teaching

The link between attendance, attainment and lifetime earnings

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We have long understood the importance of good attendance at school: every moment matters. Over the past week, new research has been published which shows just how much every day at school counts.

The link between attendance and attainment

The link between attendance and attainment is at its strongest in secondary school. Year 11 students with near-perfect attendance are almost twice as likely to achieve grade 5 in English and Maths GCSE, compared to similar students attending 90-95% of the time. In other words, missing just 10 extra days a year reduces the likelihood of achieving these grades by around half.

At lower attendance levels, pupils who only attend between 50 and 55% of the time are 1.6 times more likely to achieve 9-5 in Maths and English GCSE than students who are severely absent and attend less than 50% of sessions. Increased attendance from severely absent to 60-65% (equating to approximately an extra 4-6 weeks in school) is associated with double the likelihood of the expected outcome compared with pupils who attend less than 50% of the time.

Improving attendance by just 5% makes a significant difference to academic attainment, as you can see in the chart below:

You can view the full research report here.

The link between school attendance and lifetime earnings

Missing school doesn’t just affect exam results and a child’s time in education. The impact of poor attendance has an impact on future earnings too. Related research has found that, for every day of absence between Years 7 to 11, the typical pupil could miss out on an average of £750 in future lifetime earnings. That’s £750 less for every single day missed.

The research also found that a one day increase in absence in Years 10 and 11 alone is associated with a 0.8% decrease in total yearly pay-as-you-earn earnings and declared self-employed earnings at age 28.

Persistently absent pupils in secondary school could earn £10,000 less at age 28 compared to pupils with near-perfect attendance. The likelihood of being in receipt of benefits increases by 2.7 times for
pupils who are classified as persistently absent (more than 10% absence). This rises to 4.2 times for those who are classified as severely absent (more than 50% absence).

As with attainment, it is clear to see the direct relationship between good attendance at school and higher earnings at the age of 28. You can see the full research report here.

Every day matters

We need to make sure that good attendance at school remains a high priority. We already ask that families only keep children off school when they are genuinely too ill to attend. We ask that you book medical appointments and holidays outside of school time whenever possible. And we ask that you talk to us if you’re having difficulties with attendance. Because every day at school gives you a better chance of good attainment, and greater earning power in adulthood.

Good attendance is an investment in the future. Let’s make it count.

Putting it all together

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Over the Christmas holidays, my family and I always like to complete a Christmas jigsaw. We have a few 1000 piece sets that we’ve been given over the years, and it’s always a fun challenge to try and put them together to make the complete picture. You can see our progress below!

As we were putting the jigsaw together this Christmas, I was thinking about the Academy: how every piece is different and unique, but every piece needs to be in the right place, to fit, to belong, in order to make the complete picture. We work really hard every day to help ensure that students and staff are slotted in to help make the whole thing work.

But I was also thinking about how every individual is made up of thousands of tiny pieces. These micro-decisions, little things that make up our daily lives in school. I spoke to students in assembly last week about some of these component parts:

  • Lessons: including our favourite lessons and those that we find more challenging. Our curriculum is made up of lots of component parts which all work together to make a strong, deep and broad understanding of our world. Every single piece counts.
  • Social times: ensuring that the Academy is and feels safe, welcoming and friendly for everyone in it, is everyone’s responsibility.
  • Punctuality: we are particularly focused on this important life skill at the moment, and our students are working really hard to make sure that they are on time, every time.
  • Attendance: similarly, we have been really impressed by our students’ efforts to ensure that they attend school every day, every lesson that they are able to.
  • Extra curricular: both within school and beyond, the activities our students are involved in all add up to build their skills, knowledge, character and confidence.
  • Values: our values of kindness, curiosity and determination underpin everything we do, and work together to support character development in our students
  • Wellbeing: linked to last week’s assembly on sleep, we know that looking after ourselves is important. Diet, exercise, sleep and a balanced approach to health and wellbeing are all important.

In our school, and in ourselves, every single piece matters.

What happens on an inset day? November 2024

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On Wednesday of this week, the four secondary schools in the Lighthouse Schools Partnership shared an inset day. Inset, which stands for “in-service training,” is a valuable opportunity for staff to refine their practice, collaborate, and develop their craft to ensure we provide the best possible education to our students. With staff from Gordano, Backwell, Chew Valley and Churchill all taking part, the day was a great success.

Subject and faculty leaders from across the trust all met at Backwell School. They met in subject groups to share lessons from analysing the summer’s GCSE, A-level and vocational exams results, to share strategies and techniques for ensuring the best possible outcomes for this year’s cohorts. This sharing of subject-specific expertise is invaluable, and all the schools in the trust benefit from these opportunities.

Later in the day, the subject and faculty leaders all came together for training in carrying out middle leadership reviews. This process sees subject experts from across the trust visiting one another’s schools to offer constructive critique, help identify areas of strength and development, and share practice to the benefit of all concerned. It is in these collaborations that the benefit of being part of a bigger trust are really apparent.

Meanwhile, back at Churchill, the day began early as we hosted the LSP’s business breakfast in the Pool Hall. Over 100 Business Partners and education colleagues attended to network, make connections, and collaborate. The main speaker at the event – Simon Lawrence OBE, General Manager of the National Trust Bristol Portfolio – provided an interesting and insightful reflection on the principles and values of ‘Servant Leadership’ that he has learnt throughout his military and diplomatic career.

Visitors also heard from Chew Valley School Headteacher, Gareth Beynon, who spoke about the importance of the outdoors when it comes to educating our children and young people. The event was closed by Sofia and Toby, from our own Churchill Sixth Form, sharing details of their upcoming trip to Madagascar.

Meanwhile, teaching staff were working on developing their questioning skills using resources from the Lighthouse Schools Partnership’s Pedagogy Framework. Questioning is fundamental teaching strategy, so getting the details right can be really significant in helping students to develop their thinking, practice key skills, and to help check for understanding. This was followed by a series of workshops on different aspects of SEND, to help us work more effectively with students with additional needs.

It was a packed day, with the importance of learning for staff at its heart: a great opportunity to refine and develop our practice across the trust to the benefit of our students. The next trust day – in February 2025 – will bring together all teaching staff from 33 primary and secondary schools in another day of collaborative learning. We can’t wait!

What happens on a joint inset day?

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On Wednesday of this week, the Lighthouse Schools Partnership held its first joint secondary inset day. Inset is short for “in-service training” and is a day set aside for staff development and learning. Teaching and student-facing support staff from all four LSP secondary schools – Churchill Academy & Sixth Form, Chew Valley School, Backwell School and Gordano School – gathered together at Gordano in Portishead. This was the first time that the 400+ staff from the four schools had been together in the same place in the trust’s history.

The day began with a presentation from Chief Executive Gary Lewis, who outlined the trust’s vision under the heading “flourishing in partnership.” Being together in the same space enabled and allowed the partnership to flourish as connections were made and strengthened, common ground established, and sharing of practice enabled. There was a real buzz in the room as colleagues got together!

The rest of the morning was spent in workshops developing classroom pedagogy, with sessions on questioning, retrieval, scaffolding, checking for understanding, increasing participation ratio and modelling of example answers for colleagues to choose from. These key elements of teaching and learning are common across all our schools, and sharpening and honing our practice in them is essential for the continued success of our students.

Meanwhile, English and Maths leads were taking full advantage of the fact that the Lighthouse Schools Partnership also has 26 primary schools within the family, by spending the morning looking at key stage 2 curriculum and pedagogy in the Whiteoak Academies in Nailsea. This experience enabled leaders to get “under the skin” of the upper primary curriculum, to ensure that the transition into Year 7 is smooth and effective – and that the expectations we have of our youngest students are consistent with the expectations our primary colleagues have of their oldest.

After a lunch in which networks were formed and strengthened, subject-specific teams got together to reflect on the learning from the morning and how to implement the day’s learning back in their home schools. Subject leads were also working together to plan the next joint inset day, in February 2024, when staff will work together on subject-specific priorities at locations across the LSP’s secondary sites.

As relative newcomers to the multi-academy trust, Churchill staff are still getting used to being part of this larger organisation. Wednesday’s inset was a great opportunity to realise the benefits of collaboration across the wider trust. We look forward to continuing to flourish in partnership.

The next generation of teachers

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Over the course of the past few weeks, I have been heavily involved in recruiting teachers to join the Academy in September. This is always an exciting and fulfilling part of my job, and a big responsibility; I want to make sure that we have the best possible teachers in front of our students so that they will have the best possible education at Churchill.

I am delighted with the appointments we have made so far. Applicants to Churchill have been attracted by our vision and values, our high standards, and our reputation for training and developing staff. We take this aspect of our work very seriously. We firmly believe in Dylan Wiliam’s maxim:

“Every teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better.”

Dylan Wiliam

This process of professional development continues throughout a teacher’s career – up to and including the Headteacher! – but it begins with initial teacher training. We have always been heavily involved in this process, welcoming groups of trainee teachers to the Academy for their teaching practice and school experience placements throughout the year and across a range of subjects. Ensuring that this initial phase of training lays a solid foundation for a long and successful career is essential. And this is where – hold on to your hats everyone – the Department for Education has actually had quite a good idea.

From September 2021, newly qualified teachers will no longer be “NQTs”. Instead, they will be part of a new “Early Career Framework” to guide new entrants to the teaching profession through two years of well-designed training and professional development, fully funded by the Department for Education. These years are designed to build on the initial teacher training year (whether school-based on university-based) to ensure that Early Career Teachers get the best possible start to their time in the profession.

At Churchill, we are ahead of the curve as we have been running a two-year induction for new entrants to the profession for a number of years. This feeds into our wider professional development programme which includes opportunities for staff at all stages of their careers. We know that it is only by investing in our staff that we can continue to be successful in the medium and long term.

There is a well-publicised recruitment and retention crisis within the teaching profession. For many years, not enough new teachers have been trained, and too many experienced teachers have been leaving. Teaching is a hard job, with heavy demands on time and emotional investment in the young people in our care. It can be very challenging. However, here at Churchill, we firmly believe that there is no more rewarding job. We know that the most successful teachers are well-trained, with the time and support behind them to make a positive difference every day. We do all we can to provide that training, that time, and that support – so that our teachers can give of their best every day.

The pandemic has seen an rise in applicants to the teaching profession. I think people have seen the difference that schools and teachers have made to young people through this crisis, and the impact that a good teacher can have. I am thrilled that this has encouraged more people to think about becoming teachers. I have been a qualified teacher since 1997 and I have been proud to be part of this profession every single day since then – and never more so than during my time as a Headteacher. The government’s reforms to early career teaching are a positive step. Here at Churchill we will continue to do all we can to continue to advocate for our profession, and to ensure that the we train, develop and recruit the very best in the next generation of teachers.

If you are interested in teaching as a career, or simply want to find out more, you can visit the Department for Education’s Get Into Teaching website. And if you are interested in joining us at Churchill, you can visit our Work With Us or our Train With Us pages.

The black dot in the white square

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When I was training to teach, one of the techniques I was taught was to remember the black dot in the white square. In teacher training terms, the black dot represented the disruptive, naughty or badly behaved student in the class. When you look at the class, the temptation for the teacher is to focus on that badly behaved student, and not spend enough time and attention on the white square, which represents all the other well-behaved, hard-working, positive students in the room. Of course, poor behaviour needs to be dealt with, but it’s far better to reinforce and celebrate the vast majority of students who are doing exactly what they should. Far better to be emphasising the positives by saying “thank you for listening, well done for being ready to learn, thank you for putting your hand up and waiting,” than to be constantly nagging at the negatives.

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The black dot in the white square: our attention is drawn to the negative (the black dot) at the expense of recognising the positive (the white square). Image via TeacherHead

I have used this technique throughout my teaching, always seeking to accentuate the positive and ensure that those who are doing the right thing get more attention and time than those who are doing the wrong thing. It’s not always easy, but it’s always worth it.

More recently, I have been thinking about the tendency to focus on the black dot and forget the white square beyond teaching. When something goes wrong, it’s easy and tempting to fixate on that blemish or blot and see it as the whole story, to feel that everything is bad just because of that one thing that hasn’t gone to plan. At times like these, I remember that was seems like a catastrophe is just a black dot in the white square, and take a step back. I look around at all the many, many things that are going right; the positives, the successes and the promise.

Although that black dot is still there, still frustrating, still upsetting, it is in perspective – it isn’t the whole story. One problem, or even a series of them, doesn’t define the whole; there is always something to celebrate.

Teaching: every lesson shapes a life

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Every year the Department for Education puts out a video to promote careers in teaching. This year’s is something special: take a couple of minutes to watch it below.

Today, 5th October, is World Teachers’ Day – a day to mark the achievements of the teaching profession and reflect on ways to overcome the challenges the profession faces. I’ve been a teacher for 21 years, and I can honestly say that I love my job. The video captures many of the reasons why.

Teaching is a team sport

The video perfectly captures the fact that so many adults help to shape and guide young people on their journeys, but that they make the choices and decisions for themselves. It shows how the support of a parent at home – proud of the student’s achievements, supportive when things go wrong, and working in partnership with the school – sets the young person on the path to success.

Building the tower of education

The video also shows how education is like a tower of wooden blocks in the game of Jenga. Each layer, each lesson, each year builds on the one before. Some parts of the tower are trickier than others, and when blocks are missing the whole thing can wobble. But with care, patience and a steady hand, the structure can soar to great heights.

The power of belief

When the girl in the video’s confidence is shaken, when things go wrong, it is the adults around her saying and showing that they believe in her that sets her back on track. There is that moment at around 1:05 when she sits down to take an exam, when the teacher’s look says: “You’re on your own now, but I know you can do this.” I have given students that look hundreds – thousands! – of times in my career, when they repay the investment we have made in them through their triumphs and successes, big and small. By believing in them, we can help them to believe in themselves. What a privilege it is to be a teacher.

Thank a teacher

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We have all had teachers who have had an impact and helped to shape our future lives. They may have inspired us; they may have believed in us; they may have been there for us when nobody else was; they may have been the one who never gave up on us. Mine was Mrs Chamberlain, who taught me in primary school, and made me believe that I could learn anything I wanted to. I’ve never looked back! When I qualified as a teacher, I wrote to Mrs Chamberlain to thank her for inspiring me – she had no idea she had made such an impression!

If you’d like to thank a teacher for helping you, you can use the Teaching Awards website to record your thanks. The Teaching Awards will then send that teacher a “Thank You” card on your behalf – completely free of charge.

Get into teaching

Churchill Academy & Sixth Form offers teacher training through University-linked courses and school-centred routes, including Schools Direct. Find out more on the “Train with us” page on the Academy’s website.

If you are interested in a career in teaching, the DfE’s Get Into Teaching site is a good place to start.

Training to teach

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Trainees 2017

Churchill Academy’s cohort of trainee teachers 2017

This week I’ve had the privilege of working with our newest cohort of trainee teachers, who have started their teaching practice placements with us. Training the next generation of teachers is a vital part of the work of the Academy, and our school community is enriched by the new ideas and energy that our trainees bring to us each year.

I always wanted to be a teacher. My Grandad, both parents, my cousin and my uncle are teachers; it’s our family trade! As a teenager I did summer jobs teaching music and drama on performing arts and activity camps, and I did work experience in local schools. I went straight into a PGCE (postgraduate certificate of education) from University. I promised myself that, if I didn’t enjoy it, I’d stop – but I loved it, and I’ve never looked back.

Even though I trained as a secondary English teacher, my course began with a two-week primary school experience. Where better to start than right at the beginning? I went to a primary school on the outskirts of Nottingham and worked with a mixed Year 5/6 class. I started with some small group work. I remember helping the class teacher hand-crank the Banda machine to get my worksheets off to do some technical accuracy work with a group of six hand-picked students. Here’s my crib sheet from my very first try at “proper teaching”:

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Hand-cranked Banda-machine worksheet from pre-photocopier days, in purple ink with red pen notes from my younger self!

And then, in the last days of the fortnight, it was time to take the whole class. I was going to get them to do some creative writing based on a piece of music. I cranked the Banda machine, I planned my lesson with the class teacher, I psyched myself up. Then, the class teacher stepped out. It was over to me.

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Worksheet from my first ever full-class lesson

I don’t remember much about the lesson, if I’m honest. What I do remember – what I’ll never forget – was the debrief with the teacher afterwards. “How do you think it went?” she asked, kindly. “It was okay…” I said, hesitantly. “And were you comfortable with the noise level?” she asked. A sure sign of a skilful teacher: giving me the opportunity to learn from failure and improve. Here’s what I wrote in my evaluation:

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Evaluation of my first lesson

“I learned that success does not come from rushing into things, but from taking things slowly.” The first lesson wasn’t brilliant, but the second was better. I learned, very early on, that it’s okay not to get something perfectly right first time, provided you learn from it and do better the next time. This has stayed with me to this day.

My primary school experience journal ended with a series of reflection tasks. The final question was: “How do you now see yourself as a beginning teacher?” Here’s what I wrote:

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How I saw myself, as a beginning teacher, in 1996

“Ahead of me now I see a lot of hard work; an almost infeasible amount. However, my work with LF has given me a set of goals, and another role model to emulate, and my enjoyment of the experience has proved that no matter how high the mountains of work, the reward of a child proud of his or her success or achievement makes it all worthwhile.”

Nothing has really changed since then: there is still nothing better than seeing a student proud of what they’ve achieved. I’m quite envious of our new trainees: they have so much to look forward to.

*****

If you’re thinking of a career in teaching, there a lots of ways to get into the profession. We run School Experience Days at Churchill where you can find out what it’s like to be in the classroom, and learn more about routes into teaching. For more details, see the “Train with us” page on the Academy website.

Alternatively, the Get Into Teaching website gives all the information you need about training to teach. There is a free Get into Teaching event in Bath on Saturday 11th November 2017, where colleagues from Churchill and a range of local providers will be on hand to answer any questions about teaching or teacher training. Click here to register.

https://youtu.be/OhWWeNhkOcE

New Faces

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We’re into the swing of the new school year now – the summer holidays seem like a long time ago! – and the new faces of our Year 7 students are already familiar as they approach their lessons with confidence and enthusiasm. But our Year 7s aren’t the only new faces at Churchill this September: we also welcome a fantastic group of new staff!

When I was training to be a Headteacher, I was given a lot of advice about how to improve and maintain high standards in schools. In one particularly memorable document, the following piece of advice was number one:

“The most important thing the Headteacher does is to find, recruit, develop and retain great teachers. You can’t play like Barcelona if you’ve got players from Brentwood.”

I’m sure that no disrespect was meant to Brentwood in that Headteacher’s advice, but it stuck with me! For Churchill to continue to be a great school, and to continue to go from strength to strength, the quality of the teaching needs to be the best it can be in every classroom, every day. That teaching needs to be underpinned by exceptional support staff in every role across the Academy. I am very fortunate to have inherited a school already packed with dedicated, highly skilled professionals doing a fantastic job with the students, and I am thrilled that this year’s new recruits have added to that strength.

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Some of our new staff at the “meet the Governors” event this week

It is especially gratifying to have such fantastic staff joining us at a time when teacher recruitment around the country is very challenging. I know of many schools – including some locally – with unfilled vacancies in key teaching posts being covered by non-specialists or temporary staff. Our reputation and the quality of our offer here at Churchill has meant that we have filled every teaching post with subject specialists, experts in their field, and fantastic teachers to boot! And our support staff has been strengthened by the recruitment of experienced, dedicated staff who have added to our capacity to ensure our students are able to learn to the best of their ability.

This year we are joined by:

  • Jon Bevan (Teacher of Geography)
  • Harry Church (Teacher of History and Politics)
  • Owen Davis (Teacher of Psychology and Sociology)
  • Joanne Dignum (Teaching Assistant)
  • Eric Evans (Teacher of Physics)
  • Chloe Harvey (Teacher of PE)
  • Lizzie Hudson (School Administrator)
  • Alison Innalls (Head of RE)
  • Maire McNeil (Stuart House Mentor)
  • James McWilliam Woods (Teacher of Maths)
  • Victoria Piper (Head of Maths)
  • Jacqueline Sims (Teacher of Modern Languages)
  • Jeff Spencer (Teacher of Music)
  • Adam Taylor (Teaching Assistant)
  • James White (Performance Technician)

After the Governors met with the new staff this week, the chair of our Finance Committee sought me out to tell me how impressed he was by their energy, positivity and enthusiasm, and he remarked on how lucky our students were to have these people working with them. I couldn’t agree more! So welcome to all the new staff joining us this September. We’re thrilled to have you here, and we’re very excited about all that you have to offer the students. I hope you enjoy your time at Churchill as much as me!