Andrew Clowes, headteacher of Hey with Zion Primary School in Oldham, Lancashire and Nigel Attwood, head of Birmingham’s Bellfield Junior School, recently crossed paths within The Leaders Council network. Excited by the potential of new links discussed between the schools, Clowes shares in his own words how both schools plan to work together on raising standards.
One of the recent projects for the Leaders Council has been to establish networks where leaders can meet.
This week, the senior leadership teams of two schools where the respective headteachers are members of The Leaders Council, met online to identify ways in which they could share priorities, strengths and areas for development.
The schools, although geographically distant - with Bellfield based in Birmingham and Hey with Zion in Oldham - are exploring potentialities for links which will be mutually beneficial.
The leadership teams discussed matters of common interest to many schools: love of learning, mastery of maths, reading for pleasure, phonics and ways of managing the development of middle leaders.
They discussed the importance of developing a wide vocabulary in order to learn, and how using local libraries and inviting authors to school can enthuse children and develop their love of reading.
Hey with Zion children will show either face to face, or virtually if petrol prices dictate, local history learning. Hey with Zion for example is located near a prisoner of war camp, and Oldham was also a key location in the quest for women’s suffrage.
Meanwhile, the children at Bellfield are looking forward to Birmingham hosting the Commonwealth Games this summer and are looking forward to creating their own art for the event. They will be able to communicate to their peers in Oldham the pride they have in their city and the Games it will host.
The work will provide extra motivation to the children with a real audience and develop their skills of communication through technology.
Future meetings planned include pairing subject leaders, since in primary schools, pretty much every teacher is effectively a head of department. This will give teachers ideal practice at articulating their achievements and opportunities to identify examples of good practice they can learn from colleagues elsewhere.
Image: Andrew Clowes, provided by Hey with Zion Primary School
