Vision to Provision Day 4 - Tuesday 2nd April

Day 4 of our Vision to Provision programme is fast approaching. If you haven't already booked onto the course, please do so via Havering Education Services portal. This programme is free to all EYFS leads across Havering.

This is one of our most succesful programmes run in collaboration with Havering Education Services. It is run by staff working in schools alongside Havering's Early Years Advisor.

The EYFS Leadership programme has been designed to facilitate further continuing professional development for Early Years Leaders, focusing specifically on the establishment of a vision for everyday practice, the practical application of leadership strategies and the ensuring of a great start to school for all Havering Reception aged pupils.

Day 4 - EYFS Leadership training half day session: 
Tuesday 2nd April @ Mead
9.00am - 12.00pm or 1.00pm - 4.00pm

The focus for this session will be the 'Mid Year Check'. We will be:

Looking at your provision

• Discussing impact on action plans - what next?
• Articulating your pedagogical approach 

Leadership

• Building a culture of continuous improvement - Looking at your mid year data drop and going through your analysis- highlighting where children may be exceeding/highlight children you want to discuss
• Looking at ways of effectively moderating your evidence within your teams

Dates to remember:

Second full day conference for EYFS Leaders and Headteachers: Thursday 9th May - keynote speaker: Pete Moorhouse


EYFS Leadership training half day session: Tuesday 2nd July

SSIF project: SLE Training Day 3

Today the Early Years SLEs completed their third day of training to support our Strategic School Improvement Fund project. SLEs from across our borough and from The London Borough of Redbridge came together to complete the Elklan Speech and Language support training for 3 - 5s, lead by Sarah Dunne. This level of intensive training will enable the SLEs to support in schools not only with the NELI intervention but to also support the wider provision to enable schools to become Communication Friendly. 

Iris Lead Award

Congratulations to our Teaching School Director, who has become a certified Iris Lead practitioner.

At the Havering Primary Teaching School (HPTSA) we believe that video technology has the power to transform a teacher's awareness and understanding of their own pedagogy. To have senior leaders accredited in its use and application is a significant asset, both for improvement in our Federation and with schools we work with.

“The overwhelming majority of teachers believed that the intervention was a good use of time and had improved their teaching. There was also strong evidence that the programme changed teachers’ thinking and classroom practice.”

EEF Foundation Report

If you would like to get in touch to ask about how Iris Connect is used at the HPTSA, please contact Joanne: jstanley@teachingschool.havering.sch.uk

DfE Visit to SSIF

We were delighted to welcome Alex Birkhamshaw - from the Department for Education - to come and see the NELI project in action.

The children were very excited to give a demonstration of their listening skills and show how they were able to handle the vocabulary that Mrs Mackman was giving them.

Specialist Leaders are making weekly visits to the focus schools to support the Teaching Assistants in the delivery of the intervention.

The weekly support has been so helpful. My SLE has supported my reflections on what I need to tweak to make the next session more effective. 
Teaching Assistant

It has also been great to see the support from Governors, who have attended the information sessions. It has made it more likely that EYFS outcomes will be championed at a Governing Board level and that the impact of the project will be sustained beyond July 2019.

SSIF Project: SLE Training

Our Strategic School Improvement Fund project launch is now entering the last phase. Having gone through the aims of the project with Headteacher’s, and trained the Teaching Assistants who will deliver the NELI intervention we have now spent two days with our SLEs.

These Early Years specialists will be responsible for supporting the target schools:

• coaching the Teaching Assustant
• collecting assessment and impact data
• supporting reflections on the wider EYFS environment 

The SLEs from Broadford have been joined by leaders from Mead, Gearies, Clockhouse & Hilldene Primary. 

I am really excited at the opportunity to go and work with other settings and see this intervention in action!

C Tynan

Communication is such an important aspect of the Early Learning Goals. I am fully behind the aims of the project to improve outcomes across Havering. 

K Edwards

As the project progresses we will keep updating you on the impact that the NELI intervention is having. 

Peer Review: Mid Year Meeting

In partnership with the Education Development Trust, our Improvement Facilitators (IF) met together to review the progress with our peer review model so far. 

What have we found?

The IF role is vital in helping to establish staff ownership of the improvement targets.

100% of schools reviewed agreed that the IF workshop empowered staff to make a personal plan of action.

Effective communication between the IF and the Lead Reviewer is key. Where workshops have not been as effective it is because the aim wasn’t clearly defined enough and the IF needed greater support. 

Who is involved?

There are currently two clusters of schools - representing over 15 Havering primaries. In the Autumn of 2018 there is likely to be a third cluster starting. In addition there is a group of schools who are using the NAHT Aspire model to support a self led improvement cycle.

What impact has been seen so far?

Feedback from Headteachers and staff  indicates that:

• There has been greater staff buy in for the  improvement process
• The CPD provided has really helped to strengthen the role and status of Middle Leaders
• A culture of sharing and collaboration is now much more prevalent across the partner schools 
• Staff believe there is a shared corporate responsibility for outcomes 

It has been really inspiring to see the growth in confidence of the Havering IFs. They have risen to the challenge and been a vital part of the success of this first year of the review cycle.

Maggie Farrar

SSIF: Vision 2 Provision Conference

36 Havering Schools cake together to review the progress so far of our new Vision to Provision programme for Early Years leaders and settings.

What is the rationale for V2P?

Havering data shows that Expected outcomes are strong and improving. However Exceeding outcomes - particularly with Communication - are significantly behind. 

How did this session help?

The aims of this season were:

• to share with HTs and their EYFS leads the tweaks that have been made to approaches in their settings this year and the impact they have had
• give HT support with interpretating their EYFS data and being able to provide challenge and support for their EYFS leads
• look ahead to 2018-19 and how we can develop the programme further to meet the needs of Havering settings

Julie Fisher - Who Leads The Learning?

Julie Fisher then led the remainder of the day, exploring how adult/child interactions can be made more effective. 

I have been inspired by each session on the V2P course and think it has been a great source of knowledge, understanding and ideas for leadership. I particularly enjoyed Julia Fisher's talks and found them very inspirational!

From my perspective I think the course has been perfectly pitched. It has had a significant impact on me as a Head with no expertise in EYFS, in terms of strengthening and developing my understanding and as a consequence facilitating a much stronger relationship between senior leaders and Early Years. It has really helped us to further shape and refine our vision for our EYFS setting.

I think it has helped our EYFS lead to feel more secure in her leadership abilities. The programme has provided her with the opportunity to reflect on her practice and the practice of others.

We look forward to welcoming EYFS Leads back for the final session of the year on June 8th @ Mead Primary.

NELI Training Day 1

Mead Primary hosted the first day of the NELI Training as our launch phase of the project progresses.

First the Teaching Assistants will learn how to deliver the intervention. This involves:

• three weekly group sessions of 20-30mins
• two individual sessions for each pupil per week

Using stimulus cards, the TAs will support the children in extending their narrative ability. By providing simple clear guidance on how to scaffold a narrative, we aim to improve the pupils’ attainment across Listening & Attention, Understanding and Speaking.

The feedback from the training has been extremely positive:

A very well run training session that means I am very confident I will be able to deliver this in school

The resources and manual are really helpful. Often we are left to plan dna resource interventions ourselves - this is so much clearer

Our trainer - Sarah - really made me think about the way we speak to the children and model language. This intervention will help the whole setting

100% agreed that they would be confident at starting the intervention

100% agreed that they understood the aims of the SSIF project

We now can’t wait to see the impact that the NELI resources will have! 

NELI Resources

This morning the delivery man dropped off the boxes for the Nuffield Early Literacy Intervention (NELI).

Without the funding from the SSIF, Havering schools would not be able to afford either the resources or the training that will make such a difference to our Early Years pupils.

We aim to diminish the difference in communication outcomes so that Havering produces more Exceeding pupils - particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Included in the pack is:

• a manual of the program so that Teaching Assistants don’t have to plan, only prepare their sessions
• all of the flash and prompt cards
• a teddy hand puppet

The resources and scheme look really engaging. I am confident that the simple framework that it provides for improving talk and conversations will have a real impact on our pupils. 

J Mackman

Strategic School Improvement Launch Event

All 15 schools who will be part of the Havering SSIF bid attended the Launch Event this month. The intention was to ensure that HTs, Governors and EYFS Leads were all aware of the key priorities of the project and how it would be delivered.

In partnership with ELKAN, Oxford University Press, the Department for Education, Havering Education Services (HES) and Broadford Primary, the project will reach over 2,000 children between now and July 2019.

Step 1: Launch the event to HTs, Governors and EYFS Leads
Step 2: Train the Teaching Assistants in the delivery of the intervention
Step 3: Launch the programme in schools and collect baseline data
Step 4: Train the SLEs in their role of support and challenge for wider adoption of the principles
Step 5: SLEs to get into schools and provide ongoing weekly support as pupils progress through the NELI intervention.

A really clear project. I understand the aims and believe that this will really be of use to our setting.

The support from the SSIF is amazing. Our CPD budget is limited. Without this funding we wouldn't be able to participate.

We now look forward to getting the training underway and seeing the intervention in the classroom

Improvement Facilitator Training

We were delighted to welcome Maggie Farrar (from Educational Development Trust) to Mead Primary as we continued our journey with implementing a Peer Review process in Havering. Over 10 schools were represented with 16 Improvement Facilitators benefitting from the training.

Improvement Facilitators are key in helping schools unpick the findings of their Peer Review and creating their own action plan to support the cycle of school led continuous improvement.

A really insightful session. I now feel much more prepared to take on leading the workshops.

The toolkits are very straightforward. I can see that you would quickly become confident at applying them in different contexts.

I left feeling really inspired and can't wait to lead my first workshop!

Alan Peat Training

We were delighted to welcome Alan Peat to the Havering Primary Teaching School Alliance last term. The afternoon session focused on practical ways to develop Greater Depth in Writing across KS2.

• 100% of delegates agreed that they had a clearer understanding of how to develop a collegiate writing approach.
• 76% of delegates strongly agreed that the session had introduced new, simple strategies to improve writing

An inspiring session that simplified what has been a really daunting task. We have struggled to improve outcomes, but the collegiate approach is what we have been missing.

Practical, fun and packed with ideas we can implement straight away! Thank you.

If you'd like support from our English SLEs, please contact our Teaching School Director:

Joanne Stanley

jstanley@teachingschool.havering.sch.uk

Vision To Provision: Conference Day

We are looking forward to welcoming you to our second full day Vision to Provision conference:

Date: Monday 16th April
Venue: CEME Centre RM13 8EU
Time: 9am - 3pm (coffee available from 8.30am)
Lunch: Provided for free
Booking: Please use the Havering portal to book your place
Audience: Headteachers & EYFS Leads

This will be an opportunity for Headteachers and EYFS Leads to plan on how they will work together to ensure that assessment data submitted accurately reflects the cohort and links to Havering priorities - which were identified at the first Conference in October.

We also want to take this chance to inform you about the plans for Vision 2 Provision 2018-19 as it will run again but with updated and different content.

Julie Fisher will lead the majority of the day, giving Headteachers and EYFS Leads a chance to reflect:

• on the role of adults within their settings
• how to develop effective interactions
• think ahead to 2018-19 and what their next steps are going to be for their settings

Feedback from the first Conference in October was extremely positive:
'The colleagues we heard from were really inspirational and all of the messages/advice was really useful. Thank you.

'It an intense but enjoyable and reflective day'

'I thought it was excellent; pitched perfectly with good speakers and good content. Very inspiring.'

Tips On Presenting

Presenting is seen as a staple skill for teachers... but it is rarely explicitly taught as such. When you walk into classrooms or staff meetings, often the most basic of rules are ignored

Colleagues reading out irrelevant slides, robotic monotone delivery, over enthusiastic use of animations, tiny fonts, crammed slides: have any of these simple errors ever been seen in your school?

One of the greatest presenters was Steve Jobs - Apple CEO. His presentations appeared flawless and smooth... but this wasn't an accident. Jobs was legendary for his preparation. He would rehearse on stage for many hours over many weeks prior to the launch of a major product. He knew every detail of every demo and every font on every slide. As a result the presentation was delivered flawlessly. 

People will often say, “I’m not as smooth as Jobs was.” Well, neither was he! Hours and hours of practice made Jobs look polished, casual, and effortless.

So painful, awkward presentations don't need to be this way. Here are some simple tips to purge those presentation pains:

• Practise: how many times will you have read and re read your slides before presenting? Can you ad lib? Do you have to constantly refer to your notes? The more you know your material the more confident you will be... and it means that technical glitches won't throw you off balance.
• Use the tools available: Google Slides has a great explore tool that will help you lay out text and images effectively (see the video below). That way you can concentrate on the content and not worry about the formatting
• Make sure you start the slideshow... often presenters/teachers forget to click 'present' which means that slides are much smaller and harder to read. 
• Use the notes section below each slide to carry your additional information. This helps stop you from just rereading the content on the slide and declutters the presentation.
• Mix up the layout: include some images (ideally personalised to your school/audience) and ensure that slides look different... this helps to keep it more engaging for the audience

Read some more tips from the TES here

Tips from Steve Jobs

Purpose and clarity... and impact!

Often our SLEs have worked with teachers who have tried to tackle the issue of engagement in their classes. Often a solution can appear to be having a really WOW activity: slime, chemical reactions, pizzas into fractions... swiss rolls.

However, engagement isn't about having a small fireworks display to start the lesson. It is about knowing the objective that you wish to teach, knowing that it is appropriate and challenging for the class you have and then planning a purposeful activity that will allow the pupils to make progress towards it.

What is incredibly unhelpful is the lesson described below, that at the time was WOW... but no one can remember the point.

Peer Review - Improvement Workshop

SLEs from our Peer Review cohort led their first session this month at Branfil Primary. In our cohort we have eight Havering Schools:

• Hacton Primary
• Broadford Primary
• Mead Primary
• James Oglethorpe Primary
• Hilldene Primary
• Upminster Infant & Junior
• Engayne Primary
• Branfil Primary

Each school undertakes to receive a Peer Review, and then an Improvement Workshop.
It is too early yet to be able to judge the impact that these reviews will have on pupil outcomes, but staff feedback has been very encouraging:

100% agreed that the Improvement Workshop was a positive experience which will help move our school forward.
I felt it was very positive throughout and we gained a lot through it - Branfil teacher
I thought it was very worthwhile experience - Branfil teacher

The SLEs use a range of thinking tools to help promote discussion and help the staff of the focus school tease out ideas and strategies to move forward followings the findings of the review.
Radiant Thinking

Peer Review: Facilitator Workshop

Facilitated by the Education Development Trust, we had a great training session for our Improvement Facilitators. Our cohort of eight Primary schools have now completed the first two of the reviews in this cycle, with one more to come in January. Having led one Improvement Workshop to enact the findings of the Review, our facilitators were excited to have the chance to meet up with Deanery colleagues who started the Peer Review process a few months earlier.

It was a great chance to discuss ideas, listen to each group's experiences and consolidate our understanding of the techniques and tools we have for the reviews.
T Chappel - Improvement Facilitator

Our two cohorts of schools now have nine facilitators who will be able to support the school improvement process. We hope to add more capacity as the year progresses.

Click here for a link to the Schools Partnership Programme

Google: Culture first, technology second

We were delighted to be asked by Google to present at BETT this year. Our presentation focused on the importance of first building a staff culture before expecting the technology to unleash collaboration.

View the slides here

Across our Federation we have made a conscious effort to build INTELLECTUAL & SOCIAL capital. Google has helped with the first, as they have Educator Level 1 & 2 training which has ensured that our staff are confident with G Suite and all the key apps. However we have worked just as hard on the expectations we have for SOCIAL capital:

• staff nights out: activity based team events darts, Topgolf, bowling, shuffleboard
• fun activities and games to start staff/team meetings
• free refreshments in the staff room to encourage people out of their classes
• free Zumba sessions every week
• cake on a Friday
• joint PPA time with all of the team released at once - across both schools

This meant that when we started to implement G Suite and introduce Chromebooks the culture of collaboration, that was already established, really took off.

Jade then spoke about the practical applications it has to help her lead a team effectively and make a difference in the classroom. The core message behind her part of the presentation was to ensure that:

DON'T BE AFRAID TO STOP DOING SOMETHING GOOD... BE BRAVE AND TRY SOMETHING THAT COULD BE GREAT

There have been lots of questions, nerves and doubt over this new way of doing things. But thanks to the effective modelling of our Google champions we have been able to save time, increase engagement, reduce duplication of tasks and concentrate on the main thing... planning, resourcing and teaching great lessons for the children.

Havering Computing Conference

#googlechampions

Our Teaching School was delighted to present our progress with the implementation of G Suite and Google Apps to the Havering Computing Conference last week. Our Google Accredited teachers have experience of all the key elements of G Suite and have helped the successful adoption across two schools.

With Google Docs, Slides & Sheets now the default planning format, we have seen a significant improvement in efficiency and collaboration - both within and across schools.

The use of Google Drive has made planning a real team activity. I can see my team contributing ideas as they do it, we can work within the same documents and instantly share our resources. It has been a real time saver... faster, quicker and more reliable!
Sophie Winters - Year Group Lead

If your school would benefit from one of our SLEs showing the key aspects of G Suite and supporting your adoption of the software, please just contact us:

Contact:
jstanley@teachingschool.havering.sch.uk
@hptsalliance

Google Summit Training

Our Teaching School has a number of SLEs that can help schools with their use of ICT to support collaboration and communication. As part of our development of this capacity we attended the Google Back to School Summit in October.

There were lots of handy hints and tips:

• Using Google Forms to help communicate requests for support. These could be tweaked to: request School 2 School help, get the site manager to look at an aspect of the school site, send a request to an ICT technician.
• Hear about the power of 10x thinking and reflect on what this might mean in our schools
• Challenge children with the Smarty Pins hack of Google Maps: https://smartypins.withgoogle.com/

We can't wait to share these ideas with our own staff and other colleagues. Our SLEs will be using some of this content at the upcoming Havering ICT Conference, and the next ICT subject leaders meeting.