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Transitions: stepping in to Year 7

Head of Year 7 Jenny Lingenfelder reflects on encouraging emotional agility during the ‘transition’ phase from Year 6 into Year 7.

We prefer ‘Stepping In’…… I fondly call my new cohort of Year 7s on their first day (or should I say term?), ‘turtles’…. their backpack has their life in it and appears to dwarf them as they wide-eyed, set off down school corridors navigating their way around what will be ‘home’ for the next 7 years.

Even for the majority who are eagerly awaiting the increased independence and exciting changes ahead, transition from primary to secondary school is well known to come with its challenges – both academically and emotionally. One aspect we have been focusing on in the Year 7 pastoral team is that of emotional agility and how to resolve conflict when the ‘friendship issues’ emerge once they have settled in. These are a common and developmentally crucial feature of adolescent life and so our focus is primarily how to navigate them effectively.

Brene Brown’s research into shame and vulnerability over the past twenty years is insightful and brings a wealth of authentic guideposts which can be easily adapted for pastoral care. The crux of her book ‘Daring Greatly’[1] focuses on how we build shields up to protect ourselves from feeling vulnerable such as perfectionism, foreboding joy, playing the victim or the Viking to name but a few. Traits we as adults can all recognise but which start to emerge when we are in the playground. Her strategies to break down these shields include practising gratitude, appreciating the beauty in the cracks, setting boundaries, cultivating connection, being present and moving forward all of which resonate deeply with our pastoral vision at WHS for our young girls in today’s society.

Above: Year 7 Stepping In Ceremony

All well and good but how does this work in practice?

Nicola Lambros’ contribution to the GL Assessment Children’s Wellbeing report[2] this year clearly lays out the correlation between wellbeing and impact on learning. Whilst genuinely complimenting schools on their support for the mental health of their students, she compares some of this help to that of taking paracetamol for a headache – whilst alleviating the pain, it doesn’t help uncover the underlying causes. She has a point. So how do we avoid putting a plaster over these issues? How do we bring about a deep, raw and authentic cultural shift in how we manage teenage behaviour in an ever increasingly sexualised, intrusive and pressurised society where comparison is the killjoy of creativity? How do we go about ensuring the girls develop emotional agility from a young age? And develop self-efficacy which is authentic and whole-hearted, a firm foundation for the teenage years and life in general?

Big questions, but ones we relish in the Year 7 team, especially with the knowledge that scientific research has now proven that the teenage brain has a further burst of growth at this time allowing for the reprogramming of those learnt behaviours which were previously thought of as hardwired and unchangeable. With this understanding, it is an exciting prospect to know we can equip our girls from an early stage with the tools on how to be emotionally agile throughout their teenage years and beyond.

Here are some reflections outlining where we are seeing some fruit:

  1. Practising proactive intervention. When a friendship issue arises, at times getting those involved around the table for a mediation is the best option. It’s uncomfortable (initially) but that vulnerability enables authentic conversation, breaks down walls and provides a way of moving away from blame and forging a pathway forward. Another strategy we have used is the ‘Support Group Method’ which encourages collective responsibility: with the individual’s permission, spilt the form into small groups, share what the problem is and ask for ideas on how to move forward. Getting students to write down their ideas and pop in a box enables more freedom of thought.[3]
  2. The not so nice emotions and how we describe them. Psychologist Susan David in her TED talk ‘the gift and power of emotional courage’[4] maintains ‘tough emotions are part of our contract with life’ and more poignantly ‘discomfort is the price of admission to a meaningful life’. Enabling girls to experience this on their level with a friendship fallout is crucial in helping them develop emotional intelligence. She also stresses that we own our emotions, they don’t own us. So, rather than ‘I am stressed’ using the phrases ‘I’m noticing’ and ‘I’m feeling’ can help embed emotional agility in the long term.
  3. Use of coaching methods. Whether in PSHE lessons or pupil meetings these can equip girls with tools to reach their full potential and prevent bad habits from setting in early. Top performance coach Sara Milne Rowe’s new book ‘The Shed Method- Making Better Choices When It Matters’[5] is illuminating on this topic. She maintains ‘mind energy is the fuel that fires our brilliant human brain and is at the heart of building any new habit- be it a body habit, mood habit or mind habit’ and provides practical examples of how to set goals and achieve them; strategies which can be translated easily into the school setting.
  4. Listen to pupil voice. Whether it is touching base after the first couple of weeks, canvassing opinions on the Year 7 PHSE programme or at the end of a term, we ask our Year 7 girls for feedback regularly which helps enormously to know what is really going on during this phase. One notable occasion is asking the girls to nominate who and why they want to give the Speech Day ‘Grit’ Awards to in the year group. Reading the nominations has each year brought me both to tears and chuckles and reminds me that we wouldn’t have known about the small acts of kindness or bravery that happen on a daily basis unless we asked our girls to tell us.
  5. Thinking creatively. We took Year 7 to see Wicked this year and have incorporated the story into how to approach friendship issues and ideas around acceptance in the wider world. The staff enjoy this just as much as the girls!

It’s an organic and evolving process and one that excites me greatly. Sometimes ensuring a smooth transition process does require a paracetamol or a plaster. However, building emotional agility takes time and effort to adopt as a habit. It is not (as is often perceived) the case of putting on resilient armour reading for battle. Vulnerability is at the core of this approach and that takes real courage. But it is worth it and I feel privileged to work in a place where girls and staff are willing to give it a go.

Jenny Lingenfelder, Head of Year 7


References:

[1] Brene Brown ‘Daring Greatly. How the Courage to be Vulnerable Transforms the Way we Live, Love and Parent and Lead’, 2012

[2] GL Assessment Children’s Wellbeing: Pupil Attitudes to Self and School Report 2018

[3] See Ken Rigby University of South Australia for more detailed information on different intervention approaches, March 2010

[4] Susan David TED talk ‘The Gift and Power of Emotional Courage’, Nov 2017 https://www.ted.com/talks/susan_david_the_gift_and_power_of_emotional_courage

[5] Sara Milne Rowe ‘The SHED METHOD Making Better Choices When it Matters, 2018

 

 

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Ms Fionnuala Kennedy Reviews: Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me

Poet, novelist and teacher Kate Clanchy tells her story, and the stories of the children she has met, taught and encouraged, over a 30-year teaching period.

Review

Firstly, I must confess something of a bias: Clanchy was my poetry tutor at college back in 1998, and so, perhaps, I can hear her human and poetic voice especially clearly in this brilliant book. But that fact aside, it is the warmth, humanity and clarity of this insight into teaching which makes this such a compelling read. Clanchy never uses jargon or pedagogical acronyms; she doesn’t talk about effective starters or lesson objectives; rather she focuses on the story-telling aspect of being a teacher, and the people-focused artistry at the heart of what we all do.

This is Clanchy’s story of her experiences teaching over a 30-year career. Clanchy’s story ranges with humour and honesty from the trials and tribulations of teacher training, to first jobs and first mistakes (she talks of those initial months as: ‘A bodily experience, like learning to be a beekeeper or an acrobat: a series of stinging humiliations and painful accidents and occasional sublime flights that leave you either crippled or changed. If you are changed, you are changed forever’), through to her current role as Writer in Residence at the Oxford Spires Academy in Oxford, one of the most multi-cultural schools in the UK where the children speak more than 30 different languages.

Of course, the tangible outcome of Clanchy’s approach is the incredible, moving poetry by her – often immigrant – students whose voices are otherwise marginalised; now, thanks to Clanchy, they are not only confident in that voice, but are published and in some cases award-winning poets. This is a book which stands up for the unheard and the unseen, whether it’s the white, working-class boys like Allen with his ‘blacksmith’s hands’, holding literature away from him because he finds it so powerful, or girls like Amina who must lie about their birthdays for fear of being sent back, or lost, angry Kylie who loses her shoe behind a radiator and ‘can’t get a ruler, and give the thing a poke, because such enterprise is beyond her’.

But it is also a book which stands up for teachers, which puts the importance of teaching front-and-centre, and reminds us to be proud of what we do, and the differences – marginal and seismic – we might make. Sometimes, it helps to have someone say you should feel proud, whether you’re a young student learning to write, or a hardened Deputy Head at the end of January…
It’s not all feel-good and comfortable, though, far from it, and of course for some of the students things don’t get much better. As such, in the writing of this book, Clanchy also serves up a timely and occasionally angry reminder of why education for all is so important, and expresses with courage and fluency the problems which sit within a divided education system. As someone who teaches in an independent school, it reminded me of the importance of our partnerships programmes – of what Clanchy would consider the responsibility of ‘patrimony as well as entitlement’ – and what lies at the heart of the Trust we all serve: to reach as many girls as possible, regardless of background.

Verdict

Five stars.

Most memorable quote

It’s not a quotation, but for impact of writing and Clanchy at her best, read Shakila’s Head pp78-84, which finishes: ‘Does she feel the lighter of it, I wonder, now it is me who has to carry the head home? Or will it be equally heavy, however often it is passed, just as much a head? Well, we can find out. Shakila’s head: the weight of it, the warmth, the cheekbones, the brains. Here you are. Catch.’

 

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Calling all rugby players!

If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to play rugby or to join a rugby team, you now have the opportunity to do so! Check out this link: https://wimbledoncommunity.org/blog/girls-rugby-a-success-story-at-old-ruts-merton-park/

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Friday Gem #15 – big questions with Oxplore

Autumn Focus: Questioning


Teaching and learning Gem #15 – big questions with Oxplore

 

This Friday Gem comes from Monique Nullens, who recommends this brilliant (and snazzy) website – Oxplore.org. The site is created by Oxford University and offers approaches to challenges and questions underpinned by the latest thinking and research.

  • It poses a plethora of big questions on socio/political/economic/scientific/cultural issues.
  • They are thorny and provoking.
  • For example, ‘Does fake news matter?’, ‘Are humans more important than plants?’, ‘Are Explosions always destructive?’, ‘Would it be better if we all spoke the same language?’
  • Importantly, the website is beautifully crafted, and the big questions are springboards to an astonishing range of engaging articles, videos, quotes, facts etc.

Check out the website…it will be a genuinely fascinating experience.

 

Asking big, open questions in class is effective because:

  • With such big questions, there are no right answers. It discourages perfectionism and ‘learning for the test’.
  • It helps students realise that they don’t have to get everything right first time. In fact, in ‘big discussions’, students can get things wrong, reassess and change direction. That’s part of the fun and the freedom of these types of discussions.
  • It encourages students to play around with ideas and to throw things into the discussion to see where they lead. You could contribute an idea big or small.
  • It encourages higher order, critical thinking that transcends subjects. It draws concepts/knowledge from across a spectrum of disciplines. These discussions epitomise our STEAM+.
  • To quote Dan Addis in his recent WimTeach article on scholarship: “we can encourage students to attack a problem from multiple angles, playing with the blurred lines between the subjects, and discovering links that were hidden to them before. Quite apart from the fact that this lateral thinking is a skill that will benefit them in whatever avenue they wish to pursue in later life, it is also fun and rewarding.” 

    Try out a ‘no right answer’ big question as a starter to set the tone for the sort of experimental engagement you’d like from students for the rest of the lesson.

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How has philosophers’ understanding of true knowledge evolved through the ages?

Shreya (Year 10) explores how the understanding of true knowledge has evolved through history by picking examples ranging from ancient Greek philosophers to modern day British philosophers.

**It is important to note that the philosophical study of knowledge is called epistemology **

This may seem like a simple question at first, but when you think about it philosophically, this a multi-layered and intriguing topic requiring a deeper understanding.

What distinguishes a philosopher’s “true knowledge” from ours?

The most distinct quality of philosophers is that they don’t fall into a comfort zone with life, and don’t accept conventional wisdom; instead, they emphasize the lack of complete knowledge. We, on the other hand, get comfortable with our environment, and stop asking meaningful questions; and that’s why babies and philosophers are so alike. Babies too ask questions as they experience the world’s patterns and habits for the first time. For example, can crows be white? You would simply answer “no”! After all, you are used to black crows and have never seen white crows. This is experience. Philosophers will similarly ask questions as they distance themselves from the consistency of our natural world.

Ancient Philosophers

Let’s start with one of the world’s most well-known philosophers: Socrates (470 BCE – 399 BCE). Socrates was a beacon of the ancient Greek civilization. He said something crucial that reinforces my view on true knowledge: “The only true wisdom is knowing that you know nothing”. Socrates didn’t advocate or impose his own views on people including the nature of right or wrong; instead, he helped surface people’s individual thinking by asking probing questions. This is known as the ‘Socratic Method’. Another term you might have heard is ‘Socratic Irony’ – Socrates would feign ignorance and put on a show of ‘dumbness’, to better understand and expose other people’s weaknesses. Socrates eventually paid with his life for his unconventional methods and constant challenging of the status quo. However, he was a rare true philosopher, and his enigmatic ideas and methods are still referenced today.


Another famous philosopher, Plato (428 BCE – 347 BCE), and not coincidentally a disciple of Socrates, also wondered about the nature of “true knowledge”. He believed we can only attain true knowledge through a rational understanding of things. For example, we can say with confidence that a square will always have four sides. This is unlike the natural world which is in a constant state of change i.e. nothing lasts forever in the natural world; all living things will eventually decompose. Therefore, we can never have true knowledge of the natural world. This was a more rational approach and quasi-scientific thinking, and different from Socrates’ methods. One of his most controversial theories concerned innate ideas i.e. we are born with ideas instead of acquiring them through experience. Plato believed the “world of ideas” consisted of immutable patterns behind different occurrences within the natural world. For example, behind every particular cat will be something called the “idea cat” which is the original idea. Particular cats will come and go; however, the “concept” or “idea” cat will remain eternal. Therefore, our innate ideas help us carry a basic form of knowledge within us.

However, Plato’s disciple, Aristotle (385 BCE – 323 BCE) challenged Plato’s thinking by emphasizing acquisition of knowledge through experience i.e. there is no innate knowledge. He thought all of our ideas and knowledge have come into our head through what we have sensed and experienced (probably what many of us believe today).

It is interesting to see that Plato’s and Aristotle’s thoughts continue to be widely debated today – almost 2,500 years after their original exposition. Only, in our times, this is called the Nature vs Nurture argument!

Modern Day Philosophers

Next, Descartes (1596 AD – 1650 AD), an exceptional French philosopher, stated: “certain knowledge is only attainable through reason” (just like Socrates did). He agreed with Plato’s theory of “innate ideas” in a slightly different way; according to Descartes, metaphysical ideas, such as the idea of God, are innate. He doubted everything in life except the fact that “he doubted”. Descartes used this method to distinguish certain truths from probable truths. This is the foundation for Descartes’ thinking and his famous Latin statement “Cogito ergo sum” – “I think therefore I am.”

David Hume (1711 AD – 1776 AD), a Scottish Enlightenment philosopher, was also very influential when it came to epistemology and built his foundation on the thinking of historical philosophers described above. He is placed in a group of other British philosophers known as the Empiricists. Empiricism is the theory that all knowledge is based solely on experience which is derived from our senses. He even expanded this empiricist theory to what he called “complex ideas”. This consisted of two unrelated experiences or pieces of knowledge whose juxtaposition only exists in a human being’s imagination. As an example, we have never experienced an angel. But we have seen a human and we have seen wings. In our imagination, we have joined two unrelated experiences up to form a “complex idea”.

There have been other philosophers throughout history who have left their deep imprint on our understanding of true knowledge, and the discipline of epistemology. These include Immanuel Kant, John Locke and George Berkeley among others. All of them bought their own flavour of independent thinking to give us our knowledge base today.

You can see how our knowledge and thinking process has evolved over thousands of years, as philosophers build their foundations on existing bodies of knowledge and spirit of the times. But can you and I think like a philosopher? Short answer: Yes of course! Long answer: Yes, if you can stop yourself getting too comfortable with your surroundings, are able to retain your natural curiosity about our world, and don’t stop asking ‘Why?’! After all, philosophers are no wiser or smarter than we are; they just know how to think, not what to think.

References and inspiration from Sophie’s World by Joestein Gaarder (a fascinating book about the history of philosophy)

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What is Scholarship?

WimTalks

Mr Dan Addis, Head of Academic Scholarship at WHS, looks at our continuing Academic Scholarship programme and how you can get involved.

How often do you feel you really get to think? I mean, really think. To get your mind around a question, mull it over, think of a variety of angles, add variables, take away variables, introduce other protagonists who could affect the outcome, analyse experts’ views to see what suggestions they have, bring the idea down to the absolute minimum and build it back up.

In the day to day of modern existence, I would suggest this has been a rare occurrence until recently. I have no doubt you have seen umpteen articles on what being in lockdown has allowed people to do, but please forgive me one more example. With the time at my disposal, I decided to take on the burden of cooking ‘proper’ meals (as opposed to pasta and sauce) and the question that appeared to me was “What should I do with this cabbage?”. On the surface, I admit, this seems like a very banal question, not in keeping with the title of this post. However, I had the opportunity to run with it. I immediately ruled out just boiling it as a side, I wanted it as a key ingredient. I could not think of any recipes particularly that had cabbage as a key element, so I had to change my angle. Kimchee perhaps, exciting but not in the flavour spectrum I was looking for. I could add spices, herbs, perhaps a meat option. I ended up with a full roast meal in my head, but that seemed to complex, so I pared it back down. I asked my fiancée what she thought, what flavours she was hankering for. She suggested something hearty with gravy. Excellent call, but just cabbage and gravy? Not enough! I went to the internet, did some research on dishes involving cabbage. I mused on the topic for at least an hour. In the end, I made an Irish colcannon with an onion gravy, garnished with spring onions. It was exactly what I wanted.

I hope there are not too many of you who are looking at this and are exasperated. I was promised Scholarship and I have been given the culinary ravings of some idiot! But consider a different question I grappled with over lockdown. Do I have a philosophy of life? I started by thinking about what is important to me, considering the different aspects of my life that bring me joy or cause me distress. I asked my fiancée about her thoughts regarding what I find important and took on her feedback. I found a Blinkist (link below) page on personal philosophies and learnt the difference between Epicureanism, Daoism, contemporary Islam and more. I thought about it carefully for at least an hour. In the end I decided I am a modern Stoic. It fit my personality and priorities.

If I review the two questions I above, there is only one which many would consider to be worthy of scholarship. But if we look at the processes I went through in each instance, are they particularly different? Were there different skills evident in each instance? I would argue not and believe that the future of Scholarship lies in the broadening of our concept of what Scholarship is away from the traditional models and into more complex and interesting territory.

Above: WimTalks Session

There are two messages I would like to argue for in this blogpost:

  1. Anything can be Scholarship; and I mean anything;
  2. The interesting part of Scholarship is the similarities and connections between the lines of conventional subject knowledge.

To my first point, I would like to turn to Mary Beard. In the introduction to her book “Confronting the Classics” makes the case for the study of Classics not just for the benefit of the individual, but so we are certain that ‘someone’ is studying it. It does not really matter who that someone is, but it is vital that there are experts in the field to ensure knowledge is not lost and context is understood. Without these experts understanding the depth and complexity of a topic, we are bound to fall into clichés and incorrect retrieval of history used to divide us or perpetuate a damaging status quo (gestures at everything).

In the recent Black Lives Matter protests and movements, one of the appeals made towards white allies to the cause was that we educate ourselves. A huge amount of phenomenal material has been designated unworthy of scholarship because it does not fall into the prescribed canon. There have been innumerable posts across social media asking why people have not learnt about Black Wall Street, the true history of colonisation, that Alexandre Dumas was black, and many further examples. I would argue much of this is to do with what we consider worthy of learning.

When establishing the new National Curriculum, the government said they were firmly indebted to the work of E.D. Hirsch, who advocates for a Scholar Academic model in which there is a corpus of information that it is vital to know in order to succeed in our society and have a beneficial education. In this corpus, there are the usual suspects; Troy, British Empire, Holocaust, American Civil War etc. However, there is a distinct lack of inclusion about African history and culture, understanding of Chinese philosophy, Aboriginal oppression across the globe, and other key ideas and stories that are important if we want to build a more united world away from the bastion of the old white men’s club. The National Curriculum is doing a disservice to our children, and I believe the starting point of a shift away from this damaging perspective comes from an acknowledgement that anything can be scholarly. Everything is worthy of study so long as the person is interested and willing to look at the topic in an academic fashion from multiple angles. If we move to this understanding of scholarship, as opposed to a traditional model of what can be deemed scholarly, then we will create opportunities for our students to extend their learning beyond what is expected and have a generation of students who do not put a ranking on knowledge; who do not assume that certain facts, figures and stories have greater worth than others; and who can go into the world open minded and willing to explore without the weight of historical prejudice hanging onto them.

My second point connects prominently to our STEAM+ ideology, now towering in a beautiful physical manifestation at the centre of our school. Within the hierarchy of knowledge, which I discussed earlier, is a rather Victorian perspective on education; that knowledge can be chopped up and distributed to the students in easily differentiated chunks. However, this means that links are missed, the core elements that combine the different subjects are thrust apart. By encouraging the students to focus on whatever they find interesting, whether it is in official curricula or not, we can encourage students to attack a problem from multiple angles, playing with the blurred lines between the subjects, and discovering links that were hidden to them before. Quite apart from the fact that this lateral thinking is a skill that will benefit them in whatever avenue they wish to pursue in later life, it is also fun and rewarding. One of my greatest delights as a teacher is seeing a student’s awe-filled expression when they discover a link between subjects. (My favourite is explaining the connection between the Latin ambulare – to walk, and the modern day ambulance and how it comes from the fact that wounded soldiers on historical battlefields used to be carried away by people walking with a stretcher).

Scholarship should be fun and exciting, and the links students discover are what make it so. It becomes complex, rich and akin to discovery, when traditional learning can be staid, bland and akin to commuting. We need to encourage our students to find the fun of scholarship as that is the greatest gift we can give them.

I shall finish this blog by outlining how we plan to do this in our Academic scholarship programme, which is open to all students who wish to engage with it. Our intention is to encourage individuality. Scholars will be having 1 on 1 meetings with myself each half term to talk with them about their own areas of interest, from football to Hamlet. Whatever takes their fancy, we encourage them to do their own research, explore the topic in detail from a variety of perspectives, and then create something. Over lockdown, several of our KS3 students created short videos on areas of interest, from prized pets to quantum computing (which you can find here), as an example.

The idea is to allow them freedom in their study, away from the traditional academic models. To give them inspiration we also have a variety of different academic opportunities they can engage with. We have the Rosewell lecture programme, which will be done virtually, with speakers due to be announced soon. We will have the Explore programme, where our teachers will delve into topics that are interesting and engaging beyond the set curriculum. Tea and T’inking, a club where students can discuss and analyse topics as random as synaesthesia to meme culture, will be a safe environment where no question is unacceptable and help students stretch themselves intellectually. We also will have the Masterclasses, as mentioned in the co-curricular programme. And more than any of this, I would be delighted to hear from any student who has an area of interest and would like to pursue it. Whether it is writing an article for WimLearn, submitting an essay for a competition, or just discovering something new and wanting to discuss it. Scholarship is for everyone and should be free and open to run in any direction. We are here to help students follow that interest and passion; who knows where it may end up!

I would like to finish this article by returning to my cabbage. I will admit that I did use a particularly ridiculous example to make my point (a classic reductio ad absurdum!). However, did you know that cabbage has been cultivated for over 6000 years, almost longer than any other vegetable? That eating cabbage helps keratin production which leads to healthier hair, skin and nails? That raw cabbage juice is used as headache relief? That cabbage used to be an elixir for baldness? See, even the humble cabbage can be interesting and scholarly!

References:

https://www.blinkist.com/ – website/app that condenses non-fiction books into easily readable chunks or 15-minute podcasts.

Beard, M. (2014) Confronting the Classics: Traditions, Adventures and Innovations, Profile Books Ltd

Hirsch, E.D. (1988) Cultural Literacy: What every American needs to know, Random House USA

McInerney, L. (2012)  Things to know about ED Hirsch and the ‘Common Cultural Literacy’ idea, https://cfey.org/2012/10/things-to-know-about-ed-hirsch-and-the-common-cultural-literacy-idea/

Pigliucci, M., Cleary, S., Kaufman, D., (2020) How to live a good life: A guide to choosing your personal philosophy; Penguin-Random house.

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Friday Gem #14 – YOUR ideas bout return to the classroom

Teaching and Learning Gem #14 –  Return to the classroom. Building Community; Finding Gaps; Knowing your students and giving voice to all

This is an ‘uber’ Friday Gem which collates and shares all your ideas from your breakout discussions. The level of thought and the deep exploration of our priorities for the classroom was humbling.

Please open and peruse the attached booklet of YOUR ideas.

 

Training: If you would like training on any of the digital tools discussed yesterday, please complete this form and we will set up some twilight.

A big thank you to our group facilitators: James Courtenay Clack, Dan Addis, Helen Sinclair, Alys Lloyd, Steph Harel, Lucinda Gilchrist and Claire Baty

A big thank you to the scribes: Holly Beckwith, Rebecca Brown and Jane Fawcett

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Community: the crux of the post lockdown classroom

Amidst national concerns about students’ academic progress during lockdown, Suzy Pett, Director of Studies at Wimbledon High, thinks about the far more essential point: that the return to the classroom – and the very act of learning itself – is intrinsically about human connection and communion.

As Director of Studies at Wimbledon High School, now more than ever I am thinking about what our classrooms will look and feel like in September. As a teacher of 10 years, I’m familiar with the end-of-summer surge of excitement and apprehension about school return. Despite the nerves, there is something ritualistic and reassuring about it. In the words of Philip Larkin, we can ‘begin afresh, afresh, afresh’.

But, with Covid-19 having forced us from our physical classrooms for so long, this time it feels different. There is, of course, the fact that classrooms will now look unfamiliar. In a throwback to times gone by, students will all be facing forward, with the teacher pinned to their white board or laptop at the front. However, the changes run deeper. I’ve been thinking through the implications of them on the very way we teach.

Concern about the lack of learning during lockdown is understandably high in the national consciousness. Exasperated parents took to Twitter, wryly pleading for “Alexa [to] please home school my child.” A study by the National Foundation for Educational Research reported that most students did fewer than 3 hours study per day. Educators worked harder than ever to engage and motivate students, with innovative online programs. Fortunately, there were many success stories, and at Wimbledon High our Guided Home Learning allowed students to maintain pace and progress in their education.

However, teachers across the country will be returning acutely aware of the curriculum content they need to cover. They will be detecting where students’ understanding might be shaky from home learning. They will employ their most winning combination of quizzing, questioning and testing to unearth – and then fill – any knowledge or skills gaps. They will be helping students to self-reflect and be ready to proffer feedback. In pursuit of maximum academic progress, classrooms will be aglow with teachers’ voices enthusing, encouraging, cajoling and reassuring their students. There will be – I am certain – no lack of ambition for what this generation of young people will achieve this year.

Though, what is uppermost in my mind as I prepare for school return in September, is the fundamental nature of the classroom as a community. With reports of students feeling increasingly isolated and disconnected in lockdown, it’s even clearer to me that learning is an act that unites. Whilst I am ardent about academic progress, I am far more attuned at the start of this school year to how my methods of teaching can forge those much-needed meaningful, human bonds.

It goes without saying that the soul of the classroom is far more than the acquisition of knowledge. Intrinsic to the very process of learning is human connection and communion. With the flimsy and chimeric relationships on social media, our classroom spaces – and the way we teach – can be a salve for young people needing to feel part of a more stable community. Lesson rules become shared customs. Rigorous class discussion allows every student to have a voice that is heard. Opinions and ideas are shared and probed so that conversation is far more nuanced and rich than social media sound bites. Judging the right challenge and pace of learning creates trust as students rely on each other and their teacher to problem-solve and move forward.

In lessons, we metaphorically go through the woods and come out the other side. Together. Connected. No one is left behind. And, it is teachers’ careful planning and pedagogy that enable this. Online learning went some way to recreate this, but nothing will beat the power of in-person learning to rekindle that sense of togetherness for young people.

Here at Wimbledon High we’ve always believed in the intertwining of pastoral and academic care. They are not separate. As I start this school year and think about my teaching practice for the months ahead, I am convinced of this more than ever.

 

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Friday Gem #13 – emoji vocab retrieval practice

Teaching and Learning Gem #13 – emoji vocab retrieval practice

The final Friday Gem of the year comes from the Classics Department and is a great one for linguists. Mark Wilmore did a digital learning walk and shared with me a fun and fast-paced vocab retrieval game from Dan Addis. Whilst waiting for students to join the live lesson (not wanting to waste any moment for learning), Dan posted a Latin word in the conversation space. Students had to post an emoji/picture that represented it.

Here is ‘fugit’ (he/she flees) and ‘templum’ (temple):

Here is ‘timet’ (he/she is afraid):

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Celebrating the first year of PPE at Wimbledon High

Ms Suzy Pett, Assistant Head (Teaching and Learning) at WHS, looks back at the end of the first year of the new PPE course studied by Year 10 pupils at WHS.

We are at the end of the inaugural year of our PPE course. We wanted students to look outwards and question the ideologies – political, economic, philosophical – that are influential in shaping our world. One of our school’s key objectives is for each student to “stride out’ and be prepared to “shape the society in which she lives and works’. Our PPE course has certainly helped our Year 10s become savvy and robust thinkers on important global, national and personal issues.

The course ended with students writing their own articles on a topic of their choice. The array of interests was kaleidoscopic! Articles ranged from Kantianism vs Utilitarianism; to immigration; to beauty; to Plato; to student loans; to voting…to Trump…and everything in the middle (including, of course, the impact of Coronavirus). There is no doubt that students have developed mature, thoughtful and increasingly bold voices on these matters. Their articles were hugely impressive.

Here is a small selection for you to enjoy:

Izzy S – Successes of the language of populism

Jasmine H – Student Loans: Friend or Fraud?

Amy C – ‘If Walls could talk!’ – What we can learn from the first modern artist about the value of isolation to our ability to express ourselves

Bella R – Your President

Marianne-K-PPE-Project