primary school

…but some of my best friends are dyslexic!

theprimaryhead4 Comments

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This week is dyslexia awareness week. Its theme this year is about debunking the myth that dyslexia is just about struggling with reading and spelling. There are some interesting and useful resources on the British Dyslexia Association’s website that you could use in school from posters and assembly sideshows to information for teachers and staff about how to support pupils with dyslexia.

I have to admit that I was rather surprised as I clicked and downloaded all these resources, not from what I was reading about dyslexia but because they were free. Free! Several free resources later the biggest myth surrounding, not dyslexia but dyslexia support was being debunked…some of it is freely available!

I could not believe my eyes. You see, I live in an almost constant state of annoyance around dyslexia support: now wait a minute, don’t judge me, I’m not being dyslexicist. Read the title: some of my best friends are dyslexic. I recognise dyslexia and will always look to see how I can support people with it. What I also recognise is that private dyslexic support centres within my local authority area (I probably can’t name and shame but I live in a city with a suspended bridge built by a man who wore a tall hat and has a middle name that quite frankly beggars belief) are, in my experience, useless when it comes to helping schools support pupils with dyslexia.

There are some massive myths surrounding dyslexia but in my experience they are mainly peddled by the organisations who actually claim to be the champions of dyslexic support. The main myth seems to be that schools have no idea how to support dyslexia and some even actually go out of the way to not recognise or support pupils with dyslexia.

Are you serious?

Do you really think as a school we would turn our backs on a child’s need? Do you think we sit there twirling our Victorian moustaches inventing ways in which we can actively punish and humiliate our dyslexic pupils? Do you think we stand in front of the class pointing at the child saying ‘Nonsense, that modern disease of dyslexia doesn’t exist: you’re just lazy.’ And then make them stay in at break time copying tiny printed letters onto a white background? Why would we do that?

And yet, parents who have accessed your service seem to have this perception that this is a standard approach that all schools adopt and I can assure you…they haven’t got that from me. So why would an organisation that wants to support dyslexia do this? More on that later but let’s take a step back from dyslexia for the moment.

Now in my opinion the whole broad spectrum of SEN can be terrifying for parents (and some teachers) and the more experienced I become in education the more I understand where this fear comes from. It mainly comes from the unknown and worrying that the particular type of SEN that may have just crash landed into your life, is so incredibly complex that only the most senior professors at CERN  are capable of understanding it. For me the first step in supporting pupils, parents and teachers in matters of SEN is equipping them with knowledge. Often, even the most worried people about the most complex SEN issues can calmed and reassured once they know a) a little bit more about the issue b) what it looks like in the real world and c) how to get the right support in place (which in many (not all) cases consist of simple but consistent measures).

Right, back to dyslexia. Given the above sentiment it never fails to amaze me how after paying approximately a million pounds for an ‘assessment’ by an independent body (who also just happen to make their living by supporting dyslexic kids) the parents receive an assessment report which is so staggeringly complicated it makes raise online look like ‘Miffy draws a graph’. Is it any wonder that the parents are then panicked into feeling like they have to do more to support their child? And where do they go to? Why their child’s school of course.

This seems to be a totally rational and sane suggestion. Yet when they hear how our classrooms are dyslexic friendly and that we have a range of teaching strategies in place that will support any child with dyslexia and how we will target that child for additional reading/phonic/spelling support: this doesn’t seem to be enough. Now why is that?

Is it because the same people that wrote the assessment report have also concluded that the only solution is to attend their organisation at significant cost to the parents? Interesting that they are still more than happy to encourage children to miss whole mornings and afternoons from schools; I would have thought that in this brave new world of performance related pay this could start to get tricky. If I have a pupil who spends 10-20% of their time away from my school shouldn’t I receive regular assessment updates, shouldn’t the parents hold them accountable for 20% of their child’s achievement or underachievement? The parents don’t seem to think this appropriate…I wonder why?

If only there was something I could do that could put the parents’ minds at rest that we really were a dyslexic friendly school…maybe there is an award I could get the school. Well it just so happens there is. On the British Dyslexia Awareness website you can request to get an accreditation: brilliant I thought that could be really useful and if it strengthens our practice all the better. I clicked on the download and waited, and waited….and waited. Why was it taking so long? Oh it’s because the Dyslexia accreditation action plan is the size of the yellow pages. Do you remember when SEFs first came out and they took almost two years to complete: that’s pretty much how long it would take to fill in this action plan. Seriously, I’ve seen Bristol Local Authority’s post Ofsted action plan and there is less to do across the whole city than there is for me to get my school a Dyslexia friendly icon for my letterhead.

It concerns me that there is this huge barrier being erected between parents worried about the support their children are getting and the schools who are trying to do their jobs. It angers me that this barrier is being put up on purpose for what I see as financial greed. I am not perpetuating myths about dyslexia but the dyslexia organisations up and down the land are spreading the belief that schools neither know or care enough about their pupils to support them effectively with their dyslexia and that my friends is wrong.

(Having said that I do recommend looking at the resources on the British Dyslexia Association website as they are rather good and could be very helpful for teachers and parents)

Get yourself through Ofsted…the old fashioned way

theprimaryhead4 Comments

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As I was clearing out my cupboard before the start of term, I came across an old battered document. A tried and tested guide for getting through a full ofsted inspection. I have included some of the main highlights. Do feel free to use them, share them maybe even improve upon them (that last bit is highly unlikely, I think you’ll agree). Enjoy.

Engaging with an Ofsted Inspector

An Ofsted inspector will at some point attempt to catch you off-guard by asking you questions. Be warned: some of these questions may be about school policy or procedures or in the worst case scenario; about something they saw you do or heard you say.

Watch out for their question openers as they often begin a cruel streak of questions with the simple opener: ‘Excuse me, may I have a quick word?’ This is textbook Ofsted skulduggery. In the highly likely event you are approached with this phrase follow the simple four step procedure:

  1. Ignore and continue about you business.
  2. Pretend you are a first aid trained member of staff, say there is an emergency that requires your attention and leave using the nearest fire escape.
  3. State that they are in breach of their inspection procedures and contact your union.
  4. Clutch your knee and scream ‘Ow…why did you kick me? Why would you do that?’

If, after effective deployment of any of the above strategies, the inspector is still trying to communicate with you then use these stock replies:

  1. I’m sorry, I’m on a peer observation placement from another school. I teach at [insert name of local free school]; what is standards?
  2. I’m sorry, I’m on a peer observation placement from another school. I teach at [insert name of the newly opened Steiner academy]; what is a curriculum?
  3. I’m sorry, I’m on a peer observation placement from another school. I teach at [insert name of local academy that just went into special measures]…what is learning?
  4. Je suis desole, je ne parle pas anglais, je suis un eleveur de porcs de las Normandie. (I’m sorry, I don’t speak English, I’m a pig farmer from Normandy)

If none of these replies has successfully rebuffed the inspector then you may have to resort to the final stage:

State that you are visiting ‘role play’ actor and you are here to stage a lock down procedure for the school. Then, calmly push the inspector to one side, scream and smash the place up until you are physically removed by management.

Effective strategies during an Ofsted class observation

It is every class teacher’s nightmare: you are killing time during Literacy by playing hangman, shouting at your class, or telling them to copy out some text from Gove’s bible while you buy a wetsuit on ebay and an inspector walks into your room.
Be aware that the inspector will be looking for:

  • Teaching
  • Learning
  • Progress

It is important that you do not panic.

Use this simple flow diagram to guide your actions and behaviour during an Ofsted class visit:

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Calming down the Head

We all know that teachers and support staff feel the stress during an Ofsted inspection. But, no member of staff is more stressed than the Head Teacher. It may not look like it and he may hide it well with his sharp suit and those shiny shoes, but trust us, your Head Teacher is barely keeping it together. The fact that spotify is blasting from his computer speakers in his office is not due to the fact that he loves new post-modern-pre-punk-underground-ska-dub-step-beatnik-New-York-London-rock; it’s because he is crying.

Crying, because in this dark hour, he has no faith in himself, his SLT, and least of all: any hope in you. His mortgage depends on your lesson and after reviewing your performance management sheet on the T-drive he has just realised he really shouldn’t have re-mortgaged in order to re-do the bathroom.

So as he marches through the corridor smiling and telling the Ofsted inspector all about the school vision…

  • Inspire Tomorrow
  • Celebrate Yesterday
  • Strengthen Phonics

…there are many ways that you can reassure him that this school is a school that can beat Ofsted. Try saying some of these quality assured meaningless sentences if passing him and an inspector in the corridor:

  1. My APS is looking great chief!
  2. I’ve just readjusted my targets because every child has already met them…except that new kid who has been home schooled for the last two years..
  3. Just thought I’d let you know my Y1 class know all 687 phonics sounds!
  4. I’ve dealt with that thing, so don’t worry. You know, the thing? That we didn’t want going to the papers?  With the boy and the fox…on facebook? Well, it’s sorted, I’ve shut it down.
  5. Great assembly Boss. Everyone from Reception to Year 6 got it!

This will make your Head Teacher feel at ease and allow him to confidently continue pulling the wool over Ofsted’s eyes.

You’re only as good as your last crisis

theprimaryhead3 Comments

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New year and more importantly the start of my second year as Head. Having worked so hard last year to get everything in place that I need to move the school forward I am confident that nothing can stand in my way. This is my school, my rules and I am the master of my domain. What, I ask you, can possibly go wrong?
At approximately 1:00pm on Friday I was informed by a teacher that a pupil had possibly opened the school gates and walked out. She had just come back from lunch and some children had told her that this child had escaped. She seemed a little sceptical as no member of staff outside seemed to be aware – even the person on gate duty – but she thought it worth reporting to me. On hearing the news I thanked her and promptly walked out to the playground where a member of the lunchtime supervision staff informed me that yes, they had seen a boy leave the site, and for reasons I have yet to get to grips with, they decided to do nothing.

I cannot exactly remember what I felt at this point: rage, disbelief, panic, despair and inadequacy were all pretty much there and I think I also said something out loud that although was undoubtedly truthful was probably, in hindsight, pretty unhelpful at that moment in time. This disorientating cocktail of emotions lasted about 3 seconds before I sobered up and I began to try and act with some degree of leadership.

Firstly, I went back into school told the Deputy that we had a missing child and off we went to quickly look around the local area. Whilst doing so, I got the office to ring the police and get me the child’s address. After a few minutes I had the address and found myself knocking on the door and greeting the unexpected parent with a phrase I truly hope you’ll never need: ‘Is you child at home? No? Well, I’m afraid he’s not at school either…sorry.’ Then, before I could think of the next stage of my plan, the police rocked up.

Up until this point I was being driven primarily through fear. Having to tell a parent you have no idea where their child is, is probably one of the crappiest jobs I’ve had to do but it was only the fear that made me do it, rather than ‘paper, scissor, stone’ it with someone else. Likewise calling the police: in my heart of hearts I was thinking ‘Can I get away with this without ringing the police and the whole thing becoming massive?’ But the fear told me that I had to do the right thing, I had to get the maximum amount of help to find a child who had literally slipped out of the school’s care.

Once the police were in control with a full search (including police helicopter), a ‘sweep’ of the school and officers reviewing the CCTV footage, I went back to school. Now maybe it was because I was back in my office or maybe it is because deep down I’m really just a grubby self-preserving schmuck but I started to think about the school and what I could do to help ‘it’. From getting an HR rep ready for Monday morning advice, writing the school’s account for the newsletter, wondering how to talk about it with the children in the afternoon’s assembly, deciding how to go through it with staff, ringing my chair of governors whilst all the time thinking ‘Come on…think! What else should I be doing?’

As well as various worst case scenarios about the child that would flutter into my head and wallop my brain like a flump being hit by a hammer, I also began to ask futuristic questions concerning my school. Would this generate media interest, trigger an Ofsted, a school closure, a couple of sackings and the general teaching council and NAHT asking for me to return my membership cards?

Then, after what had been a pretty unpleasant 57 minutes, I had the call that the child was safe and had been returned home. To say that a wave of relief washed over me is probably a cliché but who cares because I’d just found out that a pupil in my school was safe and that really, really mattered. The aftermath went pretty much as I had expected: I acknowledged the incident in the newsletter, spoke to the children reiterating that it was wrong to leave the school site without permission, debriefed the staff and got debriefed myself by the police.

They were surprisingly positive about how we had responded and even commended me and the staff on the support and assistance we had given them. I eventually rang the child’s parents and we set up a meeting to investigate it further and to think about any support needed. They were also grateful with our response – I can only imagine that the shock and relief of the previous hour was preventing them from asking the all-important question: how was it allowed to happen?

These are questions that I will obviously explore myself in the coming days and I’m sure the school’s safeguarding procedures will be strengthened. I too will be judged and I wonder what impact that judgement will have on the school’s future. All that will depend on whether the judgement is based on the event itself, how I responded at the time, or the actions I take after a review. Whichever these becomes the most dominant, the whole episode has reminded me once again that there is little room for smugness over your school development plan successes…because that comfy rug under your feet is simply waiting to be pulled.