Success in Dartford West!
Dartford REMA EAL Professional Network Meeting – 29th June 2010
The last of the network meeting for this year was held on Tuesday 29th June 2010 at Wentworth Primary School. The meeting was attended by 20 participants from 13 schools.
Zareena Girach, REMA Coordinator and EAL Specialist Teacher, welcomed everyone and briefly outlined the aims of the network which she said had enabled schools to share good effective practice with each other and enhance skills and knowledge of staff in improving learning outcomes for underachieving minority ethnic and bilingual learners in Dartford East and Dartford West LCSPs. She said that the network had now been in place for 5years and that this was a cause for celebration!
The afternoon began with a power point presentation on ‘EAL or SEN: How can you tell the difference?’ by Caroline Cowell, REMA Language Support Teacher, and Cathy Kitley, Specialist Teacher for Specific Learning Difficulties based at Wilmington Enterprise College. The aim of this training was to raise awareness of the differences between EAL and SEN and increase the confidence in teaching staff in recognizing when pupils with EAL have learning difficulties.
This was followed by a presentation by REMA Bilingual Assistants, Veena Tamana and Gurjit Laihal, on how schools can work effectively with BSA or TAs allocated to schools to support minority ethnic and bilingual learners to narrow the achievement gap. The role of the BSA was clearly defined.
The meeting ended promptly at 3.00 p.m. and Zareena thanked everyone for their time and support.
The next EAL Professional Network Meeting will look at raising awareness on working with Gypsy Roma Traveller learners in schools. Further details, including venue, will be emailed to schools early next term and will also be posted on our website .
Zareena Girach, Dartford REMA Coordinator. 30th June 2010
Mud pies, treasure baskets and schemas – What can we learn from observing Sensory Play?
On June 14th at St Edmunds Children’s Centre an afternoon session was led by trainer Sue Gascoyne, for PVI practitioners, Children Centre and Nursery and Reception teacher staff. This was a very informative session and was well attended. Participants learnt all about the use of Treasure Baskets and sensory play. Treasure baskets are baskets of sensory-rich natural and everyday objects, and along with sensory play offer many benefits for sensory stimulation, exploration, investigation, creativity, imagination and developing focus and attention (as well as a raft of other benefits).
The session started with looking at varied treasure baskets that included items such as dishcloths, strainers, egg cups, spoons, brushes and chains (a discussion of safety and risk assessment was included!). It then explored children’s varied responses to treasure baskets identifying not just what can be discovered about children but what we can learn from them too. Participants were able to develop their understanding of how sensory materials can be used for all ages to gain from using such rich resources and how they as adults can recognise schemas and plan for children’s individual needs. It was a practical session with video clips for participants to practise observation skill techniques. The session also included some of the key findings and observations from the Sensory Play Research project.
Following the session evaluations were very positive with many people going off to create or update their own treasure baskets and praising a ‘very informative session’.
Achieving NEET Targets (Not in Education, Employment or Training)
In Dartford, we have achieved the NEETs and Unknowns targets and through strong partnership working and developing bespoke provision using a focused approach; we have been able to successfully engage and progress local young people to achieve their full potential. This report identifies good practice and highlights particular challenges and priority issues regarding NEETs for the forthcoming year.
Parent Satisfaction Survey
Please use this link to view the Dartford Children’s Centres Headline report from the above survey.
Early Years Services Review
Have a look at this review of what works in Early Years services. The Dartford LCSPs, through Sue Gates, have contributed to this national piece of work.
Well Done to St Alban's Road Infant School!
St Albans Road Infant and Nursery School has had the Quality Mark (QM) renewed for the fourth time. It is one of the first schools to have a fourth time renewal. In the QM renewal feedback, comments were made that the school should be commended on the good practice seen across the ten QM elements.
The Sky is the Limit
On Wednesday 17th March Dartford East and West LCSP’s held their second speaker event. All PVI provisions, Children’s Centres and Nursery & Reception classes were invited to attend a session by Jane Cole on inspiring outdoor learning at the Orchard Theatre, Dartford.
This was a very well received session a in a venue that proved very popular. Each candidate was given a free resource- a publication from Early Education – ‘The sky is the limit’; outdoor learning in the early years.
Jane Cole delivered a practical session with lots of opportunities for discussion and for participants to consider their own provision and to develop a clear vision of what they are striving to achieve in the outdoor areas. Using the publication resource Jane then guided participants through a cycle for continuous improvement.
The practitioners were keen to benefit from Jane’s knowledge and experience and had time to talk to her on an individual basis that was much appreciated.
We look forward to seeing inspiring outdoor learning environments as the practitioners plans developed at this event are transformed into reality!
Dartford Consultation Day - 31st March
Click here to view a summary of responses by young people to workshops consultation process.
Playground Project
Please use this link to view the Initial Evaluation of the Positive Playground Project that took place in the majority of
EAL Professional Network Meeting
Another very successful Dartford EAL Professional Network meeting took place on Thursday 18th March at Swan Valley Community School at which colleagues from both Dartford East and Dartford West schools attended.
Nicky Younosi, MCAS Advisor for Minority Ethnic and Bilingual Learners, guided colleagues through an activity based on NFER survey report (‘Improving Educational Outcomes of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Pupils- What works’) , that explored contextual influences and constructive conditions that may influence pupil achievement, with a focus on improving educational outcomes for minority ethnic and bilingual learners. Nicky pointed out that the largest minority ethnic group in the two LCSPs was the Gypsy Roma. This very vulnerable group is the lowest achieving group not only in Kent but also nationally
Detailed information regarding this can be obtained from the DCSF Research Report DCSF – RR170 ISBN: 978 1 84775 5551
The report can also be downloaded from www.dcsf.gov.uk/research
Debbie Cameron from Dartford Technology College and Debbie Kennedy from Wilmington Enterprise College shared their experiences in setting up successful projects in their schools that focused on celebrating diversity.
Zareena Girach, Coordinator for Dartford REMA, focussed on embedding diversity in the curriculum and informed colleagues of the excellent new resources at the REMA Resource Base. Schools can borrow these and other useful resources relevant to planning a curriculum that reflects diversity.
The feedback received indicated this was a very useful and positive meeting. One colleague said that these meetings were always very informative and enabling and a number of participants agreed that there was a definite need to carry on with the EAL Network.
The next meeting is planned for Thursday 24th June. Colleagues and schools will be informed of the venue and agenda nearer the time.
Zareena Girach, Coordinator Dartford REMA
Learning in the Wild - Visit to Dover Castle
On Sunday 7th March 38 families from The Brent and Oakfield primary schools enjoyed a very cold visit to Dover Castle - in fact there were huge icicles hanging off of some of the archways!
The event was funded by Kent Children's University -as an introduction to "Learning in the Wild". This is a fairly new initiative aimed at encouraging families to complete a worksheet together when visiting tourist attractions. The children have a "Passport" which they get stamped, once 8 stamps have been collected they receive an award from Children's University.
Despite the cold, families enjoyed the day - children said they "enjoyed climbing the tower" (and braving the wind!), "visiting the wartime tunnels", "seeing the King and Queen" and "all of it".
Parents said: "we had a great day, thank you", "it was nice to spend a whole day of one to one with my son who has ADHD", "it was a considerably enjoyable day, very interesting" "it gave us a chance to do something different together as a family without worrying about the cost".
We learned some lessons for future trips of this kind, but the smiling faces and thanks at the end of the day said it all - (despite being caught up in a huge traffic jam and diversion for over an hour on the return journey).
Thanks must go to Trudy Donachie, the Extended Schools Co-ordinator who organised the event. Hopefully the introduction of Your Choice Funding might enable more trips of this kind to take place.
For information about Learning in the Wild please visit:
http://www.childrensuniversity.co.uk/CUKent/
Chinese New Year at Wilmington Enterprise College
With the help of Dartford REMA, Wilmington Enterprise College celebrated Chinese New Year (Year of the Tiger) in their Learning Resource Centre on Friday 12th February. There were displays showcasing Chinese artefacts as well as a number of activities for the students to take part in. These included Chinese writing, making Chinese lanterns, and a sugar cube competition to see who could pick up the most sugar cubes with chopsticks and place them in a bowl in 30 seconds.
There was also the story of the Chinese New Year on display where students could work out which animal represented their year of birth. Horoscopes for each of the animals were available for students to take together with a fortune cookie. The theme extended to the student cafeteria which offered a Chinese option for lunch.
The event was attended by a large number of students from Key Stages 3, 4 and 5. The students were enthusiastic and keen to learn about how Chinese New Year is celebrated.
What Money Means...
Following a recent workshop for teachers and TAs that explored the resources available to run “What Money Means” activities, Maypole Primary School is the first to start using the resources to run a club.
Lorraine and Debbie, who are both teaching assistants at the school, first started by advertising the ‘club’ to assess the numbers interested. They made a flyer and put in year 5 and year 6 classrooms calling it; ‘pennies + pounds = fun and games. Due to the large amount of interest they are running it alternate weeks for year 5 and year 6.
So far they have used the average earnings game that has created many interesting conversations about the importance of jobs and how much people should earn.
Debbie and Lorraine are intending to use the other resources to ‘train up’ year 6 pupils to run clubs for year 3 and 4.
If you would like to find out more about What Money Means and see the resources that are available to schools please let me know.
Trudy Donachie trudy.donachie@kent.gov.uk
Eid and Diwali Celebrations at WEC
"With the help of Dartford REMA, Wilmington Enterprise College celebrated Eid and Diwali in their Learning Resource Centre on 20 November. There were stalls showcasing Hinduism and Islam on display as well as a number of activities for the students to take part in. These included writing your name in Punjabi script, designing Rangoli patterns, Diwali word search, and guess how many Diyas are there in the picture. There was also a selection of Indian sweets which students enjoyed sampling. The theme extended to the student cafeteria which offered chicken korma, rice and naan bread as an option for lunch.
A competition was held for the best Rangoli pattern for each of the school’s four houses. The winners were presented with a certificate and an Oxford School Atlas. The competition was judged by members of the SLT. The event was attended by a large number of students from both Key Stage 3 and 4 and the REMA team found the students to be enthusiastic and keen to learn about festivals from different cultures. Feedback from the SLT was very positive”.
Children in Need
Heather Taylor dressed up as Pudsey on Friday 20th November in aid of Children in Need. The Special Educational Needs team at 17, Kings Hill Avenue raised a fantastic £379.55. Well done to Heather and everyone involved!
Dartford EAL Professional Network Meeting
A very successful Dartford EAL Professional Network meeting was held at Dartford Technology College on 19 November. The meeting was attended by 23 people representing 17 schools in the East and West Partnerships. There were three presentations during the course of the afternoon. These inlcuded “An overview of working with New Arrivals” delivered by Caroline Cowell (acting coordinator Dartford REMA) “Language of the Term” delivered by Emma Donovan (Nursery Teacher Temple Hill) and “Meeting the needs of New Arrivals in a Year 6 Classroom” delivered by Simon Brown (Year 6 Teacher Manor Community Primary School). Feedback from the Network meeting was extremely positive. The next meeting has been arranged for Thursday 18th March, 1.30 - 3.30pm. Venue to be confirmed.
Cirque de Normandie
During the October break the Cirque de Normandie set up its Big Top at Templehill Primary School.The week started with the circus troupe giving two public performances where families were able to enjoy the thrills of the circus. From Monday to Wednesday the circus performers passed on their skills to over 300 children and parents. Skills learned included plate spinning, diablo, juggling, flower sticks and hula hoops. Pupils from almost every school in Dartford West took part in the workshops and the feedback from both children and parents was overwhelmingly positive.
Whilst waiting for their children parents were able to enjoy a cup of coffee and look at a display of information, both provided by the Parent Support Advisers. The youth service sold drinks and snacks and did face painting to raise funds for their forthcoming trip to the Gambia to help build a school there. Temple Hill Parents Association provided refreshments at the performances. The circus troupe then selected 50 children to return for one and a half days of rehearsals to put together routines to perform in the Big Top in front of their friends and families on Friday night. In addition to the skills learned in the workshops the children also performed routines including gymnastics, stilt walking, ribbon twirling and wire walking.
The colouring competition was won by Samie Challis from St Albans Road Infant School and the KS2 drawing competition by Suki Tang from Maypole Primary.
The project was a great success, new friendships were made, new skills learned, the children were active, enthusiastic and entertained during the break and above all it was great fun! Our thanks go to Temple Hill School for hosting this partnership event.
Community Heroes Event-10 Downing Street, Wednesday 21st October 2009
In recognition of the sterling work undertaken by Dartford Children centres Sue Gates (Locality Co-ordinator) and Mary Bailey (Network Manager) were invited by local MP Howard Stoate to a reception at 10 Downing Street where they met the Prime Minister and his wife.
Dartford Festival of Light
Over the past few weeks 10 Dartford Schools have been holding workshops for pupils, working with a professional arts company, to produce paper lanterns for use in a Festival of Light Parade. This work was jointly organized, and funded, by the LCSP, through extended schools funding and Cohesion Plus in conjunction with North West Kent Racial Equality Council.
On Friday 16th October Dartford Library kindly offered space for the lanterns to be put together and for the children and their parents to assemble. As dusk fell the children and families made their way to an area in Central Park to get into groups and collect their, now lit, lanterns and were entertained by the sounds of Bloco Fogo Samba Band – they also had a chance to appear on TV as Meridian were broadcasting live from the event!
The police closed the road for a short while as the procession moved from Central park to the High Street and was joined by African Drummers led by Lucky Moya and 4x4 Dhol drummers. The High Street was soon filled with the sound of drumming, a sea of stunning lanterns and several hundred children and their families, all joining in the festival atmosphere.
This was the first Festival of Light to be held in Dartford but the overwhelming support from schools, children and families and the many partners involved will surely mean it will not be the last.
Dartford Technology College - Awards
Inclusion Award
In June 2009, Dartford Technology College (DTC) received the SSAT Inclusive Schools Award at the penultimate level of Extending. DTC was assessed by an External Verifier from the Trust as an educationally inclusive school with an ethos and willingness to offer new opportunities to students, in particular those who had previously experienced difficulties. All students were seen to be happy, with a range of valued support opportunities, tailored to age and need. On inspection, DTC was able to provide evidence that, through its ethos and provision, educational inclusion is more than a concern about any one group of students such as those who have been or are likely to be excluded from school. Scope within DTC is broad and about equal opportunities for all students. Members of staff, including administrative and domestic staff, were interviewed and all spoke positively about how their well-being is safeguarded, describing a range of ways in which they have been helped to progress through times of challenge and difficulty. They described being fully involved in the life of the College, with an appreciation of access to relevant school agendas and developments through a variety of formal and informal routes which made them feel valued and encouraged to develop their skills. Community representatives testified to the College’s quickly growing ICT mentoring programme and a range of initiatives which demonstrate how the College is an outward facing school. Growing community links, including links with parents and the wider community, are based on strong links with specialist school business partners. Impact is beginning to reach well beyond the College and effective working relationships based on trust were described to the Verifier as key to these developments. Inclusivity within DTC is best described through the words of a Year 8 student representative – “we’re like a big family”.
Basic Skills Quality Mark
Dartford Technology College (DTC) was awarded the BSQM in July 2009. The assessors found provision for Basic Skills at DTC to be outstanding and a model of good practice. Several key areas were mentioned in the assessor’s evaluation and these were the involvement of all staff in this whole school initiative, the “Skills 4 Us” Year 7 target groups for literacy and numeracy, Literacy across the curriculum, vocational developments, and the Accelerated Reading programme.
Maypole Primary and Dartford Borough Council - Blue Plaque Unveiling
On Wednesday, 8th July Maypole Primary School hosted the Blue Plaque Unveiling for Sir Hiram Maxim (1840 - 1916). Sir Hiram devised a prototype ‘Flying Machine’ and on July 31st 1894 this new ‘Flying Machine’ managed its first flight! It covered 100 feet in length and flew 2 feet into the air. This triumph was recorded in the Guinness Book of Air Facts and Feats as ‘the largest aeroplane to lift itself off the ground briefly in the nineteenth century.’ This flight took place on the field where Maypole Primary School now stands. So, on July 8th 2009 Dartford Borough Council joined with staff, children and guests to unveil a Blue Plaque to commemorate this unique achievement.
The unveiling began with the landing of a Microlight aircraft along the ‘flight path’ that Sir Hiram would have used to the great excitement of the children watching. Following the landing the Blue Plaque was unveiled and speeches regarding Sir Hiram’s achievements and his links to Dartford were given by Councillor Jeremy Kite, Mrs Jennifer Rickwood (Mayor of Dartford) and Mrs Linda Wilmann (Headteacher) and the guests were treated to afternoon tea in the school whilst the children all received ‘goody bags’ to commemorate the occasion.
Dartford East/West LCYPP and YMCA 'MyPlace' Launch - 18th June 2009
Following many weeks of preparation and planning the launch event held at the YMCA in Dartford was an extremely positive and uplifting occasion that reflected a real mood of optimism as to the future for
As well as the launch of the Dartford West LCYPP and confirmation of the £2.2m MyPlace development, attendees were also advised of the very recent notification of a successful £1.8m co-location award that will see even greater opportunities for partnership working and new service provision for young people within the rebuild of the Roundhouse site, GREAT NEWS INDEED!
Over 200 people visited on the day, including young people, parents, workers from the statutory and voluntary sectors, Headteachers, District and County councillors, the Mayor of Dartford and the newly appointed Managing Director for KCC Children, Families and Education directorate, Rosalind Turner, who spent considerable time talking with young people present as well as many of the marketplace stall holders.
There were even colleagues from as far as Knowsley who spent the day in
Please click here to view more photos of the day and comments from visitors
Dartford Choral Outreach -Summer Concerts
Over the past week schools from Dartford West have taken part in a series of Summer Concerts which were the culmination of a project led by James Wilkinson to encourage as many young people as possible in and around Dartford to discover singing.
Pupils at Dartford West primary schools have been working with James since November, learning new songs whilst being taught the techniques of singing, with a focus on learning through enjoyment.
Currently the Dartford Choral Outreach project enables nearly 700 children in nine of Dartford’s primary schools the opportunity to gain strength and confidence with their voices to come together with their voices on order to come together and give a performance every term.
This Friday it was the turn of pupils from The Gateway, Joydens Wood Junior, Maypole, Our Lady’s RC and York Road to perform at the Holy Trinity Church, Dartford and it was a wonderful setting for a superb performance by the children.
The songs ranged from the humorous ‘Bungalow’, the serene ‘Ave Maria’ to the final song ‘Believe’, the lyrics of which really captured the project’s aims - that every child can succeed if they believe in their own abilities.
Lallie Godfrey, PEP Head (Dartford West) attended the performance and said, ‘This was a wonderful experience and a real example of how community projects can be so successful. The children were wonderful and this really was ‘excellence and enjoyment’ in every sense of the term.’
Mantle of the Expert Conference - 12th June - Overview by Lallie Godfrey
Headteachers and Deputy Heads from Dartford West were joined by Senior Leaders from the other three Partnerships in the Local Learning Network for a conference on Mantle of the Expert. The Mantle of the Expert is a dramatic-inquiry based approach to teaching and learning invented and developed by Professor Dorothy Heathcote at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in the 1980’s.
The big idea is that the class do all their curriculum work as if they are an imagined group of experts. They might be scientists in a laboratory or archaeologists excavating a tomb, or a rescue team at the scene of a disaster. They might be running a removal company, or a factory, or a shop, or a space station or a French resistance group. Because they behave ‘as if they are experts’, the children are working from a specific point of view as they explore their learning and this brings special responsibilities, language needs and social behaviours. The conference was led by Luke Abbott, an internationally renowned expert in the field, and Tim Taylor, who leads training across the country, and workshops and seminars were held to introduce senior leaders to Mantle of the Expert.
One Headteacher when asked to write about the particular strengths of the conference wrote, ‘All of it! Dynamic speakers who spoke with conviction as they are hands on practitioners’ And another stated ‘… we would love to be involved in a learning network to take this forward. We see it as a natural next step from TASC’ The whole day was highly successful, so much so that all the schools who attended expressed a wish to be involved in a local project if it were possible and this idea is now being investigated.