Prize Giving Speech - 18 November 2006 |
| "Mister Mayor, Mr Guest Speaker, Mr Chairman, Governors, Honoured Guests, Ladies, Gentlemen and members of the School. As that famous headmaster Albus Dumbledore says at one of those magnificent start-of-term feasts at Hogwarts School, “I'd like to say a few words”. Dumbledore goes on to allow a few round, friendly, satisfying words to roll off his tongue. My choice of words tonight would be rather more spiky: TEAMWORK Let me try and weave them together into something vaguely coherent. First, we’ve had another successful year at Crossley Heath – as most of you have seen or heard from my letters, termly newsletters, articles, photographs, published results, the Ofsted report, our newly designed website, media reports, the school Profile and in tonight’s programme. At the end of it came another very good set of A level, GCSE and SAT’s results, the dependably high level of achievement that students and parents alike rely on us to deliver. By the end of results day the majority of our A Level candidates had places confirmed at their first choice institutions. It takes excellent TEAMWORK, with advice given and taken between teachers, students and parents, to manage that. It’s the students who achieve SUCCESS through their hard work, but a fantastic teaching staff, loyal non-teaching support and parents who involve themselves in their child’s learning who, together, make sure it happens for them. This year we celebrated the twenty-first birthday of The Crossley Heath School. The school, as most of you already know, was formed from the amalgamation of the former Crossley and Porter and Heath schools in 1985. A range of events marked this birthday all leading to our International Day on Friday 30 June when the Mayor of Calderdale, parents, business partners and other guests joined us to celebrate the occasion. It was also the day on which this book (Images of England) was released and on which former students returned to join in our celebrations. The book, entitled “Images of England” was produced earlier this year. It is the result of the endeavours of a number of people who have been associated with one or other of the three schools; it takes the reader through 421 years of traditions and historical events leading to the present day and it will prompt fond memories for many whose photographs have been included. We know our school is steeped in TRADITION and we also know that those associated with the school (including the very youngest of our students) deem those traditions to be a very important aspect of the school. But what do we mean by the word tradition? Among the definitions I found on the Internet are the following: 1 The passing down of beliefs, legends,
customs etc. usually to each generation and Whatever your preferred definition, it is only on reading the book you can really start to understand and to appreciate the enormous wealth of tradition of which each and everyone of us has become a part. The first significant date in the history of the three schools is 15 February 1585, when Queen Elizabeth I signed the charter establishing the “free grammar school of Queen Elizabeth”. Dr John Favour, vicar of Halifax from 1593 to 1624, is regarded as the founder of the school, having obtained the piece of land upon which the first school was built. The seventeenth-century statue of Dr Favour is displayed in this Church. In 1603, Dr Favour bestowed three books on the School, which are housed in the current school library along with many of the school’s archives. Heath Grammar School, situated on Free School Lane, was the first school to be built. It is documented that in 1612 school started at 6am and finished at 5pm with a 2-hour break between 11am and 1pm and Sundays free. I feel sure that students would probably not relish starting and finishing school at those times. However, many of my colleagues will probably be thinking that current working hours and conditions for teachers have changed little - except possibly for getting worse. The Crossley Heath School building, on Free School Lane, owes its existence to the philanthropy of the Crossley brothers. It was designed by architect John Hogg of Halifax and cost the princely sum of £56,000. Compare and contrast that with costs now. The two-storey extension to the languages wing, which increased our total stock of classrooms by two, cost almost half a million pounds just three years ago. A sports hall development would cost well in excess of two million pounds! And, if we were to address all of the issues identified in preparing the building as a School fit for the 21st century the estimate is in excess of £6million. The building work began in 1857, in 1861 the brothers decided to establish an Orphan Home and School for Boys and Girls, in 1864 the school opened and the Deed of Foundation was granted a Royal Charter of Incorporation in 1868. Although the quality of education was initially entrusted to family and church, the Elementary Education Act in 1870 prompted the first of a series of annual inspections to monitor educational standards. So, inspections were going on even back in the 19th century!!!!!! Knowing about the origins of the school helps us to appreciate not only why we have such strong traditions but also about our place within the community of Halifax. The building in which Crossley Heath School is housed is an integral element of the architectural heritage of Halifax, which includes many outstanding examples including the Victoria Hall, Dean Clough Mills, the Wainhouse Tower, Halifax Town Hall and, not least of all, Halifax Parish Church, which dates back to the 11th Century, although most of the current building is 15th Century. Allow me to draw some comparisons between Crossley Heath and the Parish Church. The church is a living, evolving building – a community within a community - regularly used by parishioners. In addition to its more traditional uses, the parish community also greatly enjoys and welcomes the use of the church for community events. In essence it encourages and embraces anything that promotes a sense of positive COMMUNITY SPIRIT. This is something we are constantly striving to promote at Crossley Heath. Staff, students, governors and other visitors to the school experience that sense of community spirit. Our student intake comes from up to 80 feeder schools, which are widely spread out, and many of our students travel long distances to school. So we do not have a local community as do schools with a specific catchment area. But, we are working towards placing Crossley Heath at the heart of our local community through the development of a federation of local schools. Returning briefly to Halifax Parish Church, the current vicar is Wendy Wilby, who came here in 2001 as the first female vicar of this church. I know that Wendy has enjoyed working with the town. She said: "I love the hills. I have got very used to those. There are many good things about a town such as Halifax because we've got such a diversity of people here. They haven't got any airs or graces.” Now – what of the more recent past and what of the future for our school and schools in general? In 1997, following an HMI inspection, Crossley Heath was awarded Beacon status in recognition of the good work being carried out at that time. In 2001 Ofsted reported that insufficient progress had been made in the previous four years. Around that time, the government decided to abolish Beacon status and to replace Beacon Schools with Leading Edge schools. Crossley Heath School lost its chance to become a Leading Edge School, and to have all of the associated advantages that came with the status, partly due to the lack of adequate progress that had been made between 1997 and 2001. Privileges enjoyed by Leading Edge Schools have included increased income and major capital-build programmes – for example new sixth form centres – and funded research programmes. Since 2001 many challenges have been faced and many changes have been necessary in order to take the school forward. Not only have we addressed the areas for development identified in 2001, we have worked tirelessly to make up lost ground and to move the school forward into what is a now a very strong position. The whole school community has met those challenges admirably and everyone who has had a part to play deserves to be pleased with, and be congratulated for, the progress that has been made between 2001 and 2006. In 2006, OFSTED described our school as good with aspects of outstanding provision. Every aspect was at least good. Some of the outstanding aspects include the personal development and well-being of students; spiritual, moral, social and cultural development; health and safety; contribution to the community; work-related learning; Post 16 and KS3 achievement; aspects of teaching and learning and the major contribution to whole school development that has been provided via language college status. Ofsted also confirmed robust systems for self-evaluation and a strong capacity for further improvement. However, can we afford to be complacent? Research communicated via the media tells us that currently in excess of 60% of schools have been categorised by Ofsted as good to outstanding and that 10% of schools fall into the outstanding category. Therefore, the question is: “Are we satisfied with being a school that falls into the category - good with elements of outstanding?” A leading American industrialist said, “Be delighted with what you’ve achieved – but never satisfied.” If you’re delighted but never satisfied, you get constant improvement, which is organic, dynamic change, a logical progression from one thing to the next. I believe we have COLLECTIVELY become very successful at managing such change at Crossley Heath. But it is very different from the kind of change that is constantly visited upon us by the government! Ofsted recognises that the government sees schooling as preparing children for employment, filling a niche in society and being ‘good citizens’ (which I suspect means keeping your head down and not rocking the boat, rather than fighting for equity and justice). It is a purely functional view. Colleague heads and I (and those who work with us) share a vision of education very different from that held by the government. We see it as preparing children for life, which is something altogether bigger and deeper. At Crossley Heath, I hope that we are doing delighted but never satisfied. Our COMMON MORAL PURPOSE, on behalf of all learners, has to be to aim to become outstanding in every aspect. This means further developing the all important personalisation agenda and GENUINELY putting the learner at the heart of everything that we do. AND If we accept that we cannot work any harder, then we must work smarter, we must work differently; we must get to know every student really well, what makes them tick, how they learn and what excites them; we must find different ways of enabling them to learn effectively; we must become more creative in the way we deliver the curriculum; we must make effective use of new technologies and we must broaden student entitlement through partnership and collaborative work. As teachers, we need to accept that our roles are changing and will continue to change. Rather than delivering content we have to provide the right climate for learning – a climate that will inspire children to become lifelong learners. Teachers should not underestimate their capacity to influence young people - a decision or a comment made by a teacher in a split second can make the difference between a child becoming inspired and becoming disaffected. Both outcomes will have a profound impact on the child’s future. Perhaps we should remember the words
of William Arthur Ward – Let us consider for a moment how rapidly education and technology have progressed. 20 years ago computers were scarce in schools, now the ratio of computers to students in most secondary schools is more than 1 to 7. Only 5 years ago many teachers still used blackboards – now we use interactive whiteboards. Instead of paper worksheets students are now being provided with on-line resources. Until recently, there were simple staffing structures in schools and teacher and support staff roles were clearly defined. Now the workforce has a complex structure. When Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, he could not have told the time using a digital watch – it had not been invented. Since then there have been more inventions than there had been in totality prior to 1969. In fact, more technology is involved in a mobile phone than was used to put the first man on the moon. So - what will learning look like in the future? What will learning look like for our particular students and what will our school systems and structures look like? We do not have all of the answers to those questions as yet. The challenge for us as teachers is to research and explore new developments – around the globe. It is the only way forward if we are to fulfil our vision to provide world class education. We started to explore these issues at Crossley Heath some time ago and developments have already started to take place. There are, however, many challenges ahead of us and many opportunities worthy of our consideration as we strive to address the question, “what will learning look like in the future?” I have already referred to aspects of our work that must come under further scrutiny if we are to actively engage in developing a more personalised approach to learning for all students. These come under the broad headings: Assessment for Learning, Learning to Learn, Student Engagement and the Student Voice, Curriculum and the new technologies, Support and Guidance, Collaboration and Partnerships and Systems and Procedures. Assessment for Learning is uncomplicated. There is overwhelming evidence that students make more progress if they know about their own performance, where they are at, where they need to be and what they need to do to improve further. We have been focussing on Assessment for Learning for the past five years and it remains a priority area for us. At the heart of successful learning is the student voice and student engagement. When this engagement with learning and life becomes active rather than passive; responsibility for learning and behaviour is facilitated; independence in, and control over, learning can be achieved; confidence in oneself as a learner is consolidated and maturity in relationships with staff and fellow students grows. Ideally, the learner is not simply receiving instruction from the teacher, but will help to construct and design the learning with the teacher. We have a strong Student Voice at Crossley Heath. Students are represented on working parties such as Schools of the Future and the Strategic ICT group; our active Student Council has a budget allocation and the students themselves manage that budget; they lead in respect of charity fundraising - indeed our students chair and run the first official Interact club in Calderdale, being linked to the Halifax Rotary club; student feedback is actively solicited in respect of the quality of teaching and learning; students have worked with an external consultant to develop their own ECM audit; they take part in interviews for new members of staff; take on leadership and management responsibilities, act as form prefects and house officials and make presentations to visitors at open evenings. We have yet to reach the stage where we are involving students in planning their own learning, which is something worthy of serious consideration if we are to thoroughly address Student Engagement and we consider this to be a real priority. We believe that “If you vary the activities that you use in your lessons you are sure to cater for learners with different learning styles at least some of the time”. Is this satisfactory? The difficulty for teachers comes down to the numerous categories into which learners preferred styles can be placed. Visual, Audio and Kinaesthetic are among the most well known. All teachers at Crossley Heath have started to develop a range of strategies to address the individual learning needs of the students they teach. But should we consider grouping by learning style, as opposed to, for example, by ability? Schools up and down the country are restructuring their forms, some into vertical learning groups, in which children of all ages learn with and from each other. We will need to consider whether different structures would provide for more effective learning experiences for our students. What of the curriculum and support and guidance? Personalisation does not logically demand unlimited student choice but it is effectively endorsing it. We have begun the process of developing a new curriculum (which has received unanimous support from parents and students) and which will rise to the challenge of national initiatives such as Every Child Matters and the reform of KS3. We will allow students to develop the important skills at their own pace with fewer artificial restrictions imposed by traditional time scales and course content. More students will be able to take exams early in some subjects and move on to higher levels of learning. We are continuing to expand our links with the community. We are committed to extending the work we have begun on sharing provision with our partner schools across and beyond Calderdale so that we can jointly provide a wider range of choices for our students. Research has shown that the single biggest barrier to fulfilling potential is low self-esteem. We have well developed systems in place to identify students who are not achieving to the best of their ability. We are constantly enhancing provision for support and guidance. We are developing tutorial programmes aimed at helping students improve their self-esteem, increase their confidence and develop their emotional intelligence. We are providing sessions for parents to enable them to better support their children’s learning in the home environment. A bigger challenge for us will be to engage the disaffected parent! I hope that I have painted a picture of a school that is actively engaging in 21st century education albeit in a 19th century building! Tonight, I hope you will join with me in celebrating the achievements of our prizewinners. Perhaps, in years to come they will be sitting here as parents listening to the Head of the School jokingly talk about extinct teaching resources such as interactive whiteboards, Ipods and so on. The school day as we may know it could be a thing of the past. Who knows – the Head may be a virtual figure. Whatever happens to the nature of schooling in the future, Mr Chairman and members of the governing body, I trust that Crossley Heath is in it for the long term, not finding political quick fixes. As in a fine wine, there’s painstaking production, a period of maturing, and a good, long, lasting finish!" Helen Gaunt [Added 25.01.07] |
[ BACK ] |