Any readers of my blog for the last 2 weeks will be very aware that I have strongly promoted the Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza’s ‘The Big Ambition’ survey. You can see her last email to me of 7 December at the foot of this blog, and, honestly, it’s quite heartening, as I like reading “Thank you so much for your incredible efforts in sharing ‘The Big Ambition’ survey with the children and parents at Claires Court Schools“. She might of course say that to all the heads; the email makes it quite clear that our school community has participated well to date, and yet could perhaps speak even more fully on behalf of children within RBWM. The deadline for completion has now been extended to 19 January 2024, as a consequence.

A year ago, we welcomed the Independent Schools Inspectorate into the school, and as part of their work, they directly canvassed the parents, pupils and staff in our community (3 different questionnaires), from which the feedback they received permitted the Inspectorate to draw ‘inspection trails’, seek further evidence and arise at judgements on the school’s work. Because these events were dislocated by the pandemic across the country, the last survey/inspection had taken place 5 years ago, when ISI had sampled parents previously. Usually we would have canvassed parental attitudes using the ISI model, though disconnected by the same pandemic we had not, so actually our own survey last October was for a separate organisation, the Independent Schools Council, asking demographic and societal questions mainly for marketing and business development purposes, very different of course.

The Inspectorate made 2 clear recommendations as a consequence of their Educational Quality report, in which they found so much that was excellent:

1. Enable male and female pupils on separate sites to further develop their social understanding by extending the opportunities to collaborate. 

2. Enable all pupils, and especially the more able, to further develop and use instinctively their higher order thinking, and promote greater autonomy in their own learning.

We only received the details of the recommendations in March 2023, because of the delays incurred by ISI, nevertheless much of our planned development since has had to include responding positively to these suggestions. Whilst every school’s inspection gives rise to recommendations like this, we’ve worked really hard, so I are very hopeful that our parent body can genuinely see the changes we have implemented, and not just at Junior or Sixth Form level, where the boys and girls are in such regular engagement every day. Secondary boys and girls are meeting much more frequently, indeed the brilliant show, “Another Day in Paradise” is a great example of how the best in music and drama are coming together to #CCBelong, #CCChallenge and #CCExcel.

Claires Court’s approach to education has always included encouraging an independent approach to learning, very evident in the school once the children are settled into their new classes and teachers come October Half-term, though not necessarily there right from the start of September, for a host of practical and well-being reasons. One of the key elements of ‘schooling’ is just that, establishing good routines for all at the re-start of school after a long break. Recommendation 2 is really important of course, but it’s become rather familiar amongst headteachers because the words seem to resurface in every report when perhaps the Inspectorate are grasping for a target that crosses all age ranges.

It’s really important to remember that the focus on ‘independent working’ was a major feature of the GCSE reforms in the 1980s following the introduction of coursework in addition terminal exams. Sadly we found that the requirements for coursework steadily ceased to actually foster independence and became much more formula driven by the exam board requirements and associated mark scheme. As a consequence, those same exam boards migrated GCSE programs (2008-16) into lots of mini assessments over 2 years, which in their own way of course further destroyed independent working – for most GCSE students they had to sit over 100 assessments in 18 months! During this period, schools developed the concept of ‘predicted’ grades, because of course, students were banking grades along the way, making the end result much more ‘predictable’.

Come the Gove reforms that commenced in 2014, more new GCSE exams started in 2017, only to be blown really of course by the 2020-22 pandemic, and it’s only now when we are beginning to see how those further developments all stack up. We don’t have useful comparative data from year to year, as the disruption to exams has been serious. Currently the English government is on mission to make the exam requirements harder, in direct competition with Wales and Northern Ireland who don’t. Yet the exams cover the same content… sounds daft? I know, it is.

Assessment at 16 has become a minefield and we have to be so careful where we tread. Scotland has gone its own way, choosing a new secondary curriculum and new assessments at 16+ which are much more skills based and less founded on knowledge (as have other English speaking countries). It turns out that the students in Scotland learn less than those in other countries (including England), as a consequence degrading their students’ educational attainment, with the rating of their secondary Education offer plummeting in the latest PISA and University ratings.

The biggest single research-based question that Learning Scientists have explored over recent times has been: ‘Does this method of teaching/learning have a positive impact upon the child’? There is a host of writing out there to suggest that 21st Century learning is different for the current generation, who need to know less but have the tools to explore how to find out what the solutions are more readily. Guess what – the researchers keep coming back to the evidence that students need to learn stuff as well as how to manipulate it – in short, you can’t acquire skills without knowledge. This is now an absolute given – in the new world of generative Artificial Intelligence, where your software interface can provide you with the ideal way to cook an omelette, but unless you have the prior knowledge of what makes up an omelette etc. the software won’t make the food for you. And you do need to know a little more than ingredients to understand why cooking makes food safe as well as palatable to eat.

In school we are currently ‘playing with AI, using Merlyn at Juniors, seeing Bard and ChatGPT at secondary and the new arrivals of Amazon Q and Gemini are going to speed up the pace of AI acquisition quite a bit more for us all. Exam boards are of course absolutely scared witless – they know the teacher must not write the student’s work for them, but how might the teacher be able to identify that the work is not of the individual’s own making in the first place, when mark schemes include the use of Buzz words and required answers? Below is something that ChatGPT wrote, 100 words in the style of myself, on the value of AI in Education:

“In the dynamic landscape of education, AI emerges as an invaluable ally, transforming traditional classrooms into hubs of innovation. Through personalized learning, AI tailors educational content to individual student needs, fostering a customized and efficient learning experience. Automated grading systems alleviate teachers’ burdens, allowing them to focus on inspiring creativity and critical thinking. AI-powered educational tools engage students through interactive simulations and adaptive exercises, making learning not just informative but also captivating. Moreover, AI facilitates data-driven insights, enabling educators to identify trends and adapt curriculum strategies accordingly. Embracing AI in schools not only enhances efficiency but also cultivates a tech-savvy generation prepared for the challenges of the future.” ChatGPT in the style of www,jameswilding.blog, 07/12/2023. To be honest, please don’t believe such statements, which are largely drivel, I’m ashamed to say.

The Independent Schools Inspectorate and its reporting inspectors hold very dear that the school has actually asked the members of its customer base for feedback on its activities – ISI never want to find out that the parents actually don’t have a voice in the school or lack a respected way of given useful feedback. It’s all very well to suggest that the ‘head’s door is always open’, but we recognise that much of the time that’s not really of value for parents – often time-poor and busy too. Of course I have asked every AI generative tool that exists what might I need to do to improve the school further, but that’s of little value for anyone given the robot is not a real customer and doesn’t have personal experience to draw from. Well I say the robot doesn’t have a helpful answer, but actually it has provided an answer for our consideration – and I post it below for your full edification – “I told you so!”

In conclusion, I do encourage all parents to take part in such school surveys. Whilst some of responses may be unflattering, they do give cause for serious consideration, of that you can be assured.

Below is the email received on 7 November 2023, from Dame Rachel de Souza:

FAO Mr James Wilding,

I hope that you have had a good Autumn term and are all looking forward to the Christmas holidays.

Thank you so much for your incredible efforts in sharing ‘The Big Ambition’ survey with the children and parents at Claires Court Schools.

We have had an amazing response from nursery, primary and secondary schools across England and as a result I’ve decided to extend the closing date to Friday 19^th January 2024 to allow even more children the chance to have their say.

This will give schools, children and young people an extra month over the festive season to take part in ‘The Big Ambition’.

Children and parents can complete the survey here: www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/thebigambition

It only takes 5-10 minutes and can be completed in assemblies, form times, PSHE or in other lessons in the run up to Christmas or when you come back in January. A suggested lesson plan can be found on our webpage. Alternatively, please share this flyer with a link to the survey with parents and children to complete at home.

‘The Big Ambition’ provides a much-needed opportunity for the children of England to tell policy makers what is important to them ahead of the General Election.

Let’s make sure that the children and young people of Windsor and Maidenhead are represented in the results.

Thank you again and Merry Christmas!

Very best,

Dame Rachel De Souza

Children’s Commissioner for England