Headlines - 17Jan25

17th January 2025

HEADLINES

By

James Saunders

FRESH EYES ON LEARNING

Yesterday was one of those days where I got to spend all my time in the classroom. As part of my job I am afforded the privilege of being able to see our learners in action on a regular basis and watch them respond to the input of our great teachers. I have managed to get into classes everyday over the last two weeks. Thursday however, was slightly different. Normally I pop into lessons on my own as I am walking around school but on Thursday we had a few visitors. One of the great things about working in a trust of schools is the ability to share ideas and collaborate with others and that was indeed what we did this week. We hosted our yearly trust review. This involves the headteacher and a senior leader from each of our partner schools, the head of our teaching school, the CEO of the trust and of course, our staff.

The day involved visiting lessons across the school (every subject and teacher was seen), talking to staff and to children. I had to step out of the programme for the first part of the day as I did not want to miss teaching my lessons - so a few colleagues came to visit my lesson instead. The day was a real success and provided us with the opportunity to get some external “fresh eyes” to look at the improvements we have made. Teaching came out strong, however what sits beneath teaching is the culture of the school which was recognised as being excellent. Whilst the team will put together a more detailed report I thought it would be nice to share a few highlights for the end of the day debrief:

• The school is like a family; really calm and supportive; exceptional behaviour for learning; warm relationships - connection to the individual.

• The culture is joined up across the school; purposeful /focussed climate for learning.; staff happy and proud of the school; inclusive culture for all learners in school.

• Teaching and learning is improving consistently over time

• Learners work well and collaborate in group activities; learners are actively involved in school life; extra curricular offer is great and staff respond to learner requests.

• Careers input is really well guided and work experience is really valuable.

• C11 Intervention plans are very impressive. LS5 / before, lunchtime and after school.

• Tight focus on questioning and exam requirements. Seen in lessons and discussions with learners.

• Lessons observed showed clear routines. Well planned and well structured sessions.

• Ambitious curriculum and challenge very evident.

• Very effective use of TA’s.

A few of the team members had never been to Honywood before. The feedback they gave was lovely. The whole team could not stress enough just how wonderful our learners are. I will feed back to you with more details once we have compiled the report.

I wish you all a lovely weekend

THANKS

James Saunders

To the following learners for supporting the Fresh Eyes Review on Thursday 16 January:

Cleopatra Day, Benjamin Walker, Logan Webb, Maggie Alexander, Lexi Jones, Zachary Lote, Mohammed Malek, Freddie Brooks, Faye Longstaff, Freddie Estall, Jack Hill, Lacey Fitzpatrick, Stanley Moxham, Elisabeth Whitehead and Soha Malek.

Congratulations to Liam Haylock in C8 who competed in a gymnastics competition last month. He won Gold on Rings in the boys 16 and under regional competition in Ipswich.

A great achievement, as Liam has limited training due to some health issues. Well done Liam, fantastic achievement!