First School Visit

Entry 1: 27/09/09

The first week proper and my group were fortunate enough to spend the first day on a school visit. This was fortunate as it immediately gave me a chance to see real teaching and putting theory into practice. The day was facilitated by Mr. Davies, the headmaster of Hingham School (a large Primary in Barking & Dagenham with a fine reputation with parents and Ofsted). Mr. Davies has been head of the school for a number of years and, along with his committed staff, has firmly established a vibrant and productive identity for the school in a London borough that, as acknowledged by the local Government website, is facing serious issues relating to child poverty:

Barking and Dagenham statistics
• More than half (55%) of children live in families affected by poverty
• Borough 6th most deprived in London and ranks 11th among 354 authorities in England
• 13,000 children living in poverty
• Among those of working age who are unemployed 44.5% lack any qualifications
• Gascoigne, Heath, Village and Thames wards have more than twice the national average number of children living on benefits
• The level of statutorily homeless households in the borough is over 4 times that in England as a whole
• Teenage pregnancy rates are relatively high
• Recorded crime higher than in London or England as a whole
• People living in Barking and Dagenham have the lowest average income level in the capital
• Low rates of car ownership
• 4th lowest in England for literacy and 2nd lowest for numeracy
• In Barking and Dagenham 37% of children are living in families claiming key benefits as the proxy measure for poverty, set against a London average of 40% and a national average of 29%

The above table demonstrates the key issues the school and others like it face every day. Mr Davies was keen to show P2 how the school has achieved so much despite the overwhelming social problems in the surrounding area. There were 480 children about to start the school week and the classrooms and corridors were surprisingly quiet. The children entered the school in a friendly and orderly manner, and I did not hear any running or shouting. Mr Davies was to show how this can be achieved in a number of ways, as well as insisting that the purpose of our visit was to allow the theory we had learnt to be tested. As he said, “All schools are individual. Theory is just that – a theory. One child can change a class”. The challenge for the teacher is to create a ‘flow’ of activity for the children’s’ working day that can run uninterrupted. Time management was an important column in supporting this particular theory. The amount of time taken in daily school tasks needs to be strictly regulated and carefully managed to give the day structure. This allows the children to anticipate events and also allows them to manage their own tasks without the teacher losing control of the situation.
Mr Davies demonstrated this very simply by informing P2 there was “one more minute” to complete a task. He could have commanded us to “stop now” one minute later, but by marking the time (“one more minute”) it allows the teacher and children to acknowledge time is nearly up for that particular task. It sounds small but it demonstrated the importance of having systems in place for timing and planning lessons. Each child has been told time is nearly up and the teacher is not in danger of wasting precious time when it comes to moving on to the next part of the lesson.
The next level of this methodology was demonstrated at the end of lunchtime by Mr Davies. The children heard the whistle that indicated it was time to return to their classrooms, and they duly filed past Mr Davies in the corridor, back round the corner and into each classroom. Many children laughed and chatted to their friends on the way; none ran or shouted. All the time Mr Davies stood there, looking over the children as they filed past. The behaviour management strategy he used was again about time management – the children had heard a bell indicating they had 5 minutes to get sorted before a whistle sounded – indicating to get indoors. This allows the children to anticipate the next step – entering the school by one entrance, past the headmaster and back to their classes. Mr Davies demonstrated to us the wonderful arsenal of non verbal communication he can call upon during this task. Such things as:

• Saying nothing
• Lots of eye contact/eyebrow movement
• Lots of smiling
• Folding/unfolding arms
• Possibly look as if writing
• Shifting foot to foot

These are supplemented by ‘private signals’ to individual children (an “I’m watching you” type message, should certain children need it). This highlights the importance of having a system for the task of moving a large number of children from place to place combined with the lowest level of intervention to ensure a rapid conclusion. In their last report for the school Ofsted rated child behaviour as ‘outstanding’ – due in part to the methodologies I witnessed this week. It taught me the importance of giving children an indication of expectation instead of ending tasks abruptly and expecting the children to manage this without delay.