From the Secondary Leadership Team
12 weeks of successful online learning in the Secondary School.
And here we are.. 12 weeks into the term this year and the first half term complete, and all online! It has overall been a very positive experience, as shown in the feedback surveys and the comments we receive daily from all members of the community. In this weekly post, I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge some key successes we have had over this half term and give you the opportunity to reflect on what we mean by assessment and feedback leading up to the end of Cal1.
Throughout this term, staff have undertaken a large amount of professional development to further their practice. We would like to congratulate Mr Walter Arevalo of the Science department on his recently awarded English Bachelor Degree Diploma. Well done, Walter!; Other staff have been undertaking further training, including:
Increased members of staff with Level 1 and 2 Google Educator Certifications
Curriculum planning and timetabling training
OLEVI International Creative Teacher Programme
Online Excellence Courses
Collaboration and sharing of excellent practice every week.
We can safely say that we are doing everything we can to help our teachers to allow them to continue to give your children the best learning experiences possible even when we are working online. On top of this, we have recently moved to Google Enterprise of Education, which has given teachers the ability to enhance their online learning classrooms and increase the level of group work, interaction and collaboration.
We have all continued to develop. The efforts of the students and the quality of work created while learning online have been awe-inspiring. Earlier this week I asked staff to share examples of outstanding work from their classes and in this document you can find some excellent examples of what has been happening across the school. Some highlights:
Music: Alejandro Gonzalez G11 who has produced an exceptional arrangement of John Lennon's Imagine in a swing jazz style. He made the arrangement and also recorded the guitar parts live. Video of this is here
ITGS: We invite you to view and interact with a small collection of the work from 12th Grade ITGS page of the ICT Webpage.
Life Skills: Grade 9 have created posters to gain a better understanding about how they can be safer when using the internet.
Assessment, Feedback and Cal 1 Reports
At the end of a half term, it is often a good point to look back and reflect on what has been successful and also what can be improved. Over the month of November, we will be collecting the attainment and attitudinal data from the teachers to create and publish the Cal 1 reports.
Last week I attended a keynote speech organised by the LAHC from John Hattie (a well-known professor of education) who questioned what assessment and feedback should and should not be. He identified that assessment is the tool used to give teachers feedback to improve lessons further and help support the students with their individual needs. The importance of assessment is the feedback it delivers to everyone involved. Below are three important points we must remember about feedback from assessments (source):
Feedback is not advice or evaluation. Feedback is information about how we are doing in our efforts to reach a goal.
If the students know the 'classroom' is a safe place to make mistakes, they are more likely to use feedback for learning.
When a grade is given as part of feedback, students routinely read only as far as the grade.
The third I believe to be the most important, as students need to understand how to read beyond the grade they are given for their Cal. When students receive their Cal 1 grades over the next month, we want them to be able to look beyond the grade given and think carefully about the feedback their teachers have given them to improve. In order for progress to take place, students need to understand the context in which the grade has been given and what specific skills they need to develop to move to the next level and beyond. I urge all students to find some time to speak with their teachers following the Cal 1 reports if their expectations of themselves do not match with the feedback they have been given and have a powerful discussion about the next steps.
On the Cal 1 reports, I would advise all parents to have a close look at the Work Skills reported and check student Tribal Stars and Flags using the iSAMS parent portal. Having an understanding of your child's attitude towards learning isnow more important than ever before as students become more independent with their learning.
The Cal 1 reports will be released for all grades throughout the months of November and December; please expect an email from the Head of Year of each grade when these are released. All reports are released using the Student and Parent iSAMS portals. If you have not yet signed up for your account, please do so by following these instructions.
Thank you!
To finish off this term I would like to say thank you. Thank you to all parents, for all the support you have given your children while they learn from home.
Thank you to the PAES teachers for preparing the Grade 12’s for their upcoming AVANZO exams. We wish the Grade 12 all the best! They will be off normal lessons until they return on Wednesday 11th November.
A huge thank you to the LSU for all of their support in the well being of our community!
We look forward to seeing you all back online on Monday 9th November!
Secondary notices -
Parent Partnership - Self regulation and growth in a digital world
If you missed the parent partnership organised by Ms Chavez named “Self regulation and growth in a digital world” you can find this video here.
Grade 6 Coffee Morning Video
On Tuesday a Grade 6 coffee morning was held providing key information for Grade 6 parents. If you missed the meeting or would like to watch again you can do so by watching this video.
ABC LRC Book Pickup Service *Library2Go
The ABC libraries have worked very hard to put together a safe, efficient system for library book reservations, pickups and drop offs, which has been functioning for two weeks now. The booking and pickup service will be paused during the half term break but will resume again when we return to lessons again on Monday 9th November.
It is a system whereby our librarians will be available to check out books that students have reserved through the system, using the Hold It option. The librarians will closely monitor the holds each week, prepare student book bags and ensure that students who reserve books are contacted, as soon as their book bag is ready for pickup. Please do take a moment to read more about how this system works, here.
Wellbeing time / Early finish days
Over the course of the next term we have planned for some days where we will be finishing earlier than usual at 1pm. These dates are Tuesday 17th November and Friday 4th December. We are currently planning some time next half term to allow students to reflect on their learning and have discussions with their tutors to help support their wellbeing as well as other exciting events. More information on this to come.
Dates for your diary
SECONDARY
November
Monday 2nd to Friday 6th - Half Term holidays
Monday 9th - Back to Distance Learning lessons (except Grade 12)
Monday 9th to Friday 13th - British Week
Tuesday 10th - AVANZO Exams for Grade 12
Wednesday 11th - Grade 12 return to normal lessons.
Thursday 12th - Grade 10 Learning Review Day
Monday 16th to Friday 20th - Grade 12 English Oral exams
Friday 20th - World Children's Day
December
Wednesday 2nd - Thursday 3rd - Grade 11/12 Learning Review Days
Monday 7th - Real Spanish Oral IB Exam
Tuesday 8th - Grade 9 Learning Review Day
Friday 18th - Last Day of Term
Monday 21st - Christmas holidays start
