At the chalkface The great sage
The GreaT Sage pronounces. The Great Gove issues another edict.he’s surely a hero waging war against meretricious modernity, the tawdry cult of “relevance” and the shrill vacuities of lefty nutters. What is the best literature for my functionally illiterate scamps? Our great satirical wits of course – Dryden and Swift and Pope. I do little else. It is a profound comfort to have my pedagogy validated. If you can’t read, it’s better to not read the best. Some might deem it difficult to find scribes less apposite for my struggling charges. Well, what do they know? It goes down a bomb, especially with my Not Top Tenth. They can’t get enough of the stuff. When I give out absalom andachitophel, they can barely contain themselves. They attack it with a ravenous fervour. Some zoom around the room, declaiming heroic couplets. Others are quite lost in ratiocination. It brings a tear to the eye. ronald Crumlin is a Dryden
fan. “Dryden he not dry!” he
pronounces. “I can but concur!” ejaculates
the antic Dervish. “These heroic couplets quite do me in!” ronald has renounced
computer games for late Dryden. “King Fuhead Crusher” is as
a mere bagatelle, compared to the jewel that is Macflecknoe! Dave Mania is more of a Swift man. I thought he might be a cerebral
step too far for the troubled halfwit.he can barely cope with the Beano. Wrong again. “he the man!” says Dave.he shares Swift’s “savage indignation”.he’s down with the Dean. Scholars have long talked of Swift’s “excremental vision”. Dave, too, relishes his robust wit and has long deemed the Dean “utter shite”. Sidney Lunk leans more towardsalexander Pope. “Rape of The Lock
is quite the dog’s bollocks!” says he,
tweaking a little snuff up
a nostril. I think it’s snuff. “I can but concur!”
shrieks Decibelle. “It quite trounces Slap My Bitch Up or the tedious doggerel of
Mr Dizzee rascal!” “I adore his exquisitely
balanced antitheses and cunningly calibrated bathos!” says Sid. “he got them Special Needs – like me!he aroman, a midget and a hunchback. ‘Breh
got it ‘appening! Dwarf is dread!” Marvellous! Who would have
thought, eh? The Great Gove, that’s who. I could, hitherto, have easily been persuaded that he was a clueless twerp, like Dryden’s Shadwell, who “never deviates into sense”. Or like Swift’s Gulliver, who is one of “the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that Nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth.” Well, mea culpa. Mea culpa. I salute the Sage. he should pop into my Not Top Tenth.he wouldn’t believe it.
• Ian Whitwham is a former teacher. A book of his columns is out now, email
editor@sec-ed.co.uk
Core curriculum? Glebe pupils Ashley, year 10, (left) and Taylor, year 8, (above) in the school’s orchard
School orchard schemes bear fruit by Daniel White
Traditional fruit orchards are being planted in secondary schools across the UK to promote healthy eating and help save endangered habitats. The Fruit-Full Schools pro-
gramme was launched in 50 schools in april and is now open to all UK schools after positive feedback from teachers. The aim is to support environ-
mental sustainability, improve com- munity engagement, and highlight the importance of locally grown produce.
Schools involved so far have
introduced apple-tasting sessions, orchard visits, and local food dis- cussions. The orchards can also be used
across the curriculum, including in areas such as climate change and community cohesion. One of the orchards set up in
april was at Glebe School in Kent, where it is used in geography and food technology, with students investigating how food gets from the soil to the plate. Teacher Martin Crabbe told
SecEd: “We are trying to connect the orchards across the curriculum
and in healthy eating. There is a big drive at the school, we have food projects and have set up school nutrition groups involving parents, students and teachers. “It has already had a great impact
on the students. We’ve looked at food miles, supply chains and the impact of climate change and they’ve been amazed by the sheer number of local (apple) varieties. “I’ve also seen pupils who are
sometimes difficult to engage in classroom study really coming out of themselves during orchard visits and the other hands-on activities.” Since the 1950s, england has
lost more than 60 per cent of its orchards and now 69 per cent of apples are being imported from other countries. It is hoped the scheme will help to reverse this trend and save these habitats. The Fruit-Full Schools website
provides resources to help schools set up their own orchard, including growing guides, case studies, and fact sheets. The programme has been
developed by Learning through Landscapes, which promotes out- door learning and play. For more information, visit
www.fruitfullschools.org
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Fundraising for Schools
December 2009 Issue 107 December 2009 £3.99 Your practical guide to raising money
Will the recession affect school builds?
Experts have predicted that the budget for the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme – intended to refurbish every secondary school in England – will be cut whichever Party wins the next election.
Speaking at the British Council for School Environments’ (BCSE) annual conference, Graham Watts, chief executive of the Construction Industry Council, said that capital funding would be squeezed next year and that the BSF programme was ‘under great pressure’. He also suggested that funding for the Primary Capital Programme (PCP) might be cut.
Ty Goddard, chief executive of BCSE, told Fundraising for Schools that inevitably there were dangers to school capital funding programmes as a result of the economic downturn.
‘It’s crucial to remember that such programmes not only help support the achitectural and construction industries, but also improve the educational opportunities of our children,’ he said.
‘Most of the school estate was built before the 1970s. Building or
In this issue News
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1-2 3
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refurbishing our schools, and making them relevant to teaching and learning in the 21st century, is not a luxury – it is a necessity.’
A spokesperson from the DCSF said that it was still the Government’s ambition to rebuild every secondary school in the country, but that it couldn’t make any fi nancial commitments before the next spending review.
Asked to comment on Conservative Party plans for schemes like BSF, a spokesperson for the Party said that one way to cut costs would be to reduce the amount of bureaucracy. ‘A recent Freedom of Information request revealed that the DCSF have spent tens of millions of pounds on consultants, including where there haven’t been new school buildings,’ he said.
Continued on page 2
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Fundraising for Schools December 2009 1 SecEd The ONLY weekly voice for secondary education Inside this issue
Don’t miss our NQT eight-page special in this week’s SecEd
Issue 232 • November 26 2009 Price £1.00
www.sec-ed.com
SecEd has once again teamed up with the NASUWT to bring you a dedicated eight- page NQT special offering an array of advice and support to help you survive and thrive in your first year at the chalkface Pages 16 to 23
Coaching advice
Coaching can be an effective and innovative CPD tool. We look at how it should be structured and the secrets to success Page 12
The dyslexic brain
Dyslexic author Al Campbell looks at how the dyslexic brain learns and how teachers can help Pages 8 and 9
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PROMOTE racial harmony, cultural diversity, and social cohesion.
Inspiring: Winning PA Julia Marks with her head, Tim Mitchell. All 30 finalists are also pictured (inset)
Battle to save school wins Julia PA honour
Head praises the amazing belief of SecEd Headteacher’s PA of the Year 2009 In July, the school’s future was
by Chris Parr
When the local authority began consulting on the closure of Dayncourt School in Nottinghamshire, it was Julia Marks – PA to headteacher Tim Mitchell – who stood strong, rallied the school’s staff, and staunchly refused to let her colleagues throw in the towel.
secured after the council withdrew the threat of closure. According to Mr Mitchell, this was more to do with Julia than with any other individual within the school establishment. He told us: “Julia kept the faith
– even when my own was on the wane. She poked, prodded, chivvied and chided. She kept me focused and on track. She believed.” Julia’s amazing contribution
to the future of her school has earned her the top prize at the 2009 SecEd Headteacher’s PA of the Year Awards, which took place at the prestigious Landmark Hotel in London on Friday (November 20). Thirty finalists gathered with
their headteachers, where they were treated to a gala dinner before being presented with their awards by last year’s champion, Pam Waters, and John Rolfe, manager of the DCSF
NASUWT The Teachers’ Union the largest teachers’ union in the UK
UK news n Independent thinking n Moral support n NQT diary n Managing ICT n Leadership page n At the chalkface
International School Award at the British Council – the award’s spon- sors. SecEd editor, Pete Henshaw, said
that Julia was “person of tremen- dous drive, passion and vision”. He continued: “The standard of
entries was unbelievably high, but Julia’s commitment to her school’s cause under such immense pressure was what made her stand out from the crowd.
“She is a very worthy winner of
this year’s gold award, and a fine ambassador for PAs up and down the country.” The silver award went to
Elisabeth Collard from Kingsbridge Community College in Devon, while the bronze award was taken by Kim Annison from Alderman Peel High School in Norfolk.
• See pages 2 and 3 for details. Containing thousands of professional articles, lesson plan ideas, news, reports and exclusive features
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