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?
