So, We’re fully underway with a new school year. After a long summer break, the children have grown - many will have freshened uniforms, new shoes and a smart haircut. Seemingly boundless energy ripples throughout the school as they get to know what it is like to be in their new class with a different teacher.
For many years now, we have chosen to take our Year 6 children on a residential activity week almost immediately in the autumn term. This year, the dates have fallen in such a way that their first day of term will also be the day that they climb aboard a coach bound for an activity centre. Every year, although we think we know our children well, we find out so much more about them during this week away. Crucially, they also build new friendships and learn more about everyone’s strengths and fears in a way that bonds the class immeasurably for the year ahead.
I have often joined the children on their school journey or have visited for a day during the week. The stories and anecdotes of what happens during the trip entertain the class for many months to come. It is therefore a privilege as headteacher to be part of that experience and to share in the moments when apparently impossible achievements take place. There are always stories to share about the giant swing, abseiling, the climbing wall, trapeze and quad bikes. However, the personal triumphs, when everyone else in the team encourages and supports individual success, are the best times of all.
It feels like nothing will be ready
During the holidays, we run a summer club for the first three weeks and, in this time, many colleagues will come into school to prepare their classroom so that it is ready for the new term. Intriguing displays begin to emerge, furniture is rearranged and cupboards tidied. Meanwhile, premises maintenance is undertaken by our site manager and, at times during my holiday visits, it feels as though nothing will ever be ready for September.
As term is about to begin, a sense of anticipation begins to build throughout the building. “Welcome back” posters are displayed across the school, the library has an enticing display of new books, menus for the lunch café are refreshed and even the staffroom fridge is clean.
A new school year is an important time for us all to begin again with renewed optimism about everything that we can achieve together. We collect whole-school assessment data in June and February annually and relate this directly to the specific areas of the curriculum that we have taught. Numbers are not shared with children or families but provide a robust metric in the background that enables us to ensure no child falls through the net.
A new school year is an important time for us all to begin again
The children’s feedback about their learning carefully produced for their end-of-year dialogic reports is used to provide a summary document for each teacher about their new class and their self-assessment of maths and English skills. These documents are created over the holiday as a means of ensuring that all the important feedback from the children is used to support new learning immediately.
We do not focus on grading children but we are very keen to understand how best to enable them to learn successfully. Transition meetings took place at the end of last term and the year begins with the highest possible expectations of every learner building on the excellent learning that took place with the previous teacher.
As the new year settles in, our main focus, as always, is on creating an irresistible learning environment where the stage is set for children to surprise us. Everything and anything feels possible and, because of this, it probably is.
Dame Alison Peacock is executive headteacher of the Wroxham School in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, and chief executive of the Chartered College of Teaching
