Life beyond the belt

''Smiling approvingly to herself at the effect of only two strokes of the tawse on this persistent late-comer, Mrs Fraser raised the strap again and lashed it down vigorously to smash into the delicate flesh of Fiona's wavering right hand.

The tawse whacked into her stinging hand at full speed. It hurt even more than Fiona had been expecting. Her hand was knocked down by the force of the blow and Fiona almost fell over forward as she doubled over in an automatic reaction. Fiona stayed like that for a few seconds, crying audibly and desperately hoping that that was the end of it and that the headmistress would think that four strokes was sufficient. ''

1982 was the year I started my teaching career. This was the year the belt (known as the 'tawse' in Scotland) stopped being used in Scottish classrooms. At the time, I recall many in the profession expressing fear that this would be the end of schooling as we know it and that our Education system would go into terminal decline. In my view this could not have been further from the truth. The staff entering the profession in the past few years are products of a system that did not rely on belting young people with a piece of leather to maintain control and order. It is my view that these are young professionals who develop higher order skills to create the atmosphere in their classroom that allows learning to flourish.

By way of example,in the past two days, I have had the pleasure of observing two of our excellent younger staff (Ms Thayne in English and Ms Welsh in French)in the classroom. The lessons I saw were first class. A number of things really impressed me. Firstly, both displayed an excellent rapport with the pupils. Both had excellent classroom control; all pupils did as they were supposed to do. Anyone who stepped out of line was gently and skilfully brought back 'on task'. It was clear to me that the pupils in the classes were engaged and active learners, not because they were fearful of the consequences, but because they were sufficiently motivated and stimulated by their teachers to want to do well.

It will come as no surprise to anyone that I am wholly convinced that the best teachers are the ones who develop excellent relationships with their charges. That is not to say that the best teachers are 'friends' with the pupils. What really matters is developing a professional relationship with pupils where a common set of values are shared, expectations are sky-high and where respect is always two way.

The second thing that really struck me was how comfortable and skillful both teachers were with using IT. Both showed me some great examples of how to use IT to engage and motivate pupils, in a way that simply wasn't available until quite recently.

A highlight of both the observations for me was, immediately after the lessons, when I engaged in dialogue with both staff about their lessons.

Despite the warnings of impending gloom from many in the profession, when the belt was outlawed in the early 80s, I believe that the standard of teaching on offer in classrooms, and the quality of relationships in schools are light years ahead of where we were 30 years ago.

State versus private

''Children from poorer backgrounds should receive up to £10,000 in credit to allow them to go to independent schools, a think tank has suggested.'' This is the headline that greeted me recently as I perused the BBC website. What a load of rubbish!

The article goes on to to say ''that despite a major increase in funding for education over the past decade, many children were failed by their local schools.''. What evidence is there to suggest that children who fail to take advantage of what state education has to offer would have a different experience in private education?

Given that private education education does not, in the main, add more value to a pupil's educational progress than a state school, (refer to research work undertaken by Lindsay Paterson a few years ago) is there not an overwhelming case for parents of private school pupils to be alerted to this? Imagine the savings that those families could make, particulary in such difficult times as these!

Burns Supper

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne (Robert Burns)

On Friday 30 January 150 performers and guests at Liberton high School celebrated the 250 anniversary of the bard's birth. This event was also part of the school's 50 anniversary. The entire event was superbly organised by Mrs Norah Watson, our Principal Teacher of HE.

The evening followed the traditional format of a Burns supper. First we were treated to a lovely supper consisting of Haggis, neeps and tatties. The food was all produced by our HE department and S4 pupils and was served by senior pupils. We are grateful to the Witchery restaurant for taking the time to train senior pupils in waiting. Following the supper, the Immortal Memory was brilliantly delivered by Dick Staite, former headteacher at Beeslack High school. Dick served as an Assistant Head Teacher at Liberton High in the days when Henry Phillip was Headteacher. I worked with Dick at Beeslack in the mid 80s, when I was the APT for Science. Following Dick's presentation, we had contributions from various performers. The order of events was:

• Joanna Greig (Welcome)
• Joyce Lochrie (Grace)
• Chris Saddler (Piper)
• David Russell (Address to the Haggis)
• Julia Lawson and Joanna Greig (Dancing)
• Dick Staite (Immortal memory)
• Eleanor Graham (Singing of ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’)
• Mark O'Neill (Toast to the Lassies)
• Rachel McDade (Reply from the Lassies)
• Ian McBain (Singing of ‘Ae fond kiss’)
• Cathy Ritchie (Tam O'Shanter)
• Sheila Kennedy (Kate O'Shanter)
• Joe Walker (Holy Willie's Prayer)
• Alison Steel and Alison Thayne (Singing of 'Coming through the rye')
• Rosy Fraser (Mouth Organ) accompanied by Donald MacIntosh and
• David Donoghue (Vote of thanks).

The master of ceremonies for the evening was the hugely entertaining and witty Iain Hutchison.

All in all, this was a hugely enjoyable and successful evening. Enormous thanks are due to our HE department and pupils, especially Norah Watson who has been superhuman in her efforts to stage such a stunning evening.

Stand up to hatred

On Tuesday of this week at Liberton High we decided to make our own special contribution to the city's 'Stand up to Hatred' day. As a school we decided to focus on the Holocaust. This follows a visit by two of our senior pupils (Stuart Wilson and Megan Bryant) to Auschwitz last Autumn. The main organiser for the day was Sharon Kean our PT of Social subjects.

The day went superbly well. In addition to lessons delivered by all departments that touched on some aspect of the Holocaust, we held a conference for all S2 pupils throughout the day on the theme of standing up to hatred. To close the conference we were delighted to welcome Rabbi Soetendorp to our school to deliver an address. In all my years as a teacher I have never been as moved as I was by Rabbi Soetendorp's presentation. Rabbi Soetendorp shared with us how, being born in 1943 into a Jewish family in Nazi occupied Arnhem he would not have been expected to have survived beyond a few days. That he did so is because of the humanity of others and a great deal of good fortune. Reading about many of the events of that period in occupied countries, as I have done through the years, is one thing, but actually meeting a man who has survived and subsequently dedicated his life to promoting world peace was truly inspiring. Selecting one pupil at random in the audience Rabbi Soetendorp made the point that everyone in the world is special and unique. He made a point of emphasising that we are all special and unique whether we live in Palestine, Israel, Scotland or Darfur. He told us that that he wished for a world where there was no hatred and, in particular, a world where no children would suffer.

''Mans inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn'' (Robert Burns)

Shared heads - a step too far?

As I was driving home earlier tonight a headline on the news captured my attention. Borders Council has decided that, in order to save money, among other measures, it will reduce the number of Headteacher posts. In future, it is proposed, schools will share heads. I am a keen supporter of sharing leadership but is this approach to leadership based on sound business and educational principles or is it driven by a need to cut costs?

''Our new structures as they evolve and settle down will provide schools with greater development capacity.

"This will help us build on our strengths and enable us to maximise on the benefits from the Curriculum for Excellence."

''... the controversial proposal for shared headships could operate successfully but needed to be "monitored and managed effectively".

How many more people will be employed to monitor and manage headteachers? Where is the evidence that supports the move for sharing headteachers across schools as being an effective one for pupils? Does a model of sharing heads across schools actually deliver the goods?

Leadership

Yesterday afternoon, when I was in the garden with my two daughters, Jenny drew our attention to a sight that has always make me stop what I'm doing and gaze in amazement at the skies above. I am referring to the inspiring sight that is a skein of geese. Seeing the geese in their familiar 'V' formation reminded me of a lecture delivered by Dr Richard Holloway at last Summer's international conference in Edinburgh on School Leadership, in which he suggested that humans had much to learn from nature as far as good examples of leadership is concerned. I hadn't really thought about his analogy, and what as leaders we can learn from geese until yesterday.

The first lesson is: work as a team. Geese migrate long distances flying in V-formation. This formation results in reduced wind resistance, which allows the whole flock to add around 70 percent greater flying range than if each bird flew alone. Geese find out quickly that it pays handsomely to be team players. Second, wise leadership: when the leader at the apex of the V gets tired, it is relieved by another goose. Leaders rotate, empower, delegate, and even step down when it's in the best interest of the team. How often do we see this taking place among organisational leaders? Wise leaders ensure that their followers are well trained and developed in order to achieve true empowerment and smooth succession processes. Third, humane behaviour: if a goose drops to the ground when it gets hurt or sick, two of its colleagues go down with it to take care of it until it either gets healthier or dies. In this fast-paced and competitive age, how often do we see managers going out of their way to help colleagues who are in trouble? I am in no doubt that in organisations, morale, productivity, and loyalty increase when employees look after each other and are treated humanely.

School of scottish studies

One of the really exciting developments at the school this year is our work with the School of Scottish Studies, which is part of Edinburgh University. In addition to gaining access to an aladdin's cave of resources for our staff and pupils, we are now working closely with university staff in training our pupils to become field researchers for the university. It is our intention that pupils will research the history of our local area by interviewing friends and relatives who have knowledge of our area spanning the past fifty years. This material will then be passed on to the university to add to the archives in the School of Scottish Studies. In doing this, pupils will develop their own research skills, develop their knowledge and understanding of our local area and contribute a wealth of material to archives that will be available to future generations. Pupils are ideally suited to speak to parents and grandparents to capture their memories of life in Edinburgh in days gone by. In particular, I am looking forward to learning about the history of mining and of some of the characters who contributed to making this part of Edinburgh such an exciting and diverse area to live and work in.

Unity

At morning break today, I thanked staff for their support and loyalty throughout the past term and chose this poem to draw attention to the wonderful work we do and to emphasise the importance of teamwork when working with children.

Unity

I dreamed I stood in a studio
And watched two sculptors there,
The clay they used was a young child’s mind
And they fashioned it with care.

One was a teacher:
the tools she used were books and music and art;
One was a parent
With a guiding hand and gentle loving heart.

And when at last their work was done,
They were proud of what they had wrought.
For the things they had worked into the child
Could never be sold or bought!

And each agreed she would have failed
if she had worked alone.
For behind the parent stood the school,
and behind the teacher stood the home!

By Cleo V. Swarat

Does anyone else have examples of poetry they have used with staff or pupils in this way?

Other learning logs

When the kids are safely (and quietly!) tucked away in bed, and I've done my homework for the following day, I enjoy having a look round some of the other Learning Logs in the education world. Don Ledingham's is a really interesting and thought provoking log. So also is the Learning Log by Mark Walker, a school Principal from Australia. I really liked the material on 'Walkthroughs' - the name speaks for itself. I'm going to take some of his points on board and try them out in my own school in the next few weeks. Here is a sample clip (wait a few moments for loading) about 'Walkthroughs' in secondary schools.

I see no reason why 'walkthroughs' can not become an integral part of our school's self-evaluation process. Why should 'walkthroughs' be restricted to senior staff? Why not encourage all staff to get involved; particularly in the dialogue with colleagues about what we've seen? Watch this space!

Last week of term

The last week of term is very busy as usual. Throughout this week we have our Book Week. Yesterday, Tuesday, we had an enterprise day for all pupils in S1. Today we had assemblies, taken by jointly by police and the fire service, to educate our younger pupils about the safe and legal handling of fireworks. Tomorrow evening, we have the second of our 50 anniversary events, our very own 'L' factor. We can no longer call it 'X' factor for commercial reasons.

Book week was organised by Sharron Brown, our tireless librarian. A range of activities are taking place throughout the week involving all of our pupils on the theme of our 50 anniversary. A poetry tree, visits from authors and senior pupils dressed as their favourite characters are examples of the activities on offer.

Our enterprise day was organised by Ms Mathie, our enterprise coordinator. All S1 pupils were involved at some point during the day. Pupils were divided into teams and tasked with writing and producing a book. Each team was 'supported' by an adviser. We are grateful to staff from Lothian and Borders police and Standard Life who spent the day with us, offering their experience and expertise to highly motivated and enthusiastic pupils. The standard of books produced was outstanding!

On Tuesday of this week I met with our School's senior Quality Improvement Officer, Sheena Liddell. We had a very full and in-depth discussion about our continuing progress in regard to exam results as a school. For some unknown reason, the boys at Liberton High School buck the trend across the country as far as Writing and Maths is concerned. Over the past three years, our boys have performed much better than girls in both Maths and Writing. At present I do not know why this is but, over the coming weeks, I intend to look further into this. When Friday afternoon arrives, all of our pupils and staff will begin a well deserved holiday. For my part, I'm off on a family holiday to enjoy some sun, before we settle in for, what I hope will be a short winter.

Strike day

It's been a while since I wrote about 'a day at the office' so here goes. Today was the second of two days of strike action by several non-teaching unions. Following a risk assessment and discussion with my senior leadership team, I decided that the school would open for pupils in S4, 5 and 6 only.

I got up at around 6 am, and following a hearty breakfast, I got into school for 7.30 to open the school building along with our senior depute, Drew Macrae. The task of opening the building is usually carried out by our Janitors but as they were all on strike this task falls to the headteacher as an official 'keyholder' for the building. As usual, some staff were already in the car park raring to get in and prepare lessons for the day.

The day ran as smoothly as I would have hoped. In the afternoon, we even managed to interview and appoint a PT of mathematics. All the students throughout the day were brilliant; I am really impressed at how they have matured into such responsible young adults. On a day such as this you really appreciate the support of all your pupils and staff, particularly the principal teachers. We are fortunate to have a superb group of staff at Liberton High.

At the end of the day, assisted by my hardworking and loyal SLT, we ensured that the building was secure before setting the alarm and locking the building.

Reflecting on the day, I was once again, reminded of how important our non-teaching colleagues are in the smooth running of the school. It's often said that you don't appreciate someone until they're not there. Without their input many really important services just don't happen. We coped with one day, but I would not like to be without key staff for longer. I hope that a resolution to the dispute on pay can be found quickly; all staff deserve to draw salaries that reflect today's cost of living. Importantly, all of our pupils need to be in school, taking advantage of the first class education on offer.

A fascinating day out

On Saturday I did something I haven't done for at least 10 years. Along with my wee brother and nephew I visited Ibrox to see Rangers take on the mighty Kilmarnock. From my point of view, things looked very rosy indeed at the halfway stage. Thanks to an uncharacteristic blunder by MacGregor, Killie reached half-time with a fragile, but slender lead. Thanks however to their striking talisman, aka Boyd, Rangers came through comfortably in the end to secure the three points and retain pole position in the league. Thereafter it was onto the underground and off to the centre of Glasgow in a 'Rangers pub' to join the post-match revelries. In order to protect my real allegiances I found myself listening intently whilst one very animated little man clad in red, white and blue, recounted with (disheartening) glee how much he had enjoyed his plundering visit to Parkhead only two weeks ago. My out-of-tune accompaniment of Simply The Best could easily have blown my cover. At one stage I found myself clapping a a flute band from a local lodge as they were escorted up and down past our hostelry by Strathclyde's finest. When, at one point in the conversation, mention was made of Larrson, something about his legitimacy, I found it difficult not to suggest who was the finest player to play in Glasgow in the past decade.

Following a superb curry, the latter part of the Saturday evening was spent in the Park Bar. There I met several who I went to school with many years ago. The most famous of these was Malcolm Jones (Runrig guitarist), who, along with Callum Iain MacCorquodale (also from North Uist) kept a packed venue singing, tapping and dancing until the wee small hours.

As I watched the game on Saturday, mesmerised by the touchline antics of the managers on view, I reflected on what I, as a school leader, could learn from these icons. I will come back to this in a later post!

Progress

I am delighted to note that attendance rates and punctuality have been much improved since we resumed this term. In addition to an increased focus across the entire school on the importance of perfect attendance we also restructured our tutor groups when we resumed after the summer. After some resistance from pupils this change appears to have gone down well. It is really encouraging to see older pupils looking after our younger charges. In some instances I have witnessed younger pupils showing senior pupils what our standards should be!

I received an email yesterday from Iain Hutchison (PT Guidance) to tell me that we are currently processing 53 university applications for S6 pupils. This compares rather favourably with the 8 we were processing at the same stage in 2004. Well done to pupils parents and staff, who working together, have shown what can be achieved if we all raise our expectations!

New Term and a new year ahead.

New year is always a time for reflection and making resolutions about things we want to improve on. This is also true of the new term which began in August.

As always, it's been a very busy and hectic start to another term. Two days in-service gave us the perfect opportunity to ease ourselves in and make the necessary arrangement for the term ahead. After a seven week break, staff and pupils are refreshed and ready. Given the superb results achieved by many of our students it was great to start to term on such a positive note.
In the year ahead a continuing focus for us will be raising expectations for all our pupils. I am convinced that we need to keep raising the bar as our school continues to go from strength to strength.

A main focus for us will be in improving attendance across the school. During the summer all parents had a chance to respond to a questionnaire I sent out seeking their views on setting targets for pupil attendance. Though some parents baulked at setting a threshold for all pupils at 95%, below which, repeating the year or, in the case of senior pupils, not being presented for some exams, will, I am convinced, change many people's views on the importance of attending school. In the next few weeks, following discussion with pupils and colleagues I will firm up our plans in this area.

Last day of term

One normally associates the last day of term with lots of smiling faces and talk of holiday adventures to come. That was also the case for us on Friday 30 June, but it was also tinged with sadness as we said our fond farewells to several colleagues, including 5 of our maths teachers. Among those who left us were Stewart Gibson and Joyce Knox, who together had experienced a total of 72 years as maths teachers. Both have worked hard over the years and deserve a long and happy retirement and the opportunity to spend lots of time with their families.

Also leaving us on Friday were Iain Major (English dept), Angus MacWhinnie (Maths dept) and Tim Ledger (PT Maths). All go on to other posts in teaching; Iain in the private sector, Angus in Dublin and Tim to a Maths PT post at Perth Grammar. Our three probationers also finished with us on Friday. Lisa Mackay (History) starts at Beeslack in August and Isla Ross (PE) flies off to Milan to pursue a PE post in an international school. Teresa Mayer (Maths) is undecided about her next post.

We wish all these staff the very best for the future.

Townies go to see the cows

'Dear All, it is that time of year again when we take the townies out to look at the cows and feed them all for nothing in the Food Hall.'(Extract from an email from Norah Watson, PT of HE, to all staff earlier this week.)

Today, I had the pleasure of accompanying 45 of our pupils and four of my colleagues to the Royal Highland show at Ingliston in the outskirts of Edinburgh. The weather was very kind and the whole experience was just wonderful.

Highlights of the day for me included:

• Positive feedback from all pupils
• Seeing all the livestock – reminiscences of my crofting upbringing!
• Wonderful food samples available in food hall
• Meeting former pupils who had pursued a career in farming.
  

Thanks to Mrs Watson for organising a wonderful educational experience for all of us. I am tempted to go back on Sunday with my girls so that they can experience the magic of the Highland Show as we all did today.

School praised in Scottish Parliament!

Last week's prizegiving ceremony, with guest speaker/presenter Matthew MacIver (CBE), Chief Executive of the General Teaching Council for Scotland, was a roaring success. Over 100 pupils received prizes for achievements ranging from sporting prowess to academic excellence. I must say I was really proud to see so many youngsters receive their awards with such big grins on their faces.

Our local MSP, Mike Pringle was one of several special guests at last weeks prizegiving. I was so pleased to hear today that Mike had spoken so positively of his experience at our prizegiving and our school's achievements during parliamentary discussion on Youth Justice. Onwards and upwards for Liberton High! Click on the following link (Liberton High progress) to read Mike Pringle's contribution to the debate.

HMIe report

Our follow through report was published today. I am delighted with the progress we have made as a school. All those associated with the school, including staff, parents and pupils deserve enormous praise for having rolled up the sleeves and getting on with the job of taking our school forward. Of course, progress in recent years is just a beginning. We must now ensure that we continue to go from strength to strength. WE will do this if we continue to work together as a community.

''It takes a village to raise a child'' (African proverb)

As we begin our celebrations to mark our 50 anniversary, the timing of such a positive report could not have been better!

Pupil attendance 3

In a recent conversation with a friend who works in the 'real world', as he often reminds me, I was shocked to learn that the reason that 80% of under 18s lose their employment is because of poor timekeeping and/or attendance. Can we as schools do something about this so that our young people are better prepared for life beyond school?

At tonight's parent council meeting we had opportunity to further explore how we will tackle absenteeism in the coming session. There is a view that we should apply employment -type standards to our expectations of pupils in regard to attendance; particularly those in the senior school. To that end, I propose, for next session, that we should set attendance targets for all pupils. Throughout the session pupils will be reminded about their attendance targets so that areas of concern are quickly brought to each pupil's attention. Parents will also need to be alerted where concerns arise.

What do we do with pupils whose attendance falls below expected standards? Do we allocate additional resources from an already overstretched budget to try and further support youngsters and families? Should pupils be asked to repeat a year if their attendance is very poor? Should pupils with very poor attendance be presented for exams?

In addition to target setting for attendance and punctuality, we are also proposing to move to vertical tutor groups. I.e. tutor groups comprised of pupils from S1 to S6. From our discussions so far it strikes me that there are many advantages to arranging registration classes in this way. For example, this will allow us to approach peer mentoring in a different way to previous attempts. Additionally, new S1 pupils will have 'buddies' that will continue with them well beyond the first few days at High School.

I look forward to consulting and listening to pupils and parents in the next few weeks.

Pupil attendance 2

Throughout the past session a working group, chaired by Iain Stewart (PT Guidance), has been looking at what we can do at Liberton High to improve pupil attendance. In addition to reflecting on our current practices, members of the group have also visited other schools. Based on one such visit we are considering changing the structure of tutor groups. In the past, we have had groups of 25-30 pupils all the same age. What we are proposing to change to is groups of between 20 and 25 of pupils ranging from S1 through to S6 within house groups. There are pros and cons to doing this but some of the advantages include:

• Breaking up peer groups who have developed bad timekeeping habits and have security in their groups
• Giving senior pupils the responsibility of looking after and supporting younger pupils
• Further developing buddying opportunities
  

In the past few weeks staff and pupils have had the opportunity to comment on the proposals; on Tuesday night those who are at the Parent Council meeting will have the opportunity to air their views.