The School Corridor Tatler

I know, I know... this blog has been in hibernation for a loooong while. I finally found a new way of reaching out to you. The School Corridor Tatler is really a super communication channel, but I have upped my game. I have taken the plunge and now I am the proud creator of... Drum roll please... The School Corridor Youtube Channel! I hope you enjoy this very first video of the School Corridor Channel. I am super excited to have you there as well. Let's learn and have fun together! The School Corridor Channel is here to grow, inspire and empower you as leaders at schools or anywhere else. School Corridor Youtube Channel Focus The content will cover three streams: Talks and presentations on leadership research, qualities of great leadership and how you can help yourself grow to become a great leader. Personal well-being will also be a focus. The second stream will focus on Q&As, interviews and book reviews. The third stream will focus on instructional vi...

School leaders are always looking for interesting, meaningful ways to do professional development with their staffs. Having a mini film/ Youtube festival is a wonderful idea that you can explore if you have not held one yet. Create the scene by having large bowls of popcorn and juice. You can even print out customised cinema tickets and hand these out to your staff members. Select clips that will make up an hour or ninety minutes of viewing time. The breaks between the video screenings create ideal body breaks or quick exchanges about the message of the clip viewed .   Choose two or three video clips based on a theme to create a sense of cohesion. You may want people to share insights they have gained from the films after the festival. Get ideas from your staff on how you can host a film festival for the team. As a start, you may use these three video clips as part of your movie day.   I have selected three video clips to represent the theme: "Shiny Eyes. The theme has been i...

A few of my favourite books and a snapshot of middle management school leaders above Leaders are readers The saying "leaders are readers" has a grain of truth in it. Most successful leaders of different industries are known to be avid readers. Our own Nelson Mandela was an excellent example of being a voracious reader and an active campaigner of reading. Reading articles and books about is a sure fire way to help you grow as a leader.   School leaders and those in education need to read as a matter of course. Sadly, there are many school leaders and other education leaders who do not read for leisure or for personal growth. I have been told by some that they do not have time to read and that they are already flooded with their mandatory corporate communication. This mindset is not only shortsighted, but it can be harmful as well to the organisations we are mandated to develop.   Independent reading sharpens your cognitive skills Independent, personal reading is vital. When y...

This quote reminds me of the power we have as individuals. Often we underestimate the impact we have on others. We have the responsibility to be a light for others. The next quote reminds me to work at explaining something simply and clearly. This is a skill and requires hard work, but I am making progress. The third quote sums up where I get my strength from. I am eternally grateful that I am 'growing up', realizing that I am here to serve others.           Posted with Blogsy

  Despite all the talk about breaking down those social,cultural and economic barriers that prevent women from top management and leadership positions, the reality is we are not making real inroads. Women are invisible -.this is a fact! At schools where we are engaging a curriculum that embodies the principles of inclusivity, the drivers are often the victims of marginalization in their own workplace.   Female teachers are invisible as key leaders at their own schools At schools where women are often the largest sector of the workforce, it is even more disturbing that the macho culture is deeply entrenched. Most female educators are not given the opportunity to develop their strategic leadership skills and many are not given the space to participate in strategic decision-making processes.   I was confronted with this reality while facilitating at a 'Women in and into leadership positions' training course.. The women in my group were mainly post level one educators. Many of th...

When I saw this lonely bird sitting there on the branch, I wanted to give it a high five. There were no ear-shattering noises coming from this goose today. Today was its time to reflect and enjoy its solitude. Soaking in the views from the comfort of its perch. Don't all of us long for quiet spaces where we can cut ourselves off from all the noises?  The world is far too noisy. I am not talking about the usual city noises that attack our ears all the time. Those sounds are mere products of the busyness we have created for ourselves. Somehow I can deal with such activity and sounds because we can block these out. We have a measure of choice here. The noises which are most disturbing and that trap us, are those that crawl on our skins and invade our thoughts. The ones that come from people, from their mouths, their body language and their actions. Those utterances and actions that drown out sensibility, honesty and integrity. Zapiro's latest cartoon captured this increasin...

Cassy and her business partner, Louis We are sitting in the Santam auditorium in Tygervalley. Cassy invited a few of her peers, colleagues and her son, Lee, to her presentation. Cassy and her business partner, Louis, an actuary were going to share how their partnership benefitted themselves and especially the school community. They identified four issues to focus on: discipline, staff development, finance management support, actioning the vision and mission of the school and parent involvement at the school. Louis was the first speaker. He explained how he and Cassy had to developed their relationship and the amazing shifts that the two of them experienced. "As we worked together over a period of one year, the communication became more focused on the human being behind the generic labels of principal, actuary, learner and parent. " I gained far more than I expected," said Louis. "We have travelled together as a partnership. During this year, I met so many people w...

Participants at the SGB workshop: Jean Human, Mr Schippers, Margaret Smart and Janie Ross at tea break   Today's SGB session started of with a lovely comraderie spirit. It often takes only a few hours of learning together in a healthy, collaborative space. You break down barriers very quickly. Human beings are wired to be communal and if the situation removes all threats, you will find spontaneous community building. Ivan Carr summarized the key responsibilities of the SGB: policy design, financial management, administration and school development. The energy peaked during this session. The volley of questions and contributions from the participants were weighty, but based on their real experiences as school governors. The participants were reminded of their roles of managing the governance which includes the development of the school. Then the focus shifted to Discipline and the School's Code of conduct for learners. One could see the interest of the governors. Here they were...

It is Friday afternoon. We are hosting an SGB Development and Training 2-day workshop for our school governors. The topics we are covering are: Emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, negotiation skills and how to conduct disciplinary hearings. Our delegates include two principals - Jean Human from Simonstown School and Michael Tyali from Ukhanyo Primary School, a few teachers, many parents and four RCL members. The four learners are from Muizenberg and Sibelius High schools. It is not easy serving on the SGB. The SGB has a huge responsibility to ensure that the school runs smoothly and efficiently. There is a challenge finding parents-especially those from the poor communities - to make themselves available to serve on the SGB. Those parents who are eventually elected to serve on the school governing body in these poorer schools, find themselves in a difficult position. Many of them lack the skills, competencies and insights to carry out their responsibilities effectively. A snap...

Adrian in the foyer at the school, Floreat Primary School, where he has been teaching for the past two years You will agree that even though you love your job, there are days when you wonder whether you are in the right place, don't you? Then there are those days - and hopefully they are the norm - when you ask yourself whether it is really possible to have so much joy; so much pleasure, when those with whom you work make you feel like a mentee on steroids? You know that feeling, right?   Now, today I had one of those "mentee on steroids" days. I was merely going to pay two short courtesy visits to Floreat and Capricorn Primary schools in the heartland of the broader Lavender Hill-Steenberg area. However, each session became a reflective session on the quality education agenda driven at these two schools. I must add that I had not engineered any of the sort. My focus was just going to be on "basic functionality" - checking on textbooks, time tabling, staffing...

Teach a man to fish and he will have food forever. As 2013 draws to a close, it is time to celebrate the highlights of this year. It is soul food to applaud the uplifting moments in this world of ours. If we don't acknowledge and celebrate those life-giving acts and actions, our psyches will drown in the forms of injustices that still plague this earth, Like the hag, poverty. I was chatting to Christo, Sasha and their friend a day ago while we were sitting outside our tent, lazing away the hours. For a while now our drummer boy, Christo,  has been on his journey of self-discovery. He is questioning the purpose of life, the history of civilizations and the path of self-destruction that we have been following since the beginning of time, He is fascinated by the "hippie" era and its philosophy of living as free spirits. Our conversation inevitably turns to the scourge of poverty. As expected, my young trio have a tough time, I think, grasping that poverty is a manmade state...

I have just returned from the prize giving ceremony at Steenberg Primary School. The entire event celebrated centered the youth, including the entertainment and the keynote address. The recipients of various awards at Steenberg Primary School The Grade R learners provided us with light "wishy, washy down", banana and fishy singalongs between the various categories, singing at the top of their voices and contorting their bodies into half moons and great white sharks. Such confidence and spontaneity! Mujaheed, the keynote speaker , flanked by his sister and another awardee The keynote speaker was an equally confident young man. Mujaheed Damon is an alumnus of Steenberg Primary School and he is a good role model for his younger peers at Steenberg Primary. He is currently a Grade 9 learner at Norman Hensilwood High School and he was here tonight to show learners that resilience is a powerful indicator of success. Mujaheed, the keynote speaker , flanked by his sister and another ...

SMT of Prince George Primary School SMT of Prince George Primary deep in discussion Teaching has always been challenging. In this fast- changing world, teachers are expected to lead the their children to become well- balanced, critical problem solvers who can live and work harmoniously with their communities of family, friends, fellow colleagues - everybody! How tall an order is this? There is often some glib talking about the higher order thinking we want our children to master and the need for teachers to develop these cognitive skills of the learners. As if thinking is automatic, as if all teachers themselves have the capacity to teach the new content and the new thinking skills without the necessary training and support. it is one thing knowing say, certain content and making sense of it for yourself. But, having to mediate that same content and having to teach children the various skills to master the same, you need a basket of strategies and a solid understanding of the pedagog...

The SMT of St Mary''s RC engrossed in their diagnostic activity. Maureen Jacobs, Head of Blouvlei LSEN, hosted our Session 1  This week ANA test papers were placed under the microscope again by our SMTs. We had set up SMT clusters formed by 3-4 school teams. Our aim, as action researchers, was to analyse why the majority learners responded so poorly to certain questions in the ANA tests that were written at the end of last term. The schools had already graded the papers and all our schools had done their analysis based on their learners’ performance at the various levels of grade, phase and school. We used the ANA maths test papers as our frame of reference for these sessions.Today our focus was on specific questions. We sought to identify the elements in the question that may have contributed to the learners’ inability to answer those respective questions correctly. The SMT of Steenberg Primary School that also hosted our Session 2 SMTs diagnose questions that posed challenges...