Vocational Visit to schools Oct. 12/11

Wed. Oct.12. Another vocational day and I was off to visit 3 schools. Charles Freeman picked me up at 9:00 am.  He has a wide background in education and is recently retired. He has been head of 2 of the schools we are to visit and sits on the Board of Governors of the Sixth Form College - Stoke on Trent, which we visited first.

It is a brand new building with 1100 students approx. Just 2 years - ages 17& 18 mainly. Mostly it is a preparation to University with students writing A-level exams.
What a building. 3 stories with different faculties on each floor and a tall central open area. Each floor has a staffroom/workarea with many computer stations and a student work area with even more computer stations. The counsellors have their work area and offices connected to this student area - great ideaThe book library is v. small, containing only a few old books - just for looks I think.  Paul mangnall, the deputy head was very accommodating spending 2 hours with us.  Everyone has a ID card around theur nick - it is swiped when entering a class (attendance recorded into the school computer database. Moodle is the software - it does everything from course outlines and lesson summaries to homework submission, attendance and marks. \students can access from home and parents have some access too.

Next to Wolstanton High School. An old grammar school building but with modern ideas in running the school. The head is Alan Aston, a passionate exuberant leader of over 1000 students. Charles was the previous Head. It was apparent that both are loved by the staff. The school is split into 4 sub schools with 3 or so disciplines per unit (not of the same ilk) Eg. Math - Hist - and Domestic Sci. These teachers are in charge of their sudents for pastoral care, course TT etc.  Maybe I have the specifics wrong but the idea is to create a smaller group to know the students better.
  The physical building reminded me of the grammar school I taught in many years ago, but the organization of it was far superior.

more later, Dave