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Introduction

I think it is the case that everyone is getting tired. I have had many discussions (heated arguments in some cases) with family and friends over the years when I have made a comment similar to this. Coming from a whole array of jobs and professions they find it difficult to understand how, given the number of school holidays and the relative shortness of time between them, a teacher can possibly make that statement. And one would have to have sympathy with that view point, but it remains the case nevertheless!

It is difficult, therefore, to put forward an argument in support of this view-point that would find favour, least of all sympathy, with most other workers in Britain. However, I don’t make the assertion in a bid to seek sympathy, I make it because that is what I feel and what I experience as the Head of a large secondary school.

Teaching is a very fast paced, highly accountable and “full on” profession. The number of individual conversations, communications, challenges, issues and resolutions undertaken in a day by teachers is far higher than most other professions. (I have read this as a piece of research evidence but as I am unable to locate the source I accept that this opinion may have less validity!) A teacher may see upwards of two hundred children through their classroom doors in a day that are educated as groups but all with their own individual needs and requirements. Planning, preparation and marking are all demanding and time consuming tasks which all get undertaken outside normal school hours.

Children too, of all ages, get tired as the weeks of a term wear on, for all the reasons that I have mentioned above. They become less tolerant and more fractious with their peers and with adults. Some become more difficult to negotiate with, less accepting of rules and sanctions and less respectful in the way in which they speak to school staff. The teenagers capacity to turn “body language” into a fine art becomes a fraction more difficult for staff to tolerate the more tired everyone becomes. Added to which, particularly in the Autumn Term, children have the growing excitement of a Christmas holiday to look forward to which adds further to their desire for less work and more play!

I could say more and I don’t doubt that there are some who would wish to put up reasoned opposition to my argument, but my point in making them is to express a view that I feel (and indeed have felt for a long time) that the traditional three term year, which has been operating with only minor modifications throughout almost the last century, has long since required changing.

Society has changed, the world of work has changed, teaching and learning styles have changed, the use and role of technology has changed and the examination system has changed significantly, yet we still operate the three term year with the same calendar layout as has always been the case. Throughout my career there have been several regional and national research projects that have looked into changing the school year. There has been talk of four term years, six term years, changes to the time and age of transition from primary to secondary school yet, whether through inertia or a reluctance to change a way of life understood by families for generations, the school year continues to exist pretty much unscathed.

My view is that our half-terms remain uneven (created around our national holidays) with some half terms being too long and some being too short. I would scrap the long school summer holiday as (whilst there will unlikely be a child or a teacher who doesn’t appreciate them) I have never really understood why they need to be so long. Given a choice, I would opt for six, evenly spaced, teaching blocks in a year (of either 6 or 7 weeks long) with a more even distribution of holiday periods in between. The longest holiday would be no more than four weeks. This way I think that we would avoid the “exhaustion at the end of a long term” syndrome as well as avoiding the need for that whole “re-capping at the end of a long summer holiday” process.

A simplistic model delivered by someone who won’t be subject to the vagaries of the academic year for many more years so, easy for me to write perhaps? Regardless of my views, or any others, we are all looking forward to Christmas!

Highlights of last week

Although it is one school event I have studiously avoided, I have been reliably informed that the Yr7 Christmas Disco was a great deal of fun for all involved. Thanks to Mrs DeBrett and staff volunteers and the excellent group of yr11 students for organising and managing the event.

On Thursday evening two drama based activities ran concurrently. One was a trip to see “Wicked” which was led by Mr. Cragg, who informed me on Friday morning that not only did our group of students thoroughly enjoy the production, but their attitude and behaviour was exemplary – he said he felt very proud of them. Mrs Hope also accompanied the students that night and she confirmed Mr. Cragg’s view of the behaviour of our students. Feeling equally proud were Ms Watts and Ms Cooper whose yr10 GCSE Drama groups performed their interpretation of “Our day out” in front of a very appreciative audience. The students involved, and for many it was their first time performing in front of an audience, were excellent and gave thoroughly convincing and thoroughly enjoyable performances. This event, which I had the pleasure of watching, bodes extremely well for their final GCSE practical performances in just over twelve months time.

On Saturday morning I went along to the excellent PTA Christmas tree sale, which was held in beautiful winter sunshine. Unfortunately though, and for the first time in several years, I was unable to buy our family tree when I was there. This was due to the fact that my youngest daughter, who ever since being knee-high, has deemed it her responsibility to be present on tree selection day, was unable to be there. So she vetoed my ability to purchase a tree in her absence! Nevertheless, I did enjoy a coffee and a bacon sandwich from their drinks stall whilst I was there though! As ever, my thanks go to the stalwart band of parents who are constantly working hard to support the school in so many different ways.

Congratulations (and entered onto our Achievement wall)

• Congratulations to Alice Newbould (8AT) who took part in the “Charlene Slater International Cup” for acrobatic gymnastics in South Tyneside last week. Alice, who trains at Heathrow Gym, secured a third place in the competition, thus securing a bronze medal. Well done Alice.
• Congratulations also to a group of our high performing yr10 Maths students who were entered by Mr. Jacob recently for the Senior UKMT Maths challenge. This challenge is aimed at 16-19 yr old Maths students and and passes are awarded at bronze, silver and gold level. Consequently, our students performed at levels way above their chronological age. The results were as follows ;-
  Bronze – Boseun Kang and Cathall Flynn
  Silver – Georgina Stewart-Fleming, Cameron Bose, James Hoppe and Aaron Bird
  Gold – Emily Harrison and Matthew Russell
  An outstanding achievement, well done to them all.
• Finally, congratulations to Angus Cunningham who is the creator of our school christmas card for this year. I think it is just what we all need right now! Well done Angus.

SPORTS RESULTS and FIXTURES

Results – last week 

Date	Year	Gender	Sport	Opponents	Venue	Competition	Result
Tuesday 6th  Dec	9	Girls	Netball	Various	Hampton Academy	Borough Championship	Runners-up
Wednesday 7th  Dec	9	Boys	Basketball	Hampton Academy	Home	Borough Championship semi-final pool match	WON 16-7
Wednesday 7th  Dec	9	Boys	Basketball	Hampton Academy	Home	Borough Championship semi-final pool match	WON 22-16
Thursday 8th  Dec	7	Girls	Basketball	Winston Churchill	Away	Surrey Cup pool match	WON 18-17

Fixtures – this week 

Date	Year	Gender	Sport	Opponents	Venue	Competition	Time
Tuesday 13th  Dec	8/9	Girls	Basketball	Waldegrave	Home	Borough Championship semi-final	3.45pm
Wednesday 14th  Dec	9	Girls	Basketball	George Abbot	Away	Surrey Cup pool match	Leave: 3.15pm Approx return: 6.00pm

What’s on this week (for those involved)

• Wednesday pm – Performing Arts prefects at St. john’s school production of Macbeth
• 110 year 7 and 8 students are watching ‘The Snow Queen’ at the Rose Theatre, Kingston.
• Thursday pm – yr8 see a performance of “A Christmas Carol” by The Globe Theatre”
• Thursday – Winter Concert – theatre/Atrium – 7.00 – 9.00pm
• Friday – Staff v Students netball match – Sports Hall – lunchtime

Theme for the week – Christmas/Hannukah

This is an interesting weekly section. Both the Theme for the week and “In the news” can be accessed by the “Student News” link on the school website.

Last week’s student vote topic was about Healthy Eating and the results from the 502 votes cast on the question ‘How important is it to eat healthily?’ were -

Yes – It is really important 344 votes; 58%

No, we should be able to eat what we want 101 votes; 20%

Not sure, its only fuel after all 57 votes; 11%

This week’s student vote topic - ’Whether you think Christmas has become too commercialised?’

In the news – Selected this week by 10BT

General

I informed parents a short while ago that we would be summarising the feedback that we got from parents at the yr7 Consultation Evening. This feedback was greatly appreciated and we were gratified that it was predominantly very positive. We will, however, ensure that we respond appropriately to the issues that parents have raised. The summary can be seen here.

We have just received the annual exam performance data summary (although it has arrived later than normal this year) from the Government. This detailed compilation of data (called Raiseonline) provides schools with a wealth of data to allow it to measure its performance in a whole range of categories. The key indicator of overall school exam performance is the “Value-added” score which is arrived at through a detailed and complicated formula which is way beyond my comprehension. In simplistic terms, a score of 1,000 is an indication that a school’s exam results is commensurate with the ability of its students on entry. Our overall score this year of 1.009.5 puts us just in the “significantly above expectations” category, which we are very pleased about. In line with national trends, our overall girls score was higher than our overall boys score.

I have the need to remind students about arrival times for the start of the school day and so felt that you should be aware of this also. We still have too many young people who have a somewhat slack attitude to punctuality despite significant efforts to address this problem. Children need to be aware that they should be in the school building at 8.40 to hear the buzzer that tells them to go tho their tutor base in readiness for an 8.45 registration. Some students still, surprisingly given all the times they have been reminded, have a view that their requirement is to be on school premises (ie just inside the school gate) by 8.45 despite that fact that it will then take them at least another five minutes to arrive at their classroom. I would welcome your support in reminding your children of this requirement. Thank you.

Each week a lot of information gets put onto the PE Blog and some parents may not be aware of its existence. I have asked our resident IT experts to put a link to this information so that it is more accessible for parents.

What made me smile this week

A couple of things made me smile this week but I shall be saving those for my best-selling novel about schools that I shall be writing in a few years time!

However, one lovely moment which I can report was when I was asked by a small group of very nice yr 10 Media students if they could interview me as part of a video presentation they had to do for their GCSE coursework. I said I would be happy to do that and invited them into my office which, as you may know, is physically positioned in such a way as the whole world and their aunt can see right into it at all times. Yet when the girls walked in to a room which they had seen lots of times from the outside, it nevertheless produced in them a strange and somewhat nervous reaction. Despite the fact that they were there for a very good and positive reason, this did not prevent them from feeling unduly anxious. I calmed them down, did the interview, gave them all a chocolate from my children’s chocolate bowl (occasionally raided by staff visitors also!) and then they left quite happily with, perhaps, a myth dispelled. Afterwards, though, I did ponder on the thought that it would be nice if I could get the same reaction from one or two students entering my office who perhaps deserve to have some apprehension and anxiety about a forthcoming meeting with the Head!

Have a good week.

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