What I want to get out of the residential:

 

          In the 30 years I have worked at this school we have tweaked and tweaked our Working Day.

 

          I Want to see: A clear and determined intention to improve our 'working day' at Highfield. 

 

          We have moved assemblies

          We have moved start and finish times

          We have adjusted period lengths

 

          However, we have never been brave enough to stray too far away from the accepted norm!

 

          I want to look at what other schools are doing and look to see if there are any ideas we would like to 'steal'.

 

          We have more or less complete control over what we do in our school - so lets see if we can do things better.

 

          I will give a short presentation to the group about some of the 'new style' school days and school curriculums I have seen while visiting other schools. Some I liked, some I didn't and some I thought were fantastic!!!

 

          CHW and AIM have been working with a very different type of school day at KS3 - they will prent their findings for the group to consider.

 

          I want to do a 'full consultation' about the best starting date for the Academic Year and decide on the start of the next Academic Year 2009-2010

 

          What is the best point in the our year to roll forward the academic year?

 

          What are other schools doing - what can we learn from them?

 

          How do we plan for the roll forward -when would staff need to have courses ready and when should I delelver the new timetable?

 

          How can we offer all the extras such as Citizenship, Enterprise, Secondary Seal and School Sports and Visits while protecting classes from 'timetable disruption?

          

          Super Learning Days, Educational Visits, Musical Performances, Drama and School Sport can all take a toll on the academic year.  We are all frustrated when children are missing for our lesson.

 

          So how can we resolve this problem?

 

          I want to explore a number of ideas that will allow a rich and varied curriculum, including visits and extras but without massive disruption to LEARNING.

 

          We will look at what other schools do as well as exploring a number of 'home grown' ideas.

 

          Finally:  Our Curriculum Plan for 2009-2010!

 

          I would like to see our group look in detail at our curriculum offer for the next academic year in light of the three items listed above.