A Principled view

“If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” Albert Einstein

October 2013. Entering the Junior Boys school at Claires Court, by the back door, you are confronted by a vast poster, created by some in their Art class. Above and around the poster are large, firm, obviously aged and somewhat ‘wonky’ shelves. And packed onto the shelves are hundreds of jars, filled with a cornucopia of slime, and colour, and crepuscular things. In the instant, such is the power of Roald Dahl’s writing, one feels the presence of all of the myriad of dreams of these children, captured in Dream jars by that companion to their sleep, the BFG. 

I took one of the jars to their assembly on Wednesday, marvelling at its touch and feel, and happy to share the hopes and ambitions of the young B4 child with the company. “One day, I shall play cricket for England”.  And I hope he does.

Throughout this term, I have marvelled at our mission throughout the school, for pupils of whatever age, to ensure they become literate, communicative and coherent in what they do and say. When the deeply dyslexic and now internationally famous video editor, Rupert Houseman reminds us of his sense of irony that he is ‘paid to read and write’ and that we gave him those skills, it humbles me to the core. I know we did, as we have done with so many others, and it is that single-mindedness of purpose that pervades our mission to this day.

In the world of shared Docs that Google Apps give us, I am able to read a vast range of minutes and other shared thoughts and directions of the staff. At Senior boys on a Wednesday morning, there’s a 10 minute time set aside for all to read. And I read a memo this week, a quick stick shake at colleagues, to make sure that the available time for this quite work is not displaced by some prosaic need to tidy a bag or complete a homework. Throughout the school, as notably with older as well as younger pupils, we celebrate their writing on walls; short creative works of fact and fiction, highlighting that writing is good. As is reading, As are books. 

Neil Gaiman summarised the value of books in a brilliant Annual talk for the Reading Agency earlier this week, reported in the Guardian – http://goo.gl/YQleLP. Douglas Adams once told him ” more than 20 years before the Kindle turned up, a physical book is like a shark. Sharks are old: there were sharks in the ocean before the dinosaurs. And the reason there are still sharks around is that sharks are better at being sharks than anything else is. Physical books are tough, hard to destroy, bath-resistant, solar-operated, feel good in your hand: they are good at being books, and there will always be a place for them. “

Gaiman highlights too that the long-established ban on Science Fiction in Communist China has now been overturned. What was the key feature Chinese research that led to this recent volte-face circa 2007? The fact that all the highest achieving scientists in companies such as Microsoft, Apple and Google, responsible for imagining the future had in common the practice when they were young of reading science fiction.

All around our school, we are imagining the future for our children, for our learners, for each other. I was in a B10 History lesson yesterday, wrangling with them to capture their research, their viva-voce of same, using technology (Movenote) to show it all. And I was struck by their struggle to come to terms with what it might look like, watching them wrestle with that process of imagining.  And History reminds us, because we can read what our forebears have done through its lens, that Human life is a story of struggle. Without imagination, we wouldn’t have all of the things around us. Take the light bulb; Thomas Edison worked diligently on perfecting a commercially manufactured light bulb. He imagined that it was possible and eventually achieved success. He has been quoted as saying “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

At the heart of our schools are the Libraries, populated by books and artifacts for reading by talented professionals who give their all to ensure a love of reading is a possibility to be acquired by all. I am proud we invest in those centres of ancient culture, of paper and picture that provides vivid illustration to our ambition that all should read.  “Memo to self -just got to make sure they do!”

Rosemary Barker, Rebecca Fuller, Aimee McCardle, Lee Paige, Giles Smith and I, amongst so many others, Lucy’s Parents, brothers, sisters in fact and in spirit, Friends and Relations attended Lucy’s funeral today, Tuesday 15th October 2013. I write this for the record. All of us there in attendance this afternoon were there to reflect on her life, and did so in a Quaker way, with adults who knew her well speaking in Ministry about her life and times.   We heard of the time as a young child, when her brother was buying a rabbit, how Lucy managed to ‘borrow’ a guinea pig too. And of the time when, on the way to a Britney Spears’ concert, Lucy abandoned her friend in a motorway pile-up queue, to secure a McDonalds for them both. And we reflected upon our own lives (as is the Quaker way) and reminded ourselves of our own frailties in the face of vaulting ambition. Pleasingly, Lucy didn’t do ‘v.a’. Instead she became the friend, the angel, the bridesmaid, the godmother, the auntie and the wingman for all.

It was a privilege to be there, to listen to her Personal tutor from Leighton Park School, Quaker Elder and CofE minister, Juliet Straw. A host of friends of like age attended, as well as that of our wider community of all ages that comes together to celebrate the life, and mourn the loss of one of our own.

Lucy Bywater, 6th Form Claires Court, 2000-2014 – In memoriam , requiescat in pace.

Preamble

I find it incredible that our Secretary of State for Education has decided to change the rules on the GCSE Results system that will apply to secondary schools come September 2016.  “As any fule kno” (to quote Nigel Molesworth – here’s his facebook page http://goo.gl/GBAW5p)  when all the evidence shows that ‘All bonus systems corrupt’, why’s Gove bothering with this nonsense at all?

I can see come the Summer of 3 years hence, that Governing bodies and Headteachers will be scrabbling around to prove that the reverse of what they have been showing to date; their students will suddenly be reported as being of lower ability than heretofore so that the value-add will be so much higher. At a stroke I can see state Grammar schools plummeting down the League tables ‘cos whilst their alumni are still doing very well, sadly they won’t be adding value in their 8 subjects as reported to Govt.

What I object to most is the prescription that 8 subjects is enough.  Well honestly, given that OfSTED and DfE expect all students will be studying English and Lit (2), Maths, 3 Sciences, an MFL, Hist or Geog (That’s the EBACC grouping by the way), why bother offering anything else?  It’s definitely a case of ‘Wither the Arts’, and as for the practical or vocational, “Abandon hope all ye who enter here (as professional teachers)!”

And 24 hours after I had written this post, we have this from the Admissions tutor at Oxford University – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-24533511 – in short “There is widespread concern, not restricted to the secondary-school sector, but also to higher education, about the limited evidence that there is need for any change and widespread concern that the impact of bringing in both GCSE and A-level changes at the same time is going to just wreck the English education system.”

What does it all add up to? Not a clue, dear reader, except for Misery for all those who are under the cosh of those who try to plan to beat the system.  As I have previously reported, when the Headteachers of Independent Schools, large, great and good identify that Education has entered/been left in charge of the lunatics, what more can I add.  I guess that in 3 years time, we’ll have GCSE candidates for subjects as diverse as Mandarin, Business, Computing, Electronics, Latin, Statistics, Technology (that’s food or materials) as well as Art, Drama, Music and PE. We’ll be almost on our own then as a day school in this postcode, as one that believes at age 16, it’s diversity and breadth that identifies the 21st century Renaissance student.

News of the ISANet Unconference, taking place – Saturday 23 November 2013.

Fellow Google Certified teacher, Paul Robson and I have gone out to our community to see if we can drum up some extra talent to illuminate and inform our forthcoming Digital conference.  If you’d like to attend, speak or otherwise participate, please encourage us and sign up.  Costs are at £0, and hopefully the experience worth a day out of your comfort zone. Here’s the link to the website – https://sites.google.com/a/clairescourt.net/isa-unconf/

Loads of Titbits for the forthcoming Half-term – set aside time to read this stuff!

• Everything’s a remix, the 4 video edition – brilliant social study of our media, and how we got here today, to quote Bernard Chartres “We are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants” – from Kirby Ferguson http://everythingisaremix.info/watch-the-series/

• Planning in response to Learning –  remarkable blog from Edna Sackson downunder, who reminds us that lessons go best when we learn from our students, whose work reveals new insights.

• Genetics outweighs teaching, Gove adviser tells his boss – Education in England is no better than mediocre, and billions of pounds have been wasted on pointless university courses and Sure Start schemes for young children, Michael Gove‘s special adviser has said in an outspoken private thesis written a few weeks before he is due to step down from his post.

• In the same week, the OECD came out with the bombshell that 18 year old Brits don’t spell as well as the 60 year olds.  Quite why the world’s economic forum needed to spend loads of money working out stuff that’s sparklingly obvious to those about to enter their seventh decade beats me.  In most children’s lifetime, English doubles in vocab in 20 years (or some such made-up statistic) and we now have over a billion words in regular use. Fat chance the ‘Yoof’ of today can manage that and gain an insight into a world that demands that they think for themselves. http://goo.gl/MP86rO . Not the shock horror we might think it is – unless Mr give chooses to reduce us to a 2 subject league table to rise up the OECD rankings

• Think you know all about GMAIL?  Here’s a great infomatic that foreshortens History and fills in the gaps – http://www.pinterest.com/pin/138978338474405465/

• Claires Court, Halliford, Canbury, Heathfield, St David’s et al and the ISAnet project went to the cloud with their children’s data in 2011 – here’s an Infographic that shows just how ahead of the game we were – shows going to the cloud started (well almost) in 2012 – http://www.pinterest.com/pin/101964379036927267/

• I love this poster, a mash-up from 100 years ago showing how one person can put on a gas mask.  Rather highlights that remixing is an Art practiced for many, many years. http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BWUxOL4CQAAPkSK.jpg

• And in case you thought is was safe to go out after the Black Death – Madagascar: Bubonic Plague – Madagascar Faces New, Terrifying Threat –

• And for those that really do feel that Technology is getting out of hand, here’s how you can host virtual meetings using ‘Second Life’ pedagogies. Don’t laugh, SELTRA are being serious – far more convincing to create your avatar that’s a bit more groovy than the real you – I’ll finish this newsletter where I started – ‘What’s real, when everything can be remixed?’

And finally – for those professionals in Education that wish to visit us at Claires Court to see our work using Google Apps and Chromebooks, I have a regular Monday pm slot set aside to witness and share good practice.  You are more than welcome to come along and learn more about what we have been able to achieve (and continue to do so).

With every best wish for the forthcoming half-term break (and 1 week off from me as well), keep blogging!

James Wilding

jtw@clairescourt.net

jameswilding.wordpress.com

Any one who knows my views about education knows they are not jaundiced. I am one of the most relentless and ruthlessly optimistic people I know. Posterity never voted for us to be miserable about the future, and I should know, because I have every hope of being there in that future, being brilliantly wise about the past, because that’s what 20:20 hindsight brings.  And actually, what I like about the ‘memory’ blogging brings, is that I have been true to my beliefs since I started this writing process.

Data is all-pervasive in the current world, and if you can manipulate data – analytics – then you gather “intelligence”, which wisely deployed helps you plan for the future, stay ahead of the competition, lead the field and/or make a fortune.  Governments make huge use of data, indulge themselves in the political version of data analysis and come up with the number they first thought of.

Consider the current situation in the business within which I work – Education.

• Over half of schools failing in RE
• School Maths results disappointing
• Too many pupils failures at 7
• England lags on young adult literacy

Now you’ll get my point before I make it.  Government tells us it has spent billions of tax payers money, introduced entire new layers of curriculum and ways of measuring it, demonstrates with its own flawed political tools that results have never been better, and celebrates its successes by beatifying its stars in the field with gongs and medals and Queen’s birthday honours.

How can this be, I hear you ask – how do we reconcile irreversible signs of significant progress and an irreversible slide to the bottom of the western world’s literacy and numeracy performance tables?  Are we really to believe the independent data from the OECD that the literacy of our 16-24 year olds is actually no better than those aged 55-65? Perhaps more worryingly, it appears that 8.5 million adults in the UK have the reading age of 10 year olds, or so the relevant BBC report states: http://goo.gl/MP86rO

The major leading western world countries in education have not set out to raise academic standards through a selection, target-based and league-tabled assessment system. The current coalition government continues to chase this tale to the nth degree, now focussing on real teaching for nursery children and a back-to-the-future approach to terminal exams at 16 and 18. What the leading countries have done, is determine that all children will learn to read, write and count, been inclusive and child centred about the settings (in which the more advanced aren’t held back, because they become the teachers of their peers, and the teachers aren’t being judged whether they are good teachers.

In a variety of reports and reports, including Pasi Sahlberg‘s book “Finnish Lessons: What can the world learn about educational change in Finland“, it becomes startling obvious that if schools concentrate on improving schools, and build teams of experienced and well qualified teachers to support each other and the learners, and have an incorruptible view that children will learn to read, write and count whilst in their care, actually that’s what will happen. Keep it simple, but organised by experts, and good stuff happens. It is extraordinary that across the pond, Canada’s rise to the top of the table is in complete contradiction to the US’s slide to the bottom for the same reasons. And here in the UK, the current chair of the HMC group of private schools, Tim Hands of Magdalen College, Oxford, arguably the country’s best academic school, makes an informed challenge really as coherently as any: I quote from the BBC report Mr Hands, speaking last Monday, criticised political interference in education – “the long interfering arm and dead restraining hand of government” – and said that the “principles of commercial accountability” had been applied to schools in a way that was “flawed”.

The DfE in its own defence (yep, beyond party politics, we have been really badly served by the civil servants who really ought to have known better) has this to say as retort:”Our rigorous new curriculum, demanding GCSEs and high-quality A-levels involving universities will raise academic standards for all children.”

Well, given the track record of government over the past 50 years on education, the easiest of political footballs to kick to death, I feel a dose of Harry Callahan coming on “do you feel lucky punk?” The failure of Education policy to rectify the failure of previous generations  is because the civil servants and educationalists alike have introduced an extraordinary gamification of school progress measures. You can’t nationalise and/or denationalise professionalism at whim in the way you can state industries such as railways and the Post Office,  even though bitter experience tells us it hasn’t worked in industry anyway.

Tim Hands went on to say in the same speech “The story of the last 50 years is the intrusion of government and the disappearance of the child. More radically put, it is by extension the intrusion of the state, and the disappearance of love.” And therein lies the truth, as I see every day in my own and other private schools. It’s about the school as it is about the subject, it’s certainly more about the people than the processes, but the latter better be right, not because if they are not, the children won’t learn their tables, but because if the children can’t play their sport or their arts, the children will give the adults ‘hell’.

Dan Pink, the american writer, talks about the need for learners to acquire Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose, whilst educationalist Sir Ken Robinson talks about the importance of ‘finding your element’.  In holistic schools such  as ours, we can’t focus on the specific at the expense of the generic, because all the evidence of the past 200 years keeps confirming that it’s about all of it, little detail and big picture.  And it’s the holistic schools that build better people, who actually don’t think that learning stops at 18, and carry on learning for the rest of their lives.

And so to the title, I am deeply troubled that international tests set out to confirm with precision the imprecise. In my lifetime, the number of English words has undoubtedly doubled, and we now have well over a million. In Finnish, because of the way they concatenate them, the number is infinite. But the latter is phonetic, logical, sequential and additive, unlike our illogical mess of the polyglot. It is so much easier to be logical and ordered, than creative and slightly scruffy. I am not happy that our country is on the bottom table for spellings and sums, but so much happier that our suicide rate is not in comparable poor form. If you fancy competing in that arena here’s the list, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate

In the meantime, I am quite comforted to learn that I know as much if not more than the 18 year olds.  It’s rather proven my other point that learning doesn’t stop when you leave school. Be careful what you wish for.

Dear All

If you are new to my broadcasting, you won’t know that I post on matters digital every week.

Here’s this week’s newsletter, courtesy of Chimpmail – http://goo.gl/UKQMrL

In essence, some 500 schools and their staff are part of a project I lead on behalf of the Independent Schools Association, and our school, Claires Court, plays its part in promoting the opportunities that are developing within ISA for children.

All best

James

Well, another Academic year is over and the Winners and Champions signed off for another 12 months.  Our Principal guest was Old Boy, Rupert Houseman, Video editor and BAFTA winner 2013 for the film 7/7 One Day in London.

You can see our video treatment of the BAFTA film shown this afternoon here .  Rupert was a truly outstanding follow-on from Katherine Grainger last year, not because he was in any way demonstrative, but because he was true to the spirit of the occasion as Katherine was last year, This day is a celebration of what marks out those of our our pupils that excel, and an opportunity to build the Peer pressure to encourage others to follow in their footsteps. Rupert attended the school from 1985 to 1992, and his words today resonated with a very large number of our boys and girls today.  He remembers being a nervous Year 7 new boy, somewhat anxious because he had just been diagnosed as being severely dyslexic. He left as a reasonably successful post GCSE student, In those days as we had no 6th Form, Rupert attended Henley College before going to work (as best you can) in the Film business.  His big break came when fellow Old Boy, Toby Hefferman, signposted his Runner post at Disney when Toby got promoted to 3rd assistant director there.  Rupert quickly moved from Film to Video, and from Running to Video editing, and he hasn’t really looked back since then.

In a touching closing ceremony, Jan Price, our Head of Art (and his old teacher) handed over to Rupert a collage of his own GCSE Art work, created in 1992, a testament to her wonderful back catalogue of her pupils’ work.

Rupert closed with these thoughts “It’s funny to consider that I entered Claires Court unable to read and write.  You taught me to be literate, and to discover my artistic talent.  Here I am, 21 years on, making a living creating documentaries, writing scripts and voice-overs for others!  Claires Court has much credit for this!”

Actually, this seems a poor paraphrase of Rupert’s words – watch him in the flesh here.

Thank you Dear Reader, I have had a fabulous summer, or dare I say actually some three weeks in which the sun has shone, the grass has grown, the crops have ‘riz’ and the new greenhouse is elegantly installed at the end of the garden. It might be that I took a rest from tweeting and blogging, but perhaps that’s as it should be, for ‘All work, and no play makes Jack a dull boy’.  I am delighted now that school is back in session and the veritable bounty of fruits from our academic labours here at Claires Court are steadily being prepared for our Speech day and Prize Giving harvest next week, 19 September.

The big Education picture is not nearly so rosy, and the disgraceful grade deflation now being perpetrated by the current coalition is in danger of disenfranchising a host of young adults whose efforts have not reaped similar just desserts. Michael Rosen, former Children’s Laureate wrote this last week in his regular letter of a curious parent to Michael Gove. “Your (government) colleagues are trying to build a low-wage economy as a means of getting out of the mess the casino capitalists created. Your contribution to this effort has been to increase the number of students with lower qualifications. These students are people who will think (you hope) that they have no right to higher earnings“. You can read the whole letter here – http://goo.gl/qoNMGg – and it makes chilling reading. And this man (MG) is in charge of something as important as our children’s education?

The leading academic voices in Education are joining in a growing chorus of disapproval, as one knee jerk reform after another from MG shatters the current assessment framework, covering the sincere work of diligent professionals with scorn, only for those reforms to be either cancelled or deferred because the sketched-out alternatives have no chance of being anything other than worse. This week’s news is that his GCSE and A level reforms are to be delayed to 2016, whilst many of the august bodies that represent Science damn the government’s consultation of A level reforms in this area as a sham (BBC).

Bill Boyle, Professor of Educational Assessment at Manchester University wrote in the Times Educational Supplement last week that it was time to ‘Abandon the “ladder of shame” approach to school effectiveness and student progress and try a novel route that focuses on teaching and learning, learner autonomy and lifelong learning. My senior colleagues and I chose to leave the national curriculum in 2007 and do just this, give our children and teachers even more room to learn and gather a truer appreciation of how an all-round education could engage and empower, Over the past 2 years, our curriculum and pastoral developments have created the Claires Court Essentials, and it is quite remarkable now to see just how close to Professor Boyle’s ideal school we have become.  And what is so exciting is that the climate of engagement we witness each day highlights that you don’t need to bread arrogance in your students to achieve this. Far from it; our community values the personal qualities of selfless endeavour for the good of all, and we are certainly not ‘gaming the system’ for short term gains. Professor Boyle recalls that such an educational nirvana is impossible under the current government and references such through a ‘Pigs might fly’ analogy.

Well, please spread the news that Claires Court’s broad ability approach to education is reaping remarkable rewards, building our reputation locally and globally alike. Since we broke for the Summer holidays, our rowers have won the Victor Ludorum at the National Rowing Championships for being the most successful school, and our actors have returned from a remarkable and successful tour at the Edinburgh Fringe.  Moreover, international vistors come each week, most notably planned for this coming January, when we are to welcome a delegation of 50 heads and educators from Sweden to see our school in action, using technology integrated seamlessly with collaborative and investigative learning. In short, what we are achieving is real, remarkable, evidence-based in best practice and fit for the whole age range.  What you won’t find is any ‘porkies’ – Pork Pies – cockney rhyming slang for Lies – flying or otherwise.

“Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.” Stephen R. Covey “The contractual Duty of Candour will be an enforceable duty on providers to ensure they are open and honest with patients or their families and provide them with information on any investigations and lessons learned.” Department of Health consultation following review of Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust  public inquiry.

Today is A level results day, and some 110 or so Year 13 and Year 12s came into school to collect their results, celebrate and/or share concerns, depending on how they had done. The current UCAS system and University early response mechanism is reducing the stress considerably on results day. Many of the Year 13s had already heard from their Universities that they had gained their places early this morning, so their visit to school to discover results is somewhat less stressful as a result. I’ll update the figures as we sort out some of our wrinkles, but on the face of it we have replicated many previous years by 40+% gaining A*-B, 75%+ gaining A* to C, with something like 88% gaining their first or back-up degree option. A couple of students are upgrading because they have better results than predicted, and we are having to look really hard at a couple of subject modules involving coursework, where moderation of our marks has seen some candidates results regressed from 100% to 65%, shifting outcome grades for the paper concerned from A* to C.

In subjects such as Art, Drama, Music, Photography and Textiles, clearly the whole point is to create something, not just write an essay, and such is the talent of our young creatives that 100% is really on the cards for some.  Once our teachers have marked the work, the exam board scrutinises our marking and the artifacts/performances through a visiting mdoerator, who either agrees with our marking or disagrees. If the latter, then our candidates marks are reduced accordingly as a raw score.  Now here’s the nasty bit. Whether our marks are found accurate or reduced, that’s not the actual mark that turns up on the exam slip. The exam board  statistically adjust the scores given so that they fit the normal distribution they are looking for, and this year for A grade it seems to be 25%.  Clearly far too many candidates are gaining a 100% mark for their coursework, hence the need to regress the marks so the percentage of As is reduced. This conversion of raw marks to an Exam board mark is called the Uniform mark scale. “UMS is a way of turning the raw marks achieved in a unit in a particular sitting into a mark that can be used to compare with those achieved in other series.  The UMS balances out differences between exams and is a way of making sure people get the correct grade, no matter when they took a particular unit. UMS marks from all the units are then added together to give you an overall mark for your qualification.” AQA website.

Frankly it is smoke and mirrors of the worst kind and for practical subjects causes extraordinary injustice to the hardworking students, who have through their own efforts met the exam board criteria with great precision. The exam boards of course get found out, because their moderators have to write reports on what they have seen at the centre.  In our problem areas today, the moderator has commended our staff for the quality of their marking in one module, as well as the quality of work on show and the accuracy of the teachers’ grading. Then in an allied module, our staff appear to be no more familiar with the marking criteria than rank novices, and marks are overturned.  Now with experienced colleagues that simply can’t happen, and in the visual arts the modules are actually marked in identical ways. Although in many ways we are content with the current A level programme and award assessment, it is in this area of coursework that trust with the boards has been broken for some time, and this year there is no sign of that breach being repaired. You can’t appeal on individual candidate results where moderation has adjusted marks downwards, only on the whole cohort’s results in the subject. In recent years I have never seen marks moderated up, only down, so raw marks moving to the UMS mean the students score lower than their intuition might inform them on leaving the exam room.

If you make such an appeal, it suspends A level grades in the subject concerned, and in doing that prevents students confirming with their Universities their arrangements for joining them later next month. None of our candidates affected this year have been denied the place at their first choice Uni, but that’s not the point. If a candidate gets a B overall rather than an A or A*, that has significant impact on their own feelings of self-worth, and the school ‘appears’ to be less effective than actually we are. Listening to the Universities Minister David Willetts today, it made my blood boil when he suggested that such jiggery pokery enhances the nation’s confidence in the exam system. I’d much rather know that coursework was going to become a capped grade component (lets say at no more than 70%), putting greater emphasis on the written and test components of the A level, than have to listen to the distinctly less than candid gloating of Mr Willets, who for some reason thinks that when grades decline ‘that’s a good thing’.

The papers have not got harder and tested the children more thoroughly. What’s happened is as criminal as ‘clocking a motor’ to reduce the mileage showing on the dashboard indicating how many miles a car has traveled. As a school that welcomes a broad ability range and where students can choose to take A level subjects even if they only have a C grade at GCSE,  I am really proud of our students this summer who have gained places across the country in a wide and diverse range of disciplines. I welcome the fact that we have subjects such as Spanish with both candidates gaining A grades. What I fundamentally oppose is the squeezing of practical disciplines to lower the top grade stats to make them seem ‘harder’. A third of our economy is founded on the creative arts, with many leaving university straight into jobs because their skills are highly sought after. So I’d like to see Exam boards have to live by a similar duty of candour; if it is right that Ofqual need to squeeze the results, then teachers and children need to know, and the exam boards have a duty to tell us the truth.

And now, the end is near, and so I face the final curtain… (just the end of term, forgive the hyperbole)

Owning and running a school is not quite the same as leading it. As the end of term disappears into the rear view mirror, the academic pressures ease and the organisation adjusts to ensure that (in our case the 140+) teachers and nursery leaders get a proper break after their exertions for our community’s behalf for the last 185 days. And rest they deserve, because to be honest, it’s difficult to maintain the intensity of effort required to achieve the levels of progress expected of a private school.

I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain …

At the British Rowing Championships

Off to Cape Town, for Rugby and Hockey

And then to the Edinburgh Fringe

And the Summer works…

I travelled each and ev’ry highway, And more, much more than this…

No more is that so obvious than in the efforts of our boat club, still flat out in the arena of competitive sport, facing as they did the British Rowing Championships this last weekend.

Rowing under Maidenhead colours, our lead oarsmen of Josh Harris and Rory Kempson won the J18 Coxless quad with their colleagues from Maidenhead, and in so doing won selection for the Home Counties International this coming weekend at Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham. This gold medal follows hard on the heels of their silver medal won at National Schools in May, and on an excellent performance reaching the semi-finals at Henley Rowing Regatta in the Fawley Cup. Whilst it is a shame that Josh and Rory did not row in our colours, all of our boat club know that we produce joint membership with MRC who host us so well at Maidenhead, and composites don’t win the club shield that goes with the victory!

But the news does actually get better, because our J16+ crew won silver, J15+ gold, and J14+ silver as well, and where we lost a race, we did so by milliseconds, a canvas or less.

For Head of Rowing, Tom Jost and his colleagues, Chris Clarke and Tim Wallis Cadell, I offer my full congratulations, because these results highlight as best as any that Claires Court has returned to be one of the premier school boat clubs in England. The coaches work amazingly hard, are outstandingly focussed on why they have a role in the school, and exert a commanding and positive influence on the athletes themselves. Our status in rowing is confirmed by the Championship Victor Ludorum list, in which Claires Court is placed 9th, the leading school with 29 points, not of course including the points they could have gained through the J18 gold performances. You can see that table here – http://www.britchamps.org/sites/default/files/pages/11/BRJC2013-VictorLudorum.pdf

J16+ – Dan Gordon, Will Hobden, Toby Jones, Jo Saunders.

J15+ – Tom Ives, Alex Richardson, Billy Richards, Curtis Heartburn

J14+ – Tom Ballinger, Jack Harris, Hadley Thomas, Toby Yate, Tom Moreland (cox)

One of the major reasons outside of coaching for our success is the intensity, quality and longevity of training the coaches have managed to coax their athletes to engage with over the past 2 or more years, providing a real extra motor when needed in the final 500m of events. other major factor has been the quality of support engendered by the parent support groups – to get a flavour of that read their final announcement of the year, pushed out as the boys received their medals:

I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption …

“Dear All, on behalf of the parents of all the boys, I wanted to say how proud and impressed we are to be part of the CCS rowing community. Every single boy representing the school this weekend was impressive, from their own rowing or coxing delivery through to their fantastic team support and commitment to each other – all celebrating their schools success. Their attitudes were amazing. Also to being part of an amazing bunch of parents, carers, grandparents and friends – from those who got to Nottingham and joined us yesterday or today to those who sent texts and emails sharing support from a distance – you are all a great bunch of parents that have spent huge amounts of time supporting the boys this year. Finally to our brilliant coaches, and our head coach Tom Jost – your strong vision and resilience to keep the boys engaged, ensure they balance their demands of the sport with the needs for study and in keeping their spirits up throughout the highs and lows. Today has been a great finish to rowing for the summer, we hope you have wonderful well earned holidays and look forward to many more successes for CCSBC!  Best wishes.”

One of the club squads that performed even better than Claires Court was Eton Excelsior (by 1 point), for whom our own Emma Moores (J16) rows, and she won 2 bronze medals at the Regatta as well. In many ways, Emma has done it the hardest way of all, without the opportunity to row at school and club, and she has my full admiration.

I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway …

2013 Ist Rugby and Hockey Tour to South Africa – July 2013

Good Luck and Beste Wense to our sporting tourists from the top teams who travel to South Africa yesteday (23 July).  The boys will be playing rugby and the girls hockey, in Cape Town. Fans will be able to keep in touch by following the Tourists’ News from our School website. As well as playing fixtures against Jan van Riebeeck High School, Milnerton High School and De Kuilen High School, the tourists have a full itinerary during their stay including visits to Robben Island, the Aquila Game Reserve and Langa Township.  They will also tour the Cape Peninsula with its spectacular scenery, seals and penguins.   The party will be staying at the Ritz Hotel (tourist standard, not quite Piccadilly!) at the top of which is the only revolving restaurant in Cape Town and one of the most unique eating experiences in town.

You’ll be able to catch up with the Tour news via the main school website, www.clairescourt.com

I’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried …

The Kites are flying in Edinburgh – Saturday-Monday,

6 evening performances over 3 days at the Columcille Centre

Director of Drama at Claires Court, Maggie Olivier, and her A Level students are really excited about the opportunity to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe showcasing their production of Michael Morpurgo’s book The Kites are flying at the Columcille Centre from Saturday 17th through to Monday 19th August, with two performances each afternoon/evening. The performers are Brooke Snowe, Elliot Stokes, Hayley Howard, Charlie Tuck, stage design by Lucy Wardman and technicals by Callum Plain.

Working in the style of epic expressionism with an exceptional artistic designer, these Sixth Form Drama and Theatre Studies students adapted this beautiful and poignant children’s novel of Michael Morpurgo for the stage. Their adaptation tells the story of a journalist visiting the war stricken West Bank where he meets children from both sides of the wall: two Jewish siblings on one side and a little Palestinian girl on the other side. His experience reveals how children’s friendships can be stronger than any wall built to divide nations and religions.

The cast tells the story from the perspectives of the journalist, the Jewish children and the little Palestinian girl.  They reveal the impact of war on children and  convey the message that shared hopes and dreams can make even the highest wall disappear.

This production tells this fascinating story of tragedy and hope as truthfully as possible to do justice to Michael Morpurgo’s objectives. The cast hopes to get the powerful message of this novel across to many people and to leave them with joy and hope in spite of the divides in the world we all live in.

‘We talk, we laugh, we dream. You are a dreamer too, like me. I think we even dream the same dreams.’

Morpurgo: The Kites are Flying

I am flying up to assist in selling tickets and to see the 6pm performance on Monday – hopefully by then storming the fringe audiences and not quite in demob last show state of unwind!

When I bit off more than I could chew …

Summer works within Claires Court Schools

The main building works are taking place on the College site, where the Chapel’s conversion into a full scale performing arts area is well under way. The pneumatic drills have lifted out the old altar threshold and pieces to bring the stage area down to main floor height (an H&S requirement these days), before bringing in the AVs that will make this a really exciting space in which our actors, musicians and dancers can work.

Externally, the poppy fields of Ridgeway have 20 acres destoned in the next 2 weeks, then 2 new cricket tables will be laid, and then we wait with baited breath for some late summer rain before seeding with playing field grass seed. All being well, we’ll be using the fields in the spring of 2015.

And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing …

The next Edition of the Court Circular is already on its way, our chronicle of life within Claires Court. I know this year will be a bumper edition, so much achieved the length and breadth of the school. We have lost some great staff who have retired or moved on to promotion or pastures new elsewhere, and saying goodbye to colleagues who have inspired so many is bitter-sweet. And yet, the visible excitement of our new staff, itching to join us and make their own contribution to this fantastic school because they will be allowed to express themselves brings a real smile to my face and heart and soul. Make no mistake dear reader, there is awake in the land a giant within Education at Claires Court, a place which avowedly believes that in the broad abilities of children, and provides for them an all-round education that inspires them beyond their imaginations. Here’s the Junior Boys Year 6 choir, conducted by Mr Justin Spanswick mourning the passing of the ‘Ridgeway’ name, yet in CCJB reminding us that the ‘new’ is coming….

https://sites.google.com/a/clairescourt.net/claires-court—ridgeway/year-6

The record shows I took the blows and did it my way!