As we prepare for the new school year…………… #PostAPositive

It is inevitable that at the end of August, our thoughts have been increasingly turning to the start of the new school year. indeed some colleagues have already returned.

I was inspired by the post on Staffrm  by @SeanwelshBacc in which he talks about how much he enjoys his job and also takes up the mantle of #PostAPositive ( thanks Sean), so much so, I decided to write my own.

I am in the privileged position of being a headteacher. The best job in the world I would say ( well most days anyway!). Along with that privilege though comes responsibility and accountability neither of which should be taken lightly. The pupils and their needs must always be at the heart of what ever we do as a school so as I have been sat reflecting, preparing and discussing aspects of school improvement on my own, with members of the leadership team and with my Chair of Governors during the summer, I keep coming back to the question ‘So what? What will this mean to the pupils and their families?

A big year for us

There are so many things I could write about – but the purposes of this blog, for me, three things stand out as most significant:

Our new school building

This is a big year for us, for after many years of waiting,we are finally getting a new school building – purpose built for our pupils. What an amazing opportunity it has been to be able to have an input into designing a school for the many hundred pupils who will attend over the coming years. Pupils, staff, parents, members of the multi-agency team and governors all had an input in what they would like to see in the new school and finally the vision is heading towards reality. There is still lots to do this term as the building is still under construction and is as yet unfurnished. We get the keys to our new school in December 2015 and open to pupils in our new school building on 11th January 2016. How exciting!

It is of course exciting, but I am concious of how difficult such a huge change can be for our pupils, their families and staff, (particularly as we are moving to a new site approximately 2 miles away). To this end, our whole school topic this term is going to be ‘Buildings’ and ‘Change’ with all subjects where ever possible and as appropriate being taught through these themes e.g. in Science focussing on materials and their properties and Life and Living Processes to enable the children to think alot about buildings and their construction and around the environment of our new school. ‘Change’ will enable us to do lots of work on the Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning relating to the move. Visits to the new school site are organised this term for staff and where possible pupils and coffee mornings and for everyone there are regular updates on my weekly headteacher blog and on our school twitter account  @CamberwellPark

Our vision for the next 5 years

I am proud that our school has been judged Outstanding twice by Ofsted.It is important however, that we continue to review all of our policies, procedures and school practice to ensure that we continue to offer the best possible provision for our pupils. The move to the new school, the facilities it will provide and the new community where we will settle gives us an important renewed backdrop and impetus for this conversation. To this end, the governors and leadership team have together begun to consider the school’s vision for the next 5 years – what are our next steps. We have been asking ourselves some very important questions which are:

In 5 years time…

• What will the children be saying about being a pupil at Camberwell Park School
• What will the parents of children who attend be saying about the school?
• What will staff be saying about working at the school?
• What will other schools who we work with be saying about us?
• What will people who live in the local community be saying?

Work to advance our initial discussions will continue into this year involving all stakeholders – a shared vision we all believe in and with the commitment and support that I know is there we can together make it happen!

Our partnerships and work with other schools ( Challenge and Support)

We have a number of networks  with other schools which we are really grateful for and I believe add mutual value to all of the schools involved. I wrote about our MC2SP ( Manchester Challenge to Support Partnership) in a blog for NCTL in January 2015. In addition working as an LLE and as part of a teaching school alliance enables us to develop our knowledge and skills by reflecting on our own practice in the context of other schools. During this year though I am really excited that we are part of a pilot project of 12 special schools working with Jessica Nash and the SSAT_SEN @SSAT_SEN on a programme of peer challenge and support using an external adviser working with us across the schools. I have been involved in shaping the programme which is very much about school improvement and support and definitely not about ‘Mocksted’ . Building capacity in my own leadership team it is two of my assistant heads and not me who will be involved in the programme, although I am looking forward to joining them on the launch day on September 10th.

So many things……

There really are so many things I could write about as we enter into this new school year and I have not mentioned – so many things we are working on within school as a result of our own priorities together with those brought about externally such as our continued work on assessment after levels, particularly for our pupils working above P8 and our continued work on implementing the SEND reforms and making the process as child and family centred as possible.

What am I most looking forward to?

Tuesday – seeing the staff team again – hopefully refreshed – everyone pleased to see each other and a renewed enthusiasm to being Passionate, Respectful, Organised, Understanding and Dedicated to the school – professional behaviours we are all signed up to as a staff team.

Wednesday – We welcome 18 new pupils!! Such a big day for them starting school! Seeing all of our other pupils after the holiday too –  how they have grown, new hair cuts, new shoes – lots of smiles! Spending time going round school on Wednesday – privilege is the only appropriate word.

Last word

I am not for one minute imagining the year won’t be without it’s challenges – I am under no illusion that it will be tough at times – but just these few notes I hope will give a flavour about how the really proud headteacher who is sat here writing this blog feels – what a year ahead – how could I not be excited? – BRING IT ON!