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The call....

Well, as I'm sat here in Lancaster services waiting for my climbing partner it seems that blogger won't allow me to upload images today. They were going to be great too!

Anyhow, with Ofsted a half term away I've been reflecting on the events since the 13th Feb. I'll write about the KS3 Geography Conference at a later date! That is if the Ofsted fairies don't melt my mind first! I'm sharing my feelings here as I think that others will be able to learn from my experience of the inspection.

The first lovely picture shows me grappling with a multitude of ropes during crevasse rescue training in the Alps. The first feeling after the news that Ofsted would be carrying out a 2 day subject inspection of my department led me to panic about how to pull all of the threads together. Things have been moving slowly, but as a new head of department (6 weeks into the job) I wondered how I was going to get all of the threads together. However, the point of training is that things become easier. Ofsted has actually made me really focus on the job in hand, and has forced me to act a little quicker.

Firstly it was clear that staff need support, reassurance and guidance. I think it was Bob Markey who said that everything's gonna be all right, and I am confident it will be!

So what have I done? The second great photo (great because it wasn’t taken by me of staring me) was going to show a team of people pulling together to rescue a lost soul who had fallen' into a crevasse. It became clear that I had to be honest about the position the department is in. I am very grateful for all of the advice offered through SLN colleagues. From this I have been able to focus.

I have written the aims for the Geography department (based upon ideas from the KS3 conference):
· To stimulate a sense of wonder about places.
· To help you to make sense of the complex and sometimes crazy world around you.
· To inspire and show you how you can change your world
· to help you to explore your geography.
· To give you the skills to make it in the future – whatever your choices are.

This is part of the 'rebranding' of geography at Priory. 'Geography is changing........'

Secondly I have cobbled together a development plan. Again I am grateful to virtual colleagues. Firstly this involved carrying out a SWOT analysis with my team. Although this had been done informally over the past 6 weeks, next time I'm going to ensure that I formalise all actions! This is where the experience of Ofsted has been valuable - it has made me create these documents that had only existed within the vast expanse of my confused head or in my notebook. This has allowed me to create a formal action plan linked to the school development plan and humanities faculty plans. I have tried to be bold. The next job is to prioritise the actions. There is so much to do the plan is heading for War and Peace status!

The next job? To sort out my lessons...

So far so good...........
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