Clifton College Website

Dr Bowring's Commem 2007 Speech

Welcome. I hope some of you enjoyed a bit of a lie-in, and a leisurely breakfast here this morning. I’m sorry I couldn’t arrange better weather.

This is the occasion when I look back on the past year at Butcombe, and highlight some of the achievements of both pupils and staff. It’s also a time to re-state some of the philosophy that guides what we do, and look to the future at what lies ahead. But first, it’s an opportunity for me to share with you some of the funnier sides of the job, starting with what the children say about you, their mums and dads and families.

Last year, I studied the children’s news books to find out what had been going on in their lives while I had been away, on the pretence of monitoring standards of creative writing across the school. Apparently, as I read out snippets of the children’s work, many of you sat squirming in your seats, wondering whether the child that I was quoting was indeed your child, and exactly what were they going to say about you next! Well, you would expect me to continue monitoring standards very closely in an inspection year, and I have certainly enjoyed collecting some choice examples to share with you this morning. So, think for a moment, if anybody’s particularly anxious about what might be revealed, slip away quietly now and hopefully no-one will notice.

Taken from the children’s news books over the year, oh, and yes, every one of them is genuine:

More pearls of wisdom from the children later.

Now, things to celebrate. Well, I really hoped that we would have received the final ISI inspection report before today, so that I could share with you not only the successes of Butcombe, but those of the Pre and Upper School as well. But alas, I still have only the draft, which should remain confidential until the final version arrives. I can tell you, however, about the inspection process, and emphasise the rigour with which inspections are carried out. Gone are the days when schools are able to sharpen up their act and put on a show just for the inspectors. The whole inspection process of this second cycle goes far deeper than that. Only 40% of the inspectors’ time is spent sitting in on lessons, yet the team that came to Butcombe managed to observe sixty different lessons, assemblies and activities. The remainder of the time was spent talking and listening to the children, discussing with the staff, watching, observing, and not at a superficial level, but with a schedule of questions designed to extract as much information as possible to build up the true picture of the school. Children’s work was examined in depth, from various points of view: was there breadth and balance across all subjects, was there appropriate challenge evident for the more able, was there enough work over the period of time, was work marked according to the school’s marking policy and was it consistent across classes and year groups. Children were asked to explain their work, and how their teachers fed back to them on how they had done. Individual subjects were focused on and aspects of the school, such as the quality of pastoral care, and the welfare, health and safety of pupils, and the quality of education provided, were studied in depth. I can tell you, no stone was left unturned, and the opinion of pupils, staff and parents were carefully considered.

Now it simply isn’t true that we primed the children all to put up their hands if an inspector was in a lesson, putting their right hand up if they knew the answer and their left hand up if they didn’t (they haven’t really got left and right sorted). But it is true that I made the fatal mistake of not checking my work before printing it out, and taught the children to sing ‘When a Knight won his spears’ in hymn practice, which continued to talk not of ‘ogres of greed’ but ‘orgies of greed’. Not the best beginning from the person at the top!

As I mentioned earlier, I am not at liberty to share with you yet the detailed findings of the inspection, so you will have to speculate as to whether phrases like ‘Butcombe...is outstandingly successful in its aim to provide an all-round education’ feature in the report, and ‘children make an excellent start in the Nursery and rapid progress in the foundation stage’, and ‘excellent opportunities are provided for pupils’ social development’ and ‘teaching is extremely effective and a significant factor in promoting high quality learning’ and, well, perhaps I have said more than enough.

There is one finding that I can share with you, as it’s not reported on in this way in the report. It came out of the lead inspector’s examination of our assessment procedures and record keeping. ISI have to make a judgement on the overall attainment of children on entry to the school, and at the end of the Key Stages to ensure that children are achieving in line with their true abilities. Not all schools have data to help this process, but because we still enter our Year 2 pupils for the end of Key Stage One SATs, we are able to track their achievement and rate of progress using the end of Foundation Stage Profile that is completed in Reception. Both the Foundations Stage Profiles and SATs are externally moderated, so the judgements included in them are secure. The lead inspector took the children’s scores at age four and five in the foundation stage profile, and set them against the scores awarded in the SATs tests two years later. The ability profile of pupils at Butcombe on entry was judged to be, as you might expect, above average in all six areas of learning, but by the time they reached the end of key stage one, they were working at a level WELL above average: working at a much higher level as a result of being at this school. If there’s one thing to celebrate on the academic front, it’s that. What better testimony can a school get? Please, feed this message around the playground and to your friends looking for the best environment for their child.

The next chapter of this success story will be heard at the Pre Commemoration Day at the end of the month, when Dr Acheson will be able to tell his parents just how the successes observed at Butcombe are build upon to enable pupils to achieve even greater heights in the Pre. I hope the full report is available by then.

I would like to turn to another aspect of school life at Butcombe that is worthy of celebrating, and that is the effecting of even closer links with you, the parents, through the creation of the Butcombe Network. A particular feature of schools with children as young as ours is the amount of time, energy and involvement parents want to give to support their child’s learning, and a closer involvement with day to day things at school rather than just social events. I’ve wanted to establish such a group for a while now, but the formative plan didn’t hatch in my head until I was on my sick bed, and on my return I was determined to get the ball rolling this year. I could not have imagined just how successful the initiative would be. A small committee has been formed with various roles cast around, and with a class representative also nominated to enable better communication back to parents. The Network has been highly successful on a number of fronts: they ran the Christmas Fair, have regular second hand uniform sales, have established the Rainbow Brownie group for girls aged four, five and six, they have taken photographs and videos of special events at school, provided coffee for parents after class assemblies, send out a regular ‘Butcombe Bulletin’ for parents by parents, through which a great deal if information is disseminated, helped with the Book Fair and been on hand to help with a variety of administrative tasks when asked, and so it goes on. Next year they hope to be able to establish our Toddler Group for parents with children of Pre School age, put up better outdoor notice boards to house a far greater amount of information for parents, and plans are afoot for a grand promises auction, to raise money specifically for rather super play equipment that I’ve had my eye on for a long time. One other function of the group, though it was never intended for it to perform this role, is that I am able to float ideas about a whole range of ideas to a parent ‘think-tank’ which helps me gather my thoughts and act on them if necessary. We’ve talked informally about uniform, and at great length about problems with traffic flow and parking, always a hot chestnut. Their words of wisdom are always gratefully received. I have no doubt that the creation of the Butcombe Network has enabled more parents to contribute in a closer way to the life of the school, and I warmly thank the committee, chaired by Liddy Hill, for all that they have done and will continue to do in the future.

So what other successes are worthy of note. Well, our Year 3 pupils have taken part in far more inter-school matches in Football, Netball, Hockey and Tag Rugby this year, all playing extremely well and winning far more than they have lost. I must commend the netball teams to you, who last year failed to score a single goal in any of their tournaments and matches, but this year won seven out of eight matches at the Beaudesert Park Tournament, and played equally well at our own tournament run by Mrs Askew at Beggar Bush. And at the inter-school triathlon which involved sixteen teams from nine different schools, Butcombe once again took the gold medals, beating handsomely the Downs and Bristol Grammar School.

On the creative side, music and the arts are as strong as ever. The spectacle of Scheherazade was breath-taking, with some super cameo performances. More children learn musical instruments than ever before, and we are practicing hard for our Informal Concert and Music Assemblies coming up later this term. As you look around the classrooms, I am sure you will be impressed by the extremely high standard of art work, and our whole school project on famous artists can be seen all around us here in the hall.

Mandarin at Butcombe for Year 3 pupils has been an overwhelming success, so we shall be continuing with this next year. The Foundation Stage have developed their outdoor curriculum which just might have received the highest accolade in the inspection report. We have joined the Bristol Healthy Schools Project, with a whole host of initiatives being implemented in school under Rachel Griffiths’ watchful care, and the commitment to becoming an eco-friendly school, with recycling and compost bins popping up everywhere, is carefully being steered by Mary Anglin.

We have continued to spend on improving resources. Last summer interactive whiteboards were installed in every classrooms, and more lap-tops were purchased which are regular use in Years 1, 2 and 3. The staff have under gone several training sessions, and Interactive White Boards are a core piece of technology used by every teacher to enhance pupils’ learning. All the PCs were upgraded, too, and this year we are changing all the monitors to flat screens. We have upgraded security in the buildings, being the first of the College buildings to move to a swipe card entry system which is working extremely well.

Another significant development in year has been the appointment of Anne Chapman, the school nurse, who started after Christmas. I had wanted this appointment for a long time, with the medical needs of children becoming more complex. With a back ground in paediatric nursing, having someone of Anne’s experience and skill in school to support the whole range of health and safety issues that abound, is an enormous benefit to the children and parents, and a great relief for teachers. She has certainly made a very positive impact all round.

For the future, well, two major projects for Butcombe still lay in the hands of the planning officers, but we hope to have permission granted for both within the year. First, for a while now we have wanted to dig out and landscape the front garden that is adjacent to Guthrie Road, and install new door openings so that the Reception classrooms can have immediate access to the outside and further develop their outdoor curriculum. The difficulty with this project from a planning perspective is in providing doors where there must be minimal alteration to the existing architecture, and the stone mullion is causing quite a problem. The second project, the building of the dance studio on the site of the old garages behind Sharps, has also suffered from problems with the planners. In this instance, it is the beautiful tree with the wonderful, gnarled root structure that has a tree preservation order on it, that is getting in the way of planning permission. Not that we wanted to take the tree down anyway, but the architects have had to be extremely creative to come up with an imaginative plan that includes the tree as a feature. Watch this space.

Sadly, at the end of term, we are saying goodbye to two treasured members of staff, Mary Alpass and Linda Glover. Forgive me for talking about them jointly, but it would be invidious to try to talk of one ahead of the other, regardless of their roles at school, for they are simply a dynamic duo that go together like bread and butter. Mary and Linda came to the school sixteen years ago, job sharing for a short while, before moving into full-time class teaching before my arrival here. Since then, Reception and latterly Year 1 has been their niche, and to be honest, I cannot imagine Butcombe without them, for wherever Mary and Linda are, there are screams and howls of laughter and lots of fun. They are team players of the highest calibre, quick to help out if anything needs doing, generous in their praise to both children and colleagues, and both have been an enormous personal support to me over the years in countless ways. They are consummate professionals who have enriched the lives of many children who have passed through their hands, and Butcombe will be a poorer place without them. Ladies and gentlemen, please show the warmth of your affection for Mary Alpass and Linda Glover.

Actually, I’m not letting them go. I’m sure you’ll see them both around to cover when staff go on training courses, and I know Mary wants to run a Christmas Crafts club next term so...hey, give me those flowers back.

So what to put in the advert, to find replacements to fill such experienced, not to mention stylish, shoes? All teachers have to be multi-taskers and I saw the following description on an apron in a catalogue at Christmas. It said ‘Administrator, social worker, coat finder, arbitrator, government directive reader, curriculum implementer, artistic director, form filler, language specialist, pencil sharpener, accountant, musician, fund raiser, report writer, nose wiper, public relations officer, petty cash clerk, examiner, surrogate parent, walking encyclopaedia, scapegoat...but you can just call me teacher’.

Well, we took a long time over the selection process, and sent out over 100 application forms. It took ages to sift through the replies, but last week we appointed two exceptionally talented young teachers to join us in September. Emily Wright is a team leader in an early years centre in South Bristol, and Juliet Michallat currently teaches at Stoke Bishop School. They both come with glowing references, and I know they are very keen to establish themselves at Butcombe and to become key members of the team. I know that some parents are already getting a little anxious about next year, wondering who their child’s next teacher will be. Well, to stop you second guessing, I can tell you that, in line with the best professional practice, six teachers will be moving year groups next year. We are all early years or primary teachers, trained to teach from 3 - 7, or 3 - 11, and spending too long with one year group can lead to staff becoming stale. Moving year groups on a fairly regular basis allows teachers to reflect on the differing abilities of children at different stages of their development, and to understand where children have come from academically and where they are going to next. Now, please don’t get me wrong here, I’m not saying the teachers moving are stale, but this little shuffle around will give a new energy to the school, especially after an inspection year, as staff are able to deepen their knowledge and reflect on their practice.

Michelle Lambert is returning to a part-time role after the birth of her son, and Lin Standen, too, has elected to reduce her hours. Together they will share a class, just as Jay Giebus and Anne Askew will. Jay is embarking on his PhD in psychology, and will be attending lectures on a couple of afternoons. Having job-shared myself many years ago, a successful job share with the right partnership is hugely beneficial for the children, who get the very best from both teachers, who tend to contribute far more than their official allocation of time. I have no doubt that these will work. In any case, our children are quite used to having different teachers during the course of the week, for we already have a system of team teaching which allows staff to teach in different year groups, for example Mary Anglin teaches Year 2 art, Fiona King teaches a reception class as does Jay Giebus, while Kath Henry teaches his Year 3’s. Add to this the time staff have out of class for their planning, preparation and assessment, every class is used to different teachers. The key to its success is in the quality and calibre of each individual and the way they work together as a team. At Butcombe, you have some of the very best teachers teaching your children, as the inspection report says - ooops there I go again!

There are some golden moments in teaching, especially with children of Butcombe age. Their innocence keeps us alive and refreshed. Take for example, a large group of Reception children crowding round something in the playground, and looking gravely concerned. As I walked toward them, the crowd broke up and the group’s spokesman came up to me. ‘Dr Bowring, there’s a dead cat on the grass’ he explained with an air of grief, head hanging low, though with some pride at being the one to give me news of such staggering proportion. ‘Oh dear, how sad’, I replied, trying to get the right balance of sorrow and regret in my voice. ‘Are you sure it’s dead and not just sleeping?’ ‘Oh yes’ said the boy, ‘it’s dead alright. I pissed in it’s ear’. ‘You did what?’ I exclaimed, taken by surprise. ‘You know’, said the boy, ‘I leaned over it and went pssst in it’s ear’.

It wasn’t dead - it got up and ran away - We concluded it must have been deaf, though!

And I must tell you of a wonderful complaint I had from a parent last term, completely true, and I have permission from the parent to share it with you this morning. A very agitated mother came to see me worried by what she was overhearing as her son did his maths homework. The children were working on number bonds to twenty, and the teacher had got them to say each phrase in a certain way. ‘Two and seven, the son of a bitch is nine’. ‘Four add seven, the son of the bitch is eleven’. ‘Six and seven, the son of a...‘Whoa! What are you saying?’ questioned the angry parent, ‘Does your teacher say it like that?’

‘Yes’, replied the confused child, ‘that’s the way she told us to do it’. ‘Well, we’ll see about that!’ was the mother’s retort, and soon after there was a knock on my door.

I was completely non-plussed by the complaint, said I would look into is and get back to the mother. Well, needless to say, there was a simple answer. A red-faced mother returned to me at the end of the day, having spoken to the teacher. ‘It seems I’ve got it completely wrong. The teacher was telling them to say ‘seven add seven, the sum of which is fourteen. Perhaps I’ll have to get his hearing checked.’ (...there’s a lot of deafness in my stories today)

I continue to be proud of the children, for all their varied achievements and successes, and also of the way they cope with their disappointments. I continue to be proud of the staff, and warmly commend them to you for their dedication and commitment during an exacting and challenging year, and I am hugely grateful for the tremendous support we receive from you as we work together to see your children grow and blossom during their time here. The staff and I are acutely aware that our work as educators leaves a trace in history in the lives of every child we teach, so the responsibility that is placed in our hands is enormous. We thank you for giving us that responsibility, which we take extremely seriously.

Please enjoy the rest of the morning. As we leave the hall now, the Morris Dancers should be ready for action in the playground, following which the children will return to their classrooms and you will be free to wander around. Please try to see as much as you can.

Thank you for listening.

© 2006 Clifton College