Uniform...

This post from last year on the Guardian student blogging site is refreshing to read since it is written by a student (albeit not from Belmont).  Students and parents will regularly ask "How does uniform affect learning?" Some are in favour, several are not.  It is not the clothes themselves, as I think despite the questions, most people understand, it is what they represent. 
Apart from the 'Innocent Drinks' company  (that I know of) who have a very relaxed office ethos where people can wear what they wish to work and sit in large comfy chairs and the whole office layout has a look of 'laissez faire' to it to the external onlooker, most serious companies have strict standards and protocols.  However, when you look at Innocent more closely, their individuality is their uniform, their radical/unusual methods of human resource management is their testimony to their own systems built around their core beliefs.  All employees of Innocent make that method of management their equivalent to the more conventional rules and regulations in other organisations, as one thing they have in common are their core values - they have 'bought in' to their organisation just as students who wear uniform 'buy in' to their schools standards and expectations. 

All Change!

Things have changed quite a bit since I last added information and comments on this blog: job role, colleagues, assessment methods, qualifications being reviewed and updated, and the benchmarks for curriculum content being slimmed down (yet being very prescriptive). 


Hopefully I will add more comments to this blog, however it may less driven by curriculum but by the holistic approach taken when considering the impact of pastoral processes upon my thoughts and actions.   

River Wear Tuesday 27-11-2012

10.00am

2.00pm

The webcam today shows how the height of the river is likely to have peaked in the night and gradually decreased throughout the day.  Above are two photos that show this decrease - look at the path on the RHS to see the difference.

River Wear in Flood - November 26th 2012

As rain affects many parts of the UK, with several places in flood, the River Wear also bursts its banks.  I have found a new webcam that shows the levels of the River Wear in the city centre in almost real time (there is a lag of approximately 20mins on the camera).  It is located next to The Gates shopping centre and if you click on the times at the top of the picture you get an image with the height superimposed on it.  I have shown the difference between 9.00am this morning and 3.00pm this afternoon.

9am

3pm

Conflict between Israel and Palestinians

Year 9 have been looking into issues related to water scarcity in the Middle East and have recently looked at the conflict that exists between Israelis and Palestinians.  This is a challenging topic and is difficult for many adults to understand as it is a historic yet very complex conflict.  Below I have posted a link to some of the pictures BBC have published about the recent conflict going on between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza.  The Palestinians in this area that Israel are fighting are the Hamas which are classed by the West as an extremist organisation,  however by Turkey and nearby countries they are not.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20383584

Remembrance Service with Belmont Juniors

Year 9 Form Representatives attended a short Remembrance Service in Belmont at the war memorial at the top of Carville High Street.  The juniors sang and read acrostic poems that they had written specially with a focus on love towards all.  Beth Percy and Aidan Barnabas read poems, then Jack Ball laid the poppy wreath on behalf of everyone at Belmont Community School.  It was a short, yet moving service.

Maldives - Case Study for Coastal Flooding

Year 10 last week were looking at coastal flooding and as part of their understanding have to have detailed knowledge of the social, economic and enviromental impact of coastal flooding in regards to a case study.  The case study we use is the Maldives in the India Ocean and it just so happened that the Sunday night before I happened to watch the BBC2 programme  'Indian Ocean with Simon Reeve' episode 4 - Oman to the Maldives.  The second half of this programme (forward to around 31mins to start the Maldives section) described many of the effects we have looked at and gives many more interesting facts too, including the island that they use as a dumping ground which is very different to the idyllic scene the tourists see!

You can watch this on the BBC iplayer at

Indian_Ocean_with_Simon_Reeve_Oman_to_the_Maldives/

He has a blog and website that is quite interesting too - links to these can be found on the iplayer page above and the programme website is below:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tv/2012/05/indian-ocean-simon-reeve.shtml