South Uist Tragedy

I'm sure that many who read today's media coverage of the tragic death of Kaylee McIntosh, the 14 year old girl cadet from Aberdeenshire, will have felt moved when they learned the detail of how this tragedy occurred. The incident has added poignancy for me as the tragedy happened a short distance from where I grew up. As a child, growing up in North Uist, I was acutely aware of the dangers associated with water, both in the numerous lochs that cover vast areas of the islands and the coastline that can be as treacherous as it is beautiful. As a native of the island of North Uist, I often witnessed 'incomers' taking unecessary and unplanned risks that could have all too easily had serious consequences. As a headteacher of a school in the city of Edinburgh I receive and approve many requests to take pupils on excursions. I hope that generations of youngsters are able to enjoy the richness of experiences that excursions in the outdoors have to offer. What happened to Kaylee was tragic; we now know that there were major failings in safety. The way ahead for us must be to learn from what happened here and to ensure that future excursions of this nature are properly conducted. We must guard against becoming too frightened to take risks.

Feeling good

Now that the 'excitement' of the HMIe visit is over it was back to business as usual this week. Each day this week we had assemblies for the various year groups to give them a flavour of what progress we have made in the past few years. It was great to be able to tell the pupils that we had made huge progress over the past two years. There is a real feel good factor and pride developing among pupils and staff and deservedly so.

With years 1-3 I took the opportunity to emphasise the importance of respect as one of our core values. A main point to emphasise from me was that respect is fundamental to all the relationships in our school community.

In the coming months we need to engage in discussion about what our 'next steps' as a school are going to be. What should we do in the next year(s) in order to ensure that we continue to improve?

Parent Council

Tonight's Parent Council was positive as usual. It was great to be able to share the general feedback from the HMIe visit with all present. Apart from HMIe business, I updated the meeting on a number of other important issues in my Headteacher's report. This included:

• Staffing
• Roll projection for September 2008
• Finance

Other areas raised in general discussion included a really good discussion on exam leave. Parents were supportive of not giving pupils exam leave for prelims. A query was raised about exam leave for S3 sitting exams this year. It was suggested that S3 pupils taking exams this summer (some are taking as many as 4) should not get exam leave as they would miss out on valuable teaching in other subjects. Instead, it was suggested, for the duration of the exam period,that S3 pupils taking exams this summer, should not be given homework for other subjects. This will be raised at our PTs' meeting tomorrow.

A main topic for discussion this evening was how we can increase levels of engagement between parents and school. I made the point that parents show high levels of loyalty to the school but a disappointing level of engagement. For example, the turnout at last week's S4 parents' night was around 40%. This is less than half the percentage attendance a similar meeting at Dunbar Grammar School (Thanks to Paul Rafaelli for sharing this figure with us through his blog!) At our next meeting on Tuesday 29 April it was agreed that we would spend a chunk of time looking at how we can make parents' evenings more attractive to parents. Any suggestions of good practice in this area will be gratefully received.

One day to go!

A team from HMIe is with us on Thursday and Friday of this week for our follow through inspection. We had five areas to address from the previous visit in 2006 over the past two years.

In summary, they were:

• Positive Behaviours
• Tracking and Monitoring
• Pupil attendance
• Learning and teaching
• Self evaluation

I hope that over the next few days we will be able to demonstrate the amount of progress we have made over the past two years in each of these areas. Our staff has been magnificent in how they have responded to the challenge that was laid before us.

Report on how we fared to follow at a later stage.

HTs' briefing/training

I attended a really helpful and interesting session for headteachers this afternoon at Goodtrees community centre. The meeting began with a welcome from David Wright (Neighbourhood manager) and a brief update on where we are as an Authority in our cost cutting/restructuring programme. Next up was a brief summary on School Safety from PC Steve McGill. It was great to learn that there is a sharp downward trend across our area of Edinburgh in terms of incidences of vandalism. This shows what can be achieved when the relevant groups work together in a cohesive and coordinated manner.

'Closing the gap' was the second item of the agenda and this was a presentation from Jamie Heatherington who works in strategic planning with Edinburgh council. Jamie was keen that each of us thinks about what we can do in our different contexts to 'close the gap'. This is an issue that I am really interested in, particularly, given the very diverse intake we have at Liberton High. The notion of a 'gap' is an interesting one and can mean different things to different people.

The highlight of the afternoon, for me, was a presentation from Christine Knight (HMIe district Inspector) on using 'How Good is our School 3'. I very much liked her practical approach to using the QIs and generally keeping things simple. I agree with her when she says that too many schools and departments can fall into the trap of trying to do too much at once. I look forward to working with Christine again on Friday when she and HMIe colleagues join us for our follow through inspection.

The afternoon closed with two excellent examples of good practice on School Self Evaluation from Rose Islambolipoor (Gracemount Primary School) and Stephen Phee (St Thomas of Aquin's inspection.

Castro blogs ok!

I learned this morning that 'El Comandante' Fidel Castro has been blogging for the last year or so. Writing in today's 'Times' Moises Naim suggests that 'El Comandante' does what bloggers do: he comments on the news, chastises enemies (Bush, Aznar), extols friends or rambles on subjects he cares about (sport and politics). I have tried to find a link to his blog but, thus far, my search has been in vain. I am curious to see what the man who has been the most enduring figure in world politics throughout my lifetime writes and says. Will he offer an alternative perspective on Leadership that we, in the corridors of Education, can all learn from? What can we learn from a man who has, allegedly, survived over 600 assassination attempts and successfully defended his island fortress against several invasion attempts; most notably the Bay of Pigs fiasco of 1961. ''Bloggers know that one of the risks is inadvertently to expose too much amount themselves''. I know that I grapple with this too in my ramblings. Fortunately, at least until now, I have yet to experience an assassination attempt. Oh, and I almost forgot to say what a lovely kind and generous man Fidel is.

Active learning

At Liberton in recent months I have had discussions with several colleagues about 'Active Learning'. What I have discovered is that active learning can mean different things to different people. Generally, we tend to associate active learning with being physically active but being cognitively active is surely just as important and effective as a means of learning.

I came across this article on-line recently - I think it is a useful discussion starter about active learning and may be used by me at a future in-service.

Explanation of the Components

This model suggests that all learning activities involve some kind of experience or some kind of dialogue. The two main kinds of dialogue are "Dialogue with Self" and "Dialogue with Others." The two main kinds of experience are "Observing" and "Doing."

Dialogue with Self:

This is what happens when a learner thinks reflectively about a topic, i.e., they ask themselves what they think or should think, what they feel about the topic, etc. This is "thinking about my own thinking," but it addresses a broader array of questions than just cognitive concerns. A teacher can ask students, on a small scale, to keep a journal for a course, or, on a larger scale, to develop a learning portfolio. In either case, students could write about what they are learning, how they are learning, what role this knowledge or learning plays in their own life, how this makes them feel, etc.

Dialogue with Others:

This can and does come in many forms. In traditional teaching, when students read a textbook or listen to a lecture, they are "listening to" another person (teacher, book author). This can perhaps be viewed as "partial dialogue" but it is limited because there is no back-and-forth exchange. A much more dynamic and active form of dialogue occurs when a teacher creates an intense small group discussion on a topic. Sometimes teachers can also find creative ways to involve students in dialogue situations with people other than students (e.g., practitioners, experts), either in class or outside of class. Whoever the dialogue is with, it might be done live, in writing, or by email.

Observing:

This occurs whenever a learner watches or listens to someone else "Doing" something that is related to what they are learning about. This might be such things as observing one's teacher do something (e.g., "This is how I critique a novel."), listening to other professionals perform (e.g., musicians), or observing the phenomena being studied (natural, social, or cultural). The act of observing may be "direct" or "vicarious." A direct observation means the learner is observing the real action, directly; a vicarious observation is observing a simulation of the real action. For example, a direct observation of poverty might be for the learner to actually go to where low income people are living and working, and spend some time observing life there. A vicarious or indirect observation of the same topic might be to watch a movie involving poor people or to read stories written by or about them.

Doing:

This refers to any learning activity where the learner actually does something: design a reservoir dam (engineering), conduct a high school band (music education), design and/or conduct an experiment (natural and social sciences), critique an argument or piece of writing (the humanities), investigate local historical resources(history), make an oral presentation (communication), etc.

Inservice day

I was really chuffed at the end of yesterday's in-service training day for staff, when several sought me out to say how much they had enjoyed the day. How often do you hear staff say that they enjoyed a whole staff training day? It was certainly a first for me!

We will of course look at the evaluations and feedback in more detail but I thought I would take a few minutes to recap on what really was a most stimulating and thought provoking day. We started off at 0830 with refreshments and bacon rolls for everyone. The first item on the day's programme was mine gave me the opportunity to update staff on progress with our Improvement Plan and to say a little about what we need to focus on in the lead up to next weeks HMIe visit. I was pleased to say how far we are on with this session's plan and to see how positive staff feel about next week. Next Carol Brown (DHT) demonstrated electronic period by period registration ahead of today's launch. This was followed by Carol briefing staff on recent changes to child protection guidelines.
Following a break for tea/coffee and croissants, an hour and a half in departments and a sumptuous buffet lunch (provided by staff on a 'bring a plate' basis) we moved into the afternoon session.

The afternoon session (superbly organised by DHTs David Russell and Drew Macrae)was focussed on learning and teaching. The opportunity was taken to showcase some of the best practices at Liberton High. All staff were encouraged to share and steal good practices from around the school. Each department was requested to contribute at least one item each to a display of materials arranged around the hall. Pleasingly, many departments elected to contribute several items. The hall was an Aladdin's cave of teaching and learning treasures.

• We had three different departments showing us how they used Studywiz, an online learning environment, to engage students in on-line learning. (I now know much more about Henry Moore, Sculpting and Maquettes!).
• Social subjects staff showed us how they had developed some innovative teaching approaches in line with those recommended in the Assessment is for Learning (Aifl) initiative.
  

• Members of the PE department demonstrated the use of 'Dartfish'. This is software that is used to edit and analyse images and footage gained through video photography.
  

• To close the day's proceedings Graham Crawford gave us a very stimulating overview of how Science Teaching at Liberton has been influenced by research and developments in thinking skills.
  

What really pleased me most about the day was that all of our presenters and contributors were from our own school. The amount of talent and range of expertise on our staff was really inspiring and gives me great hope and confidence for the future.

Bil Gates Speech to High School in USA

Bill Gates allegedly, (see comment below) recently gave a speech at a High School (in the USA) about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make £60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping - they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into terms. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

If you can read this - Thank a teacher!

February break

It's back to work tomorrow for Edinburgh teachers after a one week long February break. It was great to have a break from the work routine and to spend quality time with my own family. We spent four days in London visiting friends and taking in some of the sights during an unseasonably warm February. A particular hit with my girls was the visit to China town, still resplendent with all the decorations from the chinese new year festivities. I enjoyed the 'London eye' and the opportunity to get a bird's eye view of London. I was really impressed with the efficiency and the cleanliness of the tube system. We have an excellent bus system in Edinburgh, but I am envious of other cities that have an alternative means of getting around. Whilst on the tube at rush hour one day, I was particularly impressed by the courtesy shown by one young man who immediately stood up and offered his seat to my wife. I hadn't experienced any one doing this in many such travels on the tube over the years.

In two weeks time we welcome back HMIe. In the coming weeks I will write a bit more about my experiences of being involved with HMIe since they visited us initially in January 2006 and then again in May 2007.

Classrooom observation aka sharing classroom experiences

One of the perks of my job is being able to go and visit teachers' classrooms to see them do what teachers are best at doing - teaching pupils. Teaching and Learning is our core business and any opportunities we have to learn to do things better must be grasped with both hands. One of the most effective ways to learn to be a better teacher is to observe colleagues in action. One of the lessons I saw this week was with Gill O'Connor, English department. This was a lesson you wish you could bottle and uncork to order. There were so many good practices on display that I won't embarrass Gill by mentioning them all but I feel I need to mention one. How do you get 14 year olds to not just read but become absorbed in and enthusiastic about Romeo and Juliet? Do you just read the text to them (this was my school experience) or do you compare and contrast Shakespear's use and choice of language with lyrics by Christine Aguilera? The latter approach resulted in twenty 14 year olds and me being enthralled from start to finish of what was an outstanding lesson. I will want to reflect further on how best to share this excellent practice with colleagues so that all pupils can benefit from one of the really gifted practitioners in our schools.

Scots Scientists top of the class

It was great to read in today's press that our country's scientists are generally regarded as world leaders in research. Have a look at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2008/02/04085534 for the report. This is really good news. As a small country, it is so encouraging to see that we are continuing a long tradition of excellence in research and development. Where would we be without pencillin, TV or pneumatic tyres? How long will be be able to lay claim to being world leaders in research? From a secondary headteacher's point of view I am very concerned at how little funding I have available to support the work that takes place at grassroots level in schools. If our universities are to maintain the status they currently enjoy, schools will need to be able to do much more in terms of nurturing and developing the talent in our ranks. We simply cannot do that on a shoe string budget. There is a real danger that we will run departments down to such an extent that it will be almost impossible to start up again, when, not if, Science, once again, becomes flavour of the month.

Chinese New Year

Along with my family and close friends, who also have two adopted Chinese daughters, I had the pleasure today of attending the Chinese New Year Celebrations at the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh. The performances from a range of artistes were outstanding. A particular hit with the girls were the acrobats from Mongolia. The same performers were involved with Alan Stewart and co. at the pantomime at the Kings through December and January.

The contributions made by a pipe band and a Scottish singer Tom Collins (a former pupil of mine from Porty High) really added to the occasion. It was great to see the Edinburgh Chinese community and the Scots celebrating together in style. After this, it was off to join other families from around Scotland who have also adopted from China.

In the weeks ahead, I am keen to explore ways in which we at Liberton High can develop ways in which we can develop links with the Chinese community to further broaden our curriculum.

You are what you eat or are you?

Secrets of … the Mediterranean Diet A recent study has once again confirmed that people who closely follow ‘the Mediterranean Diet’ live longer than other Europeans. So what exactly is the Mediterranean diet and how does it exert this spectacular effect. The Mediterranean diet is not a specific diet plan or diet program but a collection of eating habits that are traditionally followed by the people of the Mediterranean region. There are at least 16 countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea and food habits vary between these countries according to culture, ethnic background and religion. But there are a number of characteristics common to them all… A high consumption of fruits, vegetables, potatoes, beans, nuts, seeds, bread and other cereals Olive oil used for cooking and dressings Moderate amounts of fish but little meat Low to moderate amounts of full fat cheese and yogurt Moderate consumption of wine, usually with meals Reliance on local, seasonal, fresh produce An active lifestyle

Earlier today I had a conversation with Shelagh Lee, our PT of Behaviour Support. Our discussion centred on what we could do to try and positively influence the diets of some of the youngsters whose behaviour in classrooms can sometimes create difficulties. One particular youngster we spoke about claims he needs a daily 'fix' of iron bru to get him through the day. Breakfast is non-existent; his first nutrition of the day tends to be the best part of a bottle of irn bru. I hasten to add that we stopped selling fizzy drinks at my school some years ago. Shelagh is currently working with this youngster and his family to try and change his diet and high sugar intake. I am keen to further explore how we might do this. Has anyone out there come across a school that has been successful in tackling inappropriate pupil behaviours through the diet route?

Parent Council

Tonight was our first Parent Council meeting of 2008. Parent councils (made up of parents, staff, pupils and members of the community) came into existence on 1 August 2007. They replaced school boards.

In the case of our school we were very lucky to have had a very active and strong school board and parent teacher association (PTA). Pleasingly this has become an equally strong and supportive parent council and pta.At tonight's meeting, among other things, we talked about the impending HMIe inspection, our 50th anniversary celebrations and ways in which we can continue to develop strong relations with neighbours. 2008 promises to be another very busy and productive year at Liberton High.

Christmas Leavers

I came across an interesting article (and comments) on the perennial issue of how best to cater for Christmas Leavers on Don Ledingham's learning log. Definitely worth a read! go to Don's Learning Log

Don Ledingham is Head of Education in East Lothian.

The school leaving age regulations read as follows:

'Children may leave school once they reach their statutory school leaving date, this is dependent on date of birth. For children born between 1 March and 30 September it is 31 May of their 4th year of secondary school. For children born between 1 October and 28 February it is the last day of the December term of the school session in which they are 16.'

Why do headteachers get paid more than other staff?

This is a question that arose this morning whilst I was chauffeuring my seven year old to her ballet class. I was in the process of trying to explain how a credit/debit card works when, out of the blue, she asked me if I got paid more than other teachers. I answered that I did get paid more, leading to the inevitable searching and innocent ''why'' that children of this age specialise in. I pondered for a few moments before answering; trying to find words and a rationale that a seven year old could understand. I have to admit that I really struggled.

Whilst adults might understand terms like 'increased responsibility', they may not necessarily agree. Do I as the ‘head’ carry more responsibility than Walter, our Head Jannie, or Liz who is in charge of our catering? Walter, at the flick of a switch, can create arctic conditions in selected parts of the school. Liz could choose to stop the daily supply of the 5oo school-made cookies thus creating near anarchic tendencies amongst hordes of hungry teenagers. Of course, there are many other examples I could draw on.

Before I could offer an answer, she suggested that headteachers attend lots more meetings than others. Perhaps, on reflection, I do merit the extra money after all.

What makes me tick?

I am very clear in my own mind about what makes me tick. I absolutely thrive on sharing positive experiences and practices with others who are positive and, of course, learning from others. What is it that sets some people apart; able to inspire others and drive them on to higher levels of performance and achievement? Is it the passion they have for what they do? Is it simply that their enthusiasm is infectious? Is there something that can be bottled and uncorked to order? Is it something quite intangible that we can recognise and appreciate but can't really measure in an objective way?

Today I spent time with two colleagues whose enthusiasm and passion for what they do never fails to inspire me. Both perform quite different roles in the school. Firstly, I met with Gill O'Connor (Teacher of English) to review the work that she has been leading on the development of writing practice in our cluster of schools. Gill's enthusiasm and passion for the teaching of writing comes across so strongly. I experienced first hand why it is that so many pupils want to be in her class. I really liked the way in which Gill used her readings and reflections on the principles within 'Assessment is for Learning' to explain to me ( a scientist in a previous life) how she thought the teaching of writing should be developed. I look forward to sharing and discussing her ideas next week with my Primary Headteacher colleagues. My second such meeting of the day was with Christine Babbs. Christine is officially our school librarian but contributes so much more than this to the wider school community. For example, Christine organises the writing and production of our School Magazine, Liberton Link. At today's meeting we looked at how we might enhance the current format. We exchanged a few ides and thoughts and of course, Christine, being Christine, agreed that she would aim to have our next magazine completed and distributed by the end of February.

Prelims

Our S4 prelim exams are now under way. This year, we decided to move the S4 diet until after Christmas following consultation with staff and pupils. To date, I am impressed at how well the vast majority of our S4 are coping with the inevitable pressures that prelims bring. We are however still at the stage where staff are more worried about the forthcoming national exams than the pupils. Those teachers out there who read my log may also be aware that there comes a point in the session when pupils become more concerned than their teachers. At that point chasing up folios, completion of homework etc becomes so much easier!

New Term

Last week, staff and pupils returned to a new term to learn that two members of staff (Mrs Reid and Mr Pretswell) had passed away in the past two weeks. Having now reflected on the events of last week I am immensely proud of how well staff and pupils coped with what was a very difficult and challenging week. The ways in which youngsters and staff supported each other made me a very proud headteacher indeed. I would also like to put on record my sincere thanks to Paul Beautyman (School Chaplain) for his enormous input to supporting our school.

As a school community we must all now endeavour to move on. We will never forget the immense contributions made by both of these very special staff.