Skill force

Earlier today, along with some colleagues, I met with representatives from Skill Force. Skill Force is an Educational charity working with 13-19 year old young people. The staff they employ are mainly ex-service personnel who draw on a range of personal experiences. It is our intention at Gillespies to work with organisations such as Skill Force in order to augment our current provision thus aiming to ensure that all of our pupils develop the skills they need to compete in an increasingly competitive jobs market.

Working with an increasing number of schools across the UK, Skill Force deliver a curriculum and related activities that provide young people with the knowledge, skills, experience and long term personal support and most importantly, the self belief to aspire and achieve. Throughout my years in teaching I have learned that some young people realise their potential more effectively when opportunites are offered outside the (traditional) classroom. By way of example, many schools are rediscovering that outdoor learning is hugely enriching and advantageous for pupils. Curriculum for Excellence encourages schools to be creative and imaginative in finding the ways that best allow young people to learn and to grow. I am delighted to be leading Gillespies at a time when so many opportunities are being made available to make learning more relevant and fun for everyone.

In the coming weeks we will firm up plans for an enriched curriculum for a number of pupils in our current S2 and S3.

Visit from former pupil

We were delighted to welcome Rupert Breheny back to Gillespie's today. Rupert left Jghs in 1988 to pursue a Biology degree at St Andrews and, after graduating, gained experience in a variety of areas including being a marine biologist in sunnier climes and teaching in London. In 1996 Rupert developed his first website and in 2006 gained employment with a new and growing company by the name of Google. He went on to become the first British webmaster with Google and is now one of a worldwide team of 70 tasked with maintaining and developing the Google that is now a household name. Rupert spent time this afternoon working with classes in our computing department and shared his enthusiasm for computing and the world of technology with pupils. In Rupert's own words: 'It was a real treat to tread the old corridors again and a genuine honour to speak to the classes whom I found to be genuinely attentive and very switched on indeed. You have some very smart cookies there.'

Sincere thanks to Rupert for getting in touch and taking the time to share his enthusiasm and experiences with us. Thanks in particular to Mrs Barrass and also Mrs Brown for facilitating the visit.

Youth Forum

At the end of today I met with Mairi, Antonia and Mia (all in S5) in order that they could tell me about their involvement with the Edinburgh Youth Forum. The Edinburgh Youth Issues Forum is a partnership with young people and the City of Edinburgh Council and its partners to discuss and influence citywide youth issues and services. The Forum is open to all young people in the city aged 11-21.

They shared with me that the Youth Forum meets once a month to discuss community issues. Supporting them in their efforts are various partner agencies and local councillors. I was really impressed at how impassioned the girls were about wanting to make a difference to their local community. Areas we spoke about included litter and youth unemployment. The girls suggested that they might contact local employers to try and persuade them to offer opportunities to school leavers in the summer. I think this would be a novel approach and is one we agreed to return to in more detail.

Four universities join elite Russell Group

Recently, following an information evening for parents of our S2 pupils, a parent contacted me in regard to a query on entrance qualifications for undergraduate sciences' courses. She made mention of what the 'Russell Group' universities were seeking.

Subsequently I learned that the Russell Group represents some of the most prestigious universities in the UK - and will now have 24 members. The most recent to join this group are: Durham, Exeter, Queen Mary, University of London, and York.

The other Russell Group universities are Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Imperial College London, King's College London, University College London, Leeds, Liverpool, London School of Economics, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford, Queen's University Belfast, Sheffield, Southampton and Warwick.

Meetings galore

The first meeting of the day was with my senior team. Starting the day like this provides an opportunity to share updates on key areas and also allows us to pool our efforts where this is needed. I also gave an update on key points from yesterdays' secondary headteachers' meeting.

At 0900 I met with Alex and Bethany to get feedback from the pupil council meeting and to discuss fundraising plans for the coming weeks. Other areas discussed included: Schoolbags, venues for pupil council meetings, access to email, quiet areas for seniors to study and proposed changes to our use of ICT when wifi is installed later this year. I was really interested in the view expressed by some of our pupils that they would prefer to continue with jotters and pens/pencils rather than more than use portable computers in classrooms. This is something that we will need to consider very carefully as the costs involved in providing a portable electronic device for all pupils could be considerable. Based on this (limited) feedback from our pupil council the limited finances we have may be better spent on more traditional resources.

One of the frustrations reported to me by pupils is the number of websites that are currently blocked by the council firewall. Pupils would, for example, like to be able to transfer essays from home to school by email, rather than using pen drives. Current firewall configurations prevent pupils from accessing Hotmail, Gmail, Virgin Media etc. During the next ICT upgrade will be an opportunity for the Council to reflect on and possibly revise current levels of filtering. Most pupils now have access to their emails on their phones so why make life more complicated by denying access to them on school computers?

After further meetings with various colleagues I particularly enjoyed a meeting I had with Professor Muneer from Napier University. Amongst various possible collaborative projects with Napier University we will be exploring how some of our students can learn more about Prof Muneer's pioneering work in the area of renewable engineering.

In the afternoon I met with headteachers from our associated primary schools. At this meeting the main item on the agenda was planning towards how best we can support the current P7s who will join us in S1 at JGHS in August later this year.

Whilst I was driving home after writing up my notes from all of today's 8 meetings I was reminded of a 'PS' on an email I once received from a colleague after I'd invited her to meet with me. It read: 'Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings, they did it by killing all those who opposed them.' Perhaps I'll suggest we should meet up to reflect on this.

Mandarin

Tonight's S2 parent consultations was well attended and I hope that parents considered the evening to be useful in terms of allowing them to help pupils make better informed choices as they select courses for S3. It was great to see such a good turnout at such an important event.

A number of pupils and parents have contacted me in the last week or two to enquire if we will be offering Mandarin or Chinese studies next session. I would be keen to develop Mandarin in our school and will do this if there is sufficient interest among pupils. A knowledge of Mandarin and/or Chinese culture will undoubtedly benefit pupils in the future.

James Gillespie's HS trust

The James Gillespie's Trust was established to provide support and funding for educational and extra-mural activities within James Gillespie's High School and its community. In addition, the Trust fosters strong links with past pupils.

On Saturday 3 March former pupils of JGHS were invited back to the school. This gave our alumni an opportunity to renew friendships and to share reminiscences. I really enjoyed listening to the stories from pupils, and especially from the more senior members. All those I met spoke proudly of our school and agreed that JGHS had prepared them well for life. Topics we talked about included: School uniform, entrance exams, the school hat(!), the school song, Miss Andrew (former Headmistress), discipline, evacuation during the war and school lunches. One particular lady (Nan Stewart,aged 95)who attended from 1926 - 1934 shared vivid and fond memories of her school days.

Many thanks to Jean Knox for organising this very successful and enjoyable event.

School bags

As Friday is my day on call I picked up a few issues today. Surprisingly, four pupils were referred to me as they did not bring their school books and materials with them to school. This took me aback as I did not expect to have pupils at Gillespie's who are so disengaged from their learning. I recently wrote to parents to clarify our expectation that all pupils are expected to carry a school bag of an appropriate size (large enough for an unfolded A4 jotter is a rule of thumb)to and from school. Pupils who, for whatever reason, are unable to comply with this request will be asked to report to me on Monday morning to discuss the matter. I feel it is essential that every pupil is given the opportunity to engage fully in all lessons and be able to complete homework. Those who are unable to afford a schoolbag will be provided with one. I have noticed that the pupils who are in the habit of not carrying a bag are the very ones who need to work harder to catch up with the others.

Spring fling

Last night's 'Spring fling' concert at the high school was wonderful. I really enjoyed listening to the variety of different instruments being played and the wide age range of performers who entertained us so well. I am certain that our younger primary school performers, who were excellent ambassdors for their schools, will have benefitted from sharing a stage with our more senior pupils. I would like to offer sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to making last night such a success. In particular, well done to Mrs O'Brien and Ms Millar.

The pupil voice

A particular highlight today was meeting with a group of ten S6 students at the end of the day. All those involved have just returned from a school trip to South Africa where they were involved in various works of charity. The purpose of the meeting was to give the students the opportunity to share various fundraising ideas with me. I really enjoyed the meeting as it reminded me why I chose teaching as a career. I was really impressed at how passionate they are about raising money for charity and how well they function as a team. I have absolutely no doubt that those I met today will all go on to pursue interesting, varied and successful careers.

James Gillespie's Primary School

This evening I had the opportunity to meet the Parent Council at JGPS. This gave me a chance to introduce myself to parents and to share thoughts on how we are getting on as a school and what we need to do to be even better. Several points were raised for discussion. They included: Improving communication with parents of Primary Children, Update on Rebuild and Decant, my expectations as far as ethos is concerned and School uniform.

I am grateful to Anthea Grierson (Headteacher) for inviting me.

Well done to those responsible for the displays around the school - I thought they were terrific!

Gaelic Medium Education (GME)

As many will know, James Gillespie's caters for pupils wishing to continue from Primary School with Gaelic. This builds on their GME experiences at Tollcross Primary School. On Thursday of this week I attended a conference In Glasgow for Headteachers of schools with GME to share practices and to learn from others who developed further in this field.

The conference began with an excellent presentation from Dr Antonella Sorace, Professor of Developmental Linguistics at Edinburgh University, on the benefits of Bilingualism. It was suggested that bilingual children aren't necessarily more intelligent than their monolingual peers but that they do have an extra gear. One of the questions I asked was whether further benefits accrued for children who spoke more than two languages and whether the existing research evidence shows that bilingual children perform better academically. It was suggested that the research evidence we have, carried out by Dr Wilson MacLeod from the University of Edinburgh, supports the view that being bilingual offers benefits to children in their learning.

Interestingly and coincidentally, I notice that in this week's edition of the Times Educational Supplement, ''Pupils who speak English as an additional language have achieved an academic breakthrough, with new figures showing a higher proportion have gained five 'good' GCSEs than their native English-speaking counterparts for the first time. Experts attribute their success to the drive and aspiration of immigrant families, combined with the educational boost provided by fluency in more than one language.''

These are interesting developments in schools as far as supporting languages are concerned. As someone who grew up in a bilingual environment, where there was a dominant view that suggested exposure to to an additional language may overload and confuse children it is refreshing to see views that prevailed for generations being successfully challenged. I will return to this particular topic in future blogs as I see enormous benefits of building on the diverse cultural and languages base we have at JGHS.

Parents' evenings

On Wednesday evening we hosted a curricular information evening for parents of S2 parents and on Thursday evening we did similarly for parents of pupils in S4 and S5. It was great to see large numbers of parents in attendance.

During my presentation to parents of S2 parents I sought to reassure everyone that our new courses in S3 and S4 are good to go and that staff are well prepared. I find it helpful to be able to draw on experiences gained from when I was a Principal Teacher of Physics in 1988 at the time Standard Grades were being introduced. At that time there were similar concerns from parents, particularly in regard to the structure and form of the examinations.

S2 pupils are requested to returned completed course choice forms on Monday 12 March. As a result of feedback from parents of S4/5 pupils, the return date for forms from those pupils has been changed to Monday 19 March.

On both evenings a number of very interesting questions were raised. In the coming weeks I will reflect further on how we can continue to augment and adapt our curricula to best meet the needs of pupils.

We are grateful to Audrey Brown from Stevenson College for sharing with parents what Edinburgh's colleges are able to offer our students in addition to our in-school provision.

Return from holidays

After a welcome week's holiday, it was back to business as normal on Monday. Pleasingly, staff and pupils returned refreshed and rested after the break. I sometimes wonder how, in years gone by, we managed to go from New Year to Easter with no breaks!

On Tuesday my day began with an hour on correspondence and speaking with a few staff about the continuing implementation of Management Restructuring. Following this, along with Anthea Grierson, HT at our neighbouring Primary School, I attended a meeting at HQ in connection with our planned rebuild. The planning is going well but there will undoubtedly be significant challenges ahead.

Our South African tourists returned safe and well on Tuesday afternoon. They were weary after the travelling and adventures of the last 9 days but all I spoke with were enthusiastic about what they had achieved. I look forward to hearing more about their work in the coming weeks. Some S6 are planning a gap year to return again next year to assist in the continuing work being led by Mr Wallace.

As Tuesday was Shrove Tuesday it was lovely to get home at a reasonable hour and to share freshly made pancakes with our daughters.

Lessons for life

The following instructions for life, attributed to the Dalai Lama, were sent to me earlier this evening by a friend. These 'instructions' will make good reflective topics for assemblies.

1.Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three R’s:
- Respect for self,
- Respect for others and
- Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.
7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honourable life. Then when you get older and
think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
19. If you want others to be happy, practise compassion.
20. If you want to be happy, practise compassion.

Holiday

It was great to spend lots of time with the family this week. The weather was mild for this time of year so we took advantage and had nice walks and cycle trips around Edinburgh. To finish the week off we visited my younger sister and her family in Stonehaven. Yesterday we enjoyed a walk out to Dunnottar castle. It was great to get a complete break from work for a few days and to recharge the batteries for going back to school tomorrow.

The skill to learn

I came across a quote this morning which made me think about what we're trying to achieve in schools.

'So the model that says learn while you’re at school, while you’re young, the skills that you will apply during your lifetime is no longer tenable. The skills that you can learn when you’re at school will not be applicable. They will be obsolete by the time you get into the workplace and need them, except for one skill. The one really competitive skill is the skill of being able to learn. It is the skill of being able not to give the right answer to questions about what you were taught in school, but to make the right response to situations that are outside the scope of what you were taught in school. We need to produce people who know how to act when they’re faced with situations for which they were not specifically prepared.' (Papert, 1998)

Reflections on Curriculum for Excellence

One of the many challenges facing Headteachers of all of Scotland’s secondary Schools is in reassuring parents and pupils that the revised S3/4 Curriculum for Excellence (for the current S2) is ready to go and is at least as good as what we currently offer. A few days ago we learned that East Renfrewshire Council has decided to postpone for a further year but all other Councils remain on track with the current S2 entering the next phase of implementation when they start S3 in June of this year.

A friend recently alerted me to this succinctly presented and plain English summary from the BBC on what Curriculum for Excellence is about. I like this version from the BBC but I think that there needs to be more discussion around the assumption that the 3/3 model is superior to the 2/2/2 version. Parents and teachers are, understandably, anxious about what some perceive to be as less time preparing for exams. Exam results often dictate the tone of HMIe reports and results are the means by which school leavers are selected for the various destinations beyond school. Some will argue that if you remove league tables of school comparisons of, for example, % of S4 roll achieving 5+ Highers by end of S5 then we would, at the stroke of the pen, remove many of the ills associated with our Scottish system. In regard to the current (proposed) 3/3 model the parents I have recently worked with across 2 schools are opposed to it as they see more advantages accruing from the traditional 2/2/2 model. Some colleagues I have worked with see the first phase of the 3/3 model as an extended version of the current S1/2 which, they suggest, lacks challenge, relevance and rigour. Others see the 3/3 model as centrally/externally driven and, in the absence of discussion and debate, are resistant to change without a sound rationale. There are also though a number of teachers I work with who consider that a further year of a broad general education (BGE) enabling pupils to deepen their learning and develop learning skills as a change for the good.

Over the past few years schools have evolved in different ways to suit the needs of their learners in their particular contexts. I would suggest that across our schools we need to more closely consider where learners are at in their particular 'journeys' before committing them to a further year of a BGE in S3 where they may be treading water. We know from research that, in terms of literacy alone, children's backgrounds have a significant bearing on what they are capable of by the time they start school. This gap does not necessarily disappear by the time they are in their early teens. It could therefore be argued that some children need more time to develop before leaving the BGE phase and entering the more intense senior phase. It follows therefore that some children may be ready to begin the senior phase before the end of S3. Some schools have facilitated this in recent years by allowing pupils to sit exams early. The assumption or requirement that all children should wait until S4 before embarking on exam preparation needs further discussion/ debate if hearts and minds are to be won. In the meantime, I suspect that some schools will continue with the 2/2/2 model. In so doing, one shouldn't assume that the 2/2/2 structure and a BGE are mutually exclusive.

Based on discussions I have had with teachers over the past few weeks, I am satisfied that JGHS is ready and raring to go. For the coming session we will continue with a 2/2/2 model with all pupils selecting 8 subjects as they enter S3. On entering S5 they will then reduce to 5 subjects. In the next two years our school will continue to develop the range of subjects on offer in order to ensure that we are catering for all of our pupils. In addition we will seek to ensure that ‘employability skills’ are integrated across the curriculum.

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.

At morning break on Friday, I thanked staff for their support and hard work during my first four weeks and chose this poem entitled 'Unity' to draw attention to the wonderful work they do and to emphasise the importance of teamwork with parents when working with children. Children always do best when parents and teachers work closely together so I was very pleased to see that almost all parents came along to our S4 parents' evening on Wednesday.



UNITY

I dreamed I stood in a studio
And watched two sculptors there,
The clay they used was a young child's mind
And they finished it with care.

One was a teacher; the tools he used
Were books and music and art;
One a parent with a guiding hand
And a gentle and loving heart.

Day after day the teacher toiled
With a touch that was deft and sure
While the parent laboured by his side
And polished and smoothed it o'er.

And when at last their task was done
They were proud of what they had wrought,
For the things they had moulded into the child
Could neither be sold nor bought

And each agreed he would have failed
If he had worked alone.
For behind the parent stood the school
And behind the teacher, the home.

Anon. * 1998

S4 parents' evening

This evening's meetings gave teachers and parents the opportunity to meet to discuss the progress of S4 pupils. I was delighted to see that most S4 pupils were represented on the evening by their parents/carers. These face to face meetings allow for information to be exchanged and strategies to better prepare pupils for the exams to be explored.

It is my experience over the past thirty years that pupils do best when parents and school staff work closely together to support children's learning. With over three months to go before the final exams begin there is still plenty of opportunity for pupils to put the hours in and do even better in the final exams. I would like to take this opportunity of offering a sincere thank you to all parents who came to school tonight and urging those who were unable to attend to make an alternative time to meet with us in the next few weeks. When parents and teachers work together pupils always do better.

My first JGHS Parent Council meeting

Tonight was my first opportunity to meet the Parent Council at JGHS. I was delighted at the very large turnout and at how welcoming and supportive the parents were. To begin with, Janis Croll (Acting DHT) updated the meeting on progress with the rebuild and the decant arrangements. There then ensued a good discussion on some of the issues that are likely to arise as the rebuild progresses. I am pleased that we are making good progress with our arrangements and look forward to confirming specific timings in a few weeks.

In my Headteacher's report I took the opportunity to share my first impressions of Gillespie's. As mentioned at assemblies with pupils, I have found the pupils to be:
Hardworking, Motivated, Courteous, Respectful and proud of our school. This provides a great platform for us to build on as we plan for the future!

I gave a brief report on where we are with Management Restructuring and our intentions for Curriculum for Excellence as our current S2 progress into S3 in June this year. More information on this will be shared at the information evening with parents of S2 pupils on Wednesday 22 February.

The evening ended with an opportunity for informal chat with a few parents over a very welcome glass of wine. In my previous post At Liberton HS I had the pleasure of working with a very strong and dedicated Parent Council. Reflecting on the evening's meeting I am thrilled and excited to find that the JGHS Parent Council is also very committed and supportive. With this level of support I am confident that the challenges in the years ahead will be overcome.

Rebuild and management restructuring

The day began with a meeting with colleagues from across the council to discuss progress on the new building that will begin in 2013. Areas discussed included: Restoration of the 'A' listed Bruntsfield House; Relocation arrangements in Darroch, Design of windows, parking arrangements during the rebuild, alternative accommodation at the main school and staffing. As headteacher, an overriding priority for me during this planning period is to ensure that learning and teaching can take place with no interruptions during the rebuilding process.

In the afternoon I met with David Wright (Head of Schools) to discuss some of the details of how management restructuring is to be implemented at Gillespie's following interviews last Thursday. David's experience and insight, gained from having been a headteacher in two secondary schools, is beneficial as we try to get the best possible structure for Gillespie's.

After a few more meetings with staff to discuss various excursions, I met with Alex and Bethany (Co-chairs of our Student Council) to discuss feedback from the recent student council meeting. Requests made by students included: mirrors in girls' toilets; an alternative social space for S1s during lunchtimes, additional bins in the school, S1 lunch arrangements and access for S6 students to suitable study areas when they are not in classes during the day. All of these issues will be discussed/progressed with the appropriate staff in the next week or two. All in all, it was a productive day but I missed having the opportunity to meet with and interact with the wider student body.

Children see, children do

I came across this short video clip on a blog by Ewan McIntosh. Ewan suggests that If you're a loud, stressed out, unhappy teacher then you'll generally have loud, stressed out and unhappy pupils in your classes. I agree with him. Its a powerful and thought provoking clip that highlights how much a child's attitudes and behaviours are influenced by their parents. Click here to view.

Visit to Sciennes Primary School

This evening I had the opportunity to meet the Parent Council at Sciennes Primary School. Sciennes is a very popular, high performing school and is one of a number of schools that are in the JGHS cluster. On arrival in the school I was very impressed with the displays of pupils' work adorning the walls.

The meeting gave me an opportunity to meet with members of the Parent Council and to learn a bit more about Sciennes. In the coming years I very much look forward to visiting Sciennes, working with colleagues and meeting the children to help plan for their move to the High School. Thanks to members of the Parent Council for making me so welcome and to Alison Noble (Headteacher) for inviting me along tonight.

Internet Safety

February 7th is an important date for your diary as it marks ‘Safer Internet Day 2012’ which promotes safe, responsible use of the internet and mobile devices.

The e-Learning Foundation is a major supporter of this event and is keen to ensure that as many schools, parents and pupils are aware of it, what it is about and what resources are available.

Resources are available for Parents, children and teachers as well as
packs specifically for Primary and Secondary schools.

All of this information is available from their website at:
www.saferinternet.org.uk
Please visit the site and help spread the word.