In this series called “Climbing the Mountain”, I will be sharing an account of our journey as a high school in building a culture of innovation and high-performance.
There were a lot of questions after the first Sycol Session (Climbing the Mountain Part 1) about what would be the next steps. We had decided on our values and our core statements as a whole staff at Les Quennevais School. Now came the hard, yet exciting challenge of bringing them to life. How are we going to make these choices into a meaningful, workable part of everyday life at our school? How are will these values and statements to shape our decision making? How will our students value them? How can we use the vision, mission and values to build a deep sense of shared ethos; put simply, how can we get every stakeholder to know that this is the way we do things round here.
A base camp is a place were all the resources are stored in preparation for an ascent. It is where you can acclimatise and get ready for the significant challenge that lies ahead. It is also a place where the comforts of what is familiar surround you. To move on from here takes stealth, a clear route planned out and a team to support your climb to the summit.
The move on from base camp begun to take shape after our second session with Dr Ioan Rees. The ‘Sycol Lead Team’ was created; a mixture of senior staff, our headteacher and a couple of younger staff who were passionate about being involved.
Part of our Sycol Leads Team at Base Camp with Sherpa Rees
To start our climb, we had to decide on what it was that most needed innovating. What did we need to look at as a school which required improvement. This would be done by looking inward- at the views of our staff, students and community. But also from looking outward- to where there has been great success on the island, in the UK and internationally. Each innovation team leader would have the responsibility of getting this off the ground. Every member of staff is expected to participate and contribute which I think is essential for us to all feel part of ‘going to work ON the school, not just IN it.’ After initial research, staff will then volunteer to take this important work further and develop proposals for us to take forward.
The three key areas we want to innovate are:
- Behaviour for Learning- how can we make this work for students, staff, our community? What do we need in place practically and culturally for this to really work. No excuses, everyone doing the same thing, having the same expectations.
- The achievement of boys- we know across the UK boys achievement is currently well below girls. What do we need to do to close this gap? How might the curriculum be altered to close this gap and how might our pedagogy have to develop to ensure boys and girls make equal, outstanding progress.
- And finally, Our low attainers- what do we need to transform within our school to ensure our low attainers make as much progress as every other group dependent on their starting point? Why is it that this group in particular make the least progress throughout school and what are we going to do about it?
Through asking these questions, we need to constantly refer back to our values, our vision and mission statements. Does our research, findings and proposals reflect our ethos?
These are wonderfully meaty issues, each a worthy mountain to climb. It will be interesting to see how involving all staff will aid the ownership and validity of our proposals and actions. There is no doubt that without everyone joining us on the climb, there is a shared view from the top. That view, if we take the right steps over the coming months will be breathtaking. No-one should miss out on that.
Crampons on, rucksacks packed, it’s time to go climbing.
Part 1 of the story
Part 3 of our journey – coming up