Message from the headteacher

Today was forecast as very hot. A number of students and staff approached me asking if we could have a ‘shorts and tee-shirt’ day in recognition of extreme weather. The idea was that students in cooler clothing are more likely to be able to focus on their learning. We consulted leaders and they agreed. Goodwill gestures like this always have unintended consequences. I’m listing a few which have arisen today to explain why, generally speaking, I don’t like making this kind of concession:

 We are not yet used to having refugees in our school and we forgot to translate messages into

Ukrainian  Not everyone got the message despite our using all available platforms  A number of students wore clothing which required intervention because staff felt it was inappropriate (extremely short shorts, inappropriate message on a tee-shirt etc etc)  At least one student reported that they had been anxious about the day because they didn’t quite know what to wear in order to fit in. One student had no appropriate clothes at dad’s (I should have thought about this being a single parent with kids across two houses)  A number of students forgot things which they normally keep in their blazers  Several students were under the impression that this was not a normal school day because of the concession regarding clothing - teachers reported that this affected learning in some lessons  At least four students wore COATS. YES. COATS.

To cap it all, in an effort to be a role model, I reluctantly abandoned my suit for a pair of chinos, a striped tee-shirt and a blue jacket and Mr Hodkin asked me where I had parked my yacht. That’s the last time I try and dress down.

I’m not being intentionally grumpy I just want to propose that this arrangement should only ever be considered when temperatures are very high for a period of days.

In between answering questions about the appropriacy of crop tops and strappy vests I managed to squeeze a governors meeting in where we discussed our emerging strategic plan for next year. I will aim to get this on the website as soon as we have finalised it.

A lot of the plan focuses on behaviour training for staff. Given that Highfields students are generally well behaved it is not unusual for governors and others to register surprise that we should keep wanting to improve it. This is because the senior team shares a vision that Highfields be a place where unkind or inconsiderate behaviour is all but unheard of. We want staff and students to wake up and look forward to coming to school. We want lessons to be full of fun, curiosity, challenge and discovery. We want bullying to be all but extinct and for students to feel safe, happy and included at all times. I bet there are parents/carers reading this who, for one reason or another, feel that we are not yet there and I would totally agree. The answer lies in promoting staff practice which balances a recognition that all children make mistakes against the need to take appropriate action to protect the wellbeing of children from behaviour which is unkind or inconsiderate. This balance requires judgement and my job is to provide oversight of that judgement. I don’t expect everyone to agree with my judgement, but I do expect governors to hold me accountable for it (which they did very effectively last night).

As always this week, I’ve spent as much time as I can in lessons. I hugely enjoyed a lesson this week where a teacher was trialling an emerging strategy which involves children working in silent individual study for 2-15 minutes at a time. The idea is that it requires students to solve problems for themselves without relying on neighbours or the teacher to do so. This, blended with other more discussion-based techniques, seems to be working really well.

No images this week apart from this one of Tony Curtis as the posh sailor from Some Like It Hot, as suggested by Mr Hodkin.

Have a great weekend: NORMAL UNIFORM FROM MONDAY!

A Marsh Headteacher