When schools close and then
reopen with a new name, new uniform and a new
set of policies, the superficial changes sometimes
outweigh the more meaningful. Regression can then
follow. This hasn’t been the experience
of one north London school.
Teresa has been Headteacher at The Compton School
since 1999. Previously she taught at the school
as Deputy from 1992, appointed as one of three
staff to help set up a new school on the site
of one that had recently closed. Before this,
Teresa worked in other London schools in a range
of roles.
Teresa has undertaken the NPQH and the Leadership
Programme for Serving Headteachers and completed
the NCSL Consultant Head Teacher Programme. She
is working as part of the London Challenge Team
of Consultant Head Teachers supporting the work
of other London Schools, and also for the Specialist
Schools and Academies Trust as an Associate Head
supporting schools in the south east of England.
Teresa became a chartered urban leader in 2005
and is currently an assessor for this NCSL qualification.
She is presently acting as an Executive Head for
Summerside School, one of The Compton’s
feeder primary schools.
It’s been 14 years since Finchley Manor
Hill School transformed itself into The Compton.
Just before the new millennium Teresa Tunnadine
became Head Teacher and developed her vision of
turning it into an outstanding 21st Century school
for its learners. What she and her staff have
done has inspired their students to even greater
success and all the indicators are that these
standards are sustainable.
The School Context
The surroundings in which The Compton School finds
itself makes its journey all the more interesting.
Situated in Barnet, where more than 50% of schools
offer selection of some kind, this local authority
community school attracts virtually all the children
who live nearby. Its catchment area (only 0.6
of a mile) takes in two local authority housing
estates – one of which has significant levels
of deprivation – as well as an area of more
advantaged housing.
In a relatively short time they have become successful
and hugely oversubscribed, with 740 applications
in 2005 for 180 places. Of the current school
population:
- There are 30% SEN, of which 5% are statemented,
thus the intake is skewed below average on entry
- 40% have English as an additional language
(42+ languages are spoken at the school)
- 21% are entitled to free school meals
- Boy to girl ratio is 1:1 – unusual
for a mixed school with single sex girls’
schools nearby
- Significant groups in the school include:
50% white working class, 20% Indian, 6% Black
African
Moving in the Right Direction
When Teresa became Head Teacher in 1999, the school
had already achieved some notable successes. However,
there were still plenty of issues that needed
addressing:
- The school’s good results had begun
to plateau. It was proving difficult to move
them above 60% 5+A*-C
- Facilities were cramped and old fashioned
- Some young staff were leaving for promotion
elsewhere, either due to a lack of a 6th Form,
or because they were moving out of London due
to the high cost of housing locally
- As a relatively small school the budget was
restricted and allowed little flexibility for
school improvement
- Though student behaviour was generally good,
there was a certain amount of low level disruption
particularly for young staff new to the school
or to teaching
The Compton School had to look into the future
to address some of these issues and then decide
a route to achieving these ambitions. They needed
a vision that would help them reinvent themselves,
one where they would be able to clearly picture
what the school would look like in five or ten
years’ time, and it had to be sustainable.
They came up with three core issues to focus on
for whole school improvement over the next six
years:
1. Effective lessons
|
improving the quality
of teaching and learning |
| 2. The school
environment |
acquiring funding for
site development and
improvement |
| 3. E-school development
|
improving the provision
and delivery of ICT to
become an e-school |
It was decided that they would use research to
help them get there. Some of this would be academic
research, allowing them, for example, to draw
on what is known about how students learn effectively.
Supplementing this would be research that looked
at other successful schools, and learning from
them. All this would be supported by a number
of important principles that the school had used
since its inception:
- Consulting with staff, students and parents
on every major issue
- Thinking creatively and being willing to
take calculated risks
- Working together consistently as a whole
staff
- Using regular, systematic reviews to identify
successes and highlight further areas for development
- Committing to share and celebrate successes
on an individual and collective level
- Nurturing a school climate where there is
‘no blame’ but high levels of personal
accountability and responsibility.
1. Effective Lessons
It was decided that improving the quality of teaching
across the entire school was to be the single
focus of their efforts for at least the first
three years. This would be broken down into specific
whole school elements, backed up by a detailed
programme of staff training, and supported and
monitored through lesson observations.
Elements they focused on included:
- Using seating plans across the entire school
that changed half-termly
- Developing proximal (paired) learning as
a highly structured framework for student talk
used to raise literacy levels, particularly
for boys and less able children
- Using assessment for learning to ensure that
the focus of each lesson was clearly understood
by students and that individuals could access
strategies for improvement
- Focusing on positive ratios of sanctions
to rewards
- Ensuring pace in lessons, with tight planning
and timing, setting a series of short tasks
and using a range of activities and learning
styles to suit all students
- Initiatives to support the work in the classroom,
such as Positive Discipline, Positive Parenting
Skills and developing Student Voice.
Seating Plans and Proximal Learning
A whole staff INSET launched the rationale for
seating plans, and provided staff with the confidence
to use them in every lesson. The focus on proximal
learning and how this could raise achievement
and improve the working climate was also made
explicit.
“Using seating plans consistently
and focusing on positive teacher talk in class
resulted in improved teacher-student relationships
and minimised conflict – this had a significant
impact upon our working climate.”
Head of Department
Seating plans ensured that every student worked
with every other student in the class. This broke
down many of the dynamics that were not conducive
to an effective learning environment. Unproductive
friendship groupings could not dominate a lesson,
‘in-groups’ could not flourish and
the ‘fear of person X’ did not make
students feel uncomfortable. There is less conflict
as students learn to interact positively with
everyone in their class.
“The process goes beyond seating
plans being used as a behaviour management tool,
where stereotypically girls could be used to
tame less focused boys. Seating plans are a
tool for positive learning – it is wonderful
to see such positive working partnerships.”
Deputy Head
Amongst other benefits, the proximal learning
allowed students the opportunity to discuss an
idea before writing, which means that content
is more likely to be understood and remembered.
The concept was of ‘think, talk, write’
and is a particularly useful strategy for boys.
Of course, it’s also more fun to work with
someone else and easier to have two people working
on one task – and the students seem to really
enjoy it. Student consultation allowed the school
to regularly review their practice. One reported
back that:
“I hated seating plans to start
with, it was easier to work with mates and it
was much easier to blag it and do nothing. Now
I really like it. I’ve got to work with
practically everyone in my year group, there
are no ‘it’ groups and you can’t
get away with doing nothing. We have seating
plans in every class – everyone gets on
a lot better and we learn more – simple!”
The initial implementation of seating plans
was supported by middle and senior staff supporting
colleagues putting this strategy into action and,
within days, the system was embedded into student
expectations of the school.
Initiatives Supporting Classroom Work
a. Positive Discipline
Both staff and students were involved in this
from the outset through a consultation process,
the results of which were fedback formally through
PSHE sessions and assemblies. These include:
- Sanctions for poor behaviour – a chart
clearly shown in all classrooms – that
give the students a chance to modify their behaviour
using informal and then formal warnings. Should
it be necessary, there is an internal exclusion
room that isolates students for a day. This
has proved to be a real deterrent, as they don’t
like being sent there, and it has reduced external
exclusions from school to almost nil.
- Praise for good behaviour that catches and
celebrates the achievements of all, including
the ‘ghost children’ who come in
and get on quietly with their work, behaving
as they should. They are the vast majority of
the students in schools and often go unnoticed.
Amongst other forms of recognition, students
now receive credits, tokens, letters and phone
calls home, certificates, cash prizes, and there
is an end of year celebration evening for each
year group and their parents where most children
take part. Again, a chart summarizing this is
on show for children to see – and they
love it!
- These ideas that have developed from the
school’s work on emotional intelligence
(first done with staff, then with students and
then parents): minimal shouting, reasoning,
blaming the actions and not the child and so
on.
b. Positive Parenting Skills
Parents are helped to develop positive behaviour
with their children. An ‘in-house’
programme of six workshops has been devised in
this academic year. Parents whose children are
not behaving positively in school are targeted
and invited by phone, although all parents are
welcome to attend. Below is an example of what
is covered in the first of these workshops:
Introduce the concept of ‘Rules, Praise,
Ignore’ i.e.
- Rules are needed so there is a clarity and
consistency of behaviour that is agreed before
a crisis arises and then set as ground rules
e.g. going out and coming home on time…and
keeping to it
- Praise is essential to catch them being good
and, even when having to challenge teenagers
when they break the rules, point out what they
usually do is good
- Ignore minor incidents of poor behaviour
to minimize giving attention to children for
negative reasons
c. Student Voice
There has been a lot of work done on this, but
one strategy that has had a particularly significant
impact in the classroom (and involved the learners
at every level) was the establishing of student
research projects. Students were trained as researchers
by an outside agency in order to gather student
input from across the school on issues that directly
related to improvements in the school. Projects
included how ICT impacts on and aids learning,
Healthy Eating and the use of Different Teaching
Styles in lessons. The results from these projects
were fed back to staff and students with action
points provided.
The school believes that they should constantly
review and challenge the way they all do things.
This leads to staff embracing opportunities for
professional development – a whole school
goal of improving practice within the school.
Complacency is not a feature of the school and
the commitment to addressing issues remains.
An extensive process of classroom observation
was agreed by staff and introduced to support
the improvements. The Head Teacher continues to
see every member of staff teach in a continuous
cycle of observations; senior and middle leaders
also observe all the staff and departments they
link with. The observation focus changes termly
and allows the opportunity for formal, structured
and constructive feedback. This involves between
10 and 20 lessons of observation a week across
the school.
“I learned more in feedback from
lesson observations in my first year than anything
else. The feedback was always constructive,
forward thinking and rigorous. I felt supported
but was always keen to do as well as possible.
It was very positive for students in my classes
to see my HOD, HOY and senior staff taking an
interest in their work and in mine.”
Classroom Teacher
2. The School Environment
The original school had been built for 500 children
in the 1950s. The Compton School grew to 750+
using the same buildings. Some refurbishment had
taken place during its period of ‘Fresh
Start’, but there were still many improvements
needed to the site. So the second part of the
six year plan was to improve the environment and
take the school forward into the 21st Century.
The key to all this was accessing the funding
to do it, which was achieved by agreeing to expand,
which released funding to completely refurbish
the site. This has included the provision of enlarged
multi-use spaces for learning instead of cramped
classrooms in narrow corridors. The school decided
on a simple design, where the emphasis was on
light, white spaces, providing an open and airy
feel. Colour and interest comes from the displays
around the walls. These not only add to the aesthetics
of the surroundings, but provide constant reminders
about the learning going on. Walk down any corridor
and you will perhaps see colourful mapping ideas
for poetry, a wall outlining World War II victory,
or a wall celebrating the exam results of the
students at the school. Everywhere, learning is
highlighted and celebrated using key tools of
imagery, colour and keywords.
At the heart of the school an impressive social
space for students has been developed, which is
known as The Concourse. It contains an enlarged
café that is used almost all day, allowing
a system of staggered breaks and lunchtimes. By
doing this, there is less of a ‘conveyor
belt’ feel to its use and this promotes
eating as a relaxing social experience. This,
together with the school’s healthy eating
strategies, supports the school’s work in
developing positive behaviour management. Teresa
concedes that the budget could have been used
differently (i.e. less on social space and more
on additional classrooms), but defends this aspect
of the building design because, as hoped, it has
meant a happier, calmer school where there is
no litter or graffiti and poor behaviour has been
reduced to a minimum.
Ask any child what they would like to change
about his or her school’s environment and
you will get the same answer: the toilets. Not
only have school toilets been traditionally dingy
areas of necessity, they have also been linked
in many students’ minds to incidents of
misbehaviour. At The Compton School, such areas
were high on the list of priorities for total
overhaul. Student toilets were rebuilt to make
them high quality places, demonstrating the staff’s
respect for the students. The students have repaid
this consideration, as these areas continue to
be very well maintained, and damage- and graffiti-free.
Similarly, dismal locker areas have been replaced
by a cloakroom staffed throughout the day. Here,
student property is safe. And, of course, staff
weren’t forgotten in the refurbishment.
Their working and social spaces were also brought
up to a similarly high standard, letting them
know that the management understand that professionals
also need an appropriate environment in which
to work and socialize.
The landscaping that took place in the outdoor
spaces around school has served a dual purpose.
In the daytime these pleasant and pristine areas,
such as the Piazza and the East Courtyard are
used by the students; in the evenings and holidays
they are hired by members of the local community
for various functions, providing the school with
income that forms an important part of the school
budget.
3. E-school Development
Becoming an e-school has been a main focus for
the school over the past two years and continues
to be so. They have invested heavily in a leasing
programme so that the ratio of computers to students
is now at 1:3. There are nine suites of 30 computers
across the school and most departments have their
own ICT suite. Interactive white boards are used
in every classroom and there continues to be significant
training supporting staff in using these boards
to best effect to aid conceptual learning.
Amongst other investments made towards upgrading
the school technologically are:
- Large display plasma screens around the school
to inform and celebrate
- A cashless till system for the café
- ID badges to streamline administration, such
as cloakroom use and borrowing books from the
Learning Resource Centre
The school has been one of only a small number
to pilot the new DIDA award (GCSE equivalent in
ICT worth up to four GCSEs) and, as part of this
work, they provide support for the development
of schemes of work for other schools new to this
examination.
On the Road
More recently, as Executive Head of one of The
Compton’s feeder primaries, Teresa has had
the opportunity to include their school on a similar
journey. The benefits have meant that not only
is this primary school beginning to see an improvement
in their pupil’s learning, but also that
the initiatives provide the children with some
continuity of experience for when they move to
secondary school. In order to do this, Teresa
has reapplied her own school improvement approach
but in a different context; the same strategies
– structured whole school lesson planning,
staff development, observations, improvement of
the environment and display for learning, and
the ICT development strategy with the same key
priorities for teaching and administration –
all with the same positive improvements, implemented
piece-by-piece.
Despite (or perhaps because of) all the improvements
being put into place at The Compton School and
the feeder primary, Teresa has this advice –
don’t do everything at once. “Have
the courage to decide on a timeline of improvements
and do them one by one,” she advises. The
‘doing’, of course, is to train, implement
and then monitor the impact through observations
before moving on to the next aspect (e.g. focusing
only on lesson starters for a whole term). And
to do it as a whole school. Because Teresa is
a committed exponent of emotional intelligence,
which is apparent in her leadership style, she
is keen not to overburden staff by demanding that
they do everything at once. Not only would this
be counterproductive in terms of staff well-being
and effectiveness, but the practices would be
less likely to become properly embedded and so
yield limited impact. “Everything else,
for example marking policy, equal opportunities,
gifted and talented, any other government initiatives,
etc, can wait. Show it in your medium to long
term plan and then just refine the specific priority
of the moment across the school…it takes
courage and needs explaining to the local authority
and OFSTED, but it’s worth it and understandable
if part of a strategy.”
“The content and process of the
construction of the school improvement plan
illustrates many positive features of management
(for example)...the bold decision to have just
one objective focused on teaching and learning.”
Ofsted, 2002
At this point on the journey, there are still
adventures ahead for The Compton School’s
ambition to become a fully-fledged e-school. Teaching
and learning continues to be a priority. The indicators
so far seem to suggest that they are moving in
the right direction. This summer all Year 9 students
will be taking the first DIDA award. The GCSE
results in 2005 were their best ever – 67%
A*-C. In terms of the contextual value added score,
they achieved 1029, which put them in the top
5% of schools in the country in terms of student
progress.
Landmarks on the Journey
• 1991 – Finchley Manor Hill
School closed due to its unpopularity
• 1992 – school reopened as
The Compton
• 1996 – outstanding OFSTED
• 1998 – included in HMCI report
of Outstanding schools
• 1999 – achieved Beacon school
status
• 2002 – second outstanding
OFTSED. Achieved Technology College status
• 2004 – achieved Leading Edge
status
• 2005 – included on HMCI list
of most successful schools nationally and
DfES acclaim for being in the top 5% of
schools nationally for value-added scores
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To date, the experiences on their journey have
been overwhelmingly positive. That doesn’t
mean that it’s been straightforward or that
they are now at their destination; they continue
to seek to improve all learning and constantly
work at keeping the environment right for staff
and students alike. However, when they complete
their current plans, there is no doubt that they
will once again be mapping out yet another exciting
journey.
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