As we come to the end of the first term of Y9, Crew Finch took time to reflect on their progress so far and made pledges for next term.

We focussed on three specific areas:

Attendance:

We are tracking attendance because, as our board says, every day at school matters!  When we mapped this on the board we soon noticed that our overall attendance needs improvement: only 4 out of 12 Crew members have achieved 100% attendance this term!  It was a bit of a wake up call to realise that if you’re around the 96% attendance mark (which sounds quite high) you’ve actually missed 7 days of school per year, which equates to a whopping 35 lessons!

Accelerated reader:

All our students sit STAR Reading tests at the beginning and end of the school year to track progress in reading ability.  I’m pleased to report that the latest results shows that all Crew Finch have improved their reading levels.  We all know that reading improves comprehension and vocabulary, which in turn helps us to understand texts and write more creatively in other sessions.  Well done Crew Finch!  We still have one dedicated reading session per week, and Crew will also be helping Y7 students out by listening to them read for 15 minutes a week.

Crew HOWLs:

Crew are assessed on their Crew Habits of Work and Learning.  I have shared the data with Crew and they agreed that I have been fair.  There are a few students hitting 4.0 across the board, but I have had to take into account those students who let Crew down by consistently not completing extended study, or by not coming to school with the right equipment, or by appearing on the conduct form.  This has been reflected in scores.

Our pledges:

So – after all that discussion Crew have set themselves targets for each of these areas for the next term.  These range from “I will aim for at least 98% attendance” to “I pledge to read at least 3 books to end without skipping any pages” (!!)

This lot are so focussed so I know that they’ll smash their targets by the end of next term!

On Thursday Crew Finch shared a lovely breakfast together whilst using the time to talk about being kinder.  But this session wasn’t about being kinder to others; it was about being kinder to ourselves.

A recent State of the Nation report explored the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people, and indicated that 1 in 5 young people aged between 10-24 years are not happy.

Of course, there are lots of contributing factors towards this, but I thought it would be good to sit with Crew and talk more about what it means to be kind to ourselves, and make them realise that the voice inside our head – i.e. our own self perception – often tells us lies.

I asked Crew to consider this: is it OK to talk to other people the way we often talk to ourselves?

They answered with a unanimous ‘No.’

We ended the session by writing down 3 things we loved about ourselves.  We’re going to have these on display for a few days and I’ve asked Crew to add more good things as and when they want to (either more about themselves or about others.)

I also asked Crew to write down a burden – one thing that is making them feel unhappy about themselves at the moment – and these have been passed to me rather than shared, unless they were happy to do so.  I’ve pledged to spend a some time with each member of Crew individually over the next week, just to have a quick discussion about their burden. Hopefully it will lighten the load for them and make them understand that it is indeed good to talk: to ourselves and to others!

Let me introduce Aden.

Not only is he part of my Crew, I’m also lucky enough to work with him across all his lessons and have done so since Y7.

When Aden first started, it’s fair to say that he was a very different boy to the one he is today.  He won’t mind me telling you that he struggled to manage his frustrations and found it difficult to focus in class.  But Crew supported him (even when he didn’t want us to!)

He often found himself getting into trouble and was sometimes removed from his peers to spend time in reflection.  But we always welcomed him back into Crew.

During Y8, Aden’s little ‘blips’ became fewer and far between, and by the end of the year, he had improved both his academic grades and his HOWL grades.  And Crew celebrated him!

There were a couple of moments today which have made me reflect on Aden’s progress from Y7 to Y9.  Simple things which show how far he’s come and how much he’s grown to love learning.  For instance, he was so absorbed in reading and making notes on Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ he didn’t even notice me taking his picture.  Later on in History, he received a spontaneous round of applause and an entry onto our praise form for the quality of his response when asked to analyse the message behind a source we’re studying.  Moments like this got me thinking about his journey from Y7 to where he is today in Y9, about to embark upon his GSCE studies… and it took my breath away!

Last week, I asked Crew how they felt about Y9 so far.  Aden said that it was more challenging than Y8, but that he would “knuckle down and try my hardest.”

And he absolutely is!

Here’s quick check-in to review what’s been happening with Crew Finch!

Well, at the moment it’s all about preparing for Passage Presentation, where students have to present their reflections on their XPE experience so far, how they’re developed as a learner, and why they think they are ready to embark on their GCSE studies.  This is such a pivotal moment in their school life, and we’ve been having some really interesting conversations and reflections based on not only where they want to go, but also on how far they’ve come since Year 7.  A letter invitation will be being sent out to parents/carers/community members soon.  Having sat in a few last year, I would recommend bringing tissues!

However, there have been opportunities to break off from our intense Passage presentation with a bit of a ‘friendly’ basketball competition with Crew Mandela. I’m pleased to say that we held on to our title as Basketball champs 🙂

The highlight of the year so far for me though has been our fieldwork to Alton Towers, where students got to consolidate their learning on forces and speed,  as well as having a go at designing their own rollercoaster… We also spent time as a Crew going on some of the rides: Smiler, Nemesis, Gravity and Oblivion to name a few!  I was happy to take on the role of Chief Bag and Coat Holder so didn’t get to go on any of the rides (nothing to do with me being scared stiff, honest!) but I absolutely loved seeing the pure joy (and terror!) on the faces of my Crew before and after each ride.

As I said in my last blog post, students are working so hard at the moment across Crew and all their lessons, and we’re enjoying riding the rollercoaster of Y9 (and Passage!) together.  Some of the twists and turns are scarier than others, but we’ll always get off with a big smile on our faces.  Scream if you want to go faster 🙂