Day #3 Morning with St. John Bosco

What an amazing day!  We traveled to Liverpool to visit St. John Bosco Arts College.  We were in for a treat!  OFSTED ratings have been outstanding.   They are also a 'teaching school' which brings a responsibility to share their practices with other schools. Not only do they open their door to other schools for learning, their Senior Leadership team shares through a mentor partnership with schools.  Just yesterday their Head Teacher (principal) and Deputy Head (assistant principal) were going to another school to help them look at their student 'Maths' data. In the fall, St. John Bosco will have 16 student teachers.  These are folks who have spent three years at  university and then they will spend an entire year under the on site schooling of St. John Bosco.  This is the first time the school will be undertaking this level of responsibility.  See the link here for the school OFSTED report.
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/filedownloading/?id=2222873&type=1&refer=0

Major takeaways:
1:  Because of the external societal circumstances that their girls face in the community, this is truly a group of educators who believe in the hope for all girls.  The mantra was constantly embedded, "We are here to increase the chances in life for these girls."  Achievement data aside-(wait for it...!). I was blown away by the genuine, authentic, sincere care for the girls in this school.  The attention to providing hope in their future was shocking!  Did I mention this is an all girls school from ages 11-18?  I'm including pictures to convey some of this.  For example, these posters of successful students are posted all over the walls throughout the entire school.  This serves as a constant reminder that there is purpose in your hard work- this leads to the next step on your path to your future.
2:  The Senior Leadership is driven to develop all of their teachers through CTP (Continual Professional Development).  They do this through their Outstanding Teacher Programme. I'm including a photo that offers the structure.
3:  Attention to detail is mind blowing!  As the Head Teacher Ann stated, "We pay attention to the small things with these girls in order to prevent the big things.  It matters."  For example, when the Deputy Head took us on our tour, every single girl that we encountered was addressed.  "How are you getting along?  Put your jacket on, etc.  It was direct.  It was purposeful.  It allowed us to peek into the relationship the educators have with the girls.  There was structure with care.
4:  The focus on academics is rock solid.  Each girl has an achievement target in each subject area.  The description of these targets are posted in every classroom in every content area.  This is based on the GCSE tests that are mandatory in England.  Even in classes such as art and culinary foods, levels are posted and description of work is related.  There is no mystery to students as to what the staff is looking for.  It was refreshing to see this in every class, even the 'specials' as we refer to them.
5:  The staff was humble but driven to keep improving and wanted to be on the cutting edge of school improvement.  This constant learning from the top down fostered a culture of constant evolution that naturally extinguishes complacent attitudes.
I hate to go- but need to get ready for the next visits today.  One of our schools was notified yesterday that they would have a OFSTED visit today. Quite a big deal!