Views & Opinion


Sounds and sounds and more sounds Comment by ALICIA BLANCO-BAYO, Early Years teacher, Kirkham Grammar School


Words are a group of sounds that somehow make sense to us once we have associated them with an image and put them into context. This connection is first made when children are young and realise that putting sounds together helps them to communicate. It begins when babies make a sound and cause a reaction and subsequently a response. Those first facial expressions and sounds require a response from the adult so that an initial communication path is opened. This is how language and communication skills start to develop.


Making sense of sounds


I learnt to read and write phonetically because in Spanish, that is how it works. This meant that putting sounds together made sense to me from an early age. As I acquired an understanding and use of English to a proficient level, my perspective about this language with regards to phonics changed. Over the years I have learnt that, in English-speaking countries, we are in an era where sounds are beginning to make more sense to children than they ever did to other


generations of learners. However, children are still often being taught by many teachers who learnt to read and write memorising long lists of words, and perhaps did not apply phonics themselves after their infant years. This without a doubt sends out an important message; we must help children make sense of sounds so they can make sense of words when they try to read and write.


The idea of having to teach children how to use sounds to make words and then use those words in context sounds a little scary when you are 4 years old. I had read about children being excited about writing and how their attempts at putting sounds together brought stories to life. Having observed children in role-play scenarios I noticed that their ability to imagine and create was so evident. I soon found myself creating opportunities for writing with children who only knew a few sounds but needed to find a way to create for themselves. I wrote for them and what I wrote made total sense to them. I then read out their stories many times while they acted them out and pretended to be the


characters they had created themselves. It was fascinating to see how children brought their own stories to life, and enjoyed the opportunity to perform something they had created themselves. I was aware of the power of discussions during play, and how creative writing developed from interactions during hands-on opportunities. However, watching how children develop the ability to find sounds in words because they choose to do it with words they really want to use, makes what I do as a teacher so special. I worded it like this, “I want to use this word, therefore I need to know what sounds to put together so I can write it and read it”. From that moment on writing has become purposeful simply because children make it meaningful, and attempt to put sounds together so they can make words that mean something to them. Almost without realising, children have begun to read words for the first time just because they learnt to use those first sounds in words that came to life through their play. Aren’t these the moments that leave a lasting memory in children’s lives?


More protection is needed for pupils and teachers after calls for schools to deploy lockdown plans Comment by KLAUS ALLION, Managing Director at ANT Telecom


Whilst a number of schools are carrying out adhoc lockdown drills, if a serious incident does arise, a pre-recorded alarm and message is played from a tannoy, with pupils getting under tables, teachers locking classroom doors, lights being turned off and window shutters pulled down – but is this enough?


The need for clear processes


Shouldn’t schools be considering staff safety more holistically? What clear processes are in place to help staff deal with incidents quickly and effectively? How are issues escalated and a response put into action before it’s too late? What’s more, how does a school prove it followed the correct process?


Clever use of modern technology


Today’s connective technologies mean that modern panic buttons offer much more functionality than a basic alert; they can automate a range of actions to escalate a response instantly and discreetly. When pressed – often via an app on a user’s smartphone – a panic button not only triggers an alert to notify colleagues of a developing incident, it reports the details of who triggered it and their location. The most effective tools can activate live audio recordings that allow colleagues to listen in and assess what course of action is required, in real time.


Reluctance to invest Historically, many schools have been reluctant to invest in such technology due October 2017


to common misconceptions around cost. However, since these tools are managed in the Cloud, deployment is relatively inexpensive; with the main infrastructure already built, schools are not required to pay full-scale development and implementation costs, they simply need to tailor their escalation processes to suit local requirements and Standard Operating Procedures. Calculations show that it costs as little as a daily newspaper to protect its staff. The price of failure is far more expensive.


Saved by the bell?


It’s worrying that a high number of educational institutions still use the school bell as an alert mechanism. This does nothing to help third parties locate an incident, while the sudden sound of an alarm can send confusion and potential panic amongst the school. Similarly, many schools believe that conventional mobile phones provide an effective solution. This assumes that in the heat of a tense situation, a colleague has the time and opportunity to make an emergency call. But who do they call? And what happens if no-one answers?


As the Department for Education states, “schools have a legal responsibility to ensure staff and pupils are safe” but from recent reports, whilst schools do have a level of safety plans in place, they don’t appear to be going as in depth as they need to in terms of reviewing their processes and updating their plans. Moreover, they’re not taking advantage of new technology innovation that is available to protect staff and students.


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