Future Leaders Cohort '14, Week Two

Weekend 1
Weekend 2
Week 1
Week 2

Virtual school moved into its final and most challenging sessions.  We had to analyse the performance of staff at the virtual school and prepare to take on the actors and actresses  who played the parts of Otterley and Chestnut staff as well as various other stakeholders (e.g. Reverend Bell and the bus driver are two characters which stick in my mind!) at the Made Up Academy Trust (MUAT).

Below is a copy of my own notes: They are just notes!

Week 2 foundations 

Final DAY

Fred and Gemma networking. See pic. 

Fred Paxton and 'Future Leaders Onlin

Everything seems to be on flip ie events

Remember study tour career support day and residential weekend as well as 4 training events. 

Market place people On there have proven school impact initiatives.  We already have 5 peer credits and 4 premium credits. Lots of specific help out there. 

Anna Horvai and magda stepien

See pic of journey schedule type thing. 

The Future Leader Journey

Mock application and interview dec jan not for everyone by mandatory for internal candidates and those who haven't yet secured SLT. 

Residency calendar laminate also LOOK at previous assessed IIs ie make sure you join the assessment group.

FINISHED wITH HeATHS sUMmarY

LOADS OF eVIDENCE  

Heath has done a lot of my work here by putting together a summary of all the slides.  This powerpoint is on Box, currently the latest thing uploaded, 27.8.14.

Guidance and planning 14Aug Mandi Street & Richard Green

See pic. Lencioni triangle effective teams are buil on trust etc etc in his book he talks about building trust ie leaders go first building conflict ie look how conflict is healthy 

First impressions and importance of first SLT meeting and first 35 days. 

Likhon talked about FL over the summer and how is going to change the school. General election reference (how not to deliver your intro speech) and 

Sarah Bailey. If I haven't met you then I will get round to see you soon and thank you to (insert specific person) for info and we'll be looking forward with that.  I met some kids earlier  and they told me ...  Please let me know your thoughts.  (good way to deliver...)

CURRICULUM 13 aug

Culture progression and application are the three main ways if thinking over curriculum purposE. 

See pic. We worked through what we want ur kids to have and how we provide this. Then Heath handed us the Nat curriculum  In England.   We should really design a curriculum the way we just did see pic THEN have a look at this doc. 

See questions on slide. See pic from 13 aug

Kevin moloney and lyn fryer

Mentoring is structured and sustained for sig career transitions. 

Coaching structured sustained but for a specific aspect of   Professional ....

Senior leaders need to work more through others opposed to middle leaders who feel thy have the expertise and time etc

We reflected on what  qualities our best line managers had. We looked at softer ones first like approachable, supportive listener shared vision but then got harder such as challenging holding to account and credibility. Also consistency. Will need to think about all these in different measures. Start with where people are, not where you think they are. 

Think people will remember how you made them feel. 

Sarah told us about the primary pe teacher. 

Kavina also told us:

Ask the person you are line managing to do a SWOT which will help give them ownership before the meeting. 

Leadership is 80% relationships and 20% relationships. 

AT FIRST WE SEEK TO UNDERSTAND 

We looked at an unfavourable outcome to a situation. 3 things: fact emotions and actions where we looked at body language which changes and we should try and do things before hand which will ensure body language matches your intended outcome. 

Silence does the heavy lifting. Don't feel you have to fill every gap. 

Be careful of using the word why. Blame attribution. 

Meeting agenda. Phrase each point as a question. 

See pic 11Aug on which type of coaching to use with people in each quadrant. 

Skills / Motivation Matrix

Fierce conversation 'Susan Scott' 

1 name the issue

2 select specific eg that illustrates the behaviour or situation you want to change. 

3 describe how u feel. Use the values of the academy. 

4 clarify what is at stake 

5 add ur contribution to the prob

6 indicate ur wish to resolve the problem 

7 invite them to respond; gain their views (listen/ask Qs). 

Future Leaders Cohort '14, Week One.

Weekend 1
Weekend 2
Week 2

The virtual school sessions really took off this week starting with a SWOT analysis and followed by strategic improvement and change management plans.  We had a great opportunity to put into practice some of the skills while we were still learning.
Below, I have just included some of the stuff which will be immediately useful for writing the Impact Initiative.


Stuart Kime (CEM, Durham University) Said that "By not evaluating, we lose the knowledge of what we are doing" and "Embed evaluation at the beginning rather than adding as an afterthought" This document (put together by Stuart and Professor Robert Coe) EEF DIY Evaluation guide is a user-friendly which should really help with planning the impact initiative. and other school interventions.

Research, evidence, impact - 'Do we value that which can be measured, or find ways to measure that which we value?' Liz Robinson

Qualitative measurements:

Firstly Pupil Attitudes to Self and School  (PASS)
This is the flyer which says   "The fully standardised PASS survey comprises a series of short psychometric
questions, looking at nine attitudinal factors, proven to be significantly linked
to key educational goals."

. . . and secondly:
http://www.well-beingmeasure.com promises to:

• Prove to funders what you've achieved
• Gather evidence to improve your services
• Save time and resources
• Get a high quality validation of your work 

Future Leaders Cohort '14, Weekend Two.

Future Leaders Cohort '14, Weekend Two.

"The best teachers are performers"  Heath Monk

This was the weekend the 2014 Cohort were told to "fail here!" and that we should rehearse, take the feedback, get the confidence to perform and write a stump speech to return to over the coming years.  Make the mistakes now while still  on Foundations.

Weekend 1

Week 1

Week 2

Leadership behaviours, Drew Duncan and Anne Barton

Drew's delivery was hugely engaging and entertaining, and after a video introduction to his school he shared loads of advice and ideas on leadership traits.  He explained that honesty, competency and forward looking are three very important ones but they won't work unless you have credibility so make sure that nobody is more punctual than you and that your lessons are outstanding etc etc.  Your default positions will surface and you need someone to let you know when these undesirable traits appear i.e. in times of stress. Drew went on to say "People are not aligned to anything they do not own.  You can't just model leadership behaviour, then people follow. No. You must embed the values, align others with your values then personify the values on a bad day.  Watch what you say, always and everywhere." 

Exemplary leadership behaviours. Anne Barton and Drew Duncan

Anne talked about 'challenging the process', taking risks and modelling the way. She said "Getting all 1200 students into assembly gives teachers confidence, if they're having trouble with particular groups, that it can be done".  Every child can behave.

Priorities for your school.

On Saturday morning we had a leadership perspectives session with Heath, where we received our Dimensions report.  According to the report my personality type is  INTP: basically that I'm quiet, like to solve complex problems, analytical, apply logic and independent minded.  I feel that this is a fair reflection but more importantly it emphasises that I will need to rely on others in my team that have the personality traits lacking in my profile. 
As Peter Hughes said on weekend one: 

"Find out what you are rubbish at, then employ someone to do it."

Shakespeare Schools Festival

We practised using the 'Prepare, Play, Organise, Present, Reflect' method for rehearsing and presenting our speech.

And we used this 'I notice, I like and I wonder' method to give feedback to each other.

Articulating your vision

This is a draft of my stump speech as I prepared it for the sunday morning. I then delivered this to the rest of my coaching group (see picture below) as part of the virtual school task for the Made Up Academy Trust (MUAT).

Imagine for a moment, that you are the new principal of the Wilby Community Academy, and you have this AMAZING opportunity to bring together our two schools;   (pause)  you've heard, that staff morale has been very low;  and there is uncertainty about what the merger will mean for their roles;  several senior leaders have left and many staff are concerned that an all-through  academy is not for them.  On top of that, You’re academy is in an area of high deprivation, and many families have had poor educational experiences themselves.   (pause)     How do you successfully merge two schools like this into one highly achieving all-through academy of excellence?
The answer is YOU can’t.   (pause)    YOU must work with the whole community, you have to rely on your team of staff.  And those individual staff members who have already shown a great deal of true resilience and dogged determination!
As you may be aware, I have recently been involved with success at two academies in challenging circumstances.  What was it?  -   that turned these academies around?   (paause)      It was about a body of staff having high expectations and no excuses; it was about the emergence of middle and senior leaders from a talented team of staff.  (pause)   And now, it’s September once again, a chance to start a fresh and look to the future with hope;    that we can help our students to succeed and reinvigorate the community.
Let me share our vision for the academy:“At Wilby Community Academy our vision is to work with our community to empower all learners with the skills, habits and beliefs to achieve excellence in school, university and life beyond.”
There will be changes, and I am very clear about the fact, that WE will need people to lead these changes.  We’re looking for people to step up, take risks, and show US that you are prepared to do the hard work,  and most of all, have the interests of our young learners at heart.
We we will be building on the good things already happening here (pause)   Learners in the Early Years Foundation Stage get good support for their personal development and their speaking and listening skills.
Learners are proud of their school, and movement around the schools is calm, and sensible creating a warm and positive atmosphere.  Standards in various disciplines, in both schools have been improving because teaching is improving, and the governing bodies understand our need for improvement in English and literacy, across the academy.
I would now like to share with you, our core values, (pause) and they are non-negotiable:we commit to attendance, perseverance and independence.we aspire to achieve, succeed and excel.we respect ourselves, each other and the community.and as a community we commit, aspire and respect together.

Steve, David, Grainne, Khadeja, Myself, Jenny, Kush, Kiran and Tracey:                                                                               The West Midlands Cohort

Many of us have children of our own; and we have high expectations of them.   Imagine a situation, where families see the importance of education, the need for regular attendance, punctuality and the completion of homework.    (pause)   They see the value of education.  It would make our job a whole lot,    easier.  However, when the opposite is true, it makes our job a whole lot more,       important.  We don't just have a professional duty here – we have a MORAL duty to help break this cycle of educational disadvantage.
In short, if you want to work in a school where we respect all members of the community, then this school is for you.  If you want to join in with the promise to commit to a compelling vision, then this is the school for you, and if you want to aspire to achieve greatness and help others to do the same, then this school is for you and you are welcome on-board!

I think the 'burning platform' in this scenario is the cycle of educational disadvantage but I could have added that if the number of students on roll is falling then redundancies could follow.    Burning platform is based on putting fear into people that the status quo is going to lead to dire consequences whereas another option would be to try and share a vision so compelling it becomes irresistible and people buy-in to the vision and values to achieve greatness rather than merely avoiding mediocrity.

Patrick Lencioni The Five Dysfunctions of a Team:  Heath asked us to look up this book before Foundations week one in August and suggested that we get into these conflicts when we return in the summer because we now have trust in our groups.

According to the book, the five dysfunctions are:

• Absence of trust—unwilling to be vulnerable within the group
• Fear of conflict—seeking artificial harmony over constructive passionate debate
• Lack of commitment—feigning buy-in for group decisions creates ambiguity throughout the organization
• Avoidance of accountability—ducking the responsibility to call peers on counterproductive behavior which sets low standards
• Inattention to results—focusing on personal success, status and ego before team success