Introduction
Following a three day week and only two of them with children, the post Christmas honeymoon was well and truly over last week. That aside, I think there is so much to look forward to this year, both for the school and for me personally. The school will be required to decide on whether to become an Academy and with it all the attendant planning and management required regardless of the outcome. Assuming the local council vote in favour of the proposed 6th form developments we will have a significant amount of planning and preparation to undertake, including the management of another new building programme! In addition, we have all the usual Spring and Summer schools events to prepare for and enjoy. Here, I think of things like the School Production, the Summer Concert, Curriculum Enhancement Days, Sponsored Walk and Sports Afternoon, House Drama Competition, Activities Week, the Yr11 Prom and so on and so on. And then we will come full circle again back to the GCSE results in August and the annual cycle will start all over again!
Nationally, as I said last week, we have the excitement of the Olympics to look forward to – I suspect a “once in a lifetime event” for most of us. And then on a personal level I have the joy (and the expense!) of my son getting married in May. One down two children to go!
Given all the demands that these events make on my time, I did think that I might cut back on the amount that I prepare and write for my weekly Blog. But then, only a few days ago, I got this lovely Blog feedback comment from a parent who said how much she enjoyed reading my Blog, what I had to say in my introductions and hearing all about the various events, activities successes and achievements of our children, and how it all made her feel very proud that her children attended Teddington School – so how could I possibly think of cutting back now!
I have enjoyed one of those wonderfully diverse weeks – the ones that are non-stop and range from the sublime to the ridiculous – governors meetings on finance and Academies, budget planning, 6th form planning meetings, Senior Leadership Team training workshop, visits from two large groups of teachers from Sweden on Wednesday and then Finland on Thursday and then there was “chicken bone watch”. I should explain. Chef makes some outstanding savoury chicken wings (amongst his many other delights) and our children love them. Sadly, and I’m unsure whether it’s a modern day thing or whether it has always been the case, too many young children have an incredibly slack attitude towards litter and will happily throw whatever they no longer require on the floor wherever they may be standing or sitting at the time. I have a belief that children should be “educated” rather than disciplined into not throwing litter – which is a nice theory, but jolly hard to implement. I keep trying. Nevertheless, towards the end of last term I finally got fed up of picking up chicken bones at the end of break time, so I informed our children (and Chef Andy) that the flavoursome chicken wings would be no more. A shame for the many who are respectful of getting rid of their litter, particularly as I don’t like punishing innocent children, but I had reached the end of my tether.
At the beginning of this term I was approached by a small delegation of students who asked if we could perhaps try once more with Chef’s wings, so I agreed and informed the students in their Monday briefing that I would be giving it one more try until I find one chicken bone on the floor. Consequently, on Tuesday (Chef’s flavoursome chicken wing day) I was scouring the floor for bones. Weeks 1 Chicken bones nil! They’ll be on the menu again next Tuesday!
In addition to my battle with bones, I have also determined to get our children into school a little earlier in the mornings. I want them in the school building by 8.40, but a fairly large majority seem to think that it’s ok to be on school premises by 8.45, and do indeed seem to lack some sense of urgency in this regard. I’m happy to say that my presence at the school door each morning and my “welcoming” dulcet tones is having the desired effect. Although road works in the middle of Teddington over the last couple of days has not helped my cause. I aim to be standing at the door from 8.35 to 9.00am each day until the “message” is well and truly embedded!
Finally, if chicken bone watch wasn’t ridiculous enough, our Friday after school Murder Mystery play rehearsal certainly was.
Highlights of last week
The annual technology show for schools, BETT, was held last week. Mr Watling and Mr Cragg were there speaking about our use of ICT in general, and the music department in particular. As ever during BETT week, the school hosted delegations of foreign teachers and decision makers- this time from Sweden, Finland and Nigeria. Foreign visitors invariably arrange to see the school to learn about our ICT provision, but having toured the school always remark on the integration of the ICT with the teaching and learning. This year, Mr Watling and Dr Hui were aided by Digital Leaders Christian De Podesta and Ashley Allen as tour guides. Our visitors were particularly interested in how the Digital Leaders programme was used in such innovative ways, not only tapping into the great ICT expertise of our students to help teachers, but also giving our students experience in working in professional, adult meetings.
Finnish Delegation in Music Room
Congratulations (and entered onto our Achievement wall)
Congratulations to our yr11 core PE group who play golf on Thursdays. Following their session they go next door to the Coffee shop and enjoy a coffee and a chat. Mr. Sheldrake was approached by the manager of the shop who commented on how well behaved and polite they were, and a credit to the school. Well done boys, great news.
Results – last week
| Date | Year | Gender | Sport | Opponents | Venue | Competition | Result |
| Wednesday 11th Jan | 7 | Girls | Basketball | Fullbrook | Away | Surrey Cup pool match | WON 22-8 |
| Friday 13th Jan | 9/10 | Girls | Indoor Cricket | Various | St. Mary’s Uni. | Borough Championships | 4th |
| Friday 13th Jan | 9 | Boys | Basketball | Christ’s | Away | Borough Final | LOST 22-38 |
Fixtures – this week
| Date | Year | Gender | Sport | Opponents | Venue | Competition | Time |
| Friday 20th Jan | 9 | Girls | Basketball | Christ’s | Away | Borough Final | Leave: 3.15pm Approx return: 5.45pm |
What’s on this week (for those involved)
- Yr11 Reports issued to students this week
- Wednesday – yr10 Chemistry GCSE exam – Sports Hall – 9.00am
- Wednesday – PE Sports Teams photos – Sports Hall – after school
- Thursday – yr10 Parents Consultation Evening – Atrium – 4.00pm
- Friday – yr 10 Physics GCSE exam – Sports Hall – 9.00am
Theme for the week – Rights & Responsibilities. 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 our website front page.
Last week’s student vote topic and outcome – ‘which is your favourite season?’ – I suppose it was no surprise that the most preferred season was summer with 61% of votes with Autumn the least favourite with only 5% of the vote. Spring and winter were 15% and 17% accordingly.
This week’s student vote – Preferred teaching styles. (This will be an interesting one!)
In the news – Selected this week by 9AS
General
Your child may have complained to you at some point that, even though it may be quite hot, I insist they wear a jumper or a blazer in school at all times other than lunchtimes and in lessons as agreed by their teacher. My reason for doing this has been because I knew that as soon as I let boys remove their jumper/blazer they would soon look as untidy as they did in the old school, with long-tailed shirts constantly on display. Girls, on the other hand, would look fine in their new blouses, but I couldn’t let girls remove their jumper/blazer and not let the boys. A sure fire way to ensure out and out revolution!
Summer shirt
However, I have been mindful of children’s comfort and so have been talking to our school suppliers about a “summer” shirt for boys. I am currently getting the views of children on the proposal (photo) to see if they would be interested in wearing it. The shirt, which is a standard square-cut school shirt (therefore not unreasonably priced) with our logo on the pocket, can then be worn without a tie as demonstrated by our splendid model in the photo. If children do like it, I will announce at some point in the summer term that we can move to warm weather uniform, where girls and boys can then come to school in just their blouse/shirt should they wish. This shirt can also be used with a tie when we move back to “winter” uniform and wearing a jumper/blazer again. I must say, I really like it and I think the children will all look very smart. I will inform you as to the outcome once it has been voted on by the children and discussed with the Governors. Staff have already seen it and hold the same view as me.
What made me smile this week
One of our very many delightful young year 8 girls is Ava Shacklady. Ava has just undergone some surgery on both her arms and ended up with a full bandage/plaster arrangement from virtually shoulder to fingertips on each arm, thus making any kind of movement in her arms and hands extremely difficult for her. After only one or two days convalescing at home, Ava, in true pioneering spirit, was very keen to get back to school and, despite the obvious attendant difficulties, she did come back. When I was informed of this I felt that she deserved some recognition so I found out what class she was in at that time (Mr. Mahay’s Maths class) I picked up my very special stainless steel “designer” fruit bowl (a gift from some Swedish visitors) and placed in the middle of it, just one silver foil wrapped chocolate biscuit. I took it along to Ava’s classroom, walked in with it held high as a waiter might do, and made a ceremony of the presentation amidst rapturous applause for Ava as she clumsily scooped the chocolate biscuit off the fruit bowl with her two bandaged arms!
Well done Ava, a brave young girl who entered into the spirit of my little joke. Well, there has to be some perks to being a Head teacher!
Have a good week.
