Monday 15th May 2006 – Internal Review

Despite working on the river all weekend I feel revitalised and energetic at the start of Monday morning. I find working and teaching in the outdoors constantly renews my enthusiasm for the classroom.

Today is the start of our Internal Review. Stephanie Harden (Geography Teacher) turns up from MusselbughGrammar School to help with the review, although nobody quite seems sure where she is supposed to be. Luckily Derrick Simpson was on hand to help out while I ran off to prepare for my lesson.

I am still unsure if I completely agree with the internal review process at DGS, but I am happy to give anything a go if it is worthwhile. However I refuse to put on ‘a show/performance’ just because there may be someone in my classroom observing me. As it happens this week most of my S1 / S2 classes (the focus for the inspection) are halfway through group project work as it is their last week before the change of timetable. This could lead to a chaotic observation and will certainly test the observation skills of the observer.

Anyway, my first two (and only) periods of the day seemed to go well and I was impressed with the quality of work produced by the class. The classes didn’t seem to take any notice of the observers (despite there being another four adults in the room during period 2!). I find myself looking forward to the feedback and would definitely recommend the format of the group activity that I described last week, the class had a real buzz about it.

I caught up with Stephanie Period 3 to talk about the Intermediate 2 Course. Musselburgh are going to introduce the course for the first time next year and she was keen to wrack my brains about format and possible resources.

I spent the afternoon catching up on some paperwork and then at 3pm I headed down to Belhaven Bay to help Haddington Infant School with their beach outing. There has been some confusion as to whether paddling in the sea with primary school children is a safe activity. I went to help supervise because of my water safety qualifications and also because I was keen to help the school carry out a site specific risk assessment of the activity. I am a strong believer that getting young people out and about should be encouraged. Fundamentally I believe that the activity is safe. The children are well briefed, given clear instructions, boundaries are set and staff well positioned. The lead member of staff uses a whistle to establish when the group is to return to base. No pupil is to go deeper than ankle depth and the group carry a mobile phone, first aid kit and spare clothing. The minibus is no more than 3 minutes walk away. I will write up my thoughts in more detail after I have had an opportunity to discuss the activity with the school. However during my visit I saw a perfect example of not just good, but great practice.

Surf club after school – which distracted me and made me forget about the VDEL meeting (I must start looking at my diary!).