Woodlands Community School : an English secondary school : a report

Abstract

This report presents a review of my visit to Woodlands Community School in Derby, England, for two weeks in November 2001. The main aim of this study visit was to provide a means of reflection on the management and administrative practices in a foreign school. The school was recommended to me by my sister Grace as one of having a good reputation for the care given to students and their achievement. I chose the school also because it was only a 15 minutes’ walk away from my sister's who kindly offered to host me. My sister was satisfied with the secondary education her son Matthew had received a few years back. He was an average ability student with an artistic bent and a passion for computer games. He recalls with nostalgia his own school experience and had words of praise for the Technology teacher who encouraged him to develop his skills and talents. This has landed him a well-paid job as a games programmer with a local company. He talks with pride about his job and is a committed and responsible worker. His ambition is to go and work for one of the giant companies in the USA. My good impression of quality teaching at Woodlands Community School was reinforced by the teachers and parents during my placement. Families in the catchment area are mainly middle class, have social climbing aspirations, and are very critical and demanding. Despite my referral and personal contact, it proved quite difficult to be accepted. It was the first request for such a placement and the Headteacher was cautious. Mr Wayment and his staff, however, proved to be very helpful and co-operative and once accepted I was given full access to school documents, the classrooms and school grounds and premises. The Headteacher, the Senior Management Team and the Administration staff were very obliging and generous with their time albeit a busy schedule. I was introduced to the staff by Mr. Wayment himself on the first day of my visit during the briefing session which is held every morning in the main Staff Room before registration. The staff at Woodlands welcomed me. I based my report on observation and interviews carried out during my placement. I shall refer to the people interviewed by their first names to reflect the informality between staff members and colleagues. I sat through a number of lessons and visited the different departments. I listened to the teachers' informal comments and the students' chatter during break and waiting periods. The presence of a large team of Teaching Support staff intrigued me to find out more about Support Teaching and how a school can become a Specialist in one field or another. This is dealt with in detail in Chapter 6. This report is divided into eight chapters. Chapter One gives an overview of issues which form part of the Education debate currently taking place in England, thus providing the context for my observation. Namely these are: The National Curriculum, The White Paper; Schools Achieving Success, professional development initiatives, and Woodlands' participation in the Numeracy and Literacy Programme Strategy. Chapter Two focuses on the school's philosophy and the Parents as important stakeholders. Chapter Three discusses the staffing structure and looks into the roles of the Senior Management Team, particularly that of the Headteacher, The Deputies and the Assistant Heads. In Chapter Four the administrative support structure is discussed and the roles of the financial Manager and the Office Manager are described. Comments based on class observation together with the school calendar and school duties feature in Chapter Five. The report concludes with comments on the outcome of the study visit.