ALSSIT Newsletter Edition 9 (Spring 2018)

Archdiocese of Liverpool Secondary School Improvement Trust Newsletter

Edition 9

Archdiocese of Liverpool Secondary School Improvement Trust Newsletter

Welcome Back!

Happy New Year to all colleagues and we hope that you’ve had a wonderful Christmas break.

This edition reflects on last term’s successful meetings and highlights upcoming Trust events, such as our new series of Head of Department meetings and Student Media Competition.

This term also sees the rolling out of our new Pro-Forms Newsletter—Edition online booking system and further information can 1beWinter found 2015 below.

Please contact us at v.borlase@rcaolp.co.uk to highlight any news, information or ideas you may have to improve our termly newsletter.

Have a great term!

New Booking system We are pleased to introduce our new online booking system. This system has been set up to make the booking of meetings, workshops and conferences simple and much more efficient for all users. We hope that you find the new forms easy to access and to complete, and the system will allow us to process your bookings more quickly and efficiently in the future. From the beginning of January this will be the only way to register attendance or send apologies. We will provide more information about the system created by a company called Pro-Forms during the Headteacher and CPD leads meetings. The forms are simple to complete and an acknowledgement email of each booking will be sent to both CPD leads and colleagues booking the event. You will find a link to each Head of Department meeting on page 5.

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Archdiocese of Liverpool Secondary School Improvement Trust Newsletter

Edition 9

Our first Curriculum meeting took place in October with representatives from AQA and Edexcel attending to provide an overview of qualifications and an update on technical awards. School curriculum, rationale and philosophy were also briefly discussed with a follow up 1 meeting Newsletter—Edition Winterplanned 2015 for November.

Phil Mooney, Headteacher at St Mary’s Catholic High School, attended the November meeting giving a brief overview of his vast experience within Leadership and Teaching. Phil focused on curricular conundrums including RE delivery, impact of curriculum time at KS3 and a review of pupil premium. This led to much debate amongst colleagues present. Following Phil’s excellent session Karen Parker, Deputy Headteacher at Holy Family Catholic High School, spoke of her time at North Liverpool Academy and stressed the importance of not focusing solely on results, but the curriculum and the time given at KS3 and KS4. This led to further discussion amongst our colleagues and both presentations focused on the many complex issues that surround curriculum.

A further Curriculum meeting will take place on Wednesday 24th January 8.00am to 10.00am at Maricourt High School. Colleagues wishing to book a place can use this link to our new online booking system.

Student Workshop 2017 On Wednesday 27th September students from 20 of our schools and colleges came together at Christ the King High School in Southport.

Students were asked to share their schools’ strengths and those of the school they had visited. Those present were then asked to create a vision for their own school which incorporated some of the suggestions they had heard during the day.

It was fantastic to see so many of our students engaged in highlighting what is good about their school and taking away new ideas to present to their Senior Leadership Team.

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Archdiocese of Liverpool Secondary School Improvement Trust Newsletter

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Student Media Competition 2017-18 Following last years successful Student Photographic Competition, we are offering students the opportunity to showcase their talents in a media focused competition on the theme of ‘Scripture and Song’.

Schools can choose any form of media to represent the school’s entry and this should be accompanied by some descriptive text not exceeding 150 words that gives context and meaning to the form of media being Winter submitted. If it is dance, drama,Newsletter—Edition ‘film’, etc., the entry 1should be2015 submitted via film with the length of time not exceeding more than 10 minutes.

It is up to schools to determine how they decide what pieces of work are submitted, but this could feasibly take the form of a house/year competition that captures the imagination of a number of students, or could be subject specific e.g. RE, Art or another subject that would like to approach this from their curriculum perspective.

The deadline to confirm that you would like to take part is 1st March. Please complete this online form to confirm that your school will be submitting up to 4 entries and what form they will take.

For further information please contact Paul Greenall, Partnership Director, at p.greenall@rcaol.co.uk

Website Resources We have a wealth of resources covering Post 16, Curriculum, Pastoral Leaders and subject specific Head of Department information on our website.

All Trust schools have access (there are no password restrictions) to these resources via www.lassp.co.uk Select ‘Trust’ and ‘Shared Resources’ to access presentations, exam board information etc.

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Archdiocese of Liverpool Secondary School Improvement Trust Newsletter

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Heads of Year Workshop A Heads of Year Workshop was held on 13th October at St Peter’s Catholic High School. The purpose of this workshop was to support the work of Heads of Year and increase their understanding of the requirements of the role with regard to Ofsted, Pastoral leadership and some of the issues facing pupils in their care.

Lancaster University Clinical Psychologist, Dr Richard Slinger, gave an informative and captivating ‘lecture’ covering anxiety, resilience and coping with highly stressful events. Paul Morris from Holy Cross spoke about ‘What makes a good school?’ covering building ethos, delegation and the role of the Form Tutor. A presentation from Chris Adamson at Maricourt addressed tracking progress, achievement and attainment - including reference to the Ofsted framework. The day closed with presentations from Justin McAuley (St Cuthbert’s) and Matthew Cubbin (St Augustine) regarding ‘real situations’, giving colleagues case studies and suggested solutions.

‘It was a useful course and a good opportunity to mix with other

pastoral members of staff. It was nice to recognise that we all have Newsletter—Edition 1 Winter 2015 the same struggles and suffer from a lack of time!’

‘A great collection of speakers - with real life experiences who are still in the classroom delivering.’

Senior Pastoral Leaders Workshop On Friday 17th November we held a Senior Pastoral Leaders Workshop at De La Salle School in St Helens.

This event was held to consider the challenges of Senior Pastoral Leaders in our schools with a focus upon the implications of CSC pupils, including support plans, mental health issues, exclusions, attendance and punctuality.

Several guest speakers attended including William Hedges from CAMHS, who gave a presentation on Mental Health focussing on anxiety, student resilience, exam pressures, self-image and growth mindset.

Jo Washington from All Hallows shared her school’s approach to Safeguarding. LGBT was the focus during the afternoon lead by Ann Morgan from St Edmund Arrowsmith. The final presentation on preparing for Ofsted came from Steve Coyle at St John Fisher.

Feedback from this event was very positive with colleagues commenting: ‘Very informative and useful for practice and policy’ ‘Good support mechanisms put in to place and examples of where to find good practice should other schools have similar issues’ ‘A chance to get away and think and I found the information imparted very useful indeed’

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Archdiocese of Liverpool Secondary School Improvement Trust Newsletter

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Head of Department Meetings Offering an opportunity to meet with other HoDs and exam boards these meetings continue to be popular, with 290 colleagues taking the opportunity to attend the autumn meetings.

Meetings planned for the spring term can be found below, along with a link to book your place via our new electronic system.

GCSE Subject

Spring Term

Venue

Online Booking Link

Science

18th January 2018

St Peter’s Catholic High School

Science

Psychology

Newsletter—Edition Winter 23rd January 2018 Saints 1Peter and 2015 Paul Catholic College

Psychology

Geography

24th January 2018

Holy Family Catholic High School

Geography

Physical Education

25th January 2018

St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School

Physical Education

English

30th January 2018

Broughton Hall High School

English

History

1st February 2018

Hope Academy

History

Computer Science

5th February 2018

St John Bosco

Computer Science

Maths

6th February 2018

Carmel College

Maths

Languages

7th February 2018

St Cuthbert’s Catholic High School

Languages

Drama

8th February 2018

Holy Family Catholic High School

Drama

Music

27th February 2018

All Saints Catholic High School

Music

Art and Design

28th February 2018

Archbishop Beck Catholic College

Art & Design

Food

12th March 2018

Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School

Food

Design and Technology

13th March 2018

De La Salle, St Helens

Design & Technology

Dance

14th March 2018

St Peter’s Catholic High School

Dance

Health & Social Care

15th March 2018

Saints Peter and Paul Catholic College

Health & Social Care

Sociology

20th March 2018

Saints Peter and Paul Catholic College

Sociology

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Archdiocese of Liverpool Secondary School Improvement Trust Newsletter

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SPRING TERM - UPCOMING EVENTS West Cluster CPD Leads Meeting 8.00-10.00 Tue 16 Jan at St John Bosco Central Cluster Headteacher Meeting 8.00-10.00 Wed 17 Jan 2018 at St Mary’s College West Cluster Physics Partners Meeting 1.15-4.00 Wed 17 Jan 2018 at St Francis Xavier’s College East Cluster Headteacher Newsletter—Edition 1 Winter Meeting 2015 8.00-10.00 Thu 18 Jan 2018 at St Peter’s Catholic High School Science HoD Meeting 1.30-4.00 Thu 18 Jan at St Peter’s Catholic High School East and Central Physics Partners Meeting 2.00-4.30 Thu 18 Jan at St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School West Cluster NQT Programme 'Bring and Brag/Reflecting on performance' 2.00-4.20 Thu 18 Jan at The Academy of St Francis of Assisi Psychology HoD Meeting 1.30-4.00 Tue 23 Jan at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic College

Curriculum Meeting 8.00-10.00 Wed 24 Jan at Maricourt Catholic High School Geography HoD Meeting 1.30-4.00 Wed 24 Jan at Holy Family Catholic High School Central Cluster NQT Programme 'Bring and Brag/Reflecting on performance' 2.00-4.15 Wed 24 Jan at All Saints Catholic High School Central Cluster CPD Meeting 8.15-10.15 Thu 25 Jan at Holy Family Catholic High School Physical Education HoD Meeting 1.45-4.30 Thu 25 Jan at St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School

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Archdiocese of Liverpool Secondary School Improvement Trust Newsletter

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East Cluster CPD Leads Meeting 9.15-11.15 Tue 30 Jan at St Peter’s Catholic High School English HoD Meeting 1.30-4.00 Tue 30 Jan at Broughton Hall High School Post 16 Meeting 8.30-10.30 Wed 31 Jan at Holy Family Catholic High School History HoD Meeting 1.30-4.00 Thu 1 Feb at Hope Academy

Newsletter—Edition 1 Winter 2015 Computer Science HoD meeting 1.30-4.00 Mon 5 Feb at St John Bosco Arts College Maths HoD Meeting 1.30-4.00 Tue 6 Feb at Carmel College Languages HoD Meeting 1.30-4.00 Wed 7 Feb at St Cuthbert’s Catholic High School Drama HoD Meeting 1.30-4.00 Thu 8 Feb at Holy Family Catholic High School

Music HoD Meeting 1.30-4.00 Tue 27 Feb at All Saints Catholic High School Art and Design HoD Meeting 1.30-4.00 Wed 28 Feb at Archbishop Beck Catholic High School West Cluster Physics Partners Meeting 1.15-4.00 Thu 1 Mar at St Francis Xavier’s College East and Central Physics Partners Meeting 2.00-4.30 Mon 5 Mar at St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School

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Archdiocese of Liverpool Secondary School Improvement Trust Newsletter

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Food HoD Meeting 1.30-4.00 Mon 12 Mar at Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School West Cluster Headteacher Meeting 8.00-10.00 Tue 13 Mar at St Francis Xavier’s College Design and Technology HoD Meeting 1.30-4.00 Tue 13 Mar at De La Salle School Dance HoD Meeting 1.30-4.00Newsletter—Edition Wed 14 Mar at St Peter’s Catholic 1 Winter 2015 High School Health and Social Care HoD Meeting 1.30-4.00 Thu 15 Mar at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic College Central Cluster NQT Meeting ‘Numeracy across the curriculum/Questioning and IRIS’ 2.00-4.15 Thu 15 Mar at St Cuthbert’s Catholic High School West Cluster NQT ‘Numeracy across the curriculum/Questioning and IRIS’ 2.00-4.20 Thu 15 Mar at St John Bosco Arts College Sociology HoD Meeting 1.30-4.00 Tue 20 Mar at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic College Headteacher Trust Meeting 9.00-12.00 Wed 21 Mar at The Wrightington Hotel

If you have any comments or observations about this newsletter then we would welcome them. Please forward those comments to Paul Greenall, Partnership Director p.greenall@rcaol.co.uk

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