Dear all.
It has been a busy week, with two evening events. Tuesday saw a clarinet recital evening, with students performing music to a very high standard. Thursday had the Rock Gig. Being at both events reminded me what a fantastic musical community we have here at Simon Balle. Parents supporting students, students supporting other students. At the gig, none of the bands scared to give it a go. Don’t forget the number of boys singing.
It has been a busy week, with two evening events. Tuesday saw a clarinet recital evening, with students performing music to a very high standard. Thursday had the Rock Gig. Being at both events reminded me what a fantastic musical community we have here at Simon Balle. Parents supporting students, students supporting other students. At the gig, none of the bands scared to give it a go. Don’t forget the number of boys singing.
What was more evident was the wonderful atmosphere at the
gig. Everyone was happy and enjoying the fantastic music. Students from almost
all year groups were performing. Families were there and former students had
returned to hear the bands they remember.
It was an excellent example of our musical community
performing over 2 hours worth of music, to a high quality. Another example of
our musical community will be the Take
Note concert that is next Saturday, 15th December. It is at St
Andrew’s Church at 7.30pm. Parents, former parents, staff, former students and
others from the local community all singing together. They joy on their faces
when they sing is a delight to watch. The sound is superb.
The Carol Service during the last week of term will be
another event that brings us all together. Years 7 and 8 will be taking part on
the Wednesday morning.
In amongst the pressures of teaching, these wonderful moments
remind us why we do the job we do. It is so wonderful that in our musical
community, this can happen.
I spoke last week about lesson observations and our vision to be an outstanding department. Below are the lesson observation criteria that is used in all curriculum lessons. We have to gradually introduce them into instrumental lessons as well. (click on them and they should enlarge).
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Later in January, we will have inset in teams looking at this issue, and talking more about what is expected. I have been looking at recent Ofsted reports that schools have been receiving. Quite simply, I have to act where the standard of teaching falls below the grade of a 2, and provide support. The change with inspections has been rapid. In the past week, I have been receiving training about observations and how to grade a lesson. More training this week and in January. Sue is working hard collecting data and student info, so that we all have clear info about these students.
Standing still and accepting no change in our department is quite simply not an option. We are very close to hopefully being outstanding, and we have to continue the drive to achieve it, in all that we do.
The events of the next couple of weeks will help to show that what we achieve is outstanding. We should be proud of this.
Have a great week
Mark
