“'The limits of my language are the limits of my world'

I had a really stimulating and interesting meeting today with Claire Soper (International Links officer with Edinburgh Council)
in regard to International education and how as a school we can further develop our links with other countries and cultures. Currently at Gillespie's we offer classes in: French, Spanish, Gaelic (Fluent and Learners), Mandarin, German and Urdu. We can also offer Latin where there is a demand.  

'As well as promoting the study of languages, the Language Department at James Gillespie’s also aims to teach the importance and benefits of having multi-lingual skills in today’s world, whether at home or abroad. We want to encourage our students to widen their horizons through language learning and overseas travel, to become global thinkers and help them understand their important role as citizens in an international, multi-lingual world. In order to achieve all of the above and more, we strive to develop and improve our courses so that they remain attractive and relevant to the needs of our learners. All staff in the department keep their own skills up to date through constant research, overseas visits and attending relevant courses. Wherever possible we try to encompass ICT into our lessons, the use of the interactive whiteboard being one of many'. (Extract from school website).

In the next few weeks I will be meeting with representatives from Edinburgh University to explore how we can work together to take our teaching of languages and international education to an even higher level. I'll return to this in a later post.

Structure of School day

Thank you to everyone who responded to the letter we sent sent out recently in regard to the timing of registration and Pupil Support Time (PST). As a result of feedback received we made some minor changes. The final period timings are as shown below. This will be effective when our new timetable begins on June 2012.

Bird brains and leadership

A few years ago, when I was in the garden with my two daughters, Jenny drew our attention to a sight that always makes me stop what I'm doing and gaze incredulously at the sky above. I am referring to the inspiring sight that is a skein of geese. Seeing the geese in their familiar 'V' formation reminded me of a lecture delivered by Dr Richard Holloway at an international conference in Edinburgh on School Leadership, in which he suggested that humans had much to learn from nature as far as good examples of leadership is concerned.

The first lesson is: work as a team. Geese migrate long distances flying in V-formation. This formation results in reduced wind resistance, which allows the whole flock to add around 70 percent greater flying range than if each bird flew alone. Geese find out quickly that it pays handsomely to be team players. Second, wise leadership: when the leader at the apex of the V gets tired, it is relieved by another goose. Leaders rotate, empower, delegate, and even step down when it's in the best interest of the team.

How often do we see this taking place among organisational leaders? Wise leaders ensure that their followers are well trained and developed in order to achieve true empowerment and so that succession is smooth. Third, humane behaviour: if a goose drops to the ground when it gets hurt or sick, two of its colleagues go down with it to take care of it until it either gets healthier or dies. In this fast-paced and competitive age, how often do we see leaders going out of their way to help colleagues who are in trouble? I would suggest that the best leaders do. I am in no doubt that in organisations, morale, productivity, and loyalty increase when employees look after each other and are treated humanely.

Professional development for staff

One of the things that really pleased me this week was the very positive response from our newly appointed Curriculum Leaders (CLs) to a professional development 'day out' on Thursday. The facilitator for the day was George Sharpe from the Brathay trust, a company with much experience in the field of leadership development.

Following management restructuring in Edinburgh's schools, Gillespie's now has a team of  3 Depute Heads and 10 CLs. They will lead on developing the school's curriculum. Rather than being divided into Subject departments led by Principal Teachers (PTs), of which there were up to 18 in secondary schools, we now have a faculty system. Each Faculty will have a CL at the helm. At Gillespie's we will,  in order to ensure that we have the subject expertise to support teachers  at classroom level, also have Subject Leaders in each discrete subject area.

The school's pastoral support for pupils team will also be restructured in the coming weeks. Details of how this is to be done will emerge in the next few days. 

At a time of such enormous and significant change, our school needs strong leadership throughout the school to ensure that our evolving version of 'Curriculum for Excellence' meets the needs of all of our pupils and takes advantage of the wealth of opportunities we can tap into as a school. I am delighted at the 'leaders' we have in post, both in the senior team and also among the CLs. I am excited at further developing leadership throughout the school in the coming weeks and months.

Collaborative Planning

Yesterday, I met with my Headteacher colleagues from all of our associated primary schools. They are: James Gillespie's Primary, Tollcross Primary, Sciennes Primary, East Preston Street Primary and Royal Mile Primary. This morning together gave us the opportunity to review our progress over the past session and to plan our collaborative working for next session. A continuing challenge for all of us is to ensure that the transitions at the various stages are seamless and smooth. At the High School, we will soon be welcoming all of our P7s for a 3 day visit on 19,20 and 21 June as preparation for them joining us as our new S1 in August. Over the past few months staff from both primary and secondary have been meeting to ensure that attainment levels and key information for all pupils is shared.

In addition, we also intend to support and encourage staff from primary and secondary to shadow each other.

S6 last day

As today was the last day of classes for our S6 they got dressed up to mark the occasion. To add a bit of fun to the day a barbecue, a large inflatable bouncy castle and an assault course were set up at Thirlestane - an area of land used by the PE department adjacent to the Gillies centre. Several staff also joined the pupils to wish them farewell. Best wishes to all of our S6 as they prepare to take their final exams over the next few weeks.

You may wish to use the link below to view other photos taken this morning.

http://www.kizoa.com/slideshow/d2618821k1556975o1/s6-last-day-2012

Anne Inglis retirement

Last night, I joined around 50 staff at  a retirement dinner for Anne Inglis. As many will know Anne has been our librarian at Gillespie's for the past 25 years. Today at break time gave all staff further opportunity to share happy memories over the years and to wish Anne all the best for a long and happy retirement. Reminiscences from colleagues, in various forms, followed by a witty and heartfelt reply by Anne, concluded a most enjoyable morning.

In the time that I have been at Gillespie's I have been hugely impressed at how many of the pupils she knew by name.  We often say about colleagues who leave that they will be a hard act to follow, but in Anne's case this is especially true. Whilst we seek a permanent replacement I am delighted that Margaret Alton will be looking after our library.

Alexander Pushkin

On Monday of this week I had the pleasure of accompanying my colleague Emily Connell from our English department to the award ceremony for the Pushkin prizes for 2012. The ceremony took place in the imposing surroundings of Archers' hall in Edinburgh. Our hostess for the day was Lady Butter, the founder and Chairman of The Pushkin Prizes in Scotland. A highlight of the day was listening to some of the work that these really talented pupils produced.

We attended to support and celebrate the achievement of William Goodrich (S2 in Gillespie's) who won one of the prizes. Very well done to William! Shortly after the prizegiving ceremony concluded all the prizewinners were whisked off to sunnier climes to attend a week's residential creative writing course at the Arvon Foundation Writers' Centre at Moniack Mhor, near Inverness.

I am delighted to learn that Gillespie's has enjoyed similar successes in this competition over the years. Well done to our English department, superbly led by Allan Crosbie, for encouraging our pupils so enthusiastically.