Back and Forward

I have to say that I am not really a fan of Christmas music but as I was thinking about a track to link with this post, I thought about this.  My grandpa was an enormous jazz fan and Duke Ellington would regularly be blaring in my grandparents house so this seemed like a good choice.  Even though the rest of the post is about looking forward I do think that Christmas is a lovely time for looking back as well so this seemed to fit.

As the year draws to an end lots of folks start thinking about New Year’s Resolutions, all the different ways we plan  to create a new and improved version of ourselves – more gym, less food (as if!) healthier lifestyles, thinking more about others and so on.  School however doesn’t really work like this as our year runs very differently and has it’s own interesting chronology.  Our New Year starts in August and we spend a lot of time collecting evidence and data, opinions and research over the year before making our resolutions for the school improvement plan.  One of the key things we are working on at the moment is an updated curriculum rationale.

Education Scotland says  “When a school has a rationale for its curriculum, it means that everyone involved with the school can answer the questions ‘What is it we want for these children?’ and ‘What are we going to do to achieve it?’.”  As a staff we have been discussing this and a survey is live asking families for their views on what our children need.  (If you haven’t had a chance to complete it please take a few minutes to share your thoughts).  We will be working with the pupil council to gather the opinions of our children as well as looking at things like SIMD data, key documentation from Education Scotland  and updated definitive guidance from Cabinet Secretary for Education John Swinney ,  before sending out a draft of the new rationale before the end of the year –  that’s June as opposed to December!

I have to admit I am looking forward to a couple of weeks of spending time with my family, relaxing and enjoying each other’s company without having to be anywhere at any particular time.  Our tree was delivered at the weekend and the amount of wrapped presents in the corner of the living room is growing at an alarming rate; however the decorations are still in the loft and a number of key gifts are yet to be sourced so there is still a fair bit to do before we can relax.

It is the same in school, still loads to do before we can relax and the whole school is still buzzing with learning.  Some of this can be seen through our Twitter timeline, including some very impressive dancing !

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.