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ODST family of schools news: December 2023

Celebrating ODST schools | Whole-trust projects | Events & opportunities | Blog


CELEBRATING ODST SCHOOLS

07 Dec 2023
South Moreton pupils recycling helium with Rutherford Appleton Laboratories
South Moreton School will be the first in the country to help support the science at Rutherford Appleton Laboratories by recycling their helium balloons.
Read more
13 Oct 2023
St Mary's leads the way in outdoor play with 'OPAL' platinum award
St Mary's CE Primary, Banbury, has achieved OPAL Platinum status - the highest level of the OPAL outdoor play programme.
Read more
06 Nov 2023
Art and RE week at The Blake CE Primary
The Blake CE Primary, Witney, held a joint RE and Art week this year, with the aim of helping children understand their feelings and explore healthy ways of dealing with them. 
Read more
24 Nov 2023
'Pupils thrive in this happy place' - St Frideswide CE Primary
One of Oxford's newest schools goes from strength to strength
Read more
29 Sep 2023
All Saints shines silver with new games award
All Saints CE Junior School in Maidenhead has achieved the School Games Silver Mark Award, for their commitment to sports competition for young people. The award marks another step in an exciting new chapter for All Saints, which is ODST's newest member school.
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14 Nov 2023
'Care, kindness and support for all pupils is tangible' - Kidmore End CE Primary
'Wider development and pastoral support is at the heart of the school'
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03 Oct 2023
'Pupils ‘embody the ambition to live life in all its fullness' - St Luke's CE Primary
'Outstanding' again for St Luke’s CE Primary School
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Have something to share? We'd love to feature lots more content from schools! Send it to jennifer.payne@oxford.anglican.org.


WORKING TOGETHER: WHOLE-TRUST PROJECTS

SEND and Inclusion conference for school leaders

17 Nov 2023
Leadership conference: SEND and Inclusion
ODST Leadership conferences are always a highlight in each term's calendar, and the Autumn event on 10th November was no exception, bringing both headteachers and SENDCos together for a day focused on Inclusion.
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Developing effective practice: writing project

Writing is both a national issue and a key focus for ODST this year. In September we began a project to develop effective practice around the teaching of writing. The project includes six CPD sessions, led by Julie Sargent, along with in-school work and sharing of practice.

It focuses on teachers’ skill in being able to:

  • Draw upon ambitious and high-quality texts as both models and inspiration for writing
  • Promote and develop pupil’s language and vocabulary
  • Support pupils in understanding how grammar can be used effectively within writing
  • Provide timely and effective modelling and scaffolding to support the journey towards independence
  • Give pupils a secure understanding of the process of writing
  • Ensure pupils understand the purpose and process of editing and proofreading
  • Support pupils in securing firm foundations in transcriptional skills
  • Write with confidence for different purposes
  • Show an awareness of audience, in particular, the effect on the reader
  • Apply writing skills across the wider curriculum

We've been delighted to see the uptake and enthusiasm for the work so far, including the first two CPD events, which focused on 'the power of texts' and sentence structure, and look forward to the next topic, modelling and scaffolding.

Whole-trust MIS system procurement

As a trust we are in the process of procuring a new MIS system for all schools. 

Having school staff involved in the process is very valuable to ensure we are asking the right questions of potential providers, and we are extremely grateful to those that have contributed so far.

From 9-11 January we'll be holding online demonstration days for MIS providers to present how their systems would work in areas such as pupil information and attendance, assessment and data, HR and other areas.

We're encouraging involvement from SBMs, office staff and teachers as well as school leaders, so we get a broad range of expertise and feedback as to which system would be most suitable - please contact school leaders in the first instance if you would like to watch aspects of the demonstrations relevant to your role.


EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES ACROSS ODST

ODST writing project
1:15pm – 3:30pm
11
January
Headteachers forum
9:30am – 3:00pm
12
January
DSL forum
3:40pm – 4:40pm
15
January
LGB training: succession planning
6:30pm – 8:00pm
15
January
Clerks forum
11:00am – 1:00pm
16
January
TA training: phonics subject knowledge
1:00pm – 2:30pm
16
January
Leadership seminar: attendance and supporting disadvantaged pupils
1:30pm – 3:30pm
18
January
LGB training: monitoring SEND and inclusive practice
6:30pm – 8:00pm
22
January
Y2 English - Moderation and assessment
1:00pm – 3:00pm
23
January
Y6 English - Moderation and assessment
1:00pm – 3:00pm
25
January
SENDCo conference
1:30pm – 3:30pm
29
January
Small schools conference
1:30pm – 4:00pm
30
January
LGB training: monitoring through insightful support and challenge
6:30pm – 8:00pm
30
January
LGB training: financial management
6:30pm – 8:00pm
05
February
English subject leaders network
1:15pm – 3:00pm
06
February
LGB training: Safeguarding
6:30pm – 8:00pm
07
February

SUBJECT LEADER NETWORKS

Subject leader networks are led by ODST subject leads - look out for information from them about Spring term meetings.

STAFF VACANCIES

We are currently advertising leadership, teaching, admin and support staff vacancies in several ODST schools.

BROWSE CURRENT VACANCIES


Blog: Ian Frost Education

ODST Deputy CEO, Ian Frost, writes on education, coaching, team building and more. Read his latest posts:

4 steps to build belonging

There are no problems we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves. Lyndon Johnson

Belonging goes to the heart of our existence as humans. It’s a foundational layer of the Maslow hierarchy and it explains why Covid was so hard for so many. We know the WhatsApp groups to which we virtually belong, while at school, attendance – the most basic measure of the social contract – is in crisis.

Here are four steps to help build belonging for staff in our schools and Trusts.

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Praising your team (10 ways to do it better)

I can live for two months on a good compliment. Mark Twain

December is the point in the year when we reflect on the year nearly done, and think about colleagues we’ve worked closely with and to whom we owe a great deal. School leaders do a lot of asking all year long, and this seems to be the tipping point, when our mood shifts and we remember to say thank you. We give praise in all sorts of ways, with cards and gifts. But we also do it with words of appreciation. And this made me ask myself how I could improve the way I say thanks.

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Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a Merry Christmas

and a Happy New Year

From all in the ODST family of schools

 

Picture: Christingle service, Christopher Rawlins CE Primary School

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