Recruiting for alignment; Resetting culture; What bubbles have taught us; Preparing for September.
Elroy Cahill, Claudenia Williams, Bhavin Tailor (Kingsley Academy, AET), Sharifa Lee (Dorney School); Mide Ola-Said (Ark John Keats); Katherine Brown et al. (Greenshaw Learning Trust)
Hello everyone,
With the DfE secondary guidance coming out (a tad late) and pubs opening (perhaps a bit early), this week seems to be all about timing.
With that in mind, we have something to help you look ahead to the short, medium and long terms. And we take a brief look back too to remind us how far we’ve come.
I hope you find it useful.
👋 If you’re a new subscriber, or you’ve joined us from a webinar, welcome.
⏪ Catch up with previous newsletters, podcasts and webinars via the archive at the bottom.
This week:
🎥 Webinar: Tales of Turnaround: Recruiting for Alignment
💬 Live chat: ‘Team Up! Thursday’ Resetting Culture in September
🎧 Podcast: So how’s ‘re-opening’ been? Bubble learnings
⏪ Catch up: Preparing for September Opening: Ask Us Anything
🌐 Community News: Last call for applications
🎥 Tales of Turnaround: Recruiting for Alignment
Great organisations are the ones who make sure they have the right people on the bus and in the right seats.
But how do you get the right people on the bus, especially when facing chaos?
In February 2019, Elroy Cahill became the 7th Headteacher at Kingsley Academy in just 6 years.
The academy was a serious cause for concern with a track record of under-performance and weak leadership.
18 months later:
Year 7 numbers have risen to over 150 for September (from 70)
No temporary or supply staff for the first time since the school opened in 2013 (previously 50%)
97% of staff have confidence in leadership and 96% feel proud to work at Kingsley (up from a worrying 64% and 31% respectively)
Rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted in October 2019 (following two successive RI judgements)
How? By getting the right people on the bus. By recruiting for alignment.
Join us to find how they did it and access the resources that helped them.
📅 Tuesday 7th July
🕕 6pm
💬 ‘Team Up! Thursday’ Resetting Culture in September
What steps are you taking to create time for a cultural and behavioural reset?
How are you planing to engage pupils in thinking about the culture and behaviour you want to see in classrooms?
How are you planning to engage staff in thinking about the culture and behaviour you would want to see amongst each other?
What resources are you working on or planing to communicate clearly?
Join us for ‘Team Up! Thursday’ (live chat) to discuss your thoughts, concerns and plans around these questions.
Hosted by Mide Ola-Said (Vice Principal, Ark John Keats).
📅 Thursday 9th July
🕕 7pm
🎧 So how’s ‘re-opening’ been?
Sharifa Lee is the Deputy Headteacher at Dorney School, Windsor.
In this episode - the penultimate of Series 3 - she shares how their bubbles were planned, how they changed and why.
She also reflects on what she and her team have learned and what she wishes they’d done differently.
Tune in to learn how she’ll be applying her learning in September and beyond Covid-19.
👂 Subscribe on Spotify | iTunes | Stitcher | Libsyn | TuneIn 🔉
⏲️ 14 minute listen
📖 Access links to plus bonus content from the episode here.
If you are a serving school leader or teacher, access our premium content for free, for a limited time here. Soon this will be the only place you can access it.
⏪ Preparing for September Opening: Ask Us Anything
On Thursday 2nd July, Greenshaw Learning Trust hosted a panel discussion to share their reflections and ideas from the DfE guidance for wider opening of schools in September. Questions they covered:
How are schools going to approach staggered starts?
What will you do during registration time?
How will you reduce the flow of students around the school?
How will you deal with break times/lunchtimes?
What will be your expected cleaning routines?
How are we going to approach catching up on lost learning?
Are you going to reduce the curriculum offer for pupils?
So far 730+ of you have tuned in.
If you haven’t yet, it is 🔥, so…
🌐 Congratulations! Our Greenshaw School Improvement Cohort 2020/21. Last chance to apply.
We’ve been blown away by the quality of applications we received for the Greenshaw School Improvement Community - bringing together more than 300 leaders and teachers, from over 140 schools and 80 Local Authorities, all truly committed to creating positive change together!
If you haven’t applied, here’s your chance.
This post will guide you through the details of the programme and the application process.
Recruitment deadline is Sunday 12th July, but space is limited, so the sooner the better.
If you have applied, invite a colleague.
During the programme we will be working together. Outcomes can greatly improve by having your peers also take part with you.
Share this post on your social media or directly with a colleague.
15th July - the online community opens.
Thanks for reading and playing your part in making education the place we all know it can be.
Speak soon,
@NiallAlcock
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🆕 New here? Catch up with previous editions, podcasts and webinars via the archive
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