• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Mark Burns

#cathedralbuilding

  • About
  • News
  • Blog
  • Professional Learning
  • Post Course Support
  • Books
  • Testimonials
  • Survey
  • Contact Me
  • Show Search
Hide Search

Teach Secondary Awards Winners 2020

Mark Burns · October 6, 2020 · Leave a Comment

Delighted that my work with Accrington Academy & Curious Minds designing and facilitating ‘The Uncertainty Principle’ has won the CPD category in Teach Secondary Awards 2020. 

Uncertain Times

The trigger for this programme was 18th March when the Government announced that every school was effectively closing until further notice (with the exception of a small number of pupils) due to coronavirus pandemic. 

The programme was designed with two complementary foci. These were:

  • To support all staff with strategies to cope with the challenging situation of school closure and support them to prepare for the huge challenges of re-opening a school following a long period of enforced closure.  This strand of the programme was entitled, ‘The Uncertainty Principle’.
  • Work with leaders at all levels to focus on developing capacity to raise performance in their teams through effective learning.  The lockdown provided a unique opportunity for leaders at the Academy to engage in slow-thinking. Reflecting and analysing key areas that had previously not been fully explored due to operational busy-ness. 

The most obvious initial challenge was that up until its’ closure, the Academy had run exclusively face-to-face and there was no culture of online learning. Therefore, choosing an online platform that was easily accessible, as well providing the opportunity for ‘safe’ dialogue was key.  In addition, the facilitation of the sessions needed to build trust for open dialogue.

‘The Uncertainty Principle’ was delivered as a series of one-hour sessions with small groups. This ensured the sessions were dialogic and ‘safe’ for staff to share the challenges they were facing.  The strategies shared, aimed to support them both professionally and personally to deal with the ongoing uncertainty. The sessions ran most days for six weeks.    

The Academy carry out a regular anonymised staff survey, and the most recent findings was that 100% of responders felt proud of how their school had been led during pandemic lockdown period.  This was amongst the highest rating across the schools in the multi-academy trust chain that the academy is part of.  

What the judges said…

Curious Minds

Accrington Academy has worked in partnership with cultural education charity, Curious Minds, to develop and financially support The Uncertainty Principle. Curious Minds is Arts Council England’s Bridge organisation for the North West. This strong working partnership has enabled resources to be directed to support staff training so they are best able to support themselves, each other and the students through these uncertain times. 

Finalists in other categories

Congratulations to all the finalists making a such difference in challenging times.

Details on the full list of categories and finalists are available here:

https://www.teachwire.net/news/teach-secondary-awards-2020-winners-announced

Filed Under: Blog, News

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Mark Burns

Over the last seventeen years, Mark Burns has developed a proven track record in improving teaching and leadership in education. He’s co-authored two best-selling books in this field.  More recently, he has worked with FTSE100 retailer and third sector organisations, to develop the quality and impact of their learning and development programmes.

Through his work, he has developed a deep understanding of learning design and how to overcome the barriers to learning in organisations.

Social

  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Phone
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

tweets

Tweets by learnimperative

Recent Posts

  • Celebrating Growth: Plus One Learning Cycles in Merseyside Schools
  • Protected: Balfron Survey
  • Leveraging the Power of Feedback
  • Leveraging the Power of Teacher Collaboration
  • ‘Plus One’ Learning Cycles – Pinehurst Primary School

Archives

  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • August 2024
  • May 2024
  • March 2023
  • August 2022
  • March 2022
  • January 2022
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • June 2019
  • April 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • March 2018
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • March 2014
  • December 2011
  • January 2011
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • March 2010
  • November 2009
  • February 2009
  • November 2003
  • August 2002
  • March 2002
  • December 2001
  • November 2001
  • October 2001
  • September 2001
  • August 2001
  • July 2001
  • June 2001
  • May 2001
  • April 2001
  • March 2001
  • February 2001
  • January 2001
  • December 2000
  • November 2000
  • October 2000
  • September 2000
  • August 2000
  • July 2000
  • June 2000
  • May 2000
  • April 2000
  • March 2000
  • February 2000
  • January 2000
  • December 1999
  • November 1999
  • October 1999
  • September 1999
  • August 1999
  • June 1999
  • May 1999
  • April 1999
  • March 1999
  • February 1999
  • January 1999
  • November 1998
  • October 1998
  • September 1994
  • December 1990
  • June 1989
  • May 1988
  • November 1987
  • June 1984
  • May 1980
  • August 1978
  • November 1976
  • October 1973
  • October 1971
  • June 1971
  • October 1970
  • June 1970
  • February 1970
  • February 1953
  • September 1946
  • November 1942
  • June 1924
  • November 1922
  • September 1922
  • February 1922
  • August 1903
  • June 1901
  • January 1901
  • November 1900
  • October 1900
  • August 1900
  • November 1800
  • November 1662

Categories

  • Blog
  • News
  • Post course
  • Resources

Copyright Plus One Learning Limited© 2025 · Daily Dish Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in