling centre. We are encouraging the next generation to re-use, rather than dispose of, every day items. They need and you need an efficient and accessible place to do it.

The proposals for the redevelopment of the site involve not only the extension of the site but also a change to the traffic flow. To avoid the frequent weekend queues on the Petworth Road, the new proposal is to take all site traffic down Rake Lane through a new entrance across the field, a bit further down the lane than the school entrance. Vehicles will leave the site via the Petworth Road. It is difficult to be in favour of this as it will increase (by 60% on some people's estimates) the traffic in Rake Lane past the front of the school.

Rodborough has been a leading light in Surrey County Council's Safer Routes to School initiative. We campaigned for the traffic hump and width restriction at the end of Rake Lane. They put them in the wrong place but we were keen that they were installed. We encourage students to cycle to school but are constantly concerned for their safety. We support the notion of students using the train but are repeatedly informed of "near miss" incidents in the lane. There are no pavements, and students and staff walk up and down the lane in poor light in the winter.

So am I in favour of the new Recycling Development? I am keen to avoid "not in my backyard" thinking but I think the safety of pupils to and from the school is paramount.

The proposal is going to planning very soon. I hope you will express your views to the right authority.

The withdrawal of KS3 tests

The educational topic for November is the demise of KS3 tests which came as quite a shock to us last month. It is the suddeness of this announcement that is most surprising. We have seen a gradual shift in Government interest from progress between KS2 to KS3 and KS3 to KS4 to progress over the whole secondary school age (KS2 - 4). So KS3 tests have become less important to the Government. The problems with marking and administering the tests has, I'm sure, accelerated their withdrawal.

The withdrawal of the tests does not upset me because I do feel that pupils are tested and examined too much. The English tests have been consistently unreliable and English teachers across the County have little or no faith in them. The system for marking the papers was always far less reliable than for GCSE. On the other hand, the results, particularly in Maths, have proved reliable and useful.

The consequences of this sudden withdrawal of the tests has presented us with some problems. We will need to test pupils in Maths, Science and English (as well as other subjects) towards the end of Year 9 to give us information in order to group them into sets and advise them about their "options". This year is still a challenge to Year 9 pupils and their progresss is important in terms of preparation for GCSE courses. Our target setting system is based on KS2 test levels, as are the Government's figures by which they judge schools' progress. The withdrawal of the tests has resulted in the Government having to withdraw a number of targets by which they measure schools.

So we have seen the end of KS3 tests - well maybe! We haven't seen the end of a culture of targets and measuring achievement. So, although we have seen the withdrawal of some targets from Government, we await their replacement with bated breath. I am sure we will see new measures in the new year. They may not require exams in the same way as KS3 tests but I am sure they will require us to measure pupil progress in some way.

Welcome back to a new half term

Welcome back to a new half term - a very busy few weeks which will see us celebrating pupils' achievements at Awards Evening on13 November (last year's Yrs 7 - 10) and Certificate Evening on 4 December (last year's Yr 11). We have all sorts of evening events taking place during the half term which may be of interest you:

• Friends' Christmas Market - Thursday 20 November from 5.00pm - 8.00pm in our school dining hall. Please come and do some Christmas shopping with us, whilst supporting the school. Admission is by programme £1 for adults, with under 19s free.
• Rodborough Young Musician of the Year Competition - Wednesday 26 November, 7.00pm (details to be circulated soon).
• Friends' Science Lecture - Friday 28 November 2008, 7.00pm. This year's speaker is Mr Henstone-Sturdy from our Science Department and Astronomy Club. Details to be circulated soon.
• Christmas Music Concert - Wednesday 10 December, 7.00pm.
• Year 7 Disco - Friday 12 December, 8.00pm.
• Christmas Carol Concert - Wednesday 17 December, 7.00pm at Milford Church.

Further information about these events can be obtained from Mrs P Ward on 01483 411100 or e-mail pward@rodborough.surrey.sch.uk.

We look forward to a successful half term's work, particularly for Year 11 who will be sitting their mock GCSE exams in December. I am sure the hard work you have put in over the last months will pay dividends. The mock exams will give you valuable preparation and experience for the GCSEs next summer and highlight areas where you may need to concentrate your efforts over the next few months.