Turning
a school around
April 24, 2008
Victoria
Neumark visits South Holderness Technology College in
Yorkshire to find out how coaching and CPD has transformed
its fortunes
There’s more of
a buzz about learning now, says Richard Verity, assistant
head at South Holderness technology college. Within two
years, South Holderness has gone from an Ofsted notice to
improve (2006) to “all areas satisfactory and some areas
good” (2007). Its local authority (LA), the East Riding of
Yorkshire no longer classifies it as “of concern”; on the
contrary, the authority showcased the school’s teaching and
learning development at a February conference in
Leeds. Results have shot up in the last five years -- 5
A*-Cs from 50 % to 65 % (50% including English and
Maths); the school is
oversubsribed; and enthusiastic
staff say things like “I never plan to leave”.
The improvement is driven, says Richard Verity, by
collaborative working. Sounds dull? Not a bit of it. It’s a
vibrant, liberating way to run a school. “Effective lessons
and effective learners” are the heart of its continuous
professional development (CPD) programme: learning by doing
for staff as well as students. “It may seem strange that a
school should not have had this as a total focus,” he says,
“but a bombardment with targets and initiatives can lead to
forgetting what really matters – the young people in the
classroom.” Head Martin Cooper leads a team of over 150
staff to work with nearly 1900 students aged 11 to 18; it’s
all about positive expectations, continuous improvement –
and a “yellow pages” in the staffroom.
Coaching which “does not judge individuals, but values
them” is the basis of South Holderness CPD as it is of
raising pupil attainment. Where pupils have learning
mentors, staff have a termly coaching programme, teaching
yellow pages and informal coaching from each other. “At
least half our staff now feel able to coach others,” says
Mr Verity.
The formal CPD programme is co-ordinated by Richard and the
teaching and learning committee (TALC), which mixes senior
and subject and non-teaching staff. They agree a focus like
“questioning” or “active learning in key stage 5”. A team
of consultants from the LA come into school for a weekly
residency each term (the seventh is in March). They work
with staff volunteers (so far, at least 69 have been
through the formal coaching cycle, a number more than
once).
Recently, for instance, 24 staff took part in exploring
active learning in key stage 5: an attempt to broaden out
sixth-form work beyond a standard
lecture-demonstration-writing model to a more varied style,
similar to KS3 & 4 in shape, though not content. Some
sixth-form staff were initially sceptical; the experience
of the week completely won them over. Teachers and
classroom support staff join groups of three – consultant,
coach and coachee – who take two hours to prepare a lesson
using the new approach. The coachee then teaches the lesson
while the coach and the consultant observe or team-teach. A
two-hour debriefing analysis follows, where the group
unpick, often with video, which strategies worked and why.
“It is,” said one head of year, “the best CPD I’ve ever
had.”
Students also get a say in coaching CPD. During
residencies, a group of students meet to review the impact
of coaching. They discuss with staff which aspects had
improved. Their views feed back to the teaching and
learning committee and then into choosing new subjects for
coaching. “We ask them for their opinion because it
matters,” says Richard Verity. “And because it helps
staff.” For example, after the focus on KS5, the students
shared their views with all KS5 teachers. They also fill in
questionnaires and online subject specific surveys. “We
really enjoy the chance to talk about our lessons” said Sam
from Year 12. “It’s good that teachers take notice of how
we feel they can help us learn,” added Ellie.
Of course, such lengthy CPD does cost money, since the
coaching groups’ normal has to be covered, but there is
money in National Strategy funding. And it’s worth it. “We
have some real light-bulb moments,” as Richard Verity puts
it. “Oh, I get it now!” said one science teacher,
previously wary that coaching was “just monitoring by the
back door”. A history teacher agreed, “You can’t put a
price on the quality time to share thinking about what
happens in my classroom.”
Equally key to
staff morale and effectiveness are the yellow pages.
Actually printed on yellow paper with walking fingers, the
book lists staff’s strengths and offers to coach instead of
local plumbers and glaziers. Updated termly, it offers
anyone struggling with, say, ideas for lesson starters the
chance to look in the book and find a colleague’s brain to
pick. Such help also follows a coaching model: not “you do
it like this” but “I’ve tried this: could anything like
that work for you?” So far, staff have helped each other in
their own time, at lunch or after school, as a voluntary
but reciprocal arrangement. The school plans to build in
coaching time to staff timetables.
One step up in intensity from the yellow pages is coaching
through department. If a teacher asks for help, for example
with classroom organisation, a colleague might say, “I know
someone who is brilliant with this. I’ll cover your lesson
while you plan your next session with him. Then he’ll sit
in on it, or deliver it with you, and afterwards review it
with.” It is, says Richard Verity, empowering for both
parties: particularly empowering perhaps for those who do
not have senior positions but do have advanced classroom
skills which they are happy to share.
Whole-staff inset days take the process one step further.
Workshops on things like active homework are shared with
the whole staff group by those who’ve already gone through
the coaching process on that subject. For instance, twelve
workshops on virtual learning environments took place
initially on a training day; they’ve been so popular that
they have been repeated in twilight sessions through the
year.
The next step is links with other schools in the coaching
chain. South Holderness already shares teaching in the
sixth form with local Hornsea and Withernsea schools: the
next step is sharing coaching sessions and a curriculum.
Instead of always reinventing the wheel, the community of
teachers from all three schools can meet to develop
resources, share expertise and training. All three schools
this spring will share a keynote speech from Alistair Smith
and a series of workshops connected to his accelerated
learning programme, also run on the active coaching model.
Such vital relationships flourish among the students too. A
strong peer mentoring group works tirelessly with younger
pupils. Originally set up by a senior teacher through the
college council, they run themselves now. The college
council itself no longer focuses solely on the perennial
toilet problem, but discusses things like curriculum,
course options and classroom practice. Pupils develop as
confident and articulate citizens, performing in the
national Rock Challenge and debating competitions, public
speaking, rugby tournaments and drama shows, including a
self-written sixth-form pantomime.
Coaching is a liberating technique. As a specialist
technology college, South Holderness now specialises
further in rural and sustainable technology. Glasshouses
and recycling will lead to pupils ultimately growing their
own food: the perfect symbol for self-learning,
self-nurturing, self-coaching.
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