Dare to be Different

A leadership fable about transformational change in schools

Will Ryan

• Publisher: Crown House Publishing
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781785832765
• eBook ISBN: 9781785832819
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Will Ryan's Dare to be Different: A leadership fable about transformational change in schools tells the fictional tale of Brian Smith a primary school head teacher who listens to what his political masters have to say, but then sets out to inspire real transformational change by doing the exact opposite and leading through his own values and beliefs. Writer and novelist Michael Korda claims that 'the fastest way to succeed is to look like you are playing to someone else's rules whilst quietly playing by your own'. Dare to be Different illustrates how real transformational change can occur when a school leader does just that, as Will Ryan shares the trials and tribulations of the story's fearless protagonist, Brian Smith, as he endeavours to take back ownership of what happens in the classroom. Exploring the significant challenges that school leaders often have to overcome in order to turn their dream into a reality, Dare to be Different lays before the reader a model of inspirational school leadership in this engaging and humorous take on life in modern schools. The story is told through the eyes and experiences of Brian as he resists top-down government directives on how his school should be run and instead strives to build a vibrant curriculum with which to hook the imaginations of today's children. Scattered among the narrative's twists and turns are deeper insights into the nature and purpose of schooling that are sure to rekindle school leaders' passion for pupil-centred education over policy-led prescription, and which will motivate them to 'dare to be different' in standing up for the education they believe in. Whilst it may be a fable with fictitious characters, Dare to be Different is based on real schools: schools in which the author has worked with leaders and teachers who, by applying their deeply held educational beliefs, accelerate learning and provide exciting learning opportunities for their pupils. Will Ryan has condensed and interwoven his forty-three years' worth of accumulated experience of going in and out of the UK's best classrooms into this book, in which you will find: at least one-hundred-and-eighteen tips that are based around exciting primary practice and which should make the hairs tingle on the neck of the most wizened school inspector; at least forty-five significant ideas that will strengthen leadership and have the capacity to transform your school as a learning community; at least fifty quotations that will make you think about how our most inspirational leaders create inspirational teachers who get an inspirational response from their learners; and compelling pieces of evidence to demonstrate that primary school teachers are doing a fabulous job, despite what any politician or tabloid reporter would tell you. Suitable reading for all school leaders at both primary and secondary levels who are looking to promote excellence and raise aspirations within their schools and wider communities.

Chapter 1

Begin with the end in mind

Budget 2016: Every state school in England to become an academy by 2022

Daily Mail Online, 15 March 2016

Wilferd Peterson famously told us to begin with the end in mind and ‘walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground’. This is a leadership fable about a school and its head teacher who did just that.

Brian Smith had grown tired of wave after wave of government initiatives and meddling politicians with their vanity projects. These projects were often ill-conceived and seemed to be designed to spread fear and unrest among school leaders. This was despite the fact that Ofsted inspectors were reporting that primary schools were doing well. Brian hated this approach and he also loathed the way in which certain newspapers disparaged the wonderful young people and their dedicated teachers in the nation’s schools. While Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools was praising the work of primary schools, some tabloids preferred to publish distorted stories that potentially corroded the spirits of committed teachers. They seemed especially to aim their venom at leaders like Brian, driven by a moral imperative to make a difference in some of our most challenging communities by daring to be different.

Brian had certainly dared to be different. Three years earlier he reached a bold and momentous decision to listen to everything his political masters said and then achieve greatness by doing the opposite. This was simply because he considered that there was more research behind his approach. Instead of feeling demoralised by the fabrications of journalists, Brian was determined that they galvanise him into action. So, for the last three years, Brian had led Springett Lane Primary School with his head in the clouds and his feet on the ground. Wilferd Peterson also told us to begin with the end so, perversely, we will start our fable at the end.

The inspector calls

The inspection of Springett Lane Primary School had gone well. In fact, it went better than that. The inspectors witnessed some remarkable primary practice taking place within a learning community where both children and adults believed they could achieve, had a duty to achieve and had a duty to help others achieve. This was the culmination of brave and inspired leadership and, rightly, it was about to trigger much celebrating.

The inspection had taken place late in the autumn term when the whole school had become absorbed in a project entitled ‘Fire and Ice’, to reflect not only the winter months but also the forthcoming Winter Olympics. The school was looking spectacular. By this stage the teachers had fully embraced the concept of immersive learning environments – where learners become totally absorbed in a self-contained and stimulating environment – which may, in reality, be artificial, but to the children it is absolutely real.

Armed with their clipboards, the inspectors joined the children as they passed by the lamp post and through the old wooden wardrobe that had replaced the door to Claire’s Key Stage 2 classroom, before entering the fictitious land of Narnia. The children in this class became hooked into a huge project around C. S. Lewis’ classic children’s novel, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Another stunning learning environment could be found in Year 5. The classroom reflected the huge success the children had achieved with their project based around that most ill-fated of British ships, the RMS Titanic. The work had culminated in the children running a museum for the day. Following invitations written by the pupils, the lord mayor had arrived in all his finery to open the proceedings. At the centre of the museum was a large-scale model of the liner. The displays celebrated the pupils’ considerable achievements in all areas of the curriculum. Children dressed as passengers and crew members and circulated among the parents and wider community to share their information with confidence. There were PowerPoint presentations and films as the children took up the mantle of the expert, leaving visitors astonished by the youngsters’ capacity to hold their audience. It was one of those rare occasions when you could reach out and touch the children’s passion for learning. The school’s emphasis on spoken language had paid huge dividends.

Another great success story had been in Rob’s class. As a teacher, he had initially shared immense concerns when Brian had introduced the notion of teaching three-generational lessons within a fourth-generation curriculum. (If you are confused by these terms, dear reader, all will become clear in the fullness of time.) Rob feared there would be a lack of textbooks and of the structures he had become reliant upon. On more than one occasion he had sat in Brian’s staff meetings saying, ‘It’s no good. I just don’t get it!’ During the Christmas holidays he had settled down in front of the television to watch a rerun of one of his favourite films. He had seen Cool Runnings so many times that he knew virtually every word. While watching it again, he reached out for his coffee cup and froze as he suddenly said out loud: ‘Feel the rhythm! Feel the rhyme! By Jove I’ve got it, it’s bobsleigh time!’ In a flash of inspiration, he set about building a term’s work around the Disney film which tells the story of the almost-true trials and tribulations of the Jamaican bobsleigh team who took part in the Calgary Winter Olympic Games in 1988.

Springett Lane Primary School had developed a unique approach to its fourth-generation curriculum, which was based around teachers taking unusual ideas and running with them and encouraging children to imagine what a better world might look like. While all this was going on, the youngsters would be learning some real, interesting and hard stuff. For Rob, Cool Runnings proved to be the ideal vehicle. Yes, it just happened to be his favourite childhood film, but that was a significant advantage as it gave him huge subject knowledge.

The project was never about the children sitting and watching the DVD version of the film. Rob simply took extracts from it and told stories about what happened next. As a consequence, the children studied the climate and topography of Jamaica. They also found out about the scars slavery had left behind. In trying to establish why Jamaicans would be any good at bobsleighing, they looked at the history of cart racing on the Caribbean island and also the significance of the sprint start. It is a well-known fact that, over recent years, many of the world’s best sprinters have come from Jamaica and the children duly set about researching and writing biographies of famous Jamaican sprinters.

The children became totally engrossed, but it didn’t stop there. The children also examined deeper and more emotive issues. When they heard about the Jamaican team being disqualified because their bobsleigh was deemed to be rickety and old, they explored how this totally went against the Olympic ideals. From this they considered whether these principles would make a good set of classroom rules that could guide them. The film shows how athletes from other countries turned their animosity on to the Jamaican team and announced, ‘This is not for you, Jamaica. Go home.’ This comment was driven by racist attitudes and, as a consequence, the children started to investigate the thorny issues of racism and how it might be possible to change attitudes. The coach of the Jamaican team had previously been banned from the sport for cheating, so the learners questioned whether or not it was ever right to cheat. The infamous bobsleigh crash in the film – when the bruised and shell-shocked Jamaican team raise their sleigh onto their shoulders to carry it across the finishing line, to the applause and cheers of spectators – made the children think deeply about when they too had dug deep and demonstrated resilience to ensure they finished their own metaphorical race.

A further requirement at Springett Lane Primary School was that, at various stages, the teacher had to plan a lesson that was so exciting it stayed with the children forever. These lessons had to be so powerful that, in later life, these memorable experiences would return to the fore. Then, the former pupils would describe their magical moments at Springett Lane Primary School first to their own children and then their grandchildren. This made the lesson truly three generational.

This three-generational lesson proved to be a magical highlight for Rob’s class. It took place on a crisp February morning and the day dawned cold but bright. Frost from the night before glistened on the school field as the temperature struggled to rise above freezing point. One by one, as was the procedure at Springett Lane, the teachers went out onto the playground to bring their classes into school. On this particular morning, Rob quite deliberately didn’t do this. Instead, he left them outside where they remained for a further ten minutes. Then, either because they felt cold or from a sense of duty, the children decided to take themselves into school. When they arrived at their classroom they received an electrifying surprise that gave them goosebumps. In the centre of the classroom was a shiny blue bobsleigh with the union flag emblazoned on it. If a gasp can be audibly silent, then that was the impact of this spectacular sight!

The next person to come into the room was wearing a Great Britain tracksuit. She was called Nicola. She looked at the youngsters and announced, ‘Good morning children, I have come to tell you my story.’ She went on to tell them that when she had been at primary school and sports day came around, she was entered for a race called the fifty-yard dash. Having felt totally deflated when she finished in last place, she decided that practice was the order of the day. Over the following days, weeks and months, she went away and trained and trained and trained. But the gains were only marginal, as the following year she finished next to last. Clearly some progress had been made but further training was called for, and this led to further gains as the following year she finished third to last. However, by this stage Nicola had started to enjoy running and had joined an athletics club. Over time she ran in many races, but in the big races that really mattered she could only ever finish as a runner-up. As a keen sportsperson desperate for success, she then decided that drastic action was called for and decided to change sport. At the suggestion of her coach, Nicola took up bobsleighing. It was reasoned that her strong sprint starts would be a great asset in her new bobsleigh racing career.

At this point Nicola stopped speaking and sat the children in teams of four staring up at a giant screen where a computer-generated bobsleighing animation was ready to run. She went on to explain to the children that she wanted them to understand what it felt like to go down an icy bobsleigh track at speeds approaching 100 miles per hour. The film started to roll. In perfect synchronisation, the children swayed left or right to go through the bends, with each member of the team matching the movements of their leader because they knew they had to remain aerodynamic. Some children had a sense of fear in their eyes and tightly gripped the waist of the person in front of them. They cheered as the bobsleigh finally crossed the finishing line.

Nicola then continued to tell her story. Upon entering her first ever bobsleigh race (and I guess you have worked out the outcome) she came last. So, as was the case previously, she went away and practised, practised, practised, only to finish second to last in her next race. However, through grit and determination she made progress. Finally she said to the children, ‘Now I want to show you a film from the bobsleigh world championships.’

The film started with Nicola leaping into the bobsleigh with her race partner. It then showed the sleigh speeding and swaying around the bends at breakneck speed. The children cheered when the green light came on because this meant that Nicola’s bobsleigh was in the lead. Collectively they shouted ‘Faster!’ when the red light came on because this meant greater speed was needed if the championship was to be won. As they passed the finishing line and the two athletes leapt from the bobsleigh to punch the air and celebrate their victory, the children turned away from the screen and looked at Nicola who simply reached into her bag and pulled out the gold medal. The bright sunlight on that clear morning struck the medal and it seemed to dance in front of their eyes.

After the Ofsted inspector had spoken to the children – or, more accurately, noted down their sheer joy and passion – she simply wrote in the inspection report, ‘Pupils are excited to meet accomplished sports people such as the bobsleigh world champion.’1

As the lesson came to a close and the children reflected on the huge range of things they had learned during the lesson, one of the children looked up and said to Rob, ‘Sir, you are the coolest teacher ever.’ Afterwards, Rob pondered on what had made him worthy of such an accolade. He had certainly become aware of the power of using popular culture through a visual literacy approach. However, what he hadn’t known at that point was that his classroom would become a hub of excellence within the school for promoting popular culture and visual literacy as a tool for high quality learning.

Springett Lane had successfully created its own teaching school within its four walls. This had been achieved through talented and passionate teachers developing their classrooms as hubs of excellence for key elements of the school’s work. These hubs were used to inspire and provide training for others. They were more about promoting an approach to teaching rather than subject or academic content. For Brian Smith, it was as much about how you teach it as what it is you teach.

Many inspirational teachers will have harnessed the power of a ‘wow start’ in the form of a mysterious, and usually fictitious, letter which arrives at the school. In the early years foundation stage, a letter from the king may arrive on a velvet cushion asking for the help of the children. Further up the school, it may arrive in a brown business-like envelope stating that part of the school field is going to be compulsorily purchased in order for a supermarket to be built. But in Karen and David’s job-share class, it arrived in a Basildon Bond white envelope with the address written in the most beautiful handwriting from a gentleman who desperately wanted the support of the children. For those readers and teachers who are interested in the ‘beg, steal or borrow’ approach, here is a transcript of the letter:

19 Sea View
Bridlington, East Yorkshire

Dear Headmaster,

I am writing to you using my best handwriting. I learned to write like this at your school in the 1960s. I have never written to a headmaster before and I am worried because I was never any good at English. I was much better at shillings and pence and feet and inches.

I often got into trouble at school. As I grew up I had a very good friend called Charlie. We played together and often got into trouble. We were together until the J3 class. Then one November morning Charlie dropped a bombshell. He and his family were moving to Australia. They only paid £10. I think they went on a ship. I dread to think how long that took. Anyway, all I really knew was that my best mate would soon be gone. Can you imagine how that felt?

Before Charlie left we were both upset. You should have seen us crying. I remember that Charlie left the area on 15 December. I have not seen him from that day to this.

Before we parted we decided to do a really strange thing. We had both bought Christmas presents for each other but we never exchanged them. Instead, we hid them away in an old brown box along with some other things that were special to us. We made a pledge to each other that we would share the presents on the day we met again … but we never did meet again, and now nearly fifty years have passed.

Now the strange thing is, last week I heard from Charlie and he wants to come and see me, and if it is at all possible I would like to find that box. We hid it deep in a corner of a school stockroom because we didn’t want the teachers to find us with it, and I can’t help wondering if it is still there.

I can’t remember what present I bought for Charlie, but I know it was a popular toy at the time. It will only have cost a few bob and certainly not more than three and a tanner. I think we put some money in the box so we could buy some Spangles...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• Preface
• Contents
• Chapter 1: Begin with the end in mind
• Chapter 2: A hero in waiting
• Chapter 3: The sexy subversive
• Chapter 4: Every time I use my mobile phone I take a photograph of my foot
• Chapter 5: Wanted: invisible leaders – apply here
• Chapter 6: Books, not bullets, will change the world
• Chapter 7: People who moan about people who moan
• Chapter 8: Six $1.5 million words
• Chapter 9: The three signs of a miserable job
• Chapter 10: When teachers learn from each other, their future will be secured
• Chapter 11: The problem with fronted adverbial clauses
• Chapter 12: This is the kind of English up with which I will not put
• Chapter 13: Three-generational lessons within a fourth-generation curriculum
• Chapter 14: Leopards, peanuts and compost tip Brian over the hedge
• Chapter 15: This way to the nuclear bunker and other secrets
• Chapter 16: Real mathematics is based in the real world
• Chapter 17: Who wants to solve a quadratic equation anyway?
• Chapter 18: Without struggle there is no progress
• Chapter 19: The power of being true to your beliefs
• Endnotes
• Bibliography
• Copyright