David Rogers

Closing time Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end. This is the second in a short series of posts around my successful appointment as an Assistant Headteacher at Patcham High School .  The job starts in September.  This post is a reflection on the process as a whole.  Saying that, I’m not going to delve into the application process before shortlisting.  I’m sharing these things here mainly for me to reflect upon and revisit at a later date, but also as others may benefit from the experience. Firstly, as well as being very excited and eager to get started, there’s also more than a little melancholy.  Today, I wrote the handover list for Priory Geography, and it is the end of one adventure.  Tomorrow, I’ll don the Priory Geography branded kit for the final fieldtrip, and a small part of me will break.  It’s not that I’m leaving geography behind.  I’m not. I was a geographer long before a teacher.  Also, I’ve always...

Closing time Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end. This is the first in a short series of posts around my successful appointment as an Assistant Headteacher at Patcham High School .  The job starts in September.  This post shares a lesson idea that would be worth a polish and revisit for any context.  I’m sharing these things here mainly for me to reflect upon and revisit at a later date, but also as others may benefit from the experience. The brief was to create a 25 minute lesson around the word ‘INSPIRE’ which forms the school’s mission statement.  The interpretation was open and I wanted to avoid being explicitly geography  linked.  Now, it’s impossible to develop a fully formed lesson in that time with a class that I haven’t met. It’s also not possible to teach an Outstanding lesson to such a group of young people, not least because I hadn’t marked their books.  With this in mind, I wanted to take a risk and show th...