WOODBERRY DOWN

Woodberry Grove, Lonon N4 1SY

Community Primary School

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18 May 2006
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Year 6 DVD video
Many people have already seen the fantastic DVD Marco has made of the Year 6 children showing their wonderful fairground rides in operation and talking about the design process. If you have not, you can view it on the school website. (Turn the sound on.) Like the PowerPoint on effective marking in English, it is a very good way of recording and promoting the children’s work, standards and our approaches to teaching DT.

School video on teaching literacy at Woodberry Down
We are planning to make a series of videos about different aspects of teaching at the school. These are intended to serve a range of purposes: induction, training work with other schools, information for parents etc

The first of these will explain the school’s literacy strategy: rml, Accelerated Reader an the Power of Reading. It will be short, lively and inspiring- an overview- featuring short clips of lessons and interviews with teachers, the literacy co-ordinator, support staff and children.
More details soon.

Toronto bid!
We have submitted a bid in conjunction with a group of other schools for a visit to Toronto, Candada in 2006/2007. Picking up on next year’s theme, outstanding teaching and learning, the visit aims to enable teachers to identify the features of outstanding teaching in Toronto’s schools.
Our initial bid has identified that it may be beneficial for the teachers to observe:

• Schools involved in delivering projects funded by the Toronto District School Board’s (TDSB) Innovation Fund. (The Innovation Fund supports exemplary practices that encourage new, creative and innovative programs and services.)
• TDSB Inner City schools, especially those involved in the Model Schools for Inner Cities initiative. (TDSB’s Model Schools for Inner Cities initiative aims to provide schools with the tools, resources and opportunities to support the diverse needs of inner city students.)
• TDSB authorized International Baccalaureate schools delivering the IB Primary Years Programme.
• Outstanding examples of Certified Eco Schools, Alternative Schools, Specialised Schools (elementary)
• Examples of locally/nationally recognised outstanding individual or whole school practice, perhaps from recipient of awards such as the Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence.

We are also very interested in attending some high quality CPD whilst in Toronto, perhaps at the University of Toronto.

At least two teachers will go if we are successful.

Staff meeting
Next week’s staff meeting will explain the process and timetable for end of year assessments, IEPs and annual reports. It will also make clear the purpose of additional release time being granted to staff to support this process.

Interviews and staffing for 06/07
Greg, Emma and two children will form the interview panel for next week’s interviews. The response to our advert has been overwhelming and the quality is incredibly high. We will be running our own intensive induction programme for all NQTs during their first few weeks at the school, familiarising them with all aspects of school life- relevant to, and beyond those they will encounter in their own particular class. The advert aimed to recruit teachers who want to be outstanding and we have put plans in place to ensure those who can attain this status will do so as quickly as possible. Part of these plans are about improved induction and a desire that all teaching staff see the ‘big picture’ of school life.

After we have made appointments, we will be internally advertising a number of TLR posts to reflect changes. We will also discuss preferred year groups with all staff.

Lesson observation programme
The lesson observation programme will be winding down next half term- winding down, not stopping. This is to increase management time ( all managers) to deal with the management of assessment information and production of reports. It will also enable us to focus on another aspect of the quality of teaching- the progress children have made.

Formal observations will become less frequent after the second week of next half term. At the start of that week- 12 and 13 June- we will have two days of observations led by an Ofsted inspector- Stafford Evans. As many staff know, we try and do this at least once a term (so in the Autumn Term we had Theresa Mullane, in the Spring Term we had Lorna etc). This is part of our quality assurance process and serves to validate our judgements. Stafford is Senior Primary Inspections Manager at Nord Anglia. He has over 25 years of teaching experience including 15 years of headship at two schools in Liverpool. He was seconded to Ofsted in the mid 1990s as an additional inspector and has been leading inspections and providing support and consultancy ever since. He has led on all subjects and aspects including special educational needs and the Foundation Stage.

We firmly believe that different people bring different insights to improving teaching and learning. We also try to only engage people we believe are credible and accurate in their judgement-making.

Modern Foreign Languages Teaching
Janet has kindly agreed to lead MFL as it is introduced in 06/07. She has agreed to pilot a project with The Learning Trust and secured funding to this end.

Insights training
Please see the attached programme for the half day sessions with teaching staff (morning) and support staff (pm) due to take place on our first day back in September.

Over the next half term all staff need to complete the Insights questionnaire- Greg has done this and will be visiting teams to share his profile and explain the process.

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11 May 2006
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END OF YEAR ASSESSMENTS / PUPIL REPORTS

As previously discussed, the vast majority of written information on children’s end of year reports will be generated by assessment data collected over the coming weeks. This is part of the school’s strategy to reduce teacher workload.

Tests start next week, with the GOAL Key Target Maths tests. Please try and ensure that we stick to the testing timetables and dates for submission of results.
Also, please remember to ensure that all children sit GOAL tests and then, when all have sat the test, inform Greg so he knows to send off for marking, print out results and get them entered into Assessment Manager. If teachers send off tests without informing Greg the process doesn’t get followed through. Thank you.

INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION CONFERENCE/ REFUGEE WEEK
The school has been asked to lead two workshops at a conference being run at the Institute in December. The conference title is:
Refugee and Asylum Seeker Children and Young People: Participation, Achievement and Integration

And an outline of the conference is:
Schools play a vital role in promoting the well-being of refugee and asylum seeker children. Going to school helps restore normal daily routines and provides a sense of hope and security. 
Through celebrating diversity and valuing the skills and contributions of refugees, schools are increasingly challenging negative perceptions and media misrepresentation, and providing pathways for integration into local communities. Schools are also promoting positive outcomes for young refugees through Every Child Matters. The active involvement and participation of young refugees and their peers in the process of planning and decision-making is proving a powerful tool towards helping schools ensure that all children, including refugee children, are supported to be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution and enjoy economic wellbeing. 

This conference will focus on the wide range of effective and innovative practice that is being developed in primary, secondary and other education settings. A range of workshops will provide opportunities to learn more about the work of leading practitioners, creative projects and successful whole school approaches.
We are currently planning Refugee Week 2006. Matt is writing a geography unit of work for Years 3 and 4 about Somalia.
Greg is writing a geography unit of work for Years 5 and 6 on Nigeria and a literacy unit (also for Years 5 and 6) based on the novel The Other Side of Truth by Beverley Naidoo. Beverely will meet Years 5 and 6 during Refugee Week.
A programme of events (dancing, workshops, art etc) is being planned for the week.

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4 May 2006
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LOTS OF GOOD TEACHING GOING ON
It has been a pleasure showing candidates and others around the school this week. So often we walk into classrooms that are dominated by a tangible focus on relentless learning and this is a pleasure to observe. It is also a credit to all staff and children. Occasionally transitions between sections of lessons are a little too slow and valuable learning time is wasted. Lots and lots of very good TTYP work is in evidence; where this work is less than very good it is because the partners are unclear of their roles and the task/question. Consistent use of ‘partner 1 ask partner 2’ or ‘red partner be teacher and blue be pupil’ would improve these parts of lessons.

SAFER NEIGHBOURHOODS MEETING
Last night’s second meeting of this new group was attended by a wider group of community representatives from the Brownswood ward last night, including residents, youth service providers, council representatives, education, councillors, the police, faith groups and tenant association reps. Greg was nominated to chair the group and the main aims during this period are to get more faith leaders involved and improve awareness/accountability. After the meeting many people were full of praise for the school, from what they had heard, read and seen on TV! Fame!

LONDON CHALLENGE
Day 1 went very well and a big thanks to Sarah for leading it so successfully and putting in the extra work to ensure it was a success. The evaluations at the end of the day were very positive and detailed and there were no recommendations for improvement/development!!

ICT REGISTER
The school’s submission of services are now formally recognised and we have added the ICT Reg logo to our website and letter headed papers. We received our first booking for support on the first day of going live!

LITERACY SELF ASSESSMENT SHEETS
Apologies- these sheets have been printed and trimmed- and then remained in the office… They will be in pigeon holes by the end of today.

SATS
Year 6 SATS are next week. Please remember this a crucial week for the children and ensure that you are silent when tests are going on. They have to do a lot of tests within the week, often two a day, and timings are tight. Noise disturbance is inappropriate.

ONLINE DIARY
Our online diary system aims to ensure the most up to date information is available to all. Many staff are absolutely brilliant at pointing out clashes etc to Greg, with a further group then suggesting well-thought out solutions to such clashes/errors/double bookings. A few staff fail to report errors, so we are reminding everyone that if it is in the diary, we think it is happening. There is probably no perfect solution to diaries covering organisations the size of our school- the only solution is for everyone to read it and point out such omissions and clashes/errors/double bookings.

STAFF MEETING
This will be the meeting with the lead architect for the Woodberry Down regeneration. We are expecting concrete details to be given about the phasing etc of the project, the vision etc. Support staff are very welcome to attend. Pertinent questions, in the best interests of our children, are key to ensuring that the whole project moves forward in a positive manner.

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27 April 2006
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A year on…

This time last year we were a few days away from the start of our 2005 Ofsted inspection. A long weekend was looming, and a stalwart group of staff staggered through Saturday and Sunday.

It seems quite fitting then, that on top of everything else that has happened since, we can now announce that we have been accepted to join the national/international register of schools that are innovative in their use of ICT. Through this programme, the ICT register, we will provide support to schools (for a fee). Initially the support will be provided in the following areas:
• Designing and maintaining interactive school websites
• ICT and assessment (using GOAL, SIMS Assessment Manager and PIPS -Performance Indicators in Primary Schools)
• ICT and literacy (Accelerated Reader)
• ICT and maths (RM Maths)
• ICT teaching and learning
• Managing ICT (role of co-ordinator, technical support, vision)
• ICT and school improvement
• ICT and school management

As each training package is developed, all staff will be trained in how to deliver the training. If the take up of our services is good, then we envisage all teachers employed at the school will have a role in supporting or delivering the training. Staff will do this largely during normal working hours and will be paid additional money for delivering these services.

The ICT register logo will be added to the school website, letter headed paper etc

The London Challenge project will be a good starting point for developing this aspect of our work.

Recruitment campaign

We have launched our most ambitious recruitment campaign ever this week, seeking to recruit class teachers (NQTs) to replace three members of staff.

Marco is leaving us at the end of the year to pursue new interests. Clearly he will be an enormous loss to us and much more will be said about his outstanding contribution to the school at the end of term. His ST post will be advertised internally later this term.

Laura will also be leaving, returning to her native Canada. Another great loss to us, we are slightly consoled by her offer to return every summer in July to make costumes for the summer plays! Again, much more will be said at the end of term.

David will be changing roles. He will become our floating teacher, providing PPA, NQT non-contact and Year 5/6 maths tutorial teacher. We are delighted to have him performing this role and know he will continue to be a great asset to the school.

We thank all three teachers for giving us such a lot of notice. Teachers like these remain committed to the school to the very end, giving us enough notice (as opposed to the often unworkable statutory minimum) to find new teachers to follow in their footsteps. This ensures the children will continue to get the very best.

Why is the ‘recruitment campaign’ our most ambitious?
1. It’s title ‘Do you want to be an outstanding teacher?’
• We have the systems and people do ensue this will happen
• New developments planned for lesson observations/quality of teaching support from Sept will ensure we move everyone to this level as quickly as possible
2. We have written to over 200 teacher training colleges and asked them to display copies of our colour advert. (Within a day of writing we had our first enquiry.) The advert goes in the TES this Friday.

We expect a good response to our advert. The three appointments we made last summer were all excellent appointments (Shellie, Polly and Hayley) and they competed with the strongest field ever.

September INSET day
We come back to school after the summer on 04/09/06. As we have evolved and refined what we think about the most effective and appropriate CPD for a talented staff we have identified four strands that will help to move the school to a point where, one day, every lesson is outstanding. The first two are existing strands, the third has started this year and the fourth is a new one:
• subject knowledge
• lesson observations and work scrutiny (with a new approach from 06/07)
• ICT skills for all
• Understanding people – personality profiles. What are we like? How can people best approach and work with us? How can we minimise conflict and improve communication between partners, teams etc

Details will be given later this term to all staff about an online assessment to be undertaken to assess your personality. Greg will explain this further to the teams he hasn’t discussed it with. On the INSET day Ali Stewart will help us to understand what our profiles mean, and what the profiles of those who work with us mean.

Greg has done this training. Everyone will have a copy of his profile (if you haven’t already). It’s really good and is a key ingredient in the quest for continual improvement.

ReadWriteInc training
Sindee is leading training for new CAs and some other staff on Tuesday. Most people know that Sindee was, until very recently, Headteacher at Kobi Nazrul School in Tower Hamlets. This is where Ruth Miskin developed the ideas that inform rml/ Read Write Inc. When Sindee is not with us, she is training and supporting schools using ReadWriteInc.
As part of the London Challenge project, CAs from a neighbouring school will also attend.

More filming!
The Christopher Winter Project (sex education) will be making a training film based on lessons taught in Years 2, 5 and 6 later this term. This will be discussed at the meeting next Friday afternoon.

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20 April 2006
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MATHS TUTORIALS - Update

We have been unable to find a suitable tutor for Y5 and Y6 children as originally planned. We do, however, have arrangements in place for this from Sept.

Children have responded enthusiastically to the tutorials and classroom assistants feel they are having a positive impact, in terms of children’s confidence and understanding of the key objectives.
Please ensure your classroom assistant works with the children at the time given on the timetable, as the sessions will be visited over the next couple of weeks, to monitor their progress and impact.

Can we remind all teachers that focusing closely on the identified areas of weakness– see school website– is key to ensuring that standards rise in maths.

Children do their final GOAL KT maths test from 15 May.

LESSON OBSERVATION DATA
Please can all subject co-ordinators check that the report put in your pigeon hole today relating to lesson observations is accurate. If it is not, please see GW by Friday at 4pm so that missing LOs can be entered into the database. It is important that the overall figures are accurate.
Please can all teachers do the same for their individual report. If observations are missing, please write on the sheet.
For both teachers and subject co-ordinators, please return the reports to Greg by Friday at 4pm. Either sign them and write ‘correct’ or make the appropriate amendments.

WORK FOR SCHOOL WEBSITE
Many thanks to all the co-ordinators who have handed in work for the school website.
A few co-ordinators have not done this as yet, so please make this a priority over the coming term.

TURKISH EVENING
Many thanks to all who helped. The money raised– c£500– will go to a Turkish cancer charity.
Sinan’s Dad has very generously donated 50 bottles of wine as presents for the staff who helped.
Thank you!

FIRST AID TRAINING
Please be aware that some classroom assistants are updating their first aid qualifications next week. Check diary.

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30 March 2006
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GREAT TERM - THANK YOU
The Spring Term 2006 has gone extremely well- and extremely quickly... An amazing number of very positive things have happened- from the huge range of successful trips and visitors, to the design and building of the wonderful papier mache mosque; from the winning of 5 awards (2 Inspire Awards- Outstanding Primary School and the award for ING Barings, Peter Passam’s award and Greg’s awards) to gaining Investor in People Status; from being selected for the Institute of Education case study project to the filming of the Cambridge Education DVD…
Thank you to everyone for the part you have played this term in ensuring the school’s continued success.

LITERACY BOOKS
The monitoring of Yr-Y4 literacy books revealed the highest standards to date at Woodberry Down in terms of quality of marking, quality of teaching (as reflected through the work), pupil progress and good practice in general. Greg has scanned some examples of good marking (and also good practice relating to the presentation of children’s work) and these will be collated and put into an annotated PowerPoint presentation that will be e mailed to all staff/put on the website so people can learn from the good things going on. 100% of marking was satisfactory or better; 60% was good or better; 40% was good with outstanding features or better and 20% was outstanding.
Pupil progress was generally striking where children are following the ReadWriteInc approach. Equally the quality, imagination and richness of the teacher’s planning in Years 3 and 4 was a strength of the quality of teaching, as evidenced by the work scrutiny, in this phase of the school.

DESIGN TEAM FOR NEW SCHOOL BUILDING
Greg was asked- at very short notice- to attend the initial meeting regarding the design of the new school (which is happening today).
It appears the school will expand to 3FE regardless of staff concerns and given our statement said that, in principle, we were in favour of the idea we will need to make sure that all future discussions involve the school in an organised and productive way without putting undue pressure on staff and interfering with our core purpose of providing a high quality education.

EVALUATION OF THE SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLAN (JANUARY-APRIL 2006) - REPORT TO GOVERNORS
Subject co-ordinators need to begin thinking about the above. The deadline is Monday 24 April 2006 .

The quality of reports has consistently improved and staff are reminded that governors greatly appreciate the detailed and frank evaluations they receive from staff.

The sub headings to be used are:

(1)Teaching and Learning
(relate to school targets of 100% of lessons are satisfactory or better; 70% are good or better; 30% are outstanding).
Teaching data relates to lesson observations
Learning data relates to work scrutiny
(2) Standards
For core subjects this relates to test data
For other subjects it relates to your judgement in relation to national expectations

(3) Other progress
Progress against targets in action plan
Other developments not initially planned for

(4) Finance
This is where you do a yearly evaluation of spending (April 05-March 06) in line with the principles of good financial management in schools – ie how has the spending added value to, raised achievement in or enabled the curriculum area to happen
Write your subject co-ordinators bid for budget allocations for 06/07. See printed newsletter for further guidance.

(5) Areas for development

During the Summer Term 2006 we will be :

The new SIP for