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In summarising some of the events over the academic year, we hope to give you a sense of the College in reality and thus how it interprets and implements its philosophies. Lectures, Courses and Writings The College has always encouraged staff to take an investigative approach to teaching dyslexic pupils. One consequence is that we do not take our teaching and learning skills for granted nor assume that they are static. Another consequence is that we then share our new expertise with other teachers and that means we expose our work to peer criticism and feedback and as 'teachers' we then learn even more. Our newest course was the culmination of three years of cooperative work with our colleagues in Ireland and the Netherlands. We have set up a teacher training course funded by the EU. The course ran, very successfully, for five days in Faro in March with twenty-two teachers from seven countries. The course focused on managing included special needs pupils and involved explaining the practical outcomes of our tri-country research into classroom behaviors, the implications of attributional style and transactional analysis for motivation and attitude of pupils and the sharing of each participant's experience of working with special needs pupils and issues around inclusion in their country. We will be running the course again in March 2005. The College continues to be the only institution in the UK that ran the AMBDA (numeracy) course. We continue to be active in sharing our expertise with other educators. Mr Litten has run another three courses on the use of voice output and input with ICT and English. Mrs Mortimore and Dr Chinn were asked to run a dyslexia awareness training course for Further Education lecturers in Dorset. Mrs Kay and Dr Chinn delivered the fourth AMBDA course at the College. This will be the last time this course will run under Beacon school funding. Mrs Kay and Dr Chinn have now created a four day intensive course distilled from the AMBDA course and have already run this new course for special needs educators in Leicestershire LEA. Dr Chinn also did a Saturday conference for educators in Belfast. Dr Chinn's new book, 'The Trouble with Maths' was launched at the BDA conference with a book signing on the third day. 'The Trouble' won a Special Needs Award from TES/NASDEN. His CD-Rom 'What to do when you can't learn the times tables' is now rated as a 'Best Seller' by REM (the leading UK educational software supplier). We are proud of our reputation for pragmatic, child centered innovation. 'Dyslexia and Maths' by Julie Kay and Dorian Yeo was published by Fulton/BDA Mrs Kay's book, co-authored with Dorian Yeo was reviewed in the new Times Educational Supplement Special Needs Magazine by Tandi Clausen-May, Principal Research Officer of the National Foundation for Educational Research. "As the authors explain, different dyslexic
pupils have different thinking styles, with a wide range of strengths
and weaknesses. But they all struggle to learn facts by rote. True to their excellent advice, Kay and Yeo
start by explaining the theory that underlies effective teaching
strategies for dyslexic pupils. Only then do they offer specific
ideas for the classroom, but always making the Teachers will be able to use many of the ideas offered, but, more importantly, they will develop an understanding of the principles that underlie sound teaching practice, not just for the dyslexic but for all the pupils in their classroom." I reprint the review because it is perceptive, but also it is a succinct summary of the philosophy underlying the teaching of all subjects at the College. International Aspects It has been quite an international year. We have had visitors from Japan, Romania, Ireland, South Africa and Holland. Dr Chinn lectured in South Africa. Mrs Kay and Dr Chinn have been invited to lecture in India.
The College was delighted to welcome Prof Susan Tresman, the new Education Director of the BDA who visited the College in March. One outcome of Prof Tresman's chat with Mr Litten during her visit is that he has been asked to write an article on his work on speech recognition for the next edition of the BDA Handbook. GCSE's The results in 2004 were once again excellent.
All fifteen boys achieved at least 6 GCSE's and two thirds of the
group obtained five or more grades at C and above. Only one grade
was below an E. 73% of grades were C and above. Art, geography and
history all achieved 100% of grades at C and above. We try our best to be a 'regular ' (actually we try to be 'better than a regular') school in all we do, whether it is rugby, Duke of Edinburgh Award or GCSE's, but of course, to do that takes a lot more than 'regular' effort from everyone, teachers, pupils, support staff and parents. When all those involved are heading in the same direction it is a pretty irresistible force. Our decision to change from English Literature to Media Studies is looking to be a successful one. The Year 11's are producing some great work. Also this year will see our first major foray into an Information Technology GCSE. This means that in 2005 some boys will now take eight subjects, instead of our usual seven. Out of a Job! A New Format for the Year 10 Job Week As a complementary experience to the Work Placement Week, Year 10 pupils have traditionally taken part in three days of work-related activities, organised with Somerset Connexions and called 'Job Week'. Last year, the College has decided to take a broader view of this aspect of the curriculum and as a result the pupils spent a day with Mendip Outdoor Pursuits, undertaking a programme of team-building, initiative, decision-making and leadership challenges. The next day gave them an opportunity to organise a Fun Sports Day for the Junior part of the College, to take place on that third day. Also on this day, an outing to Brean Down is took place, when pupils suggested ways of enhancing the work done by Heritage Trust volunteers to make the area more suitable for tourism. On the Wednesday morning, the Morrisby Psychometric Test was taken by the pupils from which a portfolio was delivered to each pupil, outlining their skills, strengths and potential career paths. A fish and chips lunch was served afterwards. This new format for Job Week was a great success, and it will be establised as a permanent feature in the College curriculum. Another facet of our training for work was set up by Mrs Maddie Reid from Connexions, Mr Betenson and Mr Robinson who organised an evening of 'mock' interviews for Year 11 boys with local employers. The feedback from the employers who gave their time for this extremely beneficial evening was excellent. Updating Facilities Our new Design and Technology suite is offering much more space and better facilities for this successful subject. We continue to refurbish other areas of the College, such as the provision of new carpets for Rooms Y, E1, Drama, Mark House lounge and E3 and new outdoor basketball nets on the upper hard play area. A large Prep Room was added to the Chemistry lab clearing much needed space in the lab itself. And the library has had a face-lift. A new internet cafe style lounge has been provided in the Senior Boarding House. We have upgraded our IT equipment in order to support media studies and speech recognition technology throughout the College. Staff Our new Houseparents, Mr and Mrs Green (Mark House) and Mr and Mrs Jenkins (Wedmore House) are now well settled in and the boys are benefiting from their care. Mr and Mrs Jenkins look after 33 teenage boys, a daunting task, especially as the Year 11 students experience the stresses of the final year of GCSE work. (To help deal with examination stress we once again brought in a specialist psychologist to explain and demonstrate some relaxation techniques to the Year 11's). Mr and Mrs Creaser have taken over Blackford House. Sadly Mr Skidmore retired this year (though I suspect he is looking forward to more time to spend singing). He has been an inspiring maths teacher and a wise and caring colleague. Mr Skidmore took early retirement from the Kings of Wessex school, where he and I had worked together for five years, but we managed to persuade him to return to teach at the College. We are pleased to have been able to appoint Mrs Elaine Bowyer as our new part-time maths teacher. Innovations Our new modular course of 'life skills' designed by Mrs Kay for Years 7 to 9 has started well, with Mrs Jenkins and Matron Smith teaching some basic cooking skills in the first half term and Mrs Creaser teaching street dance in the second half term. The end products from the cooking course seemed to disappear rapidly at the end of each lesson! Our staff in-service was used to review the College rules. Society continues to evolve and new ideas, such as camera phones can create new problems. We also try to listen to input from many sources, including, of course, the pupils. For example, they asked if we could introduce a blazer as an alternative to the navy sweater they currently wear. We organised this and several pupils now wear blazers. Our new design of half-yearly reports are providing more information for boys and parents. Mrs Kay has also introduced a new tutor scheme, where each member of staff will guide four pupils throughout their time at the College. Ex-pupils Andrew Thomson's dissertation for his BA has won an award from the Institute of Outdoor Learning. Robbie Janes was awarded 'Student of the Year' on his degree course. Ben Blech sailed on the 60 metre long square-rigged brig, the Prince William in the Cutty Sark Tall Ships Race and raised funds for the Dyspraxia Foundation by climbing to the highest level of the Main Royal Sail during a sailing trip from Turku in Finland to Rigaz in Latvia. Ben is now studying at the North Oxford College in Banbury. Ben Corlett, ran the London marathon (in 3h 35m) to raise funds for the BDA. Ben raised £2000. He is now Vice President of Student Welfare at Bath Spa University College. Alex Bains-Buffery secured a place at Imperial College, London to read Zoology starting this academic year, after a gap year partly spent in Africa. Alex did a ten week research project in Tanzania which included a BTech Advanced Diploma in Tropical Habitat Conservation followed by a Game Ranger training course in South Africa. The College is extremely proud of ex-pupil Alex Hawthorne who presented his MEd work on the second day of The British Dyslexia Association's International Conference. Mr Ashcroft spoke in a symposium organised by Prof Miles and Dr Ellis and chaired by Dr Chinn. Mr Litten spoke about his collaborative work with Northtown School, Taunton on voice recognition technology and Dr Chinn's new book, 'The Trouble with Maths' published by Routledge Falmer was {launched with a book signing session at the conference. Also at the Conference Professor Burden from the University of Exeter presented a research paper about the College's work in addressing the self-esteem, self-concept and attributional style of its pupils. Dr Chinn introduced the after dinner speakers at the Conference dinner and had the great good fortune to sit with Sir Steve Redgrave for the dinner. History Trip Mr Cave took a group of boys and parents to the World War I battlefields in Belgium and France in summer 2004. This was a truly wonderful, saddening and inspiring trip. The Carroll School, our Twin School in Boston, USA There will be a group of Mark College students visiting the Boston and NYC areas in March. Rugby Congratulations to the Dyslexia Rugby Festival team, who were inspiring runners-up and to the Seniors Sevens who came third in the ISA Championships in 2004. Also congratulations to Nic Tobin and Andrew Heath who have been invited to join the Sedgemoor Rugby Development squad. Open Day Friday July 16th 2004 Our guest speaker was Professor Susan Tresman, the new Education Director of the British Dyslexia Association. Over forty awards were presented. Care Standards We learned from the National Care Standards that we are classified as a 'green' (that is, low risk) school and that therefore we would not be inspected this year but we received a visit from a representative of the Eastern Counties LEA consortium who did a shortened Care inspection. The outcome was a succinct, but extremely favourable report. The phrase that particularly pleased us was that the College is an 'open and reflective school'. We try to be exactly that. Our next care inspection will be in February. Charities We will be updating our website soon, but since it was last updated the College has been awarded a National Training Award (for its maths training), a 'Sportsmark with Distinction' and had its Beacon School status extended for a second period. Self Esteem and Self Concept Occasionally the College helps University researchers. Our pupils volunteered to help Professor Burden from the University of Exeter who has now presented his findings at three international conferences. The outcome from this research is extremely pleasing to the College in that it shows exceptional benefits to self esteem and concept from our pastoral programmes. |