| Report on the Small Schools’
Conference, Worcester Oct. 3rd 2003, Sue Meek, Head
Teacher Joys Green Primary.
The speakers, whilst acknowledging the issues facing
small schools, concentrated on the benefits. The final
speaker implied that he saw small schools as the future
as large primary schools face more issues than small
schools. It was inspiring to be reminded of what small
schools are good at.
Chris Richards considered priorities
in the curriculum, the flexibility small schools have
in curriculum design and administering that curriculum.
He also spoke about the positive benefits of being
a small school head.
Carolyn Walker - talked about the
sustainable future
Stephen Heppel ( if you ever get
a chance to see him - go!) www.ultralab.net
Chris Richards
| Considered
Priorities in the Curriculum
- Premier English, Mathematics
- First Division Science, ICT
- Second Division PE, Modern foreign Lang.,
RE
- Third Division Art & Design, Music,
Design &Technology, History, Geography
- Nationwide Conference Citizenship, PSHE
- Non League Financial Capability, Enterprise
Education, Education for Sustainable Development
|
He then
reminded us of the flexibility we now have in
Curriculum design
- Values and aims
- Curriculum priorities
- Additions to the National Curriculum
- The organisation of the curriculum
- The distribution across Key stages
- Curriculum inclusion
- Curriculum continuity
|
| Depending on the circumstances
a school also has some flexibility in Administering
the Curriculum
- The number of teaching hours in the week
- The length of the lesson
- The time allocation to each subject
- The timetable
- Grouping of the children
- Deployment of staff
|
Assessment
- Optional QCA tests
- Value added
- Standardised tests
- End of unit tests
- Teacher devised tests
- Assessment for learning
- The relative prominence given to test results
and teacher assessment in reporting to parents
Small schools have
|
| Positive influence of
the teaching Head - first hand teaching means
they are better placed to be able to implement
Government initiatives.
- Good quality medium term planning
- In depth knowledge of individual children
- Eclectic pedagogy
- Flexible patterns of pupil grouping
- Flexible patterns of staff deployment
|
Heads of
Small Schools are often better placed...
- To interpret flexibility
- To point out and rectify the absurdities
of target setting
- Ridicule PANDAS ‘ They should be
an endangered species hunted and exterminated!’
- Combat the influence of performance tables
- Beguile OFSTED inspectors with their small
school ethos.
|
Carolyn Walker emphasised the importance
of children learning life skills such as
- Problem solving
- Co-operation
- Collaboration
- Decision making
Adults can be frightened by there not being a right
answer - probable and preferable future.
Small schools are good at everyone having a say in
what happens – responsibilities are shared amongst
a few.
Stephen Heppel www.ultralab.net
( if you ever get a chance to see him - go!)
Did you know in the 70’s they built a new school
every day? Now one new school is built every 4 days.
Schools are diverse. What has been learnt from the
70’s is big isn’t always best. There is
down sizing in industry as well because if you are
small you are
- Agile –able to change
- Able to collaborate easily
- To communicate effectively
- To be creative
- To be part of the community
- He believes schools belong in the community.
- Learning continues to become more complex.
- Education has responded by being more complicated.
- Small schools won’t survive if they think
they can be like they were. They need to respond
to changes and get together.
- He then referred to some of the research carried
out by ultralab such as the benefits of music. They
found too loud or with lyrics wasn’t beneficial.
- Do boys work better next to boys? Actually both
the boys’ and the girls’ work improved.
Engaging the learner, not where they sat, was the
important factor.
- He showed some fascinating work they had done
with pupils who had been permanently excluded; providing
them with an alternative education that they were
ultimately responsible for participating in. Progress
was astounding.
We need to consider
- Pupils mutually mentoring each other.
- Reaching out beyond the geographical proximities
- Providing a network for collaboration
- Don’t confuse standards with standardisation
- Are we replicating or moving on
Finally they asked people what was a good learning
experience for them. It was
- Doing something practically
- Making progress and feeling good about it
- An audience for what they did
- Collaborating with others
- Mediation a great leader
- Delight
- Passion –teachers who were nutty or eccentric.
I hope these notes do the speakers justice.
PS The food was good! I met people from 8 other counties.
So the gossip from lunchtime was also useful.
These notes were made by Sue Meek, Head Teacher Joys
Green Primary. head@joysgreen.gloucs.sch.uk
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