Ali's Blog

Preparing for the stampede

ali.hughes — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:28:42 +0000

The annual Calgary stampede is being held here at the end of next week- in a way it is a shame we will miss it but the city has been quieter this week to look around and next week we are told that prices will rise for lots of things so maybe it is best we will not be here ($NZ1-0.72Canadian cents).

In preparation for the event there are flags being erected everywhere on the routes that the parade will take, plus shops and businesses are decorating their windows with stampede related displays and artwork painted on the windows.

Maybe one day we will get back to see it all come together and see the cowboys in action.

Calgary Day#2

ali.hughes — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 16:59:01 +0000

Walking round the city I have been amazed by the amount of public artworks around the place- it started with the scupltures at the airport (see Arriving in Calgary post) and has progressed so that it seems like there is some kind of statue or artwork on each street corner.

In 2003 the Calgary City Council approved the fundamental principle of a Public Art Policy whereby 1% of all capital Upgrade and Growth projects over $1 million would be designated for the commission, purchase and installation of public art. This has allowed the development of a major public art programme across the city. In addition the policies sets out clear guidelines as to the purpose and role of urban public art providing a framework that the council can use in developing its art portfolio. Lately it seems like big businesses such as the Torode Group of Companies have also come on board the scheme and are investing heavily in pieces for the city.

In addition, as a nice touch the Council has developed a range of methods using new technology to encourage people to engage with the public art. These include podcasts, recorded commentary accessed via cell phone and an iphone app which allows you to download info about the latest artwork on display in the city. Whilst it helps that Calgary appears to be a city that has money, it is great that some of that money is being spent on a concerted and considered way in which to brighten up the urban landscape.

Calgary Day#1

ali.hughes — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 16:28:51 +0000

Spent today getting over the long travel day by walking round the streets of the city. Calgary is the largest city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie which we could see for miles and miles as we flew over. It is approximately 80 km east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies.

The City of Calgary had a population of approx 1 million people making it the third-largest municipality in the country and largest in Alberta. Saying that though we found the city very, very quiet on a Sunday, but assume it will be busier tomorrow.

Elegy written in a country churchyard

ali.hughes — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 23:39:26 +0000

A walk through Ecchinswell’s St Lawrence churchyard, with the smell of the yew trees reminded me of this poem-

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd winds slowly o’er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,
And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds:

Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower
The moping owl does to the moon complain
Of such as, wandering near her secret bower,
Molest her ancient solitary reign.

Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree’s shade,
Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap,
Each in his narrow cell for ever laid,
The rude Forefathers of the hamlet sleep.

The breezy call of incense-breathing morn,
The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed,
The cock’s shrill clarion, or the echoing horn,
No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.

For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn,
Or busy housewife ply her evening care:
No children run to lisp their sire’s return,
Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share,

Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield,
Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke;
How jocund did they drive their team afield!
How bow’d the woods beneath their sturdy stroke!

Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,
Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;
Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile
The short and simple annals of the Poor.

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave,
Awaits alike th’ inevitable hour:-
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

Nor you, ye Proud, impute to these the fault
If Memory o’er their tomb no trophies raise,
Where through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault
The pealing anthem swells the note of praise.

Can storied urn or animated bust
Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?
Can Honour’s voice provoke the silent dust,
Or Flattery soothe the dull cold ear of Death?

Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid
Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire;
Hands, that the rod of empire might have sway’d,
Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre:

But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page,
Rich with the spoils of time, did ne’er unroll;
Chill Penury repress’d their noble rage,
And froze the genial current of the soul.

Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathom’d caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

Some village-Hampden, that with dauntless breast
The little tyrant of his fields withstood,
Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,
Some Cromwell, guiltless of his country’s blood.

Th’ applause of list’ning senates to command,
The threats of pain and ruin to despise,
To scatter plenty o’er a smiling land,
And read their history in a nation’s eyes,

Their lot forbad: nor circumscribed alone
Their growing virtues, but their crimes confined;
Forbad to wade through slaughter to a throne,
And shut the gates of mercy on mankind,

The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide,
To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,
Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride
With incense kindled at the Muse’s flame.

Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learn’d to stray;
Along the cool sequester’d vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenour of their way.

Yet e’en these bones from insult to protect
Some frail memorial still erected nigh,
With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture deck’d,
Implores the passing tribute of a sigh.

Their name, their years, spelt by th’ unletter’d Muse,
The place of fame and elegy supply:
And many a holy text around she strews,
That teach the rustic moralist to die.

For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey,
This pleasing anxious being e’er resign’d,
Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,
Nor cast one longing lingering look behind?

On some fond breast the parting soul relies,
Some pious drops the closing eye requires;
E’en from the tomb the voice of Nature cries,
E’en in our ashes live their wonted fires.

For thee, who, mindful of th’ unhonour’d dead,
Dost in these lines their artless tale relate;
If chance, by lonely contemplation led,
Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate, –

Haply some hoary-headed swain may say,
Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn
Brushing with hasty steps the dews away,
To meet the sun upon the upland lawn;

‘There at the foot of yonder nodding beech
That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high.
His listless length at noontide would he stretch,
And pore upon the brook that babbles by.

‘Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn,
Muttering his wayward fancies he would rove;
Now drooping, woeful wan, like one forlorn,
Or crazed with care, or cross’d in hopeless love.

‘One morn I miss’d him on the custom’d hill,
Along the heath, and near his favourite tree;
Another came; nor yet beside the rill,
Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he;

‘The next with dirges due in sad array
Slow through the church-way path we saw him borne,-
Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay
Graved on the stone beneath yon aged thorn.’

The Epitaph

Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth
A youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown.
Fair Science frowned not on his humble birth,
And Melacholy marked him for her own.

Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,
Heaven did a recompense as largely send:
He gave to Misery all he had, a tear,
He gained from Heaven (’twas all he wish’d) a friend.

No farther seek his merits to disclose,
Or draw his frailties from their dread abode
(There they alike in trembling hope repose),
The bosom of his Father and his God.

By Thomas Gray (1716-71).

Arriving in Calgary

ali.hughes — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 23:29:06 +0000

Thomas and I flew Air Canada to Calgary and had to wait at the airport for 3 hours to meet Howard’s plane flying in from LA. Luckily there is lots to see at the airport as there are statues and sculptures located at the baggage carousels, all with different themes. Obviously Calgary likes to entertain its visitors while they wait for their luggage at the airport.

The next sight that caught our attention was the volunteers all dressed up in a bright red vests and cowboy hats who was there to welcome tourists. One of them explained that Calgary actually is a city of volunteers: 7 out of 10 Calgarians volunteer their time for a good cause, and volunteers were some of the main reasons why the Calgary Olympic Games in 1988 were the first Olympic Games in history to actually make (rather than lose) money.

Looking for ideas about what do to fill in the long quiet hours over the NZ school holidays?

ali.hughes — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 22:03:44 +0000

Here’s a thought – give yourself time to pull together your application for the CORE Education Travel Scholarship – it’s been set up to encourage and celebrate a teacher’s or leader’s thought leadership in education and the prize is up to $5,000 towards travel, accommodation, event registration & expenses for a teacher to attend an international education event. To enter, you need to submit a perspective piece relating to CORE’s Ten Trends .

Alternatively perhaps work on putting yourself forward for the Professional Learning & Reflective Practice 2010 Awards recognising best practice in action. Winners get $3,000 (for an individual) or $5,000 (for a school or centre) to put towards professional learning. To apply, individuals, schools and early childhood centres have to submit proof of the impact of professional learning activities they have completed. Both the Scholarship and the Awards are now open to teachers and leaders in all NZ early childhood centres, primary and secondary schools. Go to the CORE website for more information, selection criteria and application forms.

World Cup Fever hits schools

ali.hughes — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:36:56 +0000

I spend Tuesday in primary schools in Nottingham and could not fail to notice that the World Cup has attracted attention in the schools. Apart from the children (girls) who were wearing England headbands, the children were interested in the fact that New Zealand were playing in the cup and in fact were playing the afternoon I was at one school.

The schools have both used the World Cup in a variety of lessons and even at lunchtime when they have world cup themed lunches each day (we were there for the Italian day with lasagne and spag bol on the menu). The art class was painting the flags of other nations, and also designing a new footbal strip for the South African team based on the colours of their flag, the maths classes were using stats from the event- e.g. if each game takes x minutes, how many minutes for the whole tournament, etc

In other schools children have also used the World Cup as a way to learn about the geography of the countries taking part, the history of South Africa, different nations’ songs and dances, and art work too.

Youngsters from Brunel Primary School, in Saltash, marched to the town’s Kimberley Stadium waving the flags of all 32 countries competing at the tournament in South Africa. They then sang the national anthems of the UK and South Africa, and the official anthem of the 2010 World Cup.

Others have taken this opportunity to forge links with other schools and to take part in a live computer link with people in Cape Town.The whole concept of using the World Cup to support lessons fits in well with Britain’s International Primary Curriculum (IPC) being encourages across schools.

Other ways in which the country is embracing the World Cup and flying the flag are shown below.

Major budget cuts announced in UK

ali.hughes — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 18:30:52 +0000

It was announced this afternoon that the new British coalition government were axing or suspending a range of projects agreed to by the Labour government since January 2010. They include a range of building and roading projects (including a new hospital), two major projects which will effect Sheffield jobs and cuts across a number of research fields. The indication is, with a major budget deficit (the interest on loans alone is over £60billion per annum) that these are just the first of many cuts. Britain has its first budget under the new government next Tuesday and schools are holding their breath to see what that brings. Rt Hon Michael Grove, new Secretary of State for Education seemed to indicate at the National College conference today that the sector should expect “bad news”, but that the government was commited to front-line services. We will know more about what that means on Tuesday.

Cancelled:

Stonehenge Visitor Centre: £25m Plans aimed to improve the setting of the prehistoric monument, with a new centre located further from the stones, the nearby A344 closed and a new transport system to drop visitors off.

Local Authority Leader Boards £16m Created in the last weeks of the Labour government to replace regional assemblies, made up of English council leaders with powers over areas like transport and housing. The government says their powers will be given to councils.

Sheffield Forgemasters International Limited: £80m The Labour government had extended the engineering firm an £80m loan for a 15,000 tonne press to supply specialist components for the nuclear industry.

Rollout of the Future Jobs Fund: £290m A fund to support job creation for young people who were long-term unemployed which aimed to create 150,000 jobs. Councils, charities and social enterprises were encouraged to bid for a share of the money.

Six month offer recruitment subsidies: £30m For people on Jobseekers Allowance for six months – it included new short-term training places, recruitment subsidies for firms employing them and more support for people to start up a business.

Extension of Young Person’s Guarantee to 2011/12: £450m The scheme aimed to provide work or training places, mainly for 18 to 24-year-olds who had been out of work for six months – some linked to the Future Jobs Fund.

Two year Jobseeker’s Guarantee: £515m Aimed at giving jobseekers a guaranteed offer of a job, internship, volunteering placement or work experience after two years of being out of work.

Active Challenge Routes – Walk England: £2m Department of Health project to map walking routes and promote them on an interactive website so people can record their fitness.

County Sports Partnerships: £6m Aimed at helping people access and benefit from sport – 49 across England. They also make sure local facilities are being put to best use.

North Tees and Hartlepool hospital: £450m New hospital at Wynyard Park, on Teesside to replace existing hospitals in Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees.

Local Authority Business Growth Initiative: £50m Aimed at encouraging councils to help local businesses grow by rewarding them with a grant that was not ringfenced.

Outukumpu: £13m Project to buy and develop a Sheffield site into an industrial park.

Suspended:

A14 road: £1.1bn

There had been plans to widen the road between Cambridge and Huntingdon to six lanes.

Libraries Modernisation Programme: £12m Plan to reverse decline in library usage, to offer flexible opening hours, free internet access and entitlement to membership from birth. Film centre loses government cash

Sheffield Retail Quarter: £12mRetail and leisure development in central Sheffield consisting of about 100 new shops and 200 apartments.

Kent Thameside Strategic Transport Programme: £23m Improving road junctions and bus transit schemes on the A2 to accompany major residential housing and commercial office development.

University Enterprise Capital Fund: £25m Funding to help university departments translate ideas into commercial ventures.

Newton Scholarships: £25m Initiative to identify, assist and retain 100 of the best research students at UK universities.

Health Research Support Initiative: £73m Service to help medical researchers understand trends in patient data to support clinical trials and other studies.

Leeds Holt Park Well-being Centre: £50m Plan for a “community hub” in Leeds including a new swimming pool and learner pool, meeting areas, a community café, activity rooms and consulting rooms.

Birmingham Magistrates Court: £94m Proposal to build a state-of-the-art new court building in the centre of Birmingham.

Successor Deterrent Extension to Concept Phase Long Lead Items: £66m Purchase of hardware for design phase of successor to Trident nuclear missile system – to be reviewed as part of the broader Trident “value for money” review.

Search and Rescue Helicopters: £4.6bn Private Finance Initiative (PFI) funded deal for a new generation of search and rescue helicopters to be jointly operated by the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Transport. They will be reviewed “as a matter of urgency”.

Living in London#3 Elephants in the city

ali.hughes — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:04:10 +0000

Walking through the city this week I have come across all these colourful elephants. The Elephant Parade is a conservation campaign to highlight the urgent crisis faced by the endangered Asian elephant. Developed by www.elephantfamily.org, the event sees over 250 brightly painted life-size elephants located over central London this summer.

Each is decorated by a different artist or celebrity and running from May to July 2010, this is London’s biggest outdoor art event on record. With an estimated audience of 25 million, the charity hope to raise £2 million for the Asian elephant and benefit 20 UK conservation charities.

The elephants are going to be auctioned through Sothebys but unfortunately neither my bank balance or my excess luggage allowance will allow me to get one!

Smorgasbord by Prof Heppell

ali.hughes — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:32:03 +0000

The National College conference in London was opened by old CORE friend Prof Stephen Heppell (who NZ audiences can see at CORE’s Ulearn10 conference in Christchurch in October).

As usual he gave a slick and though provoking presentation with lots of snippets of interest and advice. A few that have stuck in my mind are:

Employers don’t want “met before” learning- they need employees to be quality problem solvers willing to tackle new issues and ideas

Education faces tension between 4 key drivers- government, parents, the economy and universities. We need parents and the economy to be driving the push for schooling for the future.

When surveying parents on what they want for their child from their school the focus is on

Sense of wellbeing
Happiness
Employability
A school that teachers send their own children to

None mentioned league tables!

Work is currently being undertaken to develop “Google translator” equivalent for mobile phones- you will be able to talk in one language and it will be translated at the other end and vice versa- Douglas Adams Babel fish will be alive and well within the next 14 months!

Bournemouth University have a great website for students to model what they want to take at masters level-mixtape allows them to select prefer courses, determines if this makes a qual and then can submit to the uni for enrolment process.

Research shows that under traditional timetabling models (1 hour per subject) up to 20% of secondary teaching time is wasted by movement, setting done, and packing up. One day a week that children have no time to learn in class. Many schools are moving to longer class times- even up to ½ day per subject to allow quality teaching time.

What are our universities doing? If the pedagogical approach used by the lectures training out teachers is not 10 years ahead of what is needed in schools what value can universities offer new teachers? Many would argue that pedagogy taught in unis is at least 10 years BEHIND what is experiences in schools so what hope do our new teachers have?

Boys work well if they take their shows off- testosterone is stored in their trainers!

New school build- the Rule of 3

Never have more than 3 walls
Never have less than 3 points of focus
Build spaces that can accommodate up to 3 classes and 3 teachers at once

Stephen gave examples of schools he is working with that have up to 120 pupils in a space at one time working on the same lesson- they uses 3 teachers in various roles- 1 as a narrator to lead the lesson, one to work the room and manage differentiation, one to intervene with remedial repair work.

Later over coffee we had a catch up and he told us the latest development of a very exciting project that he is working on in Dorset. In fact we were with him when he had the text to say the govt had agreed the 28million pounds for the project- a red letter day indeed. Looking forward to following this and hearing more when Stephen visits NZ in October.