Is your school as family friendly as these?
Plus: 7 books you should read; 9 questions you're asking.
Hello everyone,
If you’ve been online this week you’ll have a seen a lot of unkindness.
We Are In Beta member, Crystal Wadsworth (Assistant Headteacher) said it best:
“There is too much negativity in the world. Be the reason people smile & spread some kindness.”
This week…
…our podcast oozes kindness. So do your book recommendations and summaries below. And MAT leaders giving up their time to share their insights on how MATs work is also very kind.
If you appreciate all that kindness, there’s a chance for you to return the favour - be kind to your fellow members, who’ve asked for help via this week’s community bulletin.
We - schools - Are In Beta - always learning (especially when we’re kind to each other).
This week:
🎧 Ma-TOUR-nity - is your school as family friendly as these?
📚 Books in 5 mins - which 7 books are We Are In Beta members recommending?
🎥 Myths & facts about MATs - how do you decide which to join?
🤔📌 Community bulletin - 9 questions you’re asking.
🎧 Ma-TOUR-nity
During Lucy Hemsley's first maternity leave, she felt alienated from her profession. People would tell her that she would lose interest in working full time but she didn’t. On her second maternity leave, she was determined not to be on the outside looking in.
At an event put on by the MPTP project, for the first time she became aware that she could go on school visits during her maternity leave. Over the next couple of months, Lucy goes on several school walk-throughs with her baby Roland.
She learned how to make this happen and the benefits of visiting schools during her maternity leave. Frances Ashton, Assistant Headteacher of Dicot Girls School, which is one of the schools Lucy visited tells us how to prepare for a family friendly visitor who’s on maternity leave.
📚 Books in 5 mins - which 7 books are We Are In Beta members recommending?
What's the book everyone has to read? Can you sum it up in a 3-5 points?
We're starting a new initiative to get you in-the-know during your next commute, tea break or any other 5 minutes you have to spare.
We're collecting summaries and key insights from the education/leadership books so that you can get up-to-speed in-a-flash.
🎥 Myths & facts about MATs - how do you decide which to join?
Joining a Trust is a strategic, long term decision that needs navigating carefully by both school leaders and governors. Not only that, all Trusts offer different things.
Knowing how to start, and understanding the implications of such a change for your school can seem overwhelming.
Join us, over 4 sessions, to hear from three different MATs to learn about:
Joining Trusts - An Overview - Introduced by RSC Dame Kate Dethridge.
Education visioning, support and school improvement within Trusts.
School business management within Trusts.
School and Trust Governance.
Panelists:
RSC Dame Kate Dethridge.
Stuart Lock (CEO, Advantage Schools).
Carole Bennett (CEO, Diocese of St Albans Multi-Academy Trust).
David Morris (CEO, HEART Academy Trust).
First session:
📅 Thurs 15th April
🕕 7.30pm
🤔📌 Community bulletin.
Be kind to your fellow members. Give them a helping hand.
✔️ ‘We are beginning to look beyond the road map and think about our development planning for moving forwards. It feels like an exciting time to be looking at this as we have an opportunity to look at what we ‘could’ do rather than what we ‘should’ do. We are an academy in a strong position and I am keen to look at how we refine our academy improvement planning to make it more streamlined, so we perhaps only have one or two main priority questions/statements that everyone then feeds into. I would be interested to look at any models anyone has or to discuss ideas with anyone who may be having similar thoughts at the moment.”
Share academy improvement planning templates with Jess Leonard (Principal, Walton Academy) here.
📊 📄 “Hi All, I was wondering what are your thoughts on the recent requirement to write the Centre Policy along with your thoughts about it and the template itself? I'm having some trouble understanding how much or how little should I include from the template to address all 16 areas. Please let me know what you think? Thank you, Mike.”
Share your centre policy for assessment with Michael Siu (Assistant Headteacher, Astley Cooper School) here.
📚 📄 “Good morning everyone - my first time here. Just catching up on 'Educating Northants' - brilliant! I'm focusing on Whole School Literacy/Disciplinary Literacy and wondered if anyone had any good examples of whole school policies they could share?”
Share your whole school literacy policy with Michelle Thresher (Lead Practitioner English, Southam College) here.
⚖️ 🏫 “What would you say are the benefits of a MAT vs the disadvantages?”
Discuss pros and cons of MATs with Dervla McConn-Finch (Headteacher, The Holy Cross School) here.
👩🏫 🏆 “I know that a lot of schools use Doug Lemov's Teach Like a Champion - does anyone have a training programme that I could borrow? I know that they offer one through the website but it has a cost implication (although if you have used it I would also be interested in your views) Thank you!”
Talk Teaching Like a Champion training with Caroline Lowring (Deputy Headteacher, Harrow Way Community School here.
🖥️ 📊 “We're looking at changing our MIS systems - using Capita SIMS at the moment. We're an all-through school. Anyone have a particularly efficient and easy to use MIS system they'd recommend? Thanks!”
Recommend your easy to use MIS to Hoodo Deria (Deputy Headteacher, Al Aqsa School) here.
📚🔋“Does anyone have experience of using Lexia Power Up! that they can share, especially with lower ability students?”
Share your Lexia Power Up experience with Peter Tang (Headteacher, Beaconsfield School) here.
❓📄 “Deep dives - does any school have any questions or documentation linked to processes and procedures for deep dives, please? Thanks, Darren.”
Help Darren out by sharing your deep dive questions and documents with Darren Walkerdine (Head of Science) here.
👪 “Prior to the pandemic we had a vertical system in Year 7 – 10 with Heads of House and Year 11 with their own bespoke package, during COVID19 we have reverted to a horizontal system with Year leaders. We are looking to see how we can bring back our thriving House system but also give the students the support they need, there are pros and cons to both systems we have had so far but would be interested in any approaches others have tried or are looking at.”
Chat about your approach to pastoral systems with Jess Leonard (Principal, Walton Academy) here.
Got a question you need help with?
Thanks for reading.
Speak soon.
@NiallAlcock and the We Are In Beta team
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