Alison Wishart has just returned from Australia where she was exploring alternative secondary school curriculum models - some of which match with our extreme learning ideas
I had a great chat with Alison this morning which set up a discussion with secondary head teachers this afternoon.
Alison was telling me about schools in Australia where the early [...]
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A number of separate issues that I’ve been considering over the last few weeks came together in one meeting.
These issues were: accountability; formative assessment; attainment; enabling teachers to experiment; measurement; administration;venture capitalists; trust; learning and teaching; risk management; and consistency.
And so it was this week a group of us (head teachers and managers) looked at how [...]
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East Renfrewshire Council has taken the decision to start Standard Grade courses or their equivalent in Second year as opposed to Third Year.
According to Ian Fraser, the Head of Education, the
fast-track move was being considered for two reasons.
“One is the increased attainment and better skills and abilities of pupils coming from primary schools [...]
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7.30-9.00 Preparation for Education Committee and correspondence.
9.00 - 9.30 Quick impromptu meeting with Kay Affleck who is our Integration Information Officer. Kay is going to take responsibility for a new section of the site -
Additional Support Needs
10.00-12.00 Council Committee for Education. These are formal meetings where the officers, namely Alan Blackie and myself present a [...]
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8.30 am Met Clare O’Sullevan, the consultant helping the department with its restructuring process. Alan Ross joined us for the first 45 minutes. I get the feeling we are beginnning to make some real progress. Undoubtedly there are going to have to be some key decisions made in the next few weeks but the signs [...]
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7.30-900 am correspondence and paperwork. 9.30am Out to Ross High School Severe and Complex Needs Unit. Really enjoyed my morning meeting the staff and students. There is no doubt that it takes a special sort of person to work with children such differing needs but the rewards are enormous. I met Alec, Nicola, Sean, Elizabeth, [...]
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Visited Innnerwick Primary School. Another drop-in visit but Angus MacRury was able to show me round the school and chat to me about a number of issues. It's been a while since I had visited the school and I could not believe the transformation. The classrooms were bright and welcoming. The dining room was inviting. [...]
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Met with Education Officers at 8.30am. We have clarified the role of this meeting and the more formal School Liaison Group which will take on more of a strategic function. The Education Officers are critical to the development of education in the authority. If there is a problem it's that they are spread too thinly [...]
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Met Sheila Ainslie at 8.15 to discuss staffing issues relaing to pupil support. Valerie Irving at 9.00am to finalise our proposals for 5-14 assessment. We are going to go for an on-line moderation system called ALTA. More of this at a later date. 9.30 meeting with Richard Parker to complete the chat we were having [...]
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