AI, allegations and accountability
11 questions you're asking; and how not to overlook your quiet and efficient students and colleagues.
What are your peers working on in their schools? Can they help you with your projects? And vice versa perhaps?
Read this week’s highlights from the We Are In Beta community to find out.
What are they? 11 questions your fellow members have been asking in the feed.
The kindness and generosity in the threads below are mind blowing.
If you can add to it, please do.
It not, tapping the like button will let others know you see them and appreciate them
Your input is hugely appreciated by them and the We Are In Beta team.
We - schools - Are In Beta - always learning (when we ask questions, share answers and acknowledge others).
🤔📍11 questions you are asking
⚙️ How to use this bulletin board.
To help you decide (before clicking into them):
which conversations you can add the most value to and
which ones you can learn the most from…
…I’ve divided them into 3 groups:
A bit more input needed, threads available to all (🤝🙏🌐)
Really helpful answers worth reading, threads only available in a private, paying members only space (💡👀🔐)
Really helpful answers worth reading, threads available to all (but will be moving to private, members only space soon (💡👀🌐🔜🔐 )
1. 🤖 AI Policies and practices
Hi All I am interested in developing the AI policy in my school and was wondering if anyone else is on the same or similar journey at their school. Things that I am looking to include:
Student use of AI
Teacher use of AI for marking/ checking for AI content
Teacher use of AI for lesson planning
Any further developments
🤝🙏🌐
2. 🚨Staff allegations
Does anyone have a model policy for managing staff allegations? I have The Key's but it would be good to see a tried and tested applied policy if anyone has one to share? Thank you!
🤝🙏🌐
3. 📜 Alternatives to GCSE
Hi I am an experienced SENDCo who is looking for alternative courses at GCSE level that will count to school data that are not traditionally considered by mainstream secondary schools.
🤝🙏🌐
4. 🗣️ Oracy
I am working on a whole school Oracy implementation plan and training strategy. Is anyone else out there doing the same? i am happy to share resources and collab with any curriculum leaders, CPD leads or other SLT who are interested in developing student Oracy.
🤝🙏🌐
5. ✍️ Student Presentation of work
I wondered if anyone can help, I am looking to review presentation of student work. Does anyone have a good example of a poster on display in their school regarding student presentation expectations?
💡👀🔐
6. 📚 KS4 options (GCSE and vocational)
I was wondering if anyone had any advice, links, or resources related to KS4 options (GCSE and vocational) that I might be able to explore when looking at new options to offer next year. In particular, it would be great to hear some candid feedback on the accessibility and challenge of courses for a range of learners as well as a discussion around real success stories.
Thanks in advance,
💡👀🔐
7. 🗓️ PSHE, RSHE and Careers Off Timetable Week
I'm overseeing an 'off normal timetable' week at a secondary school to cater for the needs of Year 7, 8 and 9. We are planning to include PSHE, RSHE and Careers sessions.
Does anyone have a similar week planned and an overview of topics/subjects/logistics they can share?
💡👀🔐
8. ✔ Accountability
We are seeking to connect with schools that have secured or improved accountability, especially in middle leadership, developing consistency and ownership without excessive paperwork requirements.
💡👀🌐🔜🔐
9. 🔎 SEND Reviewers
Hi all - I am wondering if anyone has used any companies that specialise in SEN reviews? We have schools all across the country, so either a company with national scope, a company that could review documentation virtually, or happy with more localised recommendations and we would use a number of different companies.
💡👀🔐
10. 🕵️♂️ Ofsted and PE
Has anyone experienced a deep dive in PE? If so would your Head of PE mind being contacted about their experiences? We're due for Ofsted and our Head of PE is keen to talk to a fellow subject specialist about what it was like. Thanks in advance.
💡👀🌐🔜🔐
11. 👨🏫 Behaviour Inset
Good evening, is there a resource or contact that has provided a high quality student inset on behaviour? Thanks in advance
💡👀🌐🔜🔐
Got a question? Ask the community.
The We Are In Beta team invest 30+ hours a week helping you to get answers: keeping an eye on what’s happening, researching, replying, making introductions, signposting resources, updating our databases, following up with original posters to see how it’s helped.
NB: due to the volume of questions asked, we now prioritise paying members of the
Not a member?
Inadequate to outstanding - how to train SLT to be experts in line management of a curriculum review process
In 2019 Harris Ockendon was graded ‘Inadequate’.
Fast forward to 2024, it is ‘Outstanding’ in all areas.
One area (among many) they have been working on is how to train SLT to be experts in line management of a curriculum.
But how do you upskill an Assistant Principal who specialises in Maths to be able to have effective review meetings with a Head of Spanish?
Or an SLT that specialises in English to have effective conversations with a Head of Art?
Join us to find out
📆 Tues 26th Nov
🕓 4pm.
On a personal note
Absence Blindness is a cognitive bias that prevents us from identifying what we can’t observe.
Put differently, if we can’t see something, we’ll be blind to it.
That shouldn’t always be the case, though, and absence Blindness can lead to a real problem.
A problem that’s relevant to the students you teach, colleagues you work with and the We Are In Beta Community team.
What is it?
Efficient workers are often overlooked.
Suppose you have two [students / teachers / community managers] doing the same job:
One of them is quiet, doesn’t say much, and gets their job done.
The other is more chaotic, causes a variety of problems, but then works hard to fix the problems they’ve created.
In most cases, the second one will be more noticed and more likely to be rewarded. Josh Kaufman put it this way when it comes to management:
Great management is boring—and often unrewarding. The hallmark of an effective manager is anticipating likely issues and resolving them in advance, before they become an issue. Some of the best managers in the world look like they’re not doing much, but everything gets done on time and under budget.
What’s the lesson here?
Well, it’s not to go out create additional problems in order to solve them!
It’s to pay close attention to the what others are really doing.
Some of the best students and teachers I have ever worked with are quiet, unassuming, and simply get things done. They are brilliant!
At We Are In Beta, we work hard to make sure people like that don’t slip under the radar - we go to great lengths to thank each other and thank our members like this, this, this and this.
I hope others can do the same for those members too.
And I also hope you can do it for your quiet and unassuming students and colleagues too.
So I want to thank:
every We Are In Beta community member who has ever helped out another, especially if it was done in private
the We Are In Beta team for all the work they do to make it possible for our members to ask questions and then get answers (quickly) from people who do their job in other schools, even though may have never met before.
How do you make sure you’re not blind to absence? How do you acknowledge and reward those who quietly get the job done?
Just reply to this email. Would love to hear from you.
Thanks for reading.
@NiallAlcock and the We Are In Beta team
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