News from NACE
Expert updates from NACE: National Association for Able Children in Education
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G&T Now Issue 5 article
WINNING FRIENDS AND INFLUENCING PEOPLE! THE SEQUEL
by Ann Bridgland
In G&T Now Issue 4, we started to explore how you, in your whole-school G&T leadership role, can influence whole-school improvement through tapping into a shared ethos of ambition, aspiration and achievement across all your 'aspiring' and 'perspiring' G&T learners.
Let’s now explore an example of a simple checker for 'the effective G&T leader', using the same SDP/SIP headings that the schools described in Issue 4 went on to develop.
Click here to view the checker.
Think Point 4 : the sequel
You want to be effective … how will you know?!
When discussing your needs with senior colleagues and governors to ensure that everyone gets a taste of G&T, you need to be clear about what your work would look like in practice.
Think Point 5
Move from ideas to action sensibly and calmly!
Easier said than done? Not if you have marshalled your thoughts; clarified where the school is now, and why … and celebrated what is going well; explained what needs to be done next, why and by when. Linked into the school’s priorities overall. So …
- You will consider your vision for the development of support and challenge for G&T/higher attaining pupils in your school, working with and through other key colleagues.
- You will identify your role as the leader of that development and what will make you effective.
The best way to achieve a large task is to approach it strategically in small parts. (Think of elephants and small bites!)
You will complete a realistic and manageable plan of action, linked to the SDP/SIP and the NACE Challenge Award or, if relevant, the G&T QS, based around some simple key questions:
- What are our strengths / achievements so far? CELEBRATE!
- What are our key targets for development? ANALYSE & PRIORITISE!
- What is a manageable timescale over which to address them? DIARY-ISE Start date, date to monitor progress, date to review progress
- How will we know we’ve succeeded? EVALUATE IMPACT!
Think Point 6
Sort out your G&T/Higher Attainers Policy (or policy statement) which is a 'starter for nine and three quarters' to be interpreted into subject/year/phase areas of the school.
My previous articles on reviewing, writing and monitoring your G&T policy provided some food for thought about this.
Future Issues of G&T Now will explore the 'terminology debate', which is gaining momentum : able? more able? vulnerable? gifted? talented? higher attainers? pupils with potential? ....
G&T Now Issue 4 article
NEW TO G&T LEADERSHIP? WINNING FRIENDS AND INFLUENCING PEOPLE!
by Ann Bridgland
As the G&T lead, you have the great opportunity to influence whole-school improvement in supporting not only your 'aspiring and perspiring' G&T learners but also in steering a shared ethos of ambition, aspiration and achievement across all the learners in your school.
Fine sentiments! However, there is so much to do in so little time! Especially if you wear other important hats too … let alone teach a full timetable!
Think Point 1
You don’t have to do it all at once and you don’t have to do it all yourself!
Your key role is to lead and support G&T development, in the context of stretch, challenge and opportunity for all. You have a whole army to help you do it. It is important to work with and through your school’s key-stage, year and subject/aspect teams to ensure that 'G&T' is a recurring leit-motiv through everything. Your colleagues are all mini-G&T Leads too and are significant players in the G&T orchestra that you conduct.
Think Point 2
Get to know who your co-leaders are!
To whom on the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) are you accountable? Who leads on Assessment/Teaching and Learning? Who leads on Curriculum Development? Who leads on Staff Development? Who leads on Liaison/Transfer & Transition? Form a core team of 'movers and shakers', so that you are shaping your vision (even if it may seem a bit hallucinatory at first!) and sharing brain cells.
Think Point 3
Tie your work into the School Development Plan/School Improvement Plan (SDP/SIP)!
To carry out your responsibilities effectively, it is important to dovetail with the different sections of the SDP/SIP. This highlights the school’s overall priorities and you need to know it really well. Your mission is to demonstrate how G&T underpins virtually everything. The SLT, and the Governors, need to be clear that G&T is mainstreamed through the school to enhance learning and teaching. It is not some bolt-on activity that hothouses a few selected children in special greenhouses with special fertiliser!
Here are 5 key aspect headings from a SDP/SIP framework used in a cluster of schools, under each of which are their prioritised G&T tasks, which they found worked for them. You might find it useful to work with your core school team and/or the G&T Leads in your cluster in using this as an “Aunt Sally” to sketch out what the priorities would be in your unique context under your own SDP/SIP headings.
Leadership & Management
- Drafting/implementing a policy for G&T through discussion and negotiation with colleagues (see previous e-Bulletin articles).
- Reviewing policy statements that already exist, updating as appropriate.
- Liaising with senior leadership to ensure the place of G&T development in the school’s priorities and self-evaluation processes.
- Ensuring analyses against the NACE Challenge Award Framework and the G&T Quality Standards (QS).
- Devising strategies to review the G&T policy in practice (see previous e-Bulletin articles)
Curriculum Improvement
- Keeping oneself and others informed about developments locally, regionally and nationally.
- Cross-referring to the OfSTED expectations for high-quality teaching and learning
- Liaising with curriculum leaders / heads of department / pastoral leaders / year teams to ensure effective identification of and provision for G&T pupils.
- Overseeing and supporting enrichment programmes.
Workforce Development
- Offering/brokering support and advice to colleagues about identification and provision
- Working alongside colleagues to monitor and target pupil achievement
- Attending / leading / organising external and internal INSET and CPD Workshops and evaluating impact in the classroom.
The Community
- Liaising with other schools to enhance G&T provision and G&T identification
- Keeping the wider school community, including parents/carers, informed about the rationale behind the importance of G&T provision
- Using the expertise of parents/carers, governors and others in the wider community
- Knowing where to find information, advice, support
- Informing the governing body about how G&T contributes to raising pupil achievement, motivation, self-esteem
Finance, Resources
- Drawing up a programme of development with senior leadership within a financial plan.
- Identifying, sourcing and evaluating human and material resources.
- Developing a school / department resources collection to support G&T
Think Point 4
You want to be effective … how will you know?!
When discussing your needs with senior colleagues and others to ensure that everyone gets a taste of G&T, you need to be clear about what your work, and its impact, would look like in practice. Still aligned with the SDP/SIP.
So, in our next e-Bulletin, we will explore an example of a simple checker for 'the effective G&T leader', using the same SDP/SIP headings that the schools above went on to develop.