I’ve had to add this paragraph after writing the below post. I came on here to write about using Pearsons “resultsplus” data/webapge and how we’ve used it over the last few days … I’ve got screenshots and EVERYTHING (including some excel workbooks to share with you!!) to do an instructional blog … I then started writing the below … and didn’t stop … (blogging Tourettes!) … The original intended blog post giving you some ideas to get the best out of your exam data can be found here ! 

So the exam results have been and gone … the new school (I will stop calling it “new” at some point!) I joined last year had some great results and it was delightful to see the students on results day. Genuinely pleased with the results and where it places us within other schools in the county and compared to the national figures. However, I need to give Seagers “new” school a massive shout out  … he moved last year too, to another school in a “category” as HOD, which needed to see some rapid results and we’ve been wondering if going from 50 something % to 80 something % puts them in line for some sort of “most improved” award (again!!) … he has told me the actual percentages but its neither here nor there when the teachers and students pull out those kind of results. 

Anyway …. I’ve not been blogging or on social media as much as I used to … apart from life being busy, theres lots of reasons for this but part of it was that moving schools is tough and having done it a few times now … each for the right reason/school … I know its never easy. This move was different for me in that the school I was moving to wasn’t in a “category” which was a first for me. The school I’d just left was originally in Special Measures when I started doing some support work with them and had an ENTIRE (yes all of the previous team left!) new maths team when I decided to join them and so we had to basically start from nothing. We did this as a team and looking back it was a wild ride in the early days … I always say that strong teams have “shared” experiences and boy! did we share some challenging times but we did it and I am proud to have been part of that journey. 

Then I bought a new (new to me, but “old”) house. The journey to work was a killer and so reader, you will see that not wanting to drive an hour and ten minutes each way meant that I found myself looking at local job ads  … I’ve always wanted to eventually end up working at a school serving the community I also lived in and that’s how I find myself as lead prac in a school ten minutes from home!

Now for some absolute honesty. During my interview I said that one of my major concerns on a personal level is that I know I come with a “reputation” and I was concerned that people would be all “judgey” … silly I know. I just imagined people seeing me teach and thinking “she’s nothing special” … despite me never having said that I was something special. I’ve always had this belief that I’d rather deliver consistently good lessons than be able to pull out “all singing – all dancing” lessons when needed. I’m now at the point in my career where I’m not chasing the latest panacea or fad thats promising to deliver a short cut to improving results … I’m confident in my ability to plan a route through a topic … I’d like to think that I’m able to choose the right questions/problems in the right order to deliver a concept/idea. I’m also old enough to know that there is not just one “best” way to teach … having been part of the team doing the revision guides (and a Higher one is on its way!!) I know that when it comes to writing and reviewing questions to use, what we choose as being suitable today could change tomorrow based on so many variables and you have to get to the posint of saying “right here, right now, this is what I’m going to use”. I’ve also been around long enough to know the “type” of students I want to work with … maybe I’m weird but I don’t want to teach A level (I have done!) or set 1’s.. I want to teach those borderline students, the tricky ones, the ones that … you know … sometimes its like pulling teeth to get them to do any work. You will know exactly the students I mean!

So … I got two year 11 groups whch isn’t anything unusual to me but having allocated staff to teaching groups I know some will see this as a risk putting a “newbie” with key groups in year 11. I’ve often thought this year … would I have done it? Am I too much of a control freak? At this point, I should introduce you to Dom (my HOD/gaffer … I have to say he is the “most” organised maths HOD I have ever worked with … Seager is now relegated to second place but I’m sure he won’t lose any sleep about it!) who has been unfailing in his support of the tweaks I’ve suggested … of which I will share more detail below looking at some key metrics (Note: this will be in the next blog post …. see opening paragraph!) 

In short, I’ve gone from a school that wasn’t in  a great place to my “new” school, which didn’t need me to go in and start from scratch. It didn’t need me ripping through the department like a tornado and I struggled with this. I really did. This was a first for me. What I did get, is time … I don’t mean extra frees … I mean there wasn’t any pressure from anyone (including any impending inspections, of which I’ve been through a few! … that’s looming for this year!) to build the department from the ground up. I got time to get a feel for the department. I got the time to get my head around what was working really well. I got the time to talk to colleagues and sound them out about what we can do to take the next step up in terms of improving outcomes. I am truly grateful for this. 

It sounds so silly putting it into words but when results day came around I felt validated. Its the only word I can use to describe it. I felt that I actually can do this. I can do this teaching lark and to top it all off I was actually enjoying it.

However, seeing students on results day really made me think beyond my own need to have my ego boosted (I am joking there BTW!)  … I was reminded once again, as I am every year, that what we do as maths teachers has the potential to change lives! … I’m not talking about the guff you see in films … I mean the fact that for some students getting or not getting a grade 4 + in maths literally stops them in their tracks from the next step in what they want to do. One student (who won’t mind me retelling the tale) smiled at me and the first thing he said was “I’ve got my apprenticeship at *** ( a prestigious car maker!)  with my 6 Miss!” … I know how hard he worked and not getting on this apprenticeship would send him down a different path entirely which acted as a reminder that what we do, does matter.