When visiting a school for the first time, your senses are on full alert. From the second it’s in your sights - as you turn into the car park or leave your car - you make judgements. You may not be aware of the school’s history, it’s catchment area or even it’s latest Ofsted grade, but everything makes an impression: good or bad.
Gaining access to some schools can actually take quite a long time, and often is problematic. It’s rare to find a car park space, and even if you do manage to find one, there’s the ubiquitous school intercom to deal with. You’re left buzzing away until someone passing the office answers. Then there’s the third degree. “Why are you here?” “Who do you want to see?” “Sign the visitors’ book.” “Read the health and safety document.” “Have your picture taken for you visitor’s badge”. If you’re lucky, you will get a cup of tea or coffee.
All the time you gain an impression of the school, and the front office staff. How much children’s work do you see in the reception hall? Is the hall bright and welcoming or just a space to place the information for parents? When you eventually get shown around the school, those first impressions stay with you.
Does your school offer a warm welcome?
Every day, children make similar judgements of their teachers. For them, it’s in the first five minutes of a lesson. In this short time, it is essential that the teacher establishes control over the class and outlines the direction that the lesson is going to go in. There needs to be “hook” to draw the pupil in. Is the teacher talking to you or at you? Are they reminding you of what you did last lesson and telling you what you’ll be learning today? In these first five minutes, the child is either engaged and ready for further involvement or looking out of the window.
Successful teachers recognise the importance of these crucial minutes. Their classroom is organised, and a smooth, relaxed, fun transition into learning can take place. These teachers show little stress, welcome visitors with eyes not words and aren’t confrontational, slow or boring. They grab attention quickly and link new learning with prior knowledge. They are organised, efficient but interesting, with a ready smile and that innate ability to intimately know those in front of them.
Five minutes. That’s all it takes. Three hundred seconds to establish a working environment conducive to learning or one in which every minute is dragged out for both teachers and pupils.
Colin Harris led a school in a deprived area of Portsmouth for more than two decades. His last two Ofsted reports were “outstanding” across all categories
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