Headlines - 8 March 2024

HEADLINES

By James Saunders

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

Today is International Women’s day and my Twitter (or X) stream has been filled with inspirational stories of talented women from across the globe. As a young boy I can only remember a few inspirational male role models. Ok, there was my father. And screen icons Rambo and The Terminator. However, it was female musicians that had the greatest influence on me and helped me develop my love for music: Tracy Chapman; Nina Simone; Lauren Hill; Annie Lennox; Nenah Cherry and Kate Bush to name a few. These women managed to express themselves and the art form without the misogyny and violence that plagues so much of today’s male dominated world of rap. Does this make me a feminist? Surely the very nature of our jobs as teachers must make us all feminists. You should surely never favour one learner over another. You should treat them all equally. And that is what being a feminist is. For me it is simply about equality. All our learners deserve an equal opportunity to receive the same high quality teaching and support that enables them to achieve great outcomes and a happy life. International Women’s day reminds us that equality still needs to be on our radar and as a society we must still strive to achieve parity for all every single day.

The campaign theme for International Women’s Day 2024 is Inspire Inclusion. When we inspire others to understand and value women’s inclusion, we forge a better world. And when women themselves are inspired to be included, there’s a sense of belonging, relevance, and empowerment.

Collectively, it is essential that we forge a more inclusive world for women. The campaign theme emphasises the importance of diversity and empowerment in all aspects of society. The theme underscores the crucial role of inclusion in achieving gender equality. It calls for

action to break down barriers, challenge stereotypes, and create environments where all women are valued and respected. Inspire Inclusion encourages everyone to recognise the unique perspectives and contributions of women from all walks of life, including those from marginalised communities.

There is an excellent series of children’s books (little dreams, big people) that highlight the great accomplishments of women. Figures such as Rosa Parks, Emmeline Pankhurst, Ada Lovelace, Frida Kahlo, Maria Montessori and Ella Fitzgerald are all represented. Days like International Women’s Day help us to spotlight the great accomplishments of role models such as these and open up an equality of aspiration for all our learners. Which neatly segues me into World Book Day.

WORLD BOOK DAY

“Words can be like x-rays if you use them properlythey’ll go through anything.” - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

It was so great to see everyone embrace World Book Day yesterday. Those that came to school as a character from their favourite book really looked the part. We also extended this to staff and I am pleased that so many embraced too; we had a smorgasbord of books and characters represented. The aim of the day is to raise the profile of books and reading. The evidence is quite clear on this - regular reading makes a difference to academic performance.

GUIDED CHOICES

Our C8 learners have begun to work through the guided choices process. This is where they choose the subjects they would like to take at GCSE.

We should never underestimate how daunting it can appear to be for our C8s and their parents. It is easy to think that, for our learners, the rest of their lives

rests on the decisions they will be making over the next few weeks but in reality we all know there will be a whole host of decisions that they have yet to make that will hold more significance in their lives. I think it is important to remain grounded in this so that we do not create additional pressure or anxiety for our learners.

The process is called ‘Guided’ Choices to reflect the fact that we are guiding them through it. Our curriculum is designed to be broad and balanced. The structure of the choices they can make dictates that, to some extent. Most combinations that our learners will select will meet this criteria, however, I feel it is still worth bearing in mind that we want them to make the right choices for themselves; choices that they own. I often use the following venn diagram to guide learners:

To achieve success, learners need to think about a combination of what they aspire to do in the future as well as what might help them in the future, combined with what they are good at and what they enjoy. If too much emphasis is placed on one at the expense of another then they will not be as motivated to be successful. The classic mistake is to choose a subject based solely on the teacher.

In any career there will be things you enjoy and things you must endure. Once our learners, at any level, start to understand this it is a lot easier to support them to achieve their goals. We don’t always like every aspect of our jobs (I certainly find some aspects more challenging than others) yet we understand the need for them. We don’t get to pick and choose everything we do at work. This is no different to the broad and balanced curriculum we offer our learners. Whilst we are proud to offer a curriculum that contains choice we need to recognise that there are still things we must do that may not necessarily have been chosen.

We often hear statistics about the uncertainty of the job market in the future; how there are jobs that don’t yet exist. This is why it is important for learners to recognise that the curriculum choices they make or have to take are designed to support them as they churn their way through the unknown landscape of the future.

At Honywood we aim for learners to leave us happy and successful; to go on and leave fulfilling lives. I would like to share the Japanese concept of IKIGAI - the reason for being. I think this is a great way to support conversations about choice and aspiration for all children.

What I love about this is that it helps to identify purpose in life. I think working in a school offers IKIGAI and most days (even in current times) I think I have found it. I hope you have too.

Further information can be found on the school website here: https://www.honywoodschool.com/c8c9-guided-choices

Have a lovely weekend

James Saunders

Dates for the Diary

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Tues

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