Staff Management and Administration
Staff Meetings
There are different types of staff meeting for teachers. These are compulsory for all teachers who are not teaching or supervising activities at that time.
Daily Briefing
A short briefing takes place in the Staff Room every morning at 0830to deal with any issues for the day (covering for absent colleagues, changes to the programme etc.) and to give staff a chance to raise any points requiring more immediate attention. Notes are kept in Basecamp.
INSET Sessions
These take place after classes, arranged according to staff availability. They are an opportunity to share ideas on how to tackle particular areas of teaching or other related duties. These meetings may also be in response to areas teachers would like to see covered and teachers are encouraged to suggest topics and areas to address.
Observation
There are three forms of observation:
Short informal observations. These last around 20 minutes and are as much focused on student performance as on teacher performance. The individual classes to be observed are unannounced but may be prompted by comments from either staff or students or a general need to see how classes are progressing, for example, following a large intake of new students. Generalised feedback is given to the teachers and specific comments on the class (particular areas of concern or strength) are recorded on the lesson’s T-Card. The main purpose of short observations is to get an overview or general impression of the school and the teaching taking place, rather than looking at individual teaching performance.
Formal Quality Assurance (QA) observations. These last around 45 minutes and are announced in advance, with the observer being the Principal and are followed up with more detailed feedback. The observation may have a specific aim set in advance by the observer in consultation with the observed.
Peer observation may be arranged, where possible, for teachers to have the opportunity to observe colleagues and also to see a class they teach being taught by someone else. Peer observation is usually facilitated by the Principal covering for the observer or take place in periods when some teachers have free periods.
Peer observation is a way of learning from each other. Observation can focus on the teacher, the student(s) or the lesson as a whole, depending on what you want to learn. It may be aspects of teaching you are less confident in or simply to get some new ideas for activities. It could also be to see how a student (who you are tutoring) performs in another lesson.
Appraisals
Annual appraisals for all permanent teachers take place with the Principal once a year, usually in January or February. Teachers are encouraged to reflect on and discuss their teaching performance in the past year, developments they have made, problems and issues to be addressed and to suggest improvements for the College.
Cover for Absent Colleagues
In the event of a member of the teaching staff being absent, cover will be provided as follows:
By other teachers free to cover the lessons
By a cover teacher on supply
By the Principal
Cover for staff holidays is provided by other teachers or a supply teacher. Holiday and other absence requests (i.e. for medical appointments) by permanent staff should be made through the e-days system while temporary teachers should email the Principal. Requests for holiday should be made 6 weeks in advance so that cover can be arranged if necessary.
We merge classes as a last resort. We have some flexibility by moving Lessons Out.
If you are ill and unable to work, you should report in before 0800 using WhatsApp and, ideally, phone the Principal so that cover can be organised. When off sick, please call by 1600 to let the College know whether you expect to be in the following day. Similarly, if transport problems mean you are going to be late, call the the Principal as soon as possible.
Preparation Time
As a guide, we would expect you will need 20 mins to prepare and follow-up each hour of teaching. This means that, in a standard 4.5-hour teaching day you will require 1.5 hours of preparation/record-keeping/marking/briefing
You are employed for 8.5 hours each teaching day
We assume you will take up to 1 hour of breaks, divided throughout the day.
This leaves 1.5 hours for other duties.
Naturally it takes less time to prepare a lesson if repeating/recycling than if you are having to source materials.
In the summer months, when more than one course at a particular level may be running, teachers should be aware that a particular activity can often be adapted and used with other groups, while always bearing in mind that no two classes are the same. As classes are usually shared by two or more teachers, an essential part of the lesson/course preparation process is teachers liaising to coordinate their lessons and ensure that a balanced programme, covering all skills and language areas, is provided.
Record Keeping – the T-Card system
T-Cards are the system of recording all the work planned and delivered in the classrooms. The records are kept in the school database and provide full details of teaching for every class and teacher. The student plan section of T-cards will be uploaded onto the College website each week where it informs the students about the learning points and skills they will be studying in the following week. The system can refresh every day, so amendments to the T-cards can be updated.
T-Cards must be produced for each lesson. Where a course is coursebook based and more than one consecutive lesson is taught by the same teacher, then only one card for each block needs to be created.
- Planning (Staff Plan & Student Plan)
There are two parts to the “plan” section.
Part one, the staff plan, outlines the teaching programme for the coming week. This will include:
- teaching points
- books with page references
- worksheets and other materials
- staff online resources
- hyperlinked and referenced worksheets and other materials so that teachers can link directly from their planned T-cards to the materials they want to use.
This section should provide enough detail for a supply teacher to confidently enter a class with a programme of work.
Part two, the student plan, is to inform the students of their programme of work. This plan is uploaded onto the College website.
You should aim to create all your T-Cards with details of the planned programme of work for the next week by the Friday afternoon of the previous week.
- Description (and Homework, Reflections)
- Description: Please add enough detail to give anyone reading it a thorough idea of what happened in the classroom that morning.
- Reflections: this box is most useful for teachers themselves. Ideas, class management, timing – anything that you did that had an impact on the lesson could be recorded here.
- T-Cards are available as permanent records of classes. They are a simple management tool for administrators and teachers alike. If used well, they can provide any teacher with a guide from one course to another, cutting down preparation time and providing a source of useful information.
You should aim to complete your descriptions/reflections by the end of the day.
T-Cards are also vital in terms of external inspections and for reporting back to parents and agents on the programme completed by students. They are also essential in terms of any substitute teachers knowing where the class is at that moment. Careful maintenance of T-Cards will allow you to see when lessons and activities can be repeated with different groups. This is particularly helpful during the summer when more than one class at the same level may be running. It is the teacher’s duty to complete their T-cards promptly and properly. The Principal will show new teachers how to complete a T-card as part of induction.
Timetabling
The Principal is responsible for organising and distributing timetables to staff and students. The timetable for the following week will usually be available on the previous Thursday and can be accessed on Basecamp – timetables folder. The Principal will email the following week’s timetable to any teachers without Basecamp access.
Registers and Student Attendance
Registers must be marked at the start of every lesson. In case of fire or emergency the register is a record of students in the building at any time. They should be done at the start of every lesson and checked at the end of every lesson so that they reflect any latecomers, absences etc.
Registers are legal documents and can potentially have an impact on a student’s visa status, so they must be completed at the start of every lesson.
Collect registers from the Staff room and return them after class. A student “Present” is marked with “P”, “Absent” with “A” “Late” with the number of minutes they were late.
Students who fail to attend Class
There are five important reasons why we need to monitor attendance:
- Students may fail to make progress as expected if they do not attend.
- Students may waste the time of other students if the teacher needs to repeat work they have missed.
- For students with study visas there is a legal requirement that we keep attendance records and notify the Home Office of students who fail to attend regularly. A report on attendance from the College is required if a student asks to renew a visa.
- Sponsors of students may require monthly reports stating percentage attendance. Without this, the College will not receive payment for the student!
- Care of Juniors
