Money, money, money.

Monday16th January.

I feel totally exhausted getting to work this morning. I have had a busy week catching up with how to manage a new baby and a child that goes to Nursery in the middle of the day. Micheal (pr. Meechal) is beautiful (as he should be… looks like his mum. It is strange coming back to school after a week out during term time. The PT has worked hard to keep the place ticking over and has had a wonderful time in P5/6/7. Due to a staffing change that I won’t elaborate on we find ourselves back to the same situation as in the past at Innerwick where the Head teacher shares a class with the Nursery teacher. HT in the morning, Nursery teacher in P5/6/7 in the afternoon. This means I am now in class every morning till 12:30. Nichola has the class every afternoon. I am responsible for all aspects of Maths, Language and ICT. I suppose now would be the time that HMIE will come for a visit. I am in class this morning; luckily Nichola has planned Monday and Tuesday for me. The day goes well as the class adjust to me as there main teacher for he rest of the year.

In the afternoon I manage to clear my in tray (honest, it is totally empty) I also read then delete all my email. I file the ones that require further consideration. Is it me or do we get loads of stuff that is really just junk. We hear officially that we have won a BT award for improving communication in the school. We have won £1000, a BT Road show visit, a DVD and resources. Details of the entry below:

Section A: Speaking and listening in your classroom

Please describe how you embed speaking and listening in your teaching and in your interactions with colleagues.

At Innerwick our aims in talking are as follows: To convey information/perform to a specific audience. To establish relationships and interact with others positively. To express feelings and opinions with clarity. To present, share, clarify and reflect on ideas, experiences and opinions. To give imaginative and aesthetic pleasure. To speak audibly and confidently. To give pupils an awareness of genre and knowledge about language. To provide alternative modes of communication for pupils with special needs Most pupils on entry to the pre-pre-school Nursery class will have acquired skills in talking but staff in Nursery and in Infant Classes will ensure that pupils are given opportunities to: Use talk in play to enable pupils to express their experiences and thought processes. Talk/during/after activities across the curriculum, particularly in reading and writing tasks. Learn the disciplines of effective talking, eg taking turns, facing the audience, listening to other speakers. The following will be considered at all stages: We will teach the pupils the disciplines of effective talking – taking turns, making eye contact etc. Talking will be incorporated into reading and writing programme, and pupils given opportunities to discuss, question and respond to books/texts and pupils own writing. Talking will be used in play activities to arrive at outcomes. Practical activities will provide a context which will require the pupils to talk together. Playing games and engaging in simulations and role-play will be used to develop confidence and competence, to facilitate talking and develop skills in attention and recall. Pupils will be given opportunities for talking in drama and performance. Pupils will be given opportunities to acquire knowledge of language which will help them in their talking activities. The pupils will make use of tape/video recorder to hear/discuss their own and classmates’ performance. Older pupils will be given opportunities to talk individually/or in pairs on an interest, item of news, a specific topic, reference work undertaken, environmental issues, opinions, etc. Listening Our aims in Listening/Watching are as follows: To obtain information and respond appropriately. To establish relationships and interact with others. To appreciate the feelings, beliefs, cultures and opinions of others. To reflect upon ideas, experiences and opinions of self and others. To gain imaginative and aesthetic pleasure.

Section B: Speaking and listening in your school

Please describe how communication is treated in your school.

In October and March each year parents are invited to the school to discuss their child’s progress. The staff are glad to talk with parents at any time. It is easier if parents who wish to have a discussion with a member of staff make an appointment. The Headteacher is always available to spewak with any parent immediately and will even visit homes if required. As new initiatives are developed parents are always invited to the school to discuss such developments. In Nursery the parents have daily feedback on the progress of their children. Prior to children starting P1 parents are invited regularly to the school to meet their child’s class teacher and observe a typical day in the infant classroom. Under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 the views of children should be taken into account when major decisions are being made which will affect their lives. At Innerwick this includes formal consultation through Pupil Councils, pupils co-opted to School Boards, Annual Standards and Quality questionnaires from pupils and parents, suggestion boxes, as well as arrangements to consult with individual children at appropriate times (subject choice, Personal Learning Plans Excursions,exclusions etc.) At Innerwick we have piloted a new website for the past year to aid communication with the parent body. http://www.millenniumschools.co.uk/pub/eastlothian/innerwick/a.html We have a very good liason with the local press and had a 2 page feature on our Nursery last year. We are actively involved with Grounds for Awareness Eco Schools (we are a Bronze holder at present) and Health Promoting Schools and have pupil and parent bodies established to discuss these developments. The School has an active P.T.A. which provides support in many activities to the school. It also provides programmes of social activities to which everyone in the community is invited. Last year we organised a community BBQ which was very well attended. We also helped establish a mothers and toddlers group last year This group meet in the school Nursery each Thursday. Currently we have 13 children attending this group.

Section C: Speaking and listening in your community

Please describe how communication forms the bedrock of the school's ethos and how it manages and forms relationships with other people and organisations.

The school is keen to establish its self at the heart of the community. Our aims state to welcome community involvement and to play our part in Innerwick’s community. Developing and fostering good business and community links is fundamental to good practise in Innerwick Primary School . Pupils will be given the opportunity to go on visits to local businesses, for example The Post Office at Innerwick, John Watson Seeds, Torness Nuclear Power Station , Virador, Community Windpower, Crystal Rigg Windfarm, Thurston Manor Holiday Park and The Crunchy Carrot as well as services such as the Countryside Ranger Service, RSPB, Royal Bank of Scotland, etc, which are appropriate to the learning activity. Visits from businesses are also be encouraged so that the children can gain first hand knowledge of how real businesses communicate and how this can be used to develop their own success no matter how small. Working with local businesses and the immediate community can make the experience of education more meaningful and worthwhile for our pupils as they can see the effect it has on themselves as well as others they know. Indeed, working with local businesses can sometimes lead to other opportunities to enhance the development of our children. Local Organisations are Audited Annually on their involvement with the school. Headteacher, pupils and staff are involved with the local flower show and Headteacher is a member of the Community Welfare Association. The staff in the school promote out of school learning by running after school clubs for ICT, Athletics, Football., Drama and Art. We are currently working on a project titled “WORLD PROMS” with the RNSO.

Tuesday 17th January

I am in class today. We have a great Problem solving lesson. The reports from the pupils have improved beyond recognition. I distribute homework and give out copies of the Kist to all P6/7 pupils. We have been successful in a bid to have a Basketball court built at Innerwick and we have a visit today looking at the site and committing money to have a full court installed. I sort out the novels for the term and reorganise the groups slightly for the next few weeks. The class work really well today. I am out in the afternoon at the Assessment working Group. This has given me a really good insight into how to change a policy and how we have to be sure that the policies we implement are adopted and fostered in practice.

Wednesday 18th January

I give an interview to the East Lothian Courier about the BT award. An article will appear in next week’s paper.

I am in class today as Nichola is out for the next couple of days on ALTA pilot training. We have a busy day in class focussing on the core Maths Programme, mostly looking at money to £20 with Level D pupils and money to £10 with level C pupils.

I e-mail Ollie and Paul about the visit to DGS next week before we book a bus.

Thursday 19th January

In class today. I introduce that meaning of enterprise and read extracts from the book contained in the Go for Enterprise Box. The children are responding well to this. In language to look through a selection of tabloids, broadsheets, and local newspapers and each pupil identifies a story they can relate to and puts them selves in the position of the reporter. They have to come up with 5 key questions that could elicit all the information in the story. The task is well done by the bulk of pupils. The children then embark in inventing a story of their own. Later in the term we are producing a School Magazine and this is an early awareness session in how difficult it is to write and create a stimulating piece of writing that engages the reader.

In the afternoon I attend Cluster Moderation. As the Cluster Rep I try not to comment too much, I am tired today and my brain is numb. Richard demonstrates his Pod casting stuff to the Cluster Heads. My stuff is not far behind but I am waiting for 4 Macs to be refreshed and this is really holding me back. The speed of the old Macs operating os10 is grim. Maybe we should be refreshing every 2 years. Now that the next generation of Macs have a Pentium processor and are 5 times faster than their predecessors I wonder if by the time I get the refresh they too will be obsolete by the time I switch them on. By the way, What happened to all the software installations that the Nurseries were promised when we got our new emacs? Is there any chance of this ever being installed? My current nursery pupils will be drawing their pensions by the time this happens.

Friday 20th January

My car breaks down in the fast lane on the A1 just as I approach the Innerwick Junction. Death stares me in the face as a Blue Circle lorry bears down on me….I manage to get into the middle of the road and crawl up to school in 1st gear. Good start to the day.

We have Maths first thing. I really enjoy teaching Maths. The pupils in there class are really developing in their own confidence and ability. We cover a little more on the concept of enterprise and how it relates to producing a school magazine. If you would like the planner I can make it available. After break I take assembly with Rev Anne Lithgow who always has an interactive story for the pupils. After assembly it is Golden Time I take charge of the computer group. I have12 children from all stages all actively engages in online gaming. Maybe Marc Prensky has a point... A strange thought occurs to me the majority of the pupils engaged on the online games are girls. Richard, Why not try this strategy to raise attainment in writing. Review an online game after playing it. Develop an online game with Characters and Stages with rewards and forfeits. I think that an idea like this could have a measurable effect. I would work with anyone on a series of lessons for writing based on this. I go to the garage to hear the damage to my wallet to repair the car.

Monday 23rd January

Today we rearrange the class timetable to allow groups to go to French and German without it affecting Maths and Language. The new timetable works well today. I work with all the reading groups who are currently reading a variety of new (ish) novels. Holes by Louis Sacher is going down well although I am later informed that this is covered in 2nd year at DGS. If anyone wants a teacher’s guide and activities on this novel as well as online activities I can arrange this or you can download them yourself.

In the afternoon “Chips” arrives to do a job in the school that I did not request. It can’t be done anyway which is probably why I didn’t request it. I look through the property maintenance request manual and spot that a job that we have asked to get done at least three times, as well as the Environmental Health Officers at least twice in writing remains undone. We are having a party to celebrate next week to celebrate that this request is now a year old. Other jobs remain undone for up to 3 months. I think we should withhold internal rent.

After “Chips” I have a parental meeting which lasts till 3:15pm.

Tuesday 24th January

I wake up in the morning with a massive headache. It is so bad that I cannot see out of my right eye at all I take painkillers and go back to bed. At 8 am I phone the school to fill them in. I am waiting for my head to clear. Today the class is going to DGS to work with Ollie Bray on Time. Nichola and Elaine accompany them instead. The feedback from the pupils and staff is very positive and the class in Innerwick is now really boring by comparison. Thanks Ollie. I will be posting up the comments from pupils later today as part of a live language lesson on blogging and writing a news article.

In the afternoon I attend the seminar on the revised SQH programme. I will not give away too much if I say that I am seriously considering applying for the programme as it has been 4 years since I completed my PG in Advanced Professional Studies and I am getting withdrawals for the machine coffee at St Johns Land.

Wednesday 25th January

I find myself at Innerwick even though I am supposed to be in Haddington at the Head teachers Conference. Last night there was no confirmation that we had a supply teacher. When I arrive I notice a strange car in the car park and I am released to go to Haddington. Supply teacher was asked at 6:30pm on Tuesday.

The conference was action packed and the morning session really did give the focus for everyone in the room. I will comment more on this once I have digested the notes.

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