You've Never Known Fear Until You've Given an Infant Assembly
“Mr Haaarrrriiiissss”, came a scream from the far side of the playground. Masses of children charged towards me, smiles on every little face telling me what they’d had for Christmas.
After 20 years of being used to a more subdued response from teenagers after the Christmas break, this typified the exciting journey I have been on in the past year.
So what has led me to a point in my career where I have been persuaded to join a KS2 disco dressed as Pudsey Bear? Just a year ago, this experience was a far away dream; now it feels as though Serlby Park has always been here.
The three schools which form Serlby Park serve an area of rural deprivation around the ‘mothballed’ Harworth Pit. North Border Infant School (NOR 220), North Border Juniors (NOR 290) and Bircotes and Harworth Community School (NOR 650), all amalgamated to form the single 3-18 school. This amazing marriage has only been possible due to the personal commitment of the leaders of all three schools and the very positive backing from the LEA and DfES Innovations Unit.
The marriage began when the three schools worked together to produce a response to the DfES Pathfinder on Extended Schools. Originally, it had been intended that we all work together on a single project. After hours of heated discussion it became clear that we each wanted something slightly different but realised our desire to see the best for the young people of the area was paramount. This way of working has been the key to our success, realising that being one large unit does not mean that all parts have to be identical.
The three Heads, myself (Head of Bircotes and Harworth), Gary Bott (Head of the Infants) and Barry Shackley (Head of the Juniors) were asked to share our experience of Extended Schools throughout the authority.
The Director of Education, Pam Tulley and the LEA floated the idea of looking at all through education somewhere in the county and sought our views. The fact that all three of us responded positively led the authority to believe that this was a community worth looking at. All three schools were producing improving results individually and had very good reputations in the authority.
Capital was to be released for building through a local PFI in 2008 or 2009, so we assumed this would be the timescale for the formation of a brand new 3-18. To our surprise in September 2004 Dave Wilson (Assistant Director) suggested a more immediate response. His words “3-18 is a concept and not a building”, made us realise that we could be a 3-18 before the building was ready. However, the suggestion that we could do this within a year was daunting.
My mind went into complete overdrive. I began to consider how leadership structures would develop, to worry about how budgets would work and became very focused on the details of management.
Luckily my insanity was diverted by Roy Leighton (co presenter of BBC’s The Confidence Lab) who was our Enterprise Adviser. He urged us to concentrate on other philosophy and ethos, leaving the practicalities to evolve. He took the 3 of us, plus Steve Geraghty (Deputy) away for 2 days during which he helped us to understand each other. We were dissected using a variety of character profiles to enable us to build our core philosophy. At one point during the process, each of us was given different responsibilities, imagining we had to show a visitor round our school in 2010. This crystallised what we wanted for our school.
Although we do not see Roy very often, his influence on us has been great and has given us the confidence to turn what could have been a mundane and unsuccessful amalgamation, into something we believe is challenging the boundaries of education. Roy introduced us to Barbara Prashnig’s, ‘The Power of Diversity’, a book which proved to be a very useful tool for focusing debate and a means of steering us away from a 2 dimensional way of looking at joining the schools together.
Learning was positioned at the core of the school. It then became possible to start building the structures. It was agreed that I would lead the school as Principal, Steve would take on the role of Head of Secondary Phase with the other Vice Principals being Barry and Gary, each taking responsibility for their own phase. It is quite clear that the whole process would have fallen apart at an early stage were it not for Barry and Gary’s courage, selflessness and passion for pupil success. We were also lucky that the three Governing Bodies fully supported the plans.
It was decided for speed to close the infant and junior schools and to extend the age range of the secondary. This could so easily have led to the belief that is was a secondary takeover, but the secondary Governing Body had deliberately run itself to its bare minimum to allow the new Governing Body to be extended to its maximum size. An extraordinary one off meeting of all three Governing Bodies decided the name and new uniform. The Governors felt strongly that a new name should be chosen which would stop the idea of a takeover. There was an initial outcry from the community about the change of name to Serlby Park. It was perceived that the school was trying to move away from its mining roots. It was an interesting lesson in politics. There had been only one objection to the idea of forming the through school, but over 300 objections to the name!
However, creating a joint identity has been popular in the area. “I feel so important putting on my uniform”, said one 5 year old in his brand new blue jumper (one jumper was bought for every pupil).
Office staff also met and decided they would like a common uniform so that visitors to the different sites would see the link. We quickly developed a new logo, changed signs and put up posters with photographs of all staff members to establish our identity from the very first day of term.
A new e-mail and telephone system were both developed to improve communication between all sites, and for partnerships and friendships to develop across phases
Steve produced a timetable which enabled cross phase work even in the first term. French from Year 3 upwards for 2 hours a week are delivered by secondary staff. There are also music, maths and citizenship lessons occurring in this way. A Year 3 teacher takes AS Psychology, a Year 5 teacher has 10 periods of KS3/4 PE and a Year 1 teacher is delivering some KS5 dance. It has been exciting watching staff and pupils grab opportunities to work together and to change the way they solve problems.
You can imagine the trepidation with which I approached the first day. The day started with the usual secondary assembly. The tradition is that I talk to the pupils about some spiritual or moral issue and they sit there in silence probably contemplating the hair of the person in front. Certainly at no point is there any interaction.
I focused on new starts, left feeling a job well done, confident in my own ability. This confidence was shaken 30 minutes later when I walked into the infant assembly of 200 5-7 year olds. Fear started to creep in as one of the pupils sitting on the floor at my feet started to move towards my shoes. “Hello, I’m Mr Harris”, I said. “Hello, I’m George”, “Hello, I’m Fred”, “Hello, I’m Felicity, my mum’s a nurse, I’ve got a cat called Bert” etc mumbled the responses. With panic rising inside my stomach, I suddenly remembered the advice of Deryn Harvey (one of the Directors of the DfES Innovation Unit) – be positive, cheerful never leave a gap and don’t ask open ended questions! I rattled through my assembly and dashed to the junior assembly slightly ruffled. Just 20 minutes later the junior assembly was a lovely compromise; everyone sitting and listening intently and, the moment I finished 30 hands going up, all wanting to ask me questions.
I felt invigorated. I realised I had an awful lot to learn about the way young minds develop. If something as simple as an assembly could be so different across the phases then what about more important things like learning techniques?
I have spent an increasing amount of time in primary classrooms. The enthusiasm and the understanding of brain function amongst the staff and pupils strike me, as does the need for the secondary phase to build on this effectively. Developments in the first term include pupil movement between the sites including secondary pupils in the role of teachers and a variety of learning projects. We offered bursaries of £200 for all staff for projects which increase cross phase learning opportunities. So far we have had a blindfold challenge in PE, a kite making activity, a samba workshop, healthy tuck shop, radio station, super brain days and many others.
Watching an 18 year old working side by side on drums with a 7 year old really did show the strength of this kind of learning.
A variety of teachers have paired up and are already sharing ideas across the age groups. When learning is made the centre of a collaboration no one phase dominates.
The introduction of TLR’s has been eased by the very thoughtful support of Kelvin Peel (a consultant introduced to us via the Innovations Unit). We have developed a TLR system which is not secondary dominated but has a raft of cross phase TLR1 posts which put learning at the core. The 5 key posts are: Teaching and Learning, Lifelong Learning, Core Skills, Personal Development, Independent Learning/AFL. The TLR2 posts will run subjects across all phases line managed by TLR1’s. With my role becoming more strategic, ensuring the of the Heads of Phase.
Almost every aspect of school life, has changed. Nothing is straightforward and you are forced to look at the reasons for your work. Sometimes at secondary we can get lost in systems, in ‘value added’ and lose site of why we do it. When approached by happy delighted faces it makes us remember that we are in education to let those minds soar. I’m not suggesting that we have found all the answers, but I do think we have – so far- had a fascinating journey.
I hope that some of you may be inspired to take a walk into your local primary and if any of you wish to know more or to visit please contact us. Along with Kelvin, I am co-ordinating a group of all through schools (CATS – Consortium of All Though Schools) which is gradually developing its knowledge of the various routes of amalgamating or federating.
I look forward to hearing from you.
David Harris
Principal
Serlby Park - A 3-18 Business and Enterprise Learning Community
www.serlbypark.notts.sch.uk
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