Author Archives: jameswilding

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About jameswilding

Academic Principal Claires Court Schools Long term member & advocate of the Independent Schools Association

Closing thoughts at the end of our Summer Term 2011

Posted on 24/07/2011 by jameswilding

As our Golden Jubilee year comes to an end, it’s nice to reflect on the many events enlivened by our celebrations, from the formal occasions such as Speech Days and Concerts, through to the major social events of the school … Continue reading →

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The gap between the UK and the USA just widened a little more…

Posted on 16/07/2011 by jameswilding

Oscar Wilde wrote: “We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language.” (The Canterville Ghost – 1887). 124 years later, I suspect that we are also separated by our literacy.  In my recent reading around the … Continue reading →

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Fifty years old and still counting – a work in progress…

Posted on 09/07/2011 by jameswilding

Date:  9 July 2011 Time:  2 pm to 8 pm Time of this entry 10 pm, Monday 11 July 2011. When a school celebrates its 50th birthday… First upload of pictures has happened, two more to follow, here’s an animoto … Continue reading →

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Reaching for the “Cloud” – ‘Going Google’.

Posted on 04/07/2011 by jameswilding

During the last academic year, we’ve been accelerating our use of collaborative working at Claires Court, using those young pioneers at Ridgeway and College to test Google.docs big time.  Here’s Year 3 at work, writing about films they like and … Continue reading →

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Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.

Posted on 27/06/2011 by jameswilding

Samuel Beckett, the Irish poet and playwright penned these words in 1983 (Worstward Ho), and I can’t say they caught my attention then. Beckett as a writer seems to me someone you have to keep trying until you develop the … Continue reading →

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Ordinary people doing extraordinary things…

Posted on 20/06/2011 by jameswilding

…takes my breath away, and makes me proud to lead  my school. Being in charge at the start of any academic year is an onerous responsibility – the who, what, where, when, why and how of school planning has to … Continue reading →

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The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present.

Posted on 07/06/2011 by jameswilding

In my efforts to understand and contribute in the rapidly changing world involving learning, my research is both wide ranging and eclectic.  Which it needs to be,  because none of us have any idea where the next good idea that … Continue reading →

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When Headlines aren’t News!

Posted on 27/05/2011 by jameswilding

There is no one way to improve schools, and since the time of Socrates and Plato, those who think about teaching and learning have known this. After every election when there is a change of party in power, the ‘new … Continue reading →

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What on earth is going on…

Posted on 23/05/2011 by jameswilding

Each week, I write to a private audience of over 400 teachers and fellow professionals in Independent Schools, in a newsletter to highlight topical issues in education. The network is known as the ISANet, and as my latest is almost … Continue reading →

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Does one syllable make all that difference…

Posted on 09/05/2011 by jameswilding

I have wondered whether the right wing stateside have considered Obama more of a threat to the American way of life than Osama. I can’t begin to imagine the pressure Mr President is under, forced to release the details of … Continue reading →

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