Sunday, 4 December 2011
First / Last Word
This will be the first part of the blog that you read but the last bit that I write....blogs are usually laid out like that. What I would say is that I've written this account in this format for our Year 6 pupils. We talk a lot with the children about how writing changes when we write for different audiences. If you're not a pupil, please feel free to talk to me about the visit, observations, recommendations and practice implications.
Friday, 2 December 2011
Friday - A Tale of Two Schools...
Today I visited Hunter College Elementary School in Manhattan. It's a primary school with a high school on top! 25-40% of pupils who leave the high school join The Ivy League, the top universities in the USA. In the UK our equivalent is Oxbridge, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The school falls into the category of 'gifted' school and only admits pupils who have tested and shown that they are higher ability learners.
I met Mr Randy Collins the principal of Hunter Elementary and also the director of the entire campus. He took me round to the entrance hall where the 6th Grade (year 7) pupils has set up an activity that they'd been planning while learning about probability. Grade 2 (year 3) children were playing the fairground games that they'd created. I was given some tickets and played a few games. Each game cost a ticket & if you won, you got 2 back. The PTFA provided prizes for children who'd collected certain numbers of tickets.
Next I was introduced to a Year 3 class who were working on patterns by playing card games. They had to lay 12 cards out and make 'sets' of 3 cards and could group them according to their colour, shape, pattern or number. They were considering 4 different variables. Next I met with Miss Sirota one of the 6th Grade teachers. She was the one who had answered my first email and made the visit happen. We talked about activities and projects that both schools could share. Some great possibilities. For example, Miss Sirota's class are soon to study an Agatha Christie book and would love to learn more about British country homes, the kind of place where her stories are set. Perhaps we can find a country house near our school and film it for the children in New York. In the same way Trellech children could learn a lot about The Big Apple from friends at Hunter. We talked about the possibly of setting up a shared website and/or blog to share information.
At lunchtime I got a cab up to The Bronx and met up with the other headteachers. This afternoon we were at Francisco Oller School which has over 300 pupils. Once again I was really impressed by the children and the staff and the tranquility of the place. The Bronx is a tough neighbourhood with many social barriers and hurdles to wellbeing. I didn't hear a single shout, just calm and the children were inquisitive and, when I spoke with them, pretty friendly. I had a real feeling that Hollywood treats places like this really badly. Maybe they used to be dark depressing and dangerous places bit again all I saw today was colour and vibrancy....and very high quality teaching. Teachers I saw talked in such a positive way and constantly suggested that the children were doing well and could do well. One thing that was really evident today was that next to every piece of displayed work was an assessment sheet with clear simple marking and an explanation of the 'grade' that the work got.
This school uses what's called a linked 'model' so the health and support services are not in the school but very nearby and the staff escort the children when they need to go for treatment.
Again I was aware today that the decisions about how this support is provided can't be made in the school, they need to be made by the people who lead and manage the support departments and they need to split up the money in a different way.
When you spend the money making sure that people work in the school with the children (people like nurses, social workers, community workers, dentists etc) it means that you know the children are looked after and that they are ready and able to learn. Everyone is working to help the children IN the school and shaping their minds and telling them all the time that they can and should have dreams and that those dreams could come true.
Later tonight we are meeting again to talk about what we have learned this week.
I met Mr Randy Collins the principal of Hunter Elementary and also the director of the entire campus. He took me round to the entrance hall where the 6th Grade (year 7) pupils has set up an activity that they'd been planning while learning about probability. Grade 2 (year 3) children were playing the fairground games that they'd created. I was given some tickets and played a few games. Each game cost a ticket & if you won, you got 2 back. The PTFA provided prizes for children who'd collected certain numbers of tickets.
Next I was introduced to a Year 3 class who were working on patterns by playing card games. They had to lay 12 cards out and make 'sets' of 3 cards and could group them according to their colour, shape, pattern or number. They were considering 4 different variables. Next I met with Miss Sirota one of the 6th Grade teachers. She was the one who had answered my first email and made the visit happen. We talked about activities and projects that both schools could share. Some great possibilities. For example, Miss Sirota's class are soon to study an Agatha Christie book and would love to learn more about British country homes, the kind of place where her stories are set. Perhaps we can find a country house near our school and film it for the children in New York. In the same way Trellech children could learn a lot about The Big Apple from friends at Hunter. We talked about the possibly of setting up a shared website and/or blog to share information.
At lunchtime I got a cab up to The Bronx and met up with the other headteachers. This afternoon we were at Francisco Oller School which has over 300 pupils. Once again I was really impressed by the children and the staff and the tranquility of the place. The Bronx is a tough neighbourhood with many social barriers and hurdles to wellbeing. I didn't hear a single shout, just calm and the children were inquisitive and, when I spoke with them, pretty friendly. I had a real feeling that Hollywood treats places like this really badly. Maybe they used to be dark depressing and dangerous places bit again all I saw today was colour and vibrancy....and very high quality teaching. Teachers I saw talked in such a positive way and constantly suggested that the children were doing well and could do well. One thing that was really evident today was that next to every piece of displayed work was an assessment sheet with clear simple marking and an explanation of the 'grade' that the work got.
This school uses what's called a linked 'model' so the health and support services are not in the school but very nearby and the staff escort the children when they need to go for treatment.
Again I was aware today that the decisions about how this support is provided can't be made in the school, they need to be made by the people who lead and manage the support departments and they need to split up the money in a different way.
When you spend the money making sure that people work in the school with the children (people like nurses, social workers, community workers, dentists etc) it means that you know the children are looked after and that they are ready and able to learn. Everyone is working to help the children IN the school and shaping their minds and telling them all the time that they can and should have dreams and that those dreams could come true.
Later tonight we are meeting again to talk about what we have learned this week.
Thoughts so far...
We've now spent 2 days working with schools in Manhattan and The Bronx. As I said last night (when I was tired and kept falling asleep each sentence), I was quite wrong about what the schools would be like. I've seen schools in tough parts of a tough city but in them only hope, high quality learning and high quality teaching. These are bright, colourful spaces where children thrive and grow (where have i heard that phrase before?!) The schools are clearly making a very real difference to not only the quality of their pupils lives but the quality of the communities they serve. One of the many barriers that these communities face is a moving population, (often) families move into an area and then before long they move on for some reason. Yesterday even after walking through a neighbourhood which was quite deprived I was thinking that, if you could solve that problem and keep all the people 'in', the effects of what the schools are doing would bring about real change in a generation. The schools plan their services around their pupils' needs so that all the people in the community whose job is to help children (& their families) work in the place where the children spend most of their time - the school. This 'model' works in these schools in these areas but wouldn't work in every school in every area in the same way. That's another powerful message. For example it would be too expensive to have a dentist, social worker, nurse at Trellech School even on a part time basis. But what I've seen this week so far makes me excited about possibilities for working with the new Trellech Surgery when it opens opposite the school next year. Another important lesson which has been very clear (& a little frustrating sometimes) is that it's not just about the money, it's about how the services are arranged. In most Welsh primary schools, the headteacher is in charge of every aspect of the school. In the schools we've seen here, the principal is like a sort of mayor (in a way), someone who oversees and works with leaders who each manage an portent area. They're not teachers but they are professionals and experts in their areas like health and well being.
Today I will be visiting a very different school. Hunter College Elementary School is a state school in the upper east side of Manhattan. The school caters for what we in Wales would call More Able and Talented pupils. Children have to take a test and undergo an assessment with a psychologist and only if they get a high enough score will they be offered a place. It costs parents a few hundred dollars for their children to take the test and assessment. The school is located on a block between Madison Avenue and Park Avenue and has an Elementary and high school on one site. I set up this visit myself to see what we at Trellech can learn about teaching higher level thinking and learning skills, an important area for any school and one that I am really interested in. I also set this link up as an opportunity for Trellech pupils to work with friends in the USA. Hopefully we can set up some pupil to pupil links between Trellech and Hunter and have our pupils learning what they learn in part from children in another part of the world. That's a really important and powerful way to learn. When you plan, do and present work for a real audience, the experience and learning is so much more meaningful and memorable.
This afternoon I'll be joining back up with colleagues at an Elementary school in The Bronx. The Children's Aid Society tell me that this is statistically the most deprived part of the USA. .....bit of a contrasting day I think today!
Year 6, what do you think about this? Could it work at Trellech? Why? Why not?
Today I will be visiting a very different school. Hunter College Elementary School is a state school in the upper east side of Manhattan. The school caters for what we in Wales would call More Able and Talented pupils. Children have to take a test and undergo an assessment with a psychologist and only if they get a high enough score will they be offered a place. It costs parents a few hundred dollars for their children to take the test and assessment. The school is located on a block between Madison Avenue and Park Avenue and has an Elementary and high school on one site. I set up this visit myself to see what we at Trellech can learn about teaching higher level thinking and learning skills, an important area for any school and one that I am really interested in. I also set this link up as an opportunity for Trellech pupils to work with friends in the USA. Hopefully we can set up some pupil to pupil links between Trellech and Hunter and have our pupils learning what they learn in part from children in another part of the world. That's a really important and powerful way to learn. When you plan, do and present work for a real audience, the experience and learning is so much more meaningful and memorable.
This afternoon I'll be joining back up with colleagues at an Elementary school in The Bronx. The Children's Aid Society tell me that this is statistically the most deprived part of the USA. .....bit of a contrasting day I think today!
Year 6, what do you think about this? Could it work at Trellech? Why? Why not?
Thursday, 1 December 2011
Thursday - Ellen Lurie Elementary School
Wow, what an amazing and inspiring day! We split into two groups today and 4 of us went to PS5 (the number of the school). It's in a pretty tough neighbourhood in the north of Manhattan. I'll be honest. I thought that we'd see a slightly hectic school that was struggling to control 'difficult' pupils who found it hard to learn for all sorts of reasons. I was very wrong. The school has 788 pupils and 99% of them receive free school meals - this is one of the ways that school compare each other.
Our first stop was the school based health centre. Was talked to the busy medical team who are based at the school and as 'at home' as the teachers. They are not visitors, this is their place of work. At the front door is a desk with a NYPD police officer overseeing security. Again she's not a visitor, she works there. As well as the principal there is a Community School Director. Her job is to run all the parts of the school that involve partnerships and oversee extended learning and community involvement. She is paid by the Children' Aid Society. She's not a visitor, she works there. By organising the school in this way, children are at the centre of the schools work. There is just 'joined up thinking' about how these people are paid. They work where they are most needed and where they can help most.
Next we met a group of parents in the Community Room. This room is really popular. Some days they can come in to learn knitting skills, other days they creative things in art sessions. On other days, they have the chance to meet and speak with a psychologist about things that worry them or which are affecting their learning in a bad way.
The ladies who spoke very little English get a lot of support from each other and the program staff. ... But they made the best cup of coffee I've had all week!
After this we spoke with members of the social work team who told us about the 'Balance Room', a place where children can choose to go for a bit of time out to learn about controlling their anger. After this we met with Mrs Sota the school's principal (headteacher) - she was a fantastic character who has led the school for 14 years.
We then visited classes from each year group. Each year group has around 5 classes and what was very obvious when we stood in and watched lessons was the quality of the learning which of course is down to the quality of teaching. My favourite lesson was a mixed year 3-4 class of pupils who are quite new to the school. The children are mainly from Dominican Republic families. In this lesson two visitors from the NY Reatoration Project visited to show the children how to investigate how much salt was in each sample. The samples came from the Harlem River (also called East River) and the Hudson River to the west. I was really impressed by the children's willingness to learn, their correct answers and the level of work they did. Their teacher was inspirational- just a great teacher who understands how children learn.
After a fantastic lunch, of rice and sauce and fried banana, a Dominican dish, we visited a number of classes. Again lessons were calm and organised and of a really high standard. I think I expected to see a school with some wild, hard to manage children and low standards of learning. I was wrong-this is a very safe, calm and focussed place to learn. A school with high standards and most importantly high expectations.
We visited the after school club which is run by CAS and I was amazed that, for juniors, there is the option to join a reading group and get support there. The groups are split into boys and girls which let's them focus on certain activities at certain times. The sessions look just like literacy lessons. Again, high standards.
We met some fantastic teachers and leaders as well as workers today. In Wales every aspect of running a school comes down to the Headteacher but here there are more people to do those jobs that need doing but which don't make learning easier.
Fantastic day! But that's a lot of typing on a phone pad so I'm going to go now to sleep!
Our first stop was the school based health centre. Was talked to the busy medical team who are based at the school and as 'at home' as the teachers. They are not visitors, this is their place of work. At the front door is a desk with a NYPD police officer overseeing security. Again she's not a visitor, she works there. As well as the principal there is a Community School Director. Her job is to run all the parts of the school that involve partnerships and oversee extended learning and community involvement. She is paid by the Children' Aid Society. She's not a visitor, she works there. By organising the school in this way, children are at the centre of the schools work. There is just 'joined up thinking' about how these people are paid. They work where they are most needed and where they can help most.
Next we met a group of parents in the Community Room. This room is really popular. Some days they can come in to learn knitting skills, other days they creative things in art sessions. On other days, they have the chance to meet and speak with a psychologist about things that worry them or which are affecting their learning in a bad way.
The ladies who spoke very little English get a lot of support from each other and the program staff. ... But they made the best cup of coffee I've had all week!
After this we spoke with members of the social work team who told us about the 'Balance Room', a place where children can choose to go for a bit of time out to learn about controlling their anger. After this we met with Mrs Sota the school's principal (headteacher) - she was a fantastic character who has led the school for 14 years.
We then visited classes from each year group. Each year group has around 5 classes and what was very obvious when we stood in and watched lessons was the quality of the learning which of course is down to the quality of teaching. My favourite lesson was a mixed year 3-4 class of pupils who are quite new to the school. The children are mainly from Dominican Republic families. In this lesson two visitors from the NY Reatoration Project visited to show the children how to investigate how much salt was in each sample. The samples came from the Harlem River (also called East River) and the Hudson River to the west. I was really impressed by the children's willingness to learn, their correct answers and the level of work they did. Their teacher was inspirational- just a great teacher who understands how children learn.
After a fantastic lunch, of rice and sauce and fried banana, a Dominican dish, we visited a number of classes. Again lessons were calm and organised and of a really high standard. I think I expected to see a school with some wild, hard to manage children and low standards of learning. I was wrong-this is a very safe, calm and focussed place to learn. A school with high standards and most importantly high expectations.
We visited the after school club which is run by CAS and I was amazed that, for juniors, there is the option to join a reading group and get support there. The groups are split into boys and girls which let's them focus on certain activities at certain times. The sessions look just like literacy lessons. Again, high standards.
We met some fantastic teachers and leaders as well as workers today. In Wales every aspect of running a school comes down to the Headteacher but here there are more people to do those jobs that need doing but which don't make learning easier.
Fantastic day! But that's a lot of typing on a phone pad so I'm going to go now to sleep!
Thursday - Pinch, Punch, First of The Month...
This morning my group heads to Ellen Lurie Community School. Put 3703 10th Avenue, New York, 10034 into Google Maps and you'll see that it's at the top of Manhattan island. We visit Salome Urena de Henriquez School this afternoon.
Ellen Lurie School is a primary school with kindergarten through to 5th grade (Year 1 to Year 6). In the USA they call their classes by grades. Add 1 to the grade to see how it compares to our year group names in Wales...5th grade is Year 6, 4th grade is Year 5 etc.
There are 784 children in the school and 95.4% receive free school meals. 51% of speak English as their main language (49% don't). The school has a full time nurse and medical assistant and escort who take children to & from the in-school medical centre. They also have a part-time dentist and a dental hygienist.
Every child in the USA has to have vaccination; in Wales parents can choose. Here in New York, the school is fined for every pupil who is not vaccinated. In 2000-10, there were 5948 visits to the school based health centre for vaccinations, dental work and help for asthma and obesity related support.
It's quite chilly in NYC this morning, the sun rises in just under an hour so I might get a little walk in before we meet up and head north.
Ellen Lurie School is a primary school with kindergarten through to 5th grade (Year 1 to Year 6). In the USA they call their classes by grades. Add 1 to the grade to see how it compares to our year group names in Wales...5th grade is Year 6, 4th grade is Year 5 etc.
There are 784 children in the school and 95.4% receive free school meals. 51% of speak English as their main language (49% don't). The school has a full time nurse and medical assistant and escort who take children to & from the in-school medical centre. They also have a part-time dentist and a dental hygienist.
Every child in the USA has to have vaccination; in Wales parents can choose. Here in New York, the school is fined for every pupil who is not vaccinated. In 2000-10, there were 5948 visits to the school based health centre for vaccinations, dental work and help for asthma and obesity related support.
It's quite chilly in NYC this morning, the sun rises in just under an hour so I might get a little walk in before we meet up and head north.
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
Wednesday - part 2
The New York Community Schools work with families and pupils from 0 to 5 years. These of course are the most important years in any child's life so the schools work with parents from when they are pregnant until the official school starting age of 5 years old. The community schools operate from 8am to 10pm (in some schools) and some schools run on Saturday too.
Tomorrow we split into two groups. I will be visiting Salome Urena de Henriquez School in Washington Heights, an area at the north end of Manhattan. Manhattan (often known as New York City) is a long thin island and in the middle is Central Park. The park is 2 1/2 miles long and half a mile wide - a precise rectangle. Manhattan is one of 5 boroughs that make up New York. The other boroughs are Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Bronx where I'll be visiting on Friday afternoon.
I have just received the final schedule for my visit on Friday to Hunter College Elementary School also in Manhattan, and the school that we'll soon be partnering with. I'll meet the principal then watch lessons in 1st grade (year 2), 2nd grade (year 3) and 6th grade (year 7).
I'm really looking forward to getting into a school and talking to children and teachers.
If you are not sure what 'jetlag' is, Google it. Feel quite tired tonight.
Tomorrow we split into two groups. I will be visiting Salome Urena de Henriquez School in Washington Heights, an area at the north end of Manhattan. Manhattan (often known as New York City) is a long thin island and in the middle is Central Park. The park is 2 1/2 miles long and half a mile wide - a precise rectangle. Manhattan is one of 5 boroughs that make up New York. The other boroughs are Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Bronx where I'll be visiting on Friday afternoon.
I have just received the final schedule for my visit on Friday to Hunter College Elementary School also in Manhattan, and the school that we'll soon be partnering with. I'll meet the principal then watch lessons in 1st grade (year 2), 2nd grade (year 3) and 6th grade (year 7).
I'm really looking forward to getting into a school and talking to children and teachers.
If you are not sure what 'jetlag' is, Google it. Feel quite tired tonight.
National Centre for Community Schools
Today we spent the day at the NCCS and had a number of presentations about community schools. The Director of the Children's Aid Society spoke about how the organisation works with schools and their pupils who come from quite poor families. In New York they have built a system of community schools where each school (which is involved) has a School Based Health Centre. That means that children can have regular Health checks and vaccinations when they need them. They can also go there if they need to see a doctor or feel unwell. This means that parents do not need to miss time off work and it means that everything that children need to help them to be healthy and ready to learn is under one roof. We heard from a psychologist who works with children who have troubles at home and he explained how he works with their parents sometimes too to make things better. The way schools are organised (to solve some of the problems that they have) is very different here and this is one of the reasons for the visit. We also heard a presentation from a principal (headteacher) and she told us how she had organised her school and changed it from a school with a lot of problems and difficulties to a community school which has wonderful support for its pupils.
It was good to hear that a lot of the things we do at Trellech Primary are done here too. Sometimes it's very hard to change things so that they can be improved and make a difference because of rules or the way things have always been done. It's great to learn about different ways of working and organising things.
There has been a lot of information to take in today and we are having a short break now before meeting again as a group to talk and think about key points that we've learned today. It's been really great to learn these things with other headteachers and to talk about how things could, should and hopefully might change in the future. The leader of out group is called Professor Harris and she is the senior policy advisor to the Welsh Edudation Department. We've had some fantastic discussions already about learning and how schools can get even better at doing what they do. I think we're doing really well at Trellech Primary School.
It was good to hear that a lot of the things we do at Trellech Primary are done here too. Sometimes it's very hard to change things so that they can be improved and make a difference because of rules or the way things have always been done. It's great to learn about different ways of working and organising things.
There has been a lot of information to take in today and we are having a short break now before meeting again as a group to talk and think about key points that we've learned today. It's been really great to learn these things with other headteachers and to talk about how things could, should and hopefully might change in the future. The leader of out group is called Professor Harris and she is the senior policy advisor to the Welsh Edudation Department. We've had some fantastic discussions already about learning and how schools can get even better at doing what they do. I think we're doing really well at Trellech Primary School.
Day 1
Woke up early, that's jet lag for you. This morning I have been reading up about a key US education policy called 'No Child Left Behind'. Have a look on Google. All children have tests every year and each year the results for each year group have to be better than last year. If not there are penalties for the school. One question I have will be 'does this affect the sort of things children can learn?' We used to have tests like this for Year 2 & 6 bit they were stopped about 7 years ago in Wales.
I went to get some breakfast at about 5am. It's now 8am which is the heart of the rush hour but my body feels like it's mid-morning. I can see quite a few yellow school buses now picking up and collecting just like at Trellech. There's a small high school on the block next to my hotel. This is a 'nice' part of New York City and although the school next door is apparently good, there is no playing field - we're very lucky to have such a lot of space at our school and lots of green. Of course that is often same as primary schools in cities like Cardiff.
On the news this morning they said that President Obama is visiting the city tonight. The First Lady will be at a function in this part of the city too! She probably heard that Dai the Dragon is in town!
We're heading to meetings soon. More updates later
I went to get some breakfast at about 5am. It's now 8am which is the heart of the rush hour but my body feels like it's mid-morning. I can see quite a few yellow school buses now picking up and collecting just like at Trellech. There's a small high school on the block next to my hotel. This is a 'nice' part of New York City and although the school next door is apparently good, there is no playing field - we're very lucky to have such a lot of space at our school and lots of green. Of course that is often same as primary schools in cities like Cardiff.
On the news this morning they said that President Obama is visiting the city tonight. The First Lady will be at a function in this part of the city too! She probably heard that Dai the Dragon is in town!
We're heading to meetings soon. More updates later
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
Day 1ish
The flight was long and the weather caused a few delays but we're here in New York. It's 5 past midnight (5.05am in Trellech). The weather is pretty much the same so far but due to get drier. It's been a long day. We start tomorrow (Wednesday) with presentations from 10am at the National Centre for Community Schools on the other side of the city so time to rest now.
Heading West
I'm at Heathrow Airport sitting in seat 33B on a British Airways 747 (jumbo jet). We take off in 10 minutes. I have met up with the other headteachers and group leader and will be down to business tomorrow after a couple of hours sleep. Four busy days ahead but looking very interesting. Speak to you next from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
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