When I worked in Wiltshire I used to love the drive down to Avebury at this time of year, in particular to see the modern day druids on the stones for the Autumn equinox there emulating their Celtic ancestors from 2000 years ago. The idea of “equal-night” in Latin is the idea of balance for the Earth in terms of equal hours of daylight and night. My other favourite drive this time of year is through the Wye Valley to see the forest in all its autumnal glory. The academic year is already coming to the end of September and it is hard to think that it is October next week. The week in school has seen a lot of innovative foundations for the academic year ahead. The school’s commitment to global learning and technology leapt forward this week with the beginning of Mandarin lessons and the visit of our new teacher from the Confucius Institute. I was lucky enough to spend time with the respective Heads of Offa’s Mead and Tutshill primary schools in the last week and we will be able to develop Mandarin with these schools.
Today I had a group of students taking part in a video conference with schools in Moldova (where? Yes, the first question – which the Year 8s took straight to their geography teacher) and with France as part of our celebration of European Languages Day. Two Polish Year 8 girls here at Wyedean spoke eloquently about their ability to use English having lived here for a number of years, still feeling Polish, yet wanting to support either Wales or England in the World Cup this weekend (both are either side of the Wye). The technology is fantastic to aid this learning but not as tasty as the MFL café at lunchtime with huge queues out of the door with students tasting French, Spanish and German foods. All were using their foreign languages as they were served.
I walked around the Science Learning Area this week and was pleased to see the engagement, independent learning and the enquiring minds being challenged in the lessons. I joined Science Club on Tuesday where we made plenispheres, only to be told by a very confident Year 9 there was a brilliant app called StarApp which allows you to simply point your phone to the night sky to get the names of the constellations. His confidence fell when he didn’t know who Magnus Pike was though! His pitying look towards me as Headteacher said it all, so I went with Brian Cox instead.
The creativity today in Year 9 DT was incredible and it was nice to see students using their technology to enhance their learning as they actually made something physical. I still have the footstool I made in DT lessons myself, all these years later.
It has been hard to ignore the rugby this week and a colleague said the fanzone in Gloucester had been a very memorable experience. The year 10s on Wednesday soundly beat Dean Academy and drew with King’s College Gloucester in their midweek rugby game. Friday finished off well for me with the Year 7s performing a very scary Haka. I think even Sam Warburton would think twice about walking up close to face off these guys.
My educator’s heart beat a little faster a few times this week as I walked around the campus seeing the school working as it does. I am still astonished at the hard work the teachers and support staff put in every day to make the school the success it is. The “World’s Largest Coffee Morning” for MacMillan on Friday in the staffroom saw a side to the school we sometimes lose in the grade-grind Govian/Post-Govian era; colleagues talking, relaxing and being ready as professionals to make their lessons the best they can be for the students. My colleagues have led the implementation here this week of GCSEPod to improve learning and revision for KS4 enhancing and to use digital learning in a very positive way. The Positive School Culture here at Wyedean is helping us become the high performing World Class School we all aspire to be for our C21st learners.
It is Wyedean’s Open Evening next Thursday 1st October. The staff cannot wait to show our community the experience and education that goes on in Wyedean every day as we work hard to balance all that we do so that as educators we are creating the opportunities for students through compelling learning linked to student success. I once worked far from Wiltshire for a while, in Bandung in Java. One of the principals I worked with repeated daily that we had to turn the dreams of kids into their futures. I have thought about that frequently as an educator as I reflect on the way we prepare our kids for their future. A week like this week and a month like this month tells me as a parent and an educator at Wyedean we are in the right direction and doing just that.
When I worked in Wiltshire I used to love the drive down to Avebury at this time of year, in particular to see the modern day druids on the stones for the Autumn equinox there emulating their Celtic ancestors from 2000 years ago. The idea of “equal-night” in Latin is the idea of balance for the Earth in terms of equal hours of daylight and night. My other favourite drive this time of year is through the Wye Valley to see the forest in all its autumnal glory. The academic year is already coming to the end of September and it is hard to think that it is October next week. The week in school has seen a lot of innovative foundations for the academic year ahead. The school’s commitment to global learning and technology leapt forward this week with the beginning of Mandarin lessons and the visit of our new teacher from the Confucius Institute. I was lucky enough to spend time with the respective Heads of Offa’s Mead and Tutshill primary schools in the last week and we will be able to develop Mandarin with these schools.
Today I had a group of students taking part in a video conference with schools in Moldova (where? Yes, the first question – which the Year 8s took straight to their geography teacher) and with France as part of our celebration of European Languages Day. Two Polish Year 8 girls here at Wyedean spoke eloquently about their ability to use English having lived here for a number of years, still feeling Polish, yet wanting to support either Wales or England in the World Cup this weekend (both are either side of the Wye). The technology is fantastic to aid this learning but not as tasty as the MFL café at lunchtime with huge queues out of the door with students tasting French, Spanish and German foods. All were using their foreign languages as they were served.
I walked around the Science Learning Area this week and was pleased to see the engagement, independent learning and the enquiring minds being challenged in the lessons. I joined Science Club on Tuesday where we made plenispheres, only to be told by a very confident Year 9 there was a brilliant app called StarApp which allows you to simply point your phone to the night sky to get the names of the constellations. His confidence fell when he didn’t know who Magnus Pike was though! His pitying look towards me as Headteacher said it all, so I went with Brian Cox instead.
The creativity today in Year 9 DT was incredible and it was nice to see students using their technology to enhance their learning as they actually made something physical. I still have the footstool I made in DT lessons myself, all these years later.
It has been hard to ignore the rugby this week and a colleague said the fanzone in Gloucester had been a very memorable experience. The year 10s on Wednesday soundly beat Dean Academy and drew with King’s College Gloucester in their midweek rugby game. Friday finished off well for me with the Year 7s performing a very scary Haka. I think even Sam Warburton would think twice about walking up close to face off these guys.
My educator’s heart beat a little faster a few times this week as I walked around the campus seeing the school working as it does. I am still astonished at the hard work the teachers and support staff put in every day to make the school the success it is. The “World’s Largest Coffee Morning” for MacMillan on Friday in the staffroom saw a side to the school we sometimes lose in the grade-grind Govian/Post-Govian era; colleagues talking, relaxing and being ready as professionals to make their lessons the best they can be for the students. My colleagues have led the implementation here this week of GCSEPod to improve learning and revision for KS4 enhancing and to use digital learning in a very positive way. The Positive School Culture here at Wyedean is helping us become the high performing World Class School we all aspire to be for our C21st learners.
It is Wyedean’s Open Evening next Thursday 1st October. The staff cannot wait to show our community the experience and education that goes on in Wyedean every day as we work hard to balance all that we do so that as educators we are creating the opportunities for students through compelling learning linked to student success. I once worked far from Wiltshire for a while, in Bandung in Java. One of the principals I worked with repeated daily that we had to turn the dreams of kids into their futures. I have thought about that frequently as an educator as I reflect on the way we prepare our kids for their future. A week like this week and a month like this month tells me as a parent and an educator at Wyedean we are in the right direction and doing just that.
This Heart Shaped Land 