22:50 - 982 likes - Milestone one - nearly complete.

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all happy and well. Last week was another amazing week at St. James’, thank you to all of my students for all their hard work and effort, not only for last week but also over the first eight weeks of this academic year. It has been an incredibly busy period for everyone at our school. There is no doubt in my mind that my students, as well as our school community, as well as school communities everywhere deserve a well-earned break. All of my students have been so outstanding throughout this period, each of them has shown an exemplary attitude to learning and it has been obvious and incredibly enjoyable to witness how much each of them has learnt. More importantly to me personally, it has been incredibly rewarding to see how each of my students has supported their friends, peers and classmates when they have been called upon to do so.

Classroom 21 has developed and nurtured an ethos whereby students do not see themselves as individuals in competition with one another, instead we work as one, to help and support each other in our learning. This ethos does not only relate to students within a year group but we have developed our own unique way of integrating learning of students from different year groups together, in the single goal and pursuit of learning and the achievements that learning brings. We are very much looking forward to sharing this unique learning environment with you.

My form has also been an absolute joy to tutor. It was so cool to see them at the annual St. James’ Year 7 disco; they were all so happy and full of the joys of being 11 and 12 years old. I had the opportunity to speak to and learn the names of some students who I had yet to even speak to, which was very uplifting. It always makes me wonder why this is? Why is it that there can be students within a school who because you do not teach, you have very little if any contact with? Even to the extent you do not know their names. It does not make any sense to me, as they are all as important as each other. Anyway, the disco brought the first half term to an incredibly fun and happy conclusion. Thank you Year 7.

Last week, as a group, we were so happy to be able to introduce Jaida and Tom, our Deputy Head Boy and Girl and Sean and Ciara, our Head Boy and Girl. I would like to take this opportunity to say how proud we are, not only of these four students (as we did that last week) but also of the Year 11 students at St. James’ who also applied for the position of Head Boy and Girl. The competition was absolutely unbelievable and I did not envy the job of selecting the final positions one tiny little bit. I would like to say a huge thank you to all of you who applied for the position. Many of you are now prefects at St. James’. Without you fulfilling your roles to the outstanding degree to which you currently are the younger students at St. James’ would not have role models who they can look up to. It is quite difficult to think how difficult working at our school would be without you as the outstanding role models you continue to be to our younger students.

At the current rate, it appears tomorrow we will reach our first milestone on social media, 1,000 Facebook likes. Thank you so much for the support that you have shown Classroom 21. Coincidently it is also my birthday. What an incredible gift. I would like to dedicate this milestone to my students who I know have been absolutely inspired by this process so far. I know that each of them is now more aware of what they are capable of if they think and imagine big and are never afraid to try something different. Everyone who has liked the page has helped to inspire so thank you all so much. I have more to say on the next milestone, which is going to take things to another level entirely, I am going to leave that until the 1,000 likes has actually been reached as there is still the possibility it may not. I am quite curious to see who will be like number 1,000 as some of my students are I am sure. One of them may indeed be that very person…

Sir.

Finding your passion - To the students of Classroom 21.

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all happy and well and have had an enjoyable and fun weekend. I think that I am so lucky that I have been able to find my passion in life, recently I have found myself thinking about it more and more each day. My only reason for telling you this is that hopefully, in some way,  it will inform/educate/inspire you to do everything that you can to find you own passion. I have so many people to thank that I have been able to experience the world in the way that I have, who have provided me with an education, which has enabled me to follow a career path of my choosing. I try each and every day to let them know how grateful I am. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you all, as you are such an inspiration to me and make my role as your teacher so enjoyable. Thank you!

I take very little credit for what I generally say to you regarding finding your passion or element, as the ideas are not my own. However after I realised that I had indeed found my passion, quite an eye opening experience, it has allowed me to develop my ideas further, which has been really cool. These ideas come from people far more knowledgeable and educated than I (see below). And that is the point. There are people both dead and alive whose knowledge and expertise vastly outweighs that which you or I combined will probably experience in our life times. You should learn from them as much as you possibly can. I find myself researching the life experiences of others more and more each day. Indeed I was recently reminded of a famous quote from an absolute legend, whose name will never be forgotten.  In fact he is that much of a legend I predict that the majority of you will know who he is, even though he has been dead for over 40 years. I thought it would be cool to share some of his inspirational quotes with you now. The first has Biology, Chemistry and Physics written all over it, hence the reason it appears first.

I have learnt that it is so important to remain ‘fluid’ in life as you never know what obstacles you will encounter and undoubtedly you will encounter some, which you will have to navigate in order to reach your goals. This ability to be ‘fluid’ undoubtedly comes from ensuring you learn as much as you can and are as educated in as many fields as you possibly can be. Therefore I encourage you to learn from others more educated and experienced than you each and every day. Here are a few other Bruce Lee quotes to inspire and focus the mind, including my own.

“I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.”

“Even today, I dare not say that I have reached a state of achievement. I’m still learning, for learning is boundless.”

“Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.”

“A teacher is never a giver of truth; he is a guide, a pointer to the truth that each student must find for himself.”

“If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.”

Bruce Lee.

What an absolute legend!

It is quite possible that I have found the last six weeks the most enjoyable out of my entire teaching career to date, which is unbelievable as I have found the last eight years the most enjoyable period of my life to date! I am really very lucky. I am so glad that I have been able to share the learning experiences and achievements of Harry, Millie, Rowan, Jessica and Martha with you, thank you so much to you all for liking and sharing their work. I very much hope that they have been inspired in some way by your kind actions to continue with the passions that they currently have and are so obviously talented in. I also hope that you have been inspired in some way to continue to develop your own talents and skills.

The most incredible thing is that there are so many of you who are incredibly gifted and talented in your own right. There have already been a huge number of outstanding learning experiences and achievements that I have witnessed in Classroom 21 that I could have shared since the beginning of the academic year. Unfortunately I do not have the time to compile them all but I will do my absolute best to try. It makes me question how many outstanding students there are in St. James’ that I do not even teach, who I may not even have spoken to yet, which in turn makes me question how many there are in schools in Stockport, Greater Manchester and the U.K. as a whole? Then if you think about the world as a whole, where in places of education, outstanding examples of learning experiences and achievements occur every single second of every single day. The numbers are quite unimaginable.

Currently, I am so aware of the importance of trying to inspire each and every one of you to find  your passion in life. Everything I am currently doing is geared towards this fundamental principle. Again, I refer you to ‘The Man’, unfortunately not Jan ‘The Man’ Banda (this time!), unsurprisingly as I probably reference him at least once a week, I refer you to Sir Ken Robinson. I can not recommend enough taking the time to watch this short video produced by the RSA, you will understand the reason for everything that I am currently doing.

Every time I listen to Sir Ken speak I keep asking myself a single question, why are the people who make the decisions about our education system doing exactly the opposite? It is quite bizarre. Thanks so much for taking the time to read this everyone, I hope you have an enjoyable week ahead full of fun, learning and happiness.

Sir.

My Hopes, Dreams and Ambitions.

Hi everyone,

This week's blog has so kindly been produced by three absolutely wonderful students, Lucy, Olivia and Emily. They were simply provided with the title, 'My Hopes, Dreams and Ambitions' and asked to write an entry for the Classroom 21 blog. If you are in need of a little inspiration, take 10-15 minutes to read the hopes, dreams and ambitions of three students from Classroom 21. Their words did nothing other than completely inspire us to continue to do all that we can to ensure they have the best possible opportunity to fulfil them. It is so obvious to us that everyone at St. James' is working so incredibly hard each and every day to ensure all the students under our care have the same opportunity to fulfil their hopes, dreams and ambitions. We have no doubt this is the same in schools everywhere. Places of education really are such amazing place to work. Enjoy.

Hi everyone, 

In the upcoming year I am going to put in as much effort as possible into my school work, ensuring I work as hard as I possibly can independently in preparation for my GCSE exams starting in May. I have already achieved a GCSE grade B in English Language, English Literature and Biology, so I hope to pass the rest of my exams and maybe even get some A’s and A*’s by putting in all the hard work in the lead up to May.

When I leave school, I am going to go on to college and study Biology, Psychology and Health and Social Care. I haven’t yet decided which college I am going to go to. I am hoping to do A-Level courses so I can get to meet new people and have the experience of college, which I’ve heard is very different to school.

After college I would love to go to University to do a Midwifery course. Being a midwife has always been my dream and I am going to do my very best to fulfil this dream. Although Manchester University has a very good reputation, I think I would rather move into halls of residence in another city so I can experience the full uni life and again meet many more new people from all over the country and the world. I have considered Nottingham University or one in London, but I haven’t decided yet as I need to do some proper research and compare which would suit me best.

The Midwifery course is 3 years long, so if I take a gap year I will be 22 when I leave University. I’m still not sure about taking a gap year at the moment, as I just want to get on with the course and get into a job so I can earn a living and begin to look further ahead into the future. After graduating I hope to get a job working for the NHS in a hospital near where I am living, which could be anywhere. I think being a midwife will be an incredibly rewarding career, being able to bring new life into the world will have a big impact on the way I see the world at the moment and I think it will be a very moving experience every single day.

One day I would love to have my own family as I love children. I hope that when they grow up they can be happy and have a good education and childhood like I have. I will ensure they do well in life and always aim as high as they can. I would also consider emigrating to somewhere like Australia or Canada because I think the lifestyle would be completely different. I think it would be really fun and interesting to have a life and career in a different country, but first I need to complete my education, which at the moment is the most important thing.

Lucy.

Hello everyone,

I am 16 years old and currently in year 11 at St James’ Catholic High School. I am in my most important year at school with my GCSE’s just ahead of me. History, Geography and Triple Science are my options, along with the core subjects. My favourite subject is English Literature, I love reading almost anything and I find that the poems we explore are absorbing.

With my passion for English, I am hoping to have a career in this area. Magazine Journalism appears the most appealing to me because I love fashion and I love writing, so it would be perfect to put these two interests of mine together. My only worry is that it is a very competitive sector of work, and it can be quite hard to earn money. However, I believe it is true that if you are passionate about something you should do it, because if you enjoy it that much you will become a professional at it and then you can earn money through your passion and expertise.

I would really like to complete some work experience in this area. Media City runs a programme every summer for 16 year olds and above, so I hope to get onto this so that I can discover if this is the career path that I want to take. Also, I will write to all of my local newspapers to see if I could do some work there, or even write a few columns for free.

I would like to attend Aquinas College and then go to University to broaden my knowledge on English. I’m sure that if I do this, I will further explore the subject that I love, and it will also open up many more opportunities.

At some point in the future, I would like to spend some time in New York City, perhaps for a year. I would love to explore the mesmerising city and try and get as much work experience as possible. Working at the New York Times, The New Yorker or any other magazine/newspaper company in New York would be a dream of mine.

Having spent a whirlwind year in New York, I will return home to hopefully work at Media City. I hope to enhance my knowledge in the media sector and gain more creative ideas. Hopefully, when I am a professional in this area of work, I would love to manage or even own a magazine company! It would be so exciting to have my name on the front cover, with all of my ideas inside waiting to be read. When I think about it, it reminds me of a famous quote I love to hear as it always inspires me,

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt.

Olivia.

Hello everyone, 

If I were to be granted one wish today, what would I wish for? There is so much going on in the world today that when I think about it I find it almost impossible to decide.

Like most people my age, I want to do as well as I can in my GCSEs, attend college and hopefully be accepted into RADA. It is my dream to attend RADA, where I hope to continue to improve my acting, which is my passion and I do both inside and outside of school.

Like many of my friends I am not exactly sure what I would like to do when I am older. Therefore I know I must make sure that I work as hard as I can in all the subjects I study, allowing me to have as many choices as possible when I do finally know what I want to do. Admittedly, I did not work hard enough in Year 10 but I have learnt from my mistake and have used this as a learning experience to allow me to work harder and make the most of Year 11. I feel that with the right amount of effort this year I will be able to achieve my A and A* target grades.

As many of my friends are aware, I visited Auschwitz in order to gain more knowledge of the Holocaust. Little did I know the visit would change my life. Since I visited Auschwitz I have written to Holocaust survivors and have received replies from many of them. I hope that when I am 16 I am able to help out and volunteer at the Holocaust Survivor Care Home in London, where I will be able to care and help others persevere in their every day lives.

I have idolised Eminem since I was eight years old. Although I wasn’t able to comprehend any of the language he used when I first started listening to him (my parents were not aware I was listening to his music at such a young age, sorry Mum and Dad!), I have always admired him. After several long, painful years waiting for him to visit the UK, I finally saw him live on the 25^th August 2013. This was quite simply the best night of my life. Since that day I have seen him again this year, it was so amazing I can’t even put it into words. I would do almost anything to see him perform again for a third time. It would be an absolute dream come true if I were able to see him perform in America next year and if I were to meet him it would be so unbelievably incredible I can’t put it into words. I am still trying to persuade my mum to let me go.

I hope that one day I will have my own family. I definitely know I want to get married and have lots of children, preferably four. I would also like to work with children in some capacity when am I am older. When I grow up, as well as enjoying myself I want to be able to feel that I am helping the world and making a difference to peoples everyday lives in some way.

If I had one wish today and I had to make my wish, although there are lots of things I could wish for myself, I know what I would wish for. I would wish that in my lifetime a cure for cancer were found. I think that this would be one of societies biggest wishes. If this were to happen it would prevent the never ending and unnecessary break up of families all over the world. I also hope and pray that one day the world will finally become a place of peace. No abuse, no war, no starvation and no discrimination. But that is down to all of us. I hope and dream to do my bit along with everyone else but it appears to me we all spend so long hoping and wishing for something but do nothing to prevent it. I hope together we all try to do something positive for future generations.

Emily.

Happy World Teacher's Day!

Hi everyone,

Wishing you all a happy World Teacher’s Day. What an interesting and exciting week we have just had. We are all incredibly grateful for the support you have shown us over the last seven days. Last week was a very important learning experience for us all but ultimately an incredibly rewarding one.

There had been a noticeable atmosphere of anticipation leading up to last Monday's start date. Now we have begun the process of making our imaginations a reality, everything really has taken on a whole new level of significance.  It is all very exciting and most importantly, so far, incredibly fun. Which is undoubtedly how learning experiences for any one in a place of education should be.

This week we were reminded of a famous quote by a modern day genius, which summarises last week perfectly. What a legend he is.

It was so interesting to see the reaction that our statement, to gain 1,000 likes in seven days, had on the students I spoke to around St. James’. It was quite obvious to us all that 1,000 likes was a big ask, particularly as this is the first stage of a process that if all goes to plan will last until Friday 17^th July, the last day of the 2014-15 academic year. It was obvious that as the week progressed and the number of likes continued to rise, students were more and more surprised. Some of us however, were less surprised.

Just so that you are in no doubt, this is the beginning of a learning experience for everyone in Classroom 21, as well as those who have chosen to follow our progress. We are excited to hear your feedback, which will be incredibly important to us. If you would be so helpful as to continue to reach as many people as possible, particlualry our peers and colleagues working in schools, we would very much appreciate it. If indeed this process ends with our vision becoming a reality, this will have a positive impact on us all. 

Even after a week many student’s eyes have been opened to how quickly people with the same interests, likes, hopes and dreams can be reached via social media. All you need is something worthwhile to say and we hope that we have just that. We are all hopeful that this inspires students everywhere to begin imagining what they could do in their own futures.

And what can we say about Harry and Millie, such gifted and talented young artists. Your actions have inspired everyone in Rm 21, we are sure you have and will continue to inspire others. To any students reading this, here is Classroom 21’s lesson number two. Always aim as high as you possibly can in anything you wish to do. Never allow some statistical data, a computer algorithm or a ‘target level’ to tell you the limit of your potential. And if you come up short, you will still accomplish exactly what you set out to do. In Classroom 21's case, to have a great start. How cool.

Next week is a very special week as three wonderful students are writing Classroom 21’s blog post. We are all very excited to hear from them as we hope you now are.