Attendance; multi-agency approaches; and pastoral fire prevention.
Plus a huge milestone at an auspicious time.
What. A. Week.
30 talks, 100 new resources, 350 school leaders shaping it and 138 new members joining us via Pastoral Champions Week.
All of which helped We Are In Beta to reach another significant milestone…
…18,000 members. 🎉🚀
An auspicious event happening just 7 days short of the 4th anniversary of launching the community as the first covid lockdown hit.
If you:
didn’t get a chance to register in time or access the conference last week and want to keep learning beyond next week > get more access here.
registered before Pastoral Champions Week opened (and you are not a paying member) talks and resources will only be available until Monday (25/03) midday > access them here.
are a paying member and/or a speaker, you should now have unlimited access to all sessions and resources on demand > keep learning here.
We - schools - Are In Beta - always learning (when we celebrate milestones and share what’s working).
This week
✅ Attendance: edge theory - here to there.
🔄 Using multi-agency pastoral cycles to inform intervention and escalation.
🧯 Fire prevention: Proactive Pastoral Leadership.
💼 Jobs with We Are In Beta community members.
Here are three sessions from Pastoral Champions Week that got people talking.
If you find something useful, be sure to let speakers know in the comments at the bottom of each session.
They’d love to hear from you.
✅ Attendance: edge theory - here to there (Harris Academy Ockendon).
“Edge theory” provides a model to bring about change.
The model helps you to understand:
Where you are in relation to the edge
Why people are reacting and acting the way they are
How to cross to the other side
In her session, Assistant Principal, Sam Dodge explains brilliantly how they’ve used it to improve attendance by 3% and decrease persistent absence by 18% at their school.
Very practical, realistic and transparent.
Here’s what others thought:
Missed this session? Working on attendance?
🔄 Using multi-agency pastoral cycles to inform intervention and escalation (Oasis Academy Southbank)
How do you make sure no child’s left behind?
Deputy Principal, Conor Boyle, shared - with unbelievable practicality and granularity - how they do it at Oasis Academy Southbank.
Watch this if you are interested in:
the theory behind high expectations
mapping pastoral actions across the day, week and terms
how to make meetings as effective a possible
Here’s what others thought:
Working to achieve greater rigour with your pastoral systems?
🧯Fire prevention: proactive pastoral leadership (Fulham Cross Girls' School)
How do you move from being a ‘fire fighting’ reactive pastoral leader to a strategic and proactive ‘fire preventing' one?
In any school community you’ll find:
20% who get right every time, all the time.
75% who sometimes get it right and sometimes get it wrong. They look to social norms to see how to behave. They can be influenced by others.
5% who struggle to meet expectations. They might push the boundaries in any school they attend.
Deputy Headteacher, Hannah Bristow, has developed a ‘Year Group on a page’ document, which addresses each group.
In here session, she walks you through it step by step - the what, the why and the how - which has helped them secure Progress 8 of +0.34 (+0.21 for disadvantaged students).
This is one of those sessions that could completely alter the culture of your year group and/or accelerate your career progression, if you choose to employ the systems you learn from it in your school.
Highly recommended.
Here’s what others thought:
Rather prevent pastoral fires than fight them?
💼 Jobs with We Are In Beta community members.
Senior Leadership
Assistant Headteacher - Ribston Hall High School (Gloucester).
Deputy Headteacher - Ribston Hall High School (Gloucester).
Middle leadership
🧩 SENCOs x 2 - Noel-Baker Academy (Derby).
📖 Director of English - Greensward Academy (Essex).
📖 Second in English - Kingsley Academy (Hounslow).
🌎 Subject Lead Geography - Bexleyheath Academy (Kent).
🌎 Subject Lead Geography - Kingsley Academy (Hounslow).
👋 Head of MFL - Queensbury Academy (Dunstable, Beds).
🎖️ Head of Year - New Rickstones Academy, Essex (view this role here).
📖 Drama Lead and English teacher - New Rickstones Academy, Essex (view this role here).
🧬 Second in Charge of Science - New Rickstones Academy, Essex (view this role here).
Teaching
📖 English - Thomas Aveling (Medway).
⚖️ Humanities - Clacton Coastal Academy (Essex).
🧬 Science - New Rickstones Academy (Essex).
🧬 Science - Clacton Coastal Academy (Essex).
🧬 Science - Aylward Academy (London) (view this role here).
🧩 SEN (Profound and Complex Needs) - Columbus School & College (Essex).
👋 Languages - St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School (Rochester) (view this role here).
🎭 Drama Teacher - St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School (Rochester) (view this role here).
On a personal note.
Every time we run an online conference, we are blown away by how supportive and generous members of the We Are In Beta community are.
So I want to use this space to say thank you to:
Everyone who attended Pastoral Champions Week.
Everyone who commented under talks and fed back on sessions - the speakers really appreciate it.
All the senior leaders in schools who nominated and supported speakers and fed into the map of pastoral needs here.
All brilliant the speakers.
The We Are In Beta team for their work over the last 3 months to make it happen: Fran and Kasia.
None of it would be possible without your belief in collaboration and sharing with (and for) the community.
Thank you!
Thanks for reading.
@Niall Alcock and the We Are In Beta team
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