No vision kills creativity and serendipity, not Ofsted or SLT or 'INSERT EXCUSE HERE'

It may be the old man in me, but Jo's post last night triggered some reflections about my time at Priory School. I also found myself nodding along to Stephen's post here about JFDI (Just Frigging Do It). Please, take the following as a story from experience. Don't ask me how we got away with it (it had a big part to do with rising results). But, we did a lot of work around our mission. If you're a leader, at any level, have a go at this:

1. Get yourself off site.

In the original days we managed to get a day out of school as a team. I used some of the department budget (don't have much budget - then get money into the dept from grants etc.). When we weren't allowed to do that, the team took the decision to use one Saturday in the year to talk about where we were going. Don't get me wrong, I saw it as my responsibility, as Head of Department, to set the priorities and vision in September, but we needed a discussion.

There were two aims in the day. The first to revisit our vision (making a video) and the second to develop vital Schemes of Work.

2. Bring objects

I like objects. And I like notice for meetings (at least a week is needed to think). I asked the others to bring along three objects that represented what we wanted geography to feel, be, sound, taste like. I believe that you need to start with what type of child do we aim to develop. The qualifications are the obvious bit, but how can we encourage them to think like a geographer, measure like a scientist, write like an author? Objects generate far more discussion that a list. And the discussion is important. During this we would record the main points. It's important to note that results and progress always figured (I've never understood the obsession with borderlines and attainment at the expense of progress - I hope that Progress 8 will address this).

3. Share

I always liked a video to share the vision. I used to show it to all classes and reviewed it myself many times to see if we were still on track. It was important to strip the vision back each year and make it simple. It's important to remember that its about the process and conversation and not the video.

Check out 2012's eff....

4. Live it

I'm most proud of one achievement in my time as a leader, and it will be difficult to top. I'd love to replicate it whole school. At Priory Geography, we operated as a normal day when Ofsted came calling. Or SLT were on the hunt. Quality teaching and learning from lesson one of Year 7. No exceptions. Of course, we did a little polishing like talking over the plans, but we didn't alter them. Our view was that the planned learning sequence was more important. Of course, there was always room for improvement.

5. Put the excuses in the drawer

I had to fight each year to cover the costs etc. We gained grants and money into the department (one year this topped £22k). No time or a Saturday? This process saved time and reduced workload, for example using Dropbox for resources, Google Docs for our curriculum documents and a wiki for the department handbook came out of this process also.

My belief is that is you have a strong vision, a bomber mission, then you can sail through the turbulence of curriculum and government changes. You can subvert or ignore what comes in.

High Impact, Low effort

This month is the start of the #29daysofwriting challenge. I enjoyed this last year and will be using my Staffrm account to post. I'll also be reporting here, both to give a little more detail and to keep a log of what I have written. The challenge developed a great sense of community last year, which is why I'm choosing to write on Staffrm. What I would say to those who are new to writing or don't want to run out of ideas is: Write for yourself. Clarify an idea, write something out loud. The process of distilling thoughts into writing is immensely beneficial to your practice. If other read, comment and respond, that's a bonus. Ignore the muppets who know nothing of your context, style or students. Mix it up - I like to read about real stuff from real classrooms and schools and also about other stuff. If we always write about school, how does that work for workload? If you've nothing nice to say, don't say it. So, the following has been

What makes a learning experience profound? Personal reflections and possible implications for classroom practice.

I have recently begun a Leadership Pathways journey. As part of the first core day, we were asked to reflect on a profound learning experience. This got me thinking about how many profound learning experiences I have both been involved in, and how many I have been able to give to others. Our group came up with a huge long list, but these are my five. Emotional Connected Demanding Reflective Collaborative As always, these are personal thoughts and quite mixed up. I put them here so that I can look back on them (plus they’d get lost inside my world-cup-free brain) 1. Emotional I can’t think of a time where deep learning hasn’t engaged my emotions. From being awe inspired to that tingle feeling when a student gets a light bulb moment. From this-is-the-happiest-day-ever, to I-think-I’m-about-to die. How often do we engage the emotions of those we teach? Here, I would argue that having a safe learning environment is not always conducive to profound

The danger of Teaching and Twitter conversations: poorly formed bipolar arguments.

Sometimes in life, there really are only two options. Get the wrong one and you can look like a muppet. Take this useful sign for the toilets in Morocco. I successfully navigated it, choosing the right option. The result? No egg on my face. As a mountain leader, there are many right or wrong decisions that I’ve faced, as there are all over life. It’s not a good idea to let inexperienced young people walk themselves down Snowdon. They may die or be seriously injured. If someone is showing the signs and symptoms of hyperthermia, you need to treat it fast in a specified way. There is no real arguing with this sign: Other options are less obvious. Take this sign recently spotted near to where I live: Now, I wouldn’t consider sleeping in a bin. However, faced with a sub-zero night, I could see the appeal. The danger? Being tipped into one of those huge lorries with a compactor. (by the way, I only really considered all of this thanks to questions from my four year old boy).

David Rogers

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