Looking at our website anyone would think we have been in hibernation for about at least the past year. Well, far from it, we have in fact been quite busy - just not in terms of updating this. In April...
Looking at our website anyone would think we have been in hibernation for about at least the past year. Well, far from it, we have in fact been quite busy - just not in terms of updating this.
In April 2011 we alerted you to the fact that Gene Payne was taking an Assistant Principal role at a Harris Academy, with a view to becoming a headteacher. In January this year he took on the role of head at The Causeway School in Eastbourne and is loving the challenge.
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Now any school or group of schools can set up their own student commission drawing on the work of Harris. We have produced this online toolkit which includes guidance, tips and ideas as well as hundreds of resources for schools to adapt. Go to www.studentcommission.org.uk.
Since Christmas we have both been busy supporting the Harris Student Commission develop its final recommendations. And, after two years of enquiry, the commission has published its ‘new design for learning' (Download file). We are hugely proud to have been part of it. So much that’s positive has already happened, for everyone involved, but the best work of the commission is yet to come as the academies set out to fulfil the seventeen entitlements for all learners and teachers.
“The most significant skill I have gained from the commission is the ability to question things rather than accept them at face value.” Matthew Gavin, Year 10, Harris Academy Merton
The commission is launching the new design for learning at the Whole Education ‘Whose Curriculum Is It Anyway?’ event on 16 May 2011.
As some of you will know, things have changed a little for GoddardPayne in the past month or so. For some time Gene has been considering a move back into schools – a chance to put all he’s learnt and experienced in the past seven years into practice – and as of two weeks ago he has taken on the role of Vice Principal at Harris Academy Purley.
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Who'd have thought it was possible for Caireen to get excited about numbers? But working with Julie Temperley and New Philanthropy Capital on an approach to demonstrating value for money in early years settings is proving to be a brilliant piece of work. It involves creating a toolkit and process to help the locality teams involved in the Radical Efficiency in Early Years programme look carefully at the costs of their new service ideas and compare this to the existing service based on unit costs. We're testing it in Bradford, Reading and Knowsley in the next couple of weeks so will see if they're as wowed by it all as we are.
We're really chuffed that the practical guide 'Using social challenge prizes to support people powered innovation' (Download file) has been published by NESTA. It's been a while in the making but Caireen has enjoyed writing and creating it with the fantastic Vicki Purewal and Kerry McCarthy. The prize approach offers a completely new way of funding specific outcomes and supporting community-led innovation so we're looking forward to seeing how others respond.
