Beacon
at
Henley
Previous Events
Using IT to prepare Mathematics Materials - July 2009
Glass Fusing Workshop – 20 October 2008
Introductory Workshop in Art Therapy – 12 July 2007
Making a Geography video in a day – 27 June 2007
RSC KS4 Day studying Romeo & Juliet and Othello – 21 June 2007
Felt making workshop – 19 June 2007
Languages for the Future, 15 March 2007
Sociology Workshop Improving AS/A2 Grades 26 April 2007
Dance Master Class , 12 March 2007
Visit from Stourbridge College. February 2007
Visit from Newcastle College, February 2007
Visit from Newham College, January 2007
Mathematics Workshop, 15 November 2006
Using IT to prepare Mathematics materials, 18 July 2006
Visit from Brockenhurst and Alton Colleges, Hampshire, 13 July 2006
Visit from Wyggeston & Queen Elizabeth I College, Leicester, 9 June 2006
Visit from Sir George Monoux College 6 June 2006
Using IT to prepare materials for teaching Mathematics
Mathematics teachers from as far afield as Basingstoke and Weston super Mare came to Henley in July to join a series of workshops about “Using IT to prepare materials for teaching Mathematics”. The day was led by Pam Hails (Programme Leader, Mathematics), Lesley Hatton (Lead Tutor, Science Faculty) and Caroline Thomas (Mathematics Lecturer).
The subjects covered included “Making Word more Maths-friendly”, “Powerpoint for beginners” and “Autograph for Statistics or Workshop”. Everyone agreed it had been a most useful and informative day.
“Lovely staff, made to feel very welcome. Good handouts and resources.”
“Excellent to be able to experiment with Autograph”.
Glass Fusing
Teachers from a wide area, including Oxfordshire, High Wycombe and Newbury, came to the College to learn about glass fusing and how it could be incorporated into school art lessons using simple and easily obtainable equipment. The course was led by guest teacher Shirley Eccles, who, as both art teacher and practising artist, was able to share her broad practical knowledge with the enthusiastic group. Everyone was able to take away pieces they had made during the day together with a wealth of help and information to enable them to share their new skill with their pupils.
“Shirley was fantastic! What a brilliant course – I feel so inspired.”
“Very interesting and great to be able to take a piece of glass away.”
“Really excellent. Thank you very much.”
Introductory Workshop in Art Therapy – 12 July 2007
This hugely popular workshop was organised by Langtree School and led by Berta Ehrlich Aitkenhead to give those working in education a basic understanding of the fundamentals of art therapy. Teachers and Support for Learning staff from a wide area attended the day. The course was so oversubscribed that two further days are planned in the autumn.
Making a Geography video in a day – 27 June 2007
Daniel Raven-Ellison, who is Head of Geography at Langtree School and a consultant for CBBC Education spent a day in Henley-on-Thames, with teachers from other schools in the area showing them how to plan, film, edit and share an educational video for use in Geography lessons.
“Great fun, very useful”
“This was a superb course; it far exceeded my expectations”
RSC KS4 Day studying Romeo & Juliet and Othello – 21 June 2007
This day was organised by Icknield School and run by the RSC. It was attended by a large group of English teachers from the whole of Oxfordshire. The day focused on using active methods for teaching Shakespeare, with a particular emphasis on coursework.
“Made me consider how I could use the texts to teach rather than teaching the texts.”
“I learnt how to make language and character work more student friendly for analysis and give them room to individually interpret these.”
“This makes performance techniques accessible for even the weaker students, empowering."
“Can challenge even the most able students and help them engage more fully.”
“A brilliant day: so good to have such practical, accessible stuff to take back into the classroom.”
Felt making workshop – 19 June 2007
This course was run by Mel Gannon, Artist in Residence at Langtree School. The aim was to teach a new skill to art teachers and the attendees spent the day in practical sessions learning this fascinating traditional craft.
Languages for the Future – 15 March 2007
Chiltern Edge School held a Languages Day for the Year 9 pupils of our four Partner Schools, timed to take place before they made their GCSE choices. The intention was to show how they could use a modern language in a career and dispel any notion that could only involve teaching or translating. Guest speakers from BMW, RBS, BP and Invesco Perpetual joined Chiltern Edge and Henley College staff in talking about the world of work and how their knowledge of a modern language had influenced and advanced their careers.
Sociology Workshop 26 April 2007 Improving AS/A2 Grades and Future Developments
This time, in response to teacher’s requests, Rob Webb, the chief examiner for AQA Sociology, was invited to lead this workshop for the Sociology group. The event was held at the Henley Management College which was looking perfect in the April sunshine, with lambs, bluebells and a river view.
The morning session was based on Crime and Deviance and the group worked on how to answer synoptic questions. Rob gave some ideas of exercises that could be used with students, an example of a student response and discussed some of the new directions within criminology. He also showed his new revision guide for Crime and Deviance.
In the afternoon the new specifications for 2008 were looked at, and although the detail and specimen questions are now available on AQA website, Rob was able to highlight both the continuity and the changes that would result.
At the end of the session it was agreed that it would be very useful if Rob would return at a later date to do some more training on the new A/S specifications. The College hopes to arrange this and will notify everybody about the date next academic year.
It was really good to see so many at the biggest Sociology meeting yet and everyone is encouraged to keep in touch. Everybody present has the contact details of the others and so sharing good practice and problem solving will be easier for everybody involved.
“always useful to share good practice, meet other tutors and excellent to work with senior examiners”
“it was a super day. The location was fantastic and Rob was clear and helpful.”
Dance Master Class , 12 March 2007
Friday 12 March saw the second AS/A2 Dance master class here at The HENLEY College. Fifteen students from Sir George Monoux College, Walthamstow, participated in the three workshop sessions, led by Sarah Dommett, designed to enthuse and inspire students prior to their practical examinations in the coming months.
The day began with a two hour technique session focusing on the application of physical and interpretive skills to technical exercises and performances. Following a lunch break, the first afternoon session encouraged students to explore group improvisation techniques, choreographic devices were then applied to these pieces in the second afternoon workshop thus resulting in a mini performance of the days work.
"Teaching style was very different and helpful. It’s useful to be taught in a different way sometimes."
"The encouragement to use new moves was very good."
"I have gained a lot of inspiration and ideas."
"I felt I could use a lot of the movements created today as inspiration for my AS Level solo piece."
"Very good teaching, all levels of skills were expressed so everyone could take part."
"The energy from the teacher really helped inspire me to work hard. Had a terrific day, hard but very fulfilling."
Visit from Stourbridge College. February 2007
A party of senior staff from Stourbridge College in the West Midlands including the principal, Lynette Cutting, visited the College in February on a Beacon-supported fact finding mission. They wanted to see at first hand the College’s computer tracking system for monitoring students’ performance which had been specially developed by staff at Henley. They were impressed by what they saw and hope to set up a similar successful programme at their own college.
Visit from Newcastle College, February 2007
A delegation of senior staff from Newcastle College, a very large Sixth Form College, visited the College to research the International Baccalaureate which has been running successfully at Henley for a long time.
<< Michael Atkinson, Jane Cadman, Lakhjit Dhami, Helen Wright and Tracy Lertoria from Newcastle College pictured with Assistant Principal Peter Allen
Newcastle has made a bid to be the prime institution to offer this course in the city. They had meetings with Assistant Principal Peter Allen and the IB coordinator Bridie Hughes as well as CAS coordinator Caroline Walker and subject staff in Languages, Mathematics, Science, Geography and Theory of Knowledge.
They found that the experience of Henley staff was invaluable in preparing them for their intended launch of the IB in Newcastle in the near future.
Visit from Newham College, January 2007
The College recently had a visit from Newham Sixth Form College in London who are intending to offer the International Baccalaureate and were researching current and successful providers for best practice.
<< left to right Simon Cuthbert, Andy Cole and Peter Allen
Andy Cole, the Curriculum and Quality Assistant Principal, spent an afternoon at Henley talking with Simon Cuthbert and Peter Allen. Andy used to work at Henley as Divisional Head of Creative and Performing Arts.
Mathematics Workshop, 15 November 2006
Once again the skills of the Mathematics Department were shared with other Colleges. At the request of North Devon and Cirencester Colleges, the Department held a day of workshops and lesson observation for a small group of teachers.
It was a successful day, as comments show:
"a very useful day, which helped share ideas and freshen up ideas on how to teach topics effectively", "lots of new ideas, great day - thank you",
"staff friendly and helpful. Flexibility of approach was useful",
"extremely valuable day. General discussion on policies, lesson observations, extra uses of whiteboard - ALL GREAT - thank you very much indeed.".
Using IT to prepare Mathematics materials, 18 July 2006
On Tuesday 18 July, eighteen Mathematics teachers spent a day using IT to prepare materials for teaching Mathematics. Teachers came from a range of schools and colleges, mostly from the local area, although some came from as far away as Southampton. Some were beginners to using IT in their teaching, whereas others were already experienced users who were able to share some useful ideas.
The activities were suitable for teachers at both GCSE and A Level. Sessions were led by Pam Hails, Caroline Thomas and Lesley Hatton who are all Mathematics lecturers at The HENLEY College.
Participants could choose between beginners or intermediate sessions on Autograph (a graph-plotting package), making Word more Maths-friendly, creating PowerPoint presentations and using interactive whiteboards. All participants had access to a computer throughout the day and were also able to try out the Virtual Image Maths software and to investigate good Maths websites.
Visit from Brockenhurst and Alton Colleges, Hampshire, 13 July 2006
Brockenhurst and Alton Colleges brought several members of staff to spend time with their equivalents at Henley. As always, Henley College staff from several subjects gave generously of their time, which was greatly appreciated by all our visitors.
Visit from Wyggeston & Queen Elizabeth I College, Leicester, 9 June 2006
The College was pleased to host a second visit from staff at WQE College, who are now up and running with their International Baccalaureate Programme. Their IB Co-ordinator, together with CAS and TOK staff, came to talk to their equivalents here at Henley about their experiences during their first year of teaching the IB.
Visit from Sir George Monoux College 6 June 2006
The College was pleased to welcome Emily Williams from Sir George Monoux College in Walthamstow. Emily came to talk to Assistant Principal, Peter Allen, about our tutorial system.
World Wide Wonders - ICT Activities for the English Language classroom: 24th March 2006
Is ICT in the classroom simply a 'souped up' way of delivering English lessons, or are there greater benefits?Julie Blake is an experienced English teacher, currently working at Villiers Park Educational Trust, with a special interest in teaching the gifts and talented. Her courses, materials and name are becoming very well-known; however, they are not in the bookstore, but online at websites at websites like www.teachit.co.uk
On Friday 24th March, Julie demonstrated to a diverse group of teachers how to use online resources such as the Oxford English Dictionary (to which the College subscribes), and to access the magnificent British National Corpus, a store of a million words, and how they are actually being used in spoken and written language today. The potential for students' own research abounds.
"An extremely useful day, very good value for money"."the structure was excellent"
"Excellent, really helpful ideas, which I can take away and use"
Standardising Sociology A Level Coursework &Teaching the Synoptic Paper: 23rd March 2006
A group of teachers from High Wycombe, Windsor, Reading, Thame, Henley, Abingdon and Street met together to standardise their marking of A2 coursework. This exercise enabled us to exchange ideas about coursework teaching and clarify problem areas.After lunch we discussed tactics for teaching the synoptic paper and based the session around the June 2005 paper. Advice on interpreting the mark scheme was given and resources and ideas were exchanged.
Thank you to those who came and joined in. If you were unable to come do watch out for the next meeting. We would welcome any new members to “ share good practice with us”
"Extremely helpful materials to take away"
"Useful to discuss with others and feel confident in what I am doing"
"Always useful to meet other Sociology teachers and share good practice"
Music for the Moving Image - 20th October 2005
<<Guy Dagul, talks about his music for film and TV
On the 20th October the music department staged the first one-day conference on the subject of Music for the Moving Image in Rotherfield Hall. Instigated by Dr David Golby, Director of Music, the intention of this Beacon event was to cover aspects of the topic relevant to Music, Music Technology, Media, and Film Studies courses. Around 200 students attended, including a GCSE music group from Langtree, one of our partner schools. By devoting a whole day to the subject and inviting some eminent guest speakers to discuss their work, it was hoped that a broad range of students, with a variety of academic and practical interests, would be afforded privileged insights into the industry. They were not to be disappointed.
After an introductory presentation by David Golby, the first guest speaker, Guy Dagul, talked about his music for film and TV. It soon became very apparent how versatile the composer/arranger needs to be in this field. One day they may be called on to write a full orchestral score to accompany a scene in a feature film, such as Sylvester Stallone scaling a mountain in Cliffhanger; the next, music for a Disney cartoon; or something to accompany a Delia Smith recipe; or even a mobile ring-tone. Guy put a slightly cynical slant on the industry, commenting on how composers are constantly required by directors and producers to ‘emulate’ rather than copy each other’s work to reproduce a certain effect, it perhaps being inevitable that they will in time end up returning to the original! He encouraged anyone with talent for composition to get out there and give it a go.
Guy was followed by Dr Jonathan Williams, a tutor in music at Oxford University and a conductor, who has carved out a niche for himself writing orchestral scores for the ‘cut-scenes’ within computer games. Jonny discussed the different functions of games music, the source material he is given to base his music on, and how the latest developments in technology are making it possible to adopt much more sophisticated approaches to the music. A highlight was a sneak preview of his dramatic score for a fight game for the Playstation 3: hardware which hasn’t even been released yet!
The final speaker was Nicholas Hooper, a composer for TV and film who has both a BAFTA and an Ivor Novello award to his name. Showing examples of his work for the Richard Curtis film The Girl in the Café and The Best Man (a new ‘shocker’ yet to be broadcast on ITV1), Nick discussed the whole process of discovering new sounds to provide atmosphere and characterisation (notably bells to represent the Icelandic landscape and how a ‘mistake’ made by someone playing the saw developed into a principal theme) and how composers can evoke tension through allusions to other scores (such as Alien and Psycho). We were very privileged to see the thought processes of an acknowledged master of the genre at work.
After a final question and answer session the conference came to a close. The huge success of the day suggests that it could be the first of many.
Click here for more Music news....
Beacon Sessions in Government and Politics - 7th. October, 2005
As a contribution to the policy of sharing good practice with neighbouring institutions, the Politics Department organised two sessions on 7 October to help students and teachers in the preparations for AS and A2 examinations this academic year.
Julian Pandya’s opening workshop was on the theme “Keys to success in AS and A2 Politics”. Julian drew on his experience as an examiner for Edexcel over the past ten years to highlight some of the main issues that students need to consider in their preparations for their examinations. Using examples from last year’s examination papers, he focused on the key pointsof: timing, interpretation, definition, analysis, evaluation, evidence and expression.
After a short break, more students from the College and elsewhere flocked into Rotherfield Hall to be enlightened and entertained by Boris Johnson MP. The aim of the session was to try to get his perspective, as a politician and journalist, on some of the important political issues that often feature in examination questions, such as: differences between the main political parties, reforms needed in the House of Commons, the balance between protecting community from terrorism and the preservation of civil liberties, improving public services and the future of the European Union. The attempts to deal with each issue in turn were not entirely successful because Boris Johnson’s inimitable style invariably leads him to explore a variety of topics which are not entirely linked to the original question. Nevertheless, it is fair to say that all the issues were addressed to a greater or lesser degree.
There were numerous contributions from the audience and the 60 minutes seemed to pass by very quickly; always a good sign of engagement and, perhaps remarkably for politics, enjoyment. Whatever one’s political views, there is little doubt that Boris Johnson has the personality and style to stimulate interest in political affairs.
Sports Search - 30th September
On Friday 30th September the College hosted the launch of the Sportsearch programme at the River and Rowing Museum. Sportsearch is a programme intended to provide pupils of secondary school age with the opportunity to identify sports in which they may have ability.
The programme is being developed by a company called Sports Hub and The College, Gillotts School and Sports Hub produced the explanatory video last summer. The College had been involved three years ago in a Sport England pilot scheme looking at a similar programme.
The event at the River and Rowing Museum, an ideal location for such a launch, was well attended by over 50 people from schools and colleges throughout the South of England, by representatives of various sporting bodies, local authorities and the media.
Roger Draper, the Chief Executive of Sport England, was the first speaker and he spoke in general terms about the challenges and opportunities facing British sport at the moment. The opportunities provided by the successful 2012 bid for the Olympic Games, but this success also produces huge challenges in terms of ensuring success in the various sports at those Games and ensuring that Grass Roots sport is not ignored at a time when considerable funding will be required for the London Games.
He emphasised some of the problems that had developed in providing for sport and encouraging excellence in recent years and the need to ensure that solutions were found. He highlighted the disproportionate amount of money taken out of sport by successive governments compared to the amount they provided, the considerably higher investment made by many Continental countries, particularly France, compared to our government and the lack of qualified coaches compared to many other countries. He saw the new scheme as an excellent tool by which to encourage participation by the young, who would gain in many ways from playing sport and reduce some of the social problems that we face such as obesity and youth crime.
Alison Mowbray, Silver Medallist in rowing at the Athens Olympics, then spoke of her sporting experiences and the way that she was introduced into the sport of rowing at a relatively late stage and saw the Sportsearch idea as one that would benefit many pupils/students. At school she had not been talented in the ‘traditional’ sports and, despite having a keen interest in sport, never found an activity that suited her. At university she had joined the boat club during the ‘freshers’ week’ and had rowed recreationally/semi seriously for several years while completing her qualifications.
Only then did she start to row seriously and at an international level, but she emphasised the benefit of being able to join rowing clubs as she moved around the country and the fact that she had an immediate group of like minded friends with whom to mix. She saw Sportsearch as an opportunity for the many pupils with an enthusiasm for sport to be guided towards sports that may suit them and linked to appropriate local clubs.Sports Hub then introduced the programme, showing how they had used a variety of simple practical and psychological tests to provide the relevant information. Pupils are required to do 11 simple practical tests and to answer a number of easy questions about themselves, they are then able to feed the information into a computer programme which provides them with a list of the sports to which they are most suited. They are also provided with links to local clubs and associations so that they can access the sports shown. At present the scheme is being developed for secondary school age but it is the intention to develop it further for primary school children and for adults in due course.
There was then an opportunity to ask the speakers any questions and to have a look at the programme in action.
Using Autograph: Mathematics Workshop July 2005
On Tuesday 12th July Pam Hails, Lesley Hatton and Caroline Thomas led a very successful day on Using Autograph in A level Maths. The participants had access to a computer throughout all sessions and were able to become more familiar with the graph- plotting package and to take away ideas for using it in their teaching. The course was oversubscribed and is being offered again on Wednesday 7th September.
Approaching Shakespeare - By Word and Deed - 27th June 2005
The 27th June saw the visit of Greg de Polnay and Chris Main to the college. They had come to share their expertise with an eager group of English and Drama specialists as part of the first Performing Arts Beacon event. Both visitors led practical workshops thematically linked by the work of William Shakespeare. Greg’s workshop took a text based approach and focused on ways an actor can approach verse. Chris’s workshop explored stage combat and focused on the fundamental principles of staging violent encounters on stage.
The general consensus among those lucky enough to participate in the day was that both workshops contained much of value and both being delivered in an authoritative, yet accessible, way would provide much of direct use in the classroom. The workshops provided a structured day of learning, but perhaps the most valuable element of the whole event was getting to meet teachers from the local area working in the same field as yourself and having the opportunity to share good practice, swap phone numbers and, hopefully, begin to sow the seeds of future working relationships.
English Language Workshop - 17th June 2005
Annette Islei and Shirley Jenkins-Pandya held a very successful workshop on 17th June entitled 'Can we ease the stress?'. The event encouraged the attendees to discuss various topics including schemes of work, organising coursework, and teaching ideas. Click here to access the notes from the day
For further information please contact Annette Islei
at The HENLEY College
Cosmonaut Visit April 2005
<< College Principal, Tom Espley, with the Cosmonauts and Assistant Principal, Peter Allen
The College was very privileged to welcome the two Russian cosmonauts, Alexander Martynov and Alexander Volkov, for our third Henley College Lecture this year. As a Beacon College, we were also able to extend this opportunity in offering two extra presentations from our speakers, one to local Secondary Schools and one to local Primaries.
Dr. Alexander Martynov has been working as the Head of Foreign Relations, Korolev, since 1994. His talk and slide show opened the lecture, where he took us through some of the stages in the development of technology that will eventually allow man to land on Mars.
We learnt that Col. Alexander Volkov is likely to be one of the team to visit Mars. He has already spent a considerable amount of time aboard orbital research stations such as Mir and Soyuz T-14, Salut 7, where he has held the position of Commander.
He has been awarded with some of the highest honours bestowed on Russian citizens, including Hero of the Soviet Union and the Golden Star medal for courage and heroism shown during these flights.
Langtree School Students with the Cosmoanuts >>
This lecture was an inspiration to us all. It was highly informative but also very entertaining and our students were visibly captivated throughout.
Sociology Event, 9th March 2005
<< Caroline Walker addresses the Sociology group at Bix Manor
Caroline Walker, Head of Sociology at The College, led a very successful workshop on Coursework Marking for Sociology on 9 March at Bix Manor. Caroline is a Coursework Adviser for a major Examining Board, and attendees at the workshop benefited from her sound advice and experience.
Some comments from attendees are listed below, but it was unanimously agreed that Sharing Good Practice had helped them all.
“Excellent delivery – useful tips, good to hear views and opinions confirmed by others!”
“Very helpful – gave confidence when marking. Good for networking with other tutors.”
“A very useful day for standardisation and reassurance of expected skills.”
Visit from Alton College, Hampshire, 9 February 2005
The College was pleased to welcome visitors from Alton College, Hampshire who came to find out more about the International Baccalaureate course, which has been running at Henley for 15 years.
<< Isabelle Lauzeral-Bataille, Peter Allen, Sue Greenhalgh, Angela Slade, Kerry Marsden, Alex Reich & Bridie Hughes
Alton are looking to start the IB in September 2005 and, in the first of what is hoped will be a series of meetings, representatives from their English and Languages Departments came to talk to equivalent staff at Henley. The staff found the experience of The HENLEY College staff very useful and inspiring in Alton's plans to teach English and Languages on the IB later this year.
Visit fromWyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College, Leicester, 9 February 2005
<< Peter Allen, Mark Bickerstaff, Bridie Hughes & Caroline Walker
Wednesday 9th was a busy day for the International Baccalaureate staff at the College. WQEI College is conducting a feasibility study into offering the IB from September 2006. Their appointed IB Co-ordinator came to talk to staff at the College about every aspect including Theory of Knowledge, CAS (Creativity, Action and Service) and Marketing, and at the end of a busy day stayed to observe the IB Information evening and talk to students currently on the course.
The College is pleased to be able to help WQEI College in this study, particularly as they have been generous with their time in offering to share their knowledge gained during running Beacon events.These meetings are part of the College's Sharing Good Practice activities, and The HENLEY College is happy to talk to other schools and colleges who are considering offering the International Baccalaureate and set up mentoring arrangements where requested.
For more information, contact the College via the Beacon Co-ordinator, on beacon@henleycol.ac.uk
College Awarded Beacon Status (October 2004)
The College is delighted to have received the news that the Department for Education and Skills have awarded us the prestigious Beacon status.
It is a recognition of the excellence of the College's work, especially for its outstanding examination results, its exceptional curriculum provision and its innovatory practice.
<< Peter Allen, Nigel Fletcher, Nick Richardson, Kim Howells, David Ansell, Tabby Gillan, Ed Carey, Simon Cuthbert.
Beacon Status will mean that the College will share good practice with the other seven colleges in the region as well as its four partner schools. It is clearly an acknowledgement that the Henley College is the highest achieving college in the area and this award follows a recent grading of the College as Excellent by the Learning and Skills Council of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes.
Peter Allen and Simon Cuthbert, Assistant Principals, are both delighted at the news "The fact that the College is now a Beacon College confirms what all staff feel; that we do provide an excellent education for the young people of the area."