I have just finished a couple of workshops at Orkney Islands Council’s Integrated Children’s Service Learning Festival. A bit of a mouthful but well worth the visit. Marilyn Richards oversaw an impressive range of both local and imported CPD talent and, as is always the case, the hospitality was tremendous! It was a coincidence that Marilyn won the ‘CPD Puggy’ prize in my workshop, honest!

 It was also great to welcome a new member to the CPD Network, Carol McManus (pictured above), who has taken on the CPD management remit in Orkney. What was less than great was the flight to Lerwick in the height of the storm! I have included a wee slide-show below of the highlights.

Graham Thomson director of SCSSA and I had a very enjoyable and informative visit to Dalmilling Primary on Monday 29 September. We were privileged to join the leadership team on their scheduled walk through of classes in the upper primary as part of the school’s self evaluation process based on the principles of Learning Rounds. The openness of staff and pupils to our presence reflected the very positive ethos of the school which was evident from the moment we were welcomed by the office staff . Their spirits were high despite the lashing wind and rain !

The opportunity for shared learning as we reflected with the leadership team on the teaching and learning we had participated in was a very constructive experience focussing as it did not on ” good” or  “bad ” practice but on the actual activities which took place in the classroom.

I am in Stockholm with Simon Macaulay of the EIS and Tom Hamilton of GTCS. We are taking part in a seminar with Lärarförbundet, the largest educational trade union in Sweden. If you are visiting the blog from Sweden, do please leave us a comment! Tack så mycket!

These are Simon’s slides…

I recently had the opportunity while on a private visit to Orkney to meet with Education colleagues at the Council’s Headquarters in Kirkwall.

Marilyn Richards, Head of Quality Development, Morag Millar and Carol McManus, Service Improvement Officers all have a role in relation to CPD. Carol is a new colleague who has the remit for overall CPD Coordination. In fact the day I visited was her first day in post and I think we both learned a lot from the discussion!

Orkney is a unique context with a strong sense of local identity and many distinctive features. One notable feature is the flexibility which can be achieved in an intimate setting where people really know each other well. When a need for specific development work is identified, the team can mobilise people very quickly to get involved and there is always the opportunity for teachers to “put their hands up” and offer to lead on developments. In this way much work on CfE including developing cross cutting themes, personalisation and choice and creativity has been developed. Some work is undertaken jointly with colleagues from Shetland.

This intimacy of scale was very well illustrated when I happened to mention that I had met two probationer teachers in a café and the team immediately knew to whom I had been talking. The probationers had been very enthusiastic and full of praise for the support they were receiving in their school.

At the time of my visit the final preparations were being made for the 3rd Orkney Learning Festival, which, after two successful years has now developed as an Integrated Children’s Services Festival to include colleagues from NHS, Community and Families and Social Work. In total 600 colleagues will be participating in a wide ranging and exciting programme of CPD.

It was a privilege to get an insight into the very different context that colleagues worked in and to the unique strengths that Orkney had to offer. Thanks to Marilyn, Morag and Carol for their time and best wishes for another successful Learning Festival in October.

The Learning and Teaching Committee at Brechin High School has been meeting regularly for the past year at lunchtime on Thursdays to discuss issues of professional interest. The group of approximately 25 teachers started out with a mutual interest in behaviour management and progressed to discussing their experiences in implementing cooperative learning strategies. The meetings were so successful that the group decided to develop ways of supporting each other through peer observation. An early focus for this work was the area of listening skills which was adopted as a learning focus for teachers throughout the school.

 The group’s experience make it an ideal context in which to pilot Learning Rounds,