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cablestwisted · 2 years

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Tell us the story of u & Smiler

It all started the first time I went to Alton Towers, and. It was uh... a TIME,

So it was during a summer when I... Wasn't doing too great, mentally. I'd just left secondary school, and... Essentially had nothing to work towards, really. I had a college sorted, sure, it was my dream course and I was looking forward to it, but my special interest and all hyperfixations had dropped off and I had... Pretty much nothing. Nothing to do, nothing to work towards. No clue of what I wanted to do with my life except maybe going into costume. I was honestly very close to just hopping on a train to London and trying to disappear.

So I dropped off the face of the planet, socially. Stopped seeing all my school friends. Isolated myself so thoroughly I wasn't even sure I was real, and my friends all thought I'd died and sent my twin brother their condolences. I'd booked a program called NCS over summer, though, so went on that - got to stay away from home for a bit which did Wonders for me.

On the last week of NCS, we stayed in student dorms in my hometown. On the first day, we went to the pound shop [dollar store] - and one of the folks I was staying with picked up one of those bags of crisps with the Towers 2for1 voucher on. They didn't even really want the crisps, just. Said that they felt compelled to get them for some reason. So the bag sat in the cupboard for the ENTIRE week.

It got to the last day, and I was helping clear up the kitchen, and I stumbled across the bag. It was completely untouched, and, someone told me hey, you've talked about Towers on and off, do you want the voucher? And I was like fuck it sure why not so cut it out and took it home.

Now.. I had been.. Briefly interested in Towers before this. Looked up the Smiler back in 2016, and decided that I hated it, even if it was fascinating, the backstory was just something that terrified me. So I voiced my thoughts to my friends, and left it be. Said "haha if ever you see me interested in that ride assume I got brainwashed lmao". My next friend group were interested in the ride, and Towers as a whole, and it kinda interested me - but I steered clear.

That was until I got the voucher. Cuz I was like. Eh. You know what. Fuck it. Haven't got much else to do. Not really interested in anything else. Don't know what I'm doing with my life. So, sure, I'll go.

I spoke to my Dad - he said, because I'd passed my GCSEs, sure, we could go to Alton Towers as a reward for that. Fun fact - my brother's reward was some pet rabbits GHFGDDSFD

So we go, one day - peak season, warmest day of the year. 21st of August, 2018. Just a few weeks before I started college.

Now I'm feeling... Quite ill, on that day. Mentally and physically. I hadn't eaten properly in weeks, hadn't slept properly in longer, honestly if I hadn't have been going to Towers it probably would've been one of those times when I was at my lowest, pretty much. But I get into the car and we go to the park. One and a half hour drive.. we eat Mcdonalds breakfast on the way, and, I'm feeling somewhat alive with the addition of food, but, still not great.

We get there.. Show our tickets at the gate.. and get into the park.

Now. Worth saying, at that point in my life? I was.. Kind of terrified of rollercoasters. I was an thrillseeker sure but my adrenaline fix came from... Less safe things than theme park rides. So first thing we go on, to start on the day?

That's right, Heave Ho, the kiddie boat ride in Mutiny Bay. We queued. For FIFTEEN MINUTES. For Heave Ho.

We basically spend the first bit of the day doing nothing. Went on Marauders Mayhem, and my Dad found a way to get the thing spinning super fast, so I was feeling significantly less ill than earlier because motion makes me feel less nauseous, for some reason. We go on the rapids. But, eventually, we call it quits, and after some internal debate I decide hey, screw it, let's go queue for the Smiler.

So we head to X-Sector.

Now, I specifically remember... Just the emotions I had, upon first seeing it.

Quiet awe and a definite nagging terror, but, mostly just... Wonder. I remember being like.. stunned that it was so big, at the NOISE, at how bright the screens were.

So we get in the queue.

Now. It's... 31 degrees Celsius. The queue is an hour, and by the time we get to the front, I'm.. Drastically overstimulated, overwhelmed, and having a bit of sensory overload. I keep almost passing out and I have sunburn. We get through the Projection Room, which just worsened my deteriorating condition, and climb the stairs up to the station...

We get to the platform and I turn to my Dad, and I say. Dad.. I really don't feel too good

And I turn round and I'm sick on the floor

Embarassed, I ran off to the exit door, and was abruptly stopped in my tracks because I almost passed out. I'm in full sensory overload and just, sobbing, because I dressed up all nice for this and it was my first time there, and I just wanted to ride the Smiler. Eventually a staff member gets to me and is just... So kind to me. Asks me what's up, gets me something to clean myself up with. Tells me to go take a rest, chill out for a bit, and come back through the fasttrack gate - gives me a complimentary fasttrack. My Dad has been bewilderedly standing outside the ride having taken the exit corridor by then so he's just like ??????

So I tell him what happened and we go and attempt to get food at Fried Chicken Co, because, we're both hungry, I'm almost passing out, and I just need nutrition tbh.

I try and eat.. no game, can't even stomach a couple slices of cucumber. I'm feeling horrifically guilty and can't even bear to look at the ride so we go and chill in the gardens...

And I sleep for about 3 hours.

Now, I wake up eventually. I'm not sure what i dreamt about, but, all I wanted to do was just. Try again. So we go back to X-Sector, and the guy at the gate for the Smiler greets us with a big smile, asks me how I'm feeling - cuz, word had spread about what happened etc, understandably. Lets us through the gate, and we go up and wait in the station.

We're greeted by the same ride hosts who are just like. Asking me how I am, etc, if I'm feeling better, if I managed to eat some food, and I'm like yea I'm good! And they go ahead and put us on front row.

Now, I'm... Terrified lmao and it definitely showed - I get asked again if I'm ok, cuz I'm like visibly shaking etc, and I'm like YA IM GOOD my voice Definitely broke, I was a sight for sore eyes lmao - but, we get the go ahead, and off we go.

The second the lights above us turn on, no lie, all the worry, fear, etc, completely drains from my mind, and I'm CALM. No nerves no nothing. Just, completely chill.

And we have an amazing time on the ride. I nearly get my teeth bashed out by my necklace because I wore a stupid huge metal cabochon mad scientist pendant, and I uh. Crushed my glasses in my hand, because for whatever reason, I thought they'd stay on during the ride, when haha no Smiler steals anything it can.

We get to the end of the ride and I'm, like, BEAMING. I'm giddy and excited, and just, having an amazing time. I legit say "thank you" to the ride I was definitely in a bit of an altered state of mind lmao.

But we step out of the car, and as I'm standing on the station, dizzy and giddy, the ride op runs down from the cabin...

And hands me not one. Not two. FIVE fasttracks. And says, in the most KNOWING voice. Oh, you'll be back again. And winks. AND I'M TOO STUNNED TO SPEAK so I like sign a "thank you" and Attempt to stammer it out too I'm like obviously completely bewildered lmao but thank you is a pretty clear sign so she got it lmao XD

I think that was kinda the moment where something flicked a switch in my mind and I kinda went. Oh. This is my life now, huh. I specifically remember thinking "well damn guess I gotta change my wardrobe" cuz everything I owned was blue and red GJFGSFSFSGD

We ride it again, of course. And then we ride Oblivion. I'm feeling AMAZING. By this point it's like almost 4 so we run to Thi13teen for the last ride of the day. We ride Thi13teen, and on the way out, my Dad goes...

"Hey, where are my keys?"

He'd lost his keys on one of the rides. We were thoroughly stranded. So we're running round the park independently trying to find them, and on my own, I wander back to X-Sector.

My memory blanks out here, because it was a bit of a weird week, and i WAS ill and going through a bunch of traumatic experiences at the time, memory gaps are fairly common for me. But next thing I know I'm back on Towers Street, talking to the folks in the box office. One of them hears that I haven't eaten all day and they're just like. Hold on one moment.. and runs over to Towers Trading, and grabs a huge tub of watermelon sweets. So I'm just chilling in the Box Office eating watermelon sweets with the staff talking about random art and theatre stuff while my dad's trying to organise a tow truck to take us home

The truck gets scheduled, about an hour later...

For 1am.

So we're chilling in the park until then. We go and sit in the car park and the security car circles us OMINOUSLY at a distance for like ten minutes till we smile and wave at them lmao. We go and chill at the hotels for a bit, explore by the Monorail station. Get to hear exactly when the music etc turns off. Eventually, we go to the hotels, grab a bottle of pepsi at the shop, and chill out for a bit. I think I ate a bag of Wotsits? I have no idea.

And that's kinda the story I guess!!

OH uh there is an additional bit.

We get a call a week later.

We're in Glasgow, at the time, on holiday.

It's Alton Towers, they found the keys. Where?

Underneath The Smiler. Specifically, the staff member said, "Smiler ate them"

They were completely unharmed, good as new, not even a SCUFF. Apparently they'd landed under the first inversion and were just.. completely fine. They sent them back for £6 and we had our car keys back.

So if you see me joking about "Damn can't believe Smiler ate my Dad's keys" that's where that's from GJFGSFSFS

#alton towers #the smiler #emeto cw

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jovojovo02 · 4 years

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7/10/20

So basically this wave of sadness really started a week before school started again last month and it was initially about the fact that I couldn’t mentally handle the summer work that was due for the next week. It made me feel stupid and inadequate. It brought me straight back to the dark place I was in after failing a bunch of my GCSEs in 2018. I was also frustrated because it felt like I was the only person in my life that was expected to do a lot of work during quarantine. Joyce didn’t have to do anything. Jeff didn’t have to do anything. Molly didn’t have to do anything. Victoria didn’t have to do anything. Tom didn’t have to do anything. Meanwhile there’s me who had to work and work for the majority of lockdown. It just wasn’t fair.

After my summer work meltdown I thought that I had reached my low point for the school year and that it could only go up from there. Boy was I wrong. At first I was doing fine and I’m still doing fine academically (I think) but I just feel plagued by all these things I don’t want to think about and all these emotions I don’t want to feel. Anger, frustration, loneliness, and jealousy. All these emotions 24/7. It’s making me feel like complete shit. There are many reasons for these emotions but the main reason is that I feel like I am so far behind my peers. I can’t drive. I’ve never had a job because I feel like I just wouldn’t be able to cope. I’ve never been in a proper relationship. I haven’t even kissed anyone as a teenager. And the worst thing of all is that I haven’t even finished fucking college yet. I simply hate everything at the moment. All I can literally do is just keep getting on with school and hope that May comes fast. I need a break.

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intheclique · 4 years

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CLIQUE talks ‘Kane Hannay’

In the words of Kane Hannay,’

‘Let the fun commence…’

Respected DJ.

Well-oiled producer in music.

And all-round nice guy.

Kane Hannay is no stranger to music production and the scene in Newcastle.

From an un-decisive young career taking him to ventures in photography, and the arts.

Kane Hannay separates himself in knowing exactly what he wants to do.

From hosting RUDOSA apart of his co-created brand ‘Raw Material’ to producing music like, ‘Intermittent Signals’ & his remix of ‘Outlander’ : ‘The Vamp’ he most certainly is making a very mature and well signalled named for himself in not only the North East but throughout the Industry as a whole.

As we sit down on this not so sunny day.

What lies ahead for the future of Kane Hannay?

Let’s find out…

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Hey Kane

First off thanks for taking the time to talk to us this afternoon.

It’s awesome, no problem.

Bit miserable isn’t it?

Yeah, aye its been bleak like.

How’s your day been?

Aye it’s been alright, not too bad. Been at work since 9 so looking forward to making some tunes.

How you been handling lock-down?

It’s been alright.

I haven’t really been anywhere other than work.

Other than that, it’s just been pretty much finishing coursework. Now that that’s all done it leaves me time to produce as much music as I can over the summer holidays.

I’ve actually got a remix I’m working on at the moment for another upcoming artist, ‘Vollans.’

Lee (one half of Acid Enigma) messaged me about producing a track to feature in a various artist compilation for ‘ESCALATE’ so that should be sick! So just being a busy bee…

So, tell us how’d you get into music?

Well… I’ve been into it for years and especially when I was younger, I’m talking like even at nursery age.

I have always been into it for years and especially when I was younger, I’m talking as young as nursery / reception age.

I have always been into music, might not be the same as what I’m into now but I have always been deeply interested in it. I remember being a small bairn dancing at the top of the stairs with my parent’s old hi-fi system and a little disco ball.

At the age of 12 I got my first controller. It was a Numark Mixtrack Pro. The bee’s knee back in the day.

I think around then I was listening to dubstep. However, over the years it progressed from that to electro house, garage, tech-house, and then finally for the last three years I’ve been glued to techno.

At 14 I got into the production of music. A friend from school was making tunes on his laptop and I was hooked. That’s when it all started. I was coming home every night after school and cooking up a new track.

At 16 after finishing my GCSE’s I really didn’t know what I wanted to do. I wasn’t the best student academically, so 6th form wasn’t an option. I had to visit Newcastle College where I found a music production course for electronic music. I picked up loads of good tips and got to meet some brilliant people there. At 18 I started the 3-year degree course. I’m coming into my last year this September.

Tell us about your latest song ‘Intermitted Signals.’ How did it come about?

So right, it’s funny because it’s; ‘the fastest song I’ve produced’in a while.

3 days max. Including the mastering.

It’s a fast-paced industrial track that consists of hard punchy drums, a trippy rolling lead and a calling vocal. (Link to track.)

It was for a project for college. I was running late, and I had to make an EP. Normally I’d spend days on a loop before eventually arranging it.

I simply must work my best under pressure. *chuckles*

Amazing stuff, so is it just techno you’re into? What else makes you move?

I pretty much listen to techno all the time. I do occasionally listen to jungle, and I love the old school drum and bass. I take some inspiration from it because it consists of heavy sampling which I find is my strength in the production of music.

I still listen to bits of house music as that’s what most of my DJ mates play.

You co created RAW MATERIAL tell us a little about it?

So, I came up with the idea about two years ago of creating an imprint called ‘Raw Material’ for dark industrial techno. It didn’t come to life till about a year ago when a module on our course was based around putting on an event. Me and co-founder Adam. (who I couldn’t have worked without) assembled a team amongst other students on our course. We were given a budget from the college £200 per student. There were seven of us in total. So, we looked at various venues in the toon to put a night on mid-week.

We were close to securing ‘The Cut’ however we had £1400 to put on a night and I wanted to go the extra mile of booking a headline act. I knew exactly who I wanted.

A huge inspirational artist of mine who I have been following since his first release on ‘SUARA’ back in 2018. We went over budget and I spend a grand out of my own pocket to pay for the extra costs.

As this was a side project for me, I wasn’t interested in continuing it after the first event. However, seeing how happy and how hard people were going for it. It felt amazing seeing it and it pushed me to another one in the future.

Although I lost lots of money, seeing how happy people were made up for it to think that we were able to make an event like this happen.

I’m hoping to recruit passionate upcoming techno artists in Newcastle to be a part of future events to support big artist bookings and for ‘Raw Material’ to become the leading event in Newcastle for techno.

Who’s your ideal booking?

Oooooo its always changing. It’s not necessarily who I want to book but more of which bookings can you bring crowds into.

I don’t intend on doing this for-profit bit I need to make sure I can make my money back. My ideal booking would be Glasgow’s finest ‘SLAM’ however there are many different artists like ‘Paula Temple, Rebekah, SHDW & Obscure Shape.’

I’m actually looking after lock-down to get a club booked but honestly, I think Newcastle could do with a booking like ‘SLAM.’

Who’d you like to collab with?

Collaborations I don’t normally think about but if I could at the moment I would choose ‘MRD’ or ‘Blicz.’ I love ‘Kahyia’ and would love to learn how to produce tracks like that.

I love the sounds and vibe in Gate 212 from ‘Blicz.’ Both artists own some amazing gear which I would love to try out.

Favorite Gig?

Since turning 18 I’ve attended a fair number of gigs in the toon. Loads of amazing nights out but if I had to choose one it would be ‘LOOP’ presents ‘Amelie Lens’ at ‘Digital Newcastle.’

It had the strongest line up support from ‘Farrago’ and ‘Milo Spykers.’ The sets were unbelievable. Proper hard and driving techno and it was ‘PACKED.’

Still wish I could revisit that night again.

Favorite Festival?

I’ve never been to a festival *shock* * facepalm* although I will eventually go to one.

Whisky or Beer?

Depends but I like well, quite like ‘Jack Daniels. Whisky it is ha-ha.

Perfect night out?

I’m not really into your typical student nights out in Newcastle. I’m more over a raver ha-ha.

My ideal night out would be like ‘APEX’ or ‘LOOP’. Basically, anything Techno.

Who influences you the most?

Pretty simple, RUDOSA.

I honestly think the stuff that he does like hiss DJ school, his own production style, the music he plays in his set. It’s unbelievable. He’s helping so many producers as well like myself.

I sent him a track and he gave me feedback to work on. He’s doing so much for the scene and that’s why I look up to him.

Honestly if it wasn’t my event he was playing at. I’d be all over the dance floor… ha-ha * true story *

Where do you see yourself in 3 years’ time?

I would like to have a full love set sorted by then. I recently bought a ‘Xone96 mixer’ and it connects to Ableton so hopefully 3 years’ time I can perform a full hour or twos set for a side project.

I’d hope by that point to have actually pulled a finger out and actually send an EP off to a decent size label like ‘SUARA.’ It’s a big label but pushes a harder style of techno as a pose to your Drumcode and WATB.

I’d like to have my tracks played out by bigger artists in the scene. But who knows what the future holds.

Any advice for those starting out?

My advice would be don’t pull a ‘Kane Hannay.’

Actually, watch tutorials on YouTube to learn how to do things because that’s probably the reason it’s taken me so long to get where I am with my production. I can’t watch a video without trying something random on Ableton. However, this has allowed me to be creative with my productions.

If you’re DJing and want to be the next ‘Amelie Lens, SNTS,’ or whatever. You need to produce music. Anyone can DJ but it’s your music that sets us apart from the next Artist.

Don’t sign your tracks to small labels. There’s no point in spending days making a tune to send it off to a label where no one will listen. Aim for larger or medium (well known) labels.

And go into your email and send them demo’s off to DJ’s and producers.

Shy bairns get nowt…

Thanks again Kane. Have an amazing evening.

CLIQUE

#music #producer #article #northeast #techno

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imdeclan · 5 years

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My ex stepdad killed my cousin.

So I’m going to start off with some backstory first. I grew up in the UK in a relatively poor family, my dad worked full time putting all his money into bills, utilities, food etc, while my mum looked after me and my younger brother at home everyday. My mum and dad had a terrible relationship, no violence but there were arguments every single night, most lasting 2 hours or more. Luckily my younger brother somehow managed to sleep through these arguments, I on the other hand was not so lucky to have such fortune.

Long story short my mum and dad split around about the time I was 10 or 11, I don’t remember the exact age, but was hard for me at the time but I got over it. Me and my brother remained living with my mum whilst my dad moved out into my grandma’s (his mum) house I believe until he found a new place to live. My mum took a break from dating for a year and then I first heard about the man that would ruin my life many years later...

I started noticing a man stay over quite occasionally over the next 2 or so months, I now realise this was probably for sex due to my mum being single for a year and being a full time mother not really allowing her time for hook ups or dating. This man was around 6ft3 and very built, not muscly or fat just broad, my best guess would be just a bit under 300lbs in weight, he had a couple tattoos and a bald head with a full beard, basically at the time he reminded me of some sort of biker and it was slightly intimidating for 12 year old me.

My mum finally after just seeing this man around my house told me she was seeing him and they were dating, I struggling to accept it as I was 12 and still dealing with my parents break up, I should mention that I’m autistic so when I was growing up any changes would be extremely hard to deal with. Anyways he seemed nice and he played video games so 12 year old me basically worshipped this man. He moved in around 4 months later and again he was nice, he took us all out to the park and he’d play video games with me all the time, him and my mum also got a dog together when he moved in, a little Shih Tzu called Molly. If you would’ve told me this sweet man was going to be someone that had put my whole family throw suffering I would’ve laughed in your face.

Over the next few years things started to change, my mum and my stepdad would start to argue a lot, I was use to this due to my parents relationship but my brother however was not so I spent a lot of nights going into his bedroom and playing games with him on his Xbox 360 and watching YouTube to try keep him distracted. I should also mention that these changes happened when I was 13 till 14 this is important because during these ages I had many issues myself: I was extremely bullied in high school due to my autism, I realised I was gay and was too scared to come out because my stepdad was quite homophobic, I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety before 13, and I was raped at 14. Back to the point, he became angrier, punching things around the house damaging a lot of furniture and shouting at my family very aggressively, mainly me and my mum. This continued until I was 15 where it all got worse.

So here’s the main things that happened while I was 15 that showed my stepdad was definitely not the nice person I thought he was: one time when I got into an argument with him he called the police on me and told them I had assaulted my mum and hit her, I think it goes without saying that I did not do this, the police came and arrested me and there was 15 year old me in the back of a police car because taken to a police station for something I didn’t do, I spent 2 hours in a cell before my dad was called and came to pick me up, it wasn’t until a while later I found out that my stepdad actually manipulated my mum into not picking me up herself, I stayed that night at my dads. The biggest thing that happened at this age was my stepdad tried to commit suicide, he got sent to a mental hospital for two months, I didn’t know much about his suicidal behaviour until he came out of the hospital and saw he had severely self harmed, carving “I hate my life”, “I want to die” and his name into his arms, I still to this day don’t know how he tried to kill himself.

My 16th birthday was just before GCSE season, which for anyone who isn’t from the UK it’s basically a season of really important exams that decide how good of a college you can get into. So I turned 16 and my stress was high with exams and dealing with the continued mental abuse from my stepdad at my home, which started to turn physical with my mother. And being in the UK where at 16 you can move out with parents consent, I moved into my dads, I was instantly much more calmer living there, my dad was less strict and there wasn’t any abuse, it was a cramped house with my dad, my stepmum, my baby sister, my dog and a lodger who was a friend of my dads as he needed some help paying rent and more people came on the weekends such as my brother and the lodgers 2 kids doing the usual weekend visits, due to the full house I had to sleep in the living room for a few months on a beanbag mattress thing, I didn’t mind all this though as I just wanted to get out my mums house, the beanbag mattress thing was surprisingly comfortable though. So basically I was doing better mentally, I just finished high school and started to go out with friends a lot in the summer which I rarely did and I even got my first boyfriend and came out as gay, everyone was accepting except for one person who I’m sure you can all guess. My stepdad would be extremely homophobic towards me whenever their were family issues involving me but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. Story over you’d think? That’s what I thought too, I moved out and away from that environment but the worst had still to come.

In January 2018 my mum called me at like 11pm, I wasn’t asleep because my sleep schedule was (and still is) awful but I was very tired, I answered and she was distraught saying how my 1 year old cousin had died, the phone call didn’t last long, just asking if she was okay and needed anything, she said no and that was that. I was never really close to said cousin having only met them less then 10 times but she was a good kid, so sweet and happy. My mum was very close though, she was like her third child and she definitely treated her as such. The next day my mum, my brother and my stepdad came over to my dads to talk to me about everything. My cousin was always an ill kid, being hospitalised near death more then twice, and basically my mum explained to me that she died from her horrible illnesses.

The day after that my mum and stepdad were apprehended, I just thought it was police protocol because my cousin died in my mums house while they were looking after her, I thought this until they just didn’t let them go home, next thing I knew they had been arrested on suspicion of murder. I was heartbroken, I didn’t know what to do with myself. What had happened was my mum went out to pick my little brother up from a shopping centre with his friend and when she got home my cousin was dying on the couch. We eventually had forensic evidence that my stepdad had beat her to death, more specifically she was killed due to him punching her full force in the stomach which split her intensives in half slowly killing her. Was my stepdad was faced with this evidence he then said that my mum told him to do it, that isn’t true, but as we know from earlier in this post my stepdad isn’t a stranger when it comes to lying to the police. This whole case took 1 and half years to finally conclude, moving the sentencing court date 4 times, I had to drop out of college and my family is in debt from helping out my mum because none of us doubted she was innocent, even my dad who had struggled to be on civil terms with my mum, agreed she wasn’t capable of that. Fast forward and I’m 18 in June 2019 where my stepdad gets sentenced to 22 years for murder and my mum got sentenced for 5 years for allowing it to happen, this man has cost me my mum for 5 years for something she didn’t do and killed my baby cousin. It’s still on my mind 24/7.

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careergrowthblog · 6 years

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What is a knowledge-rich curriculum? Principle and Practice.

I have found recent discussions and debates about the concept of a ‘knowledge-rich curriculum’ – or knowledge-led; knowledge-based – fascinating. Some of this has been explored brilliantly in various blogs. Here is a selection:

Summer Turner https://ragazzainglese.wordpress.com/2018/02/14/pub-quiz-or-published-what-are-the-aims-of-a-knowledge-rich-curriculum/

Jon Brunskill I’m bringing knowledge back. | Pedfed which is worth reading along with his school’s website info on curriculum. Reach Academy Feltham |Approach to Curriculum Design

Ben Newmark. Planning a knowledge curriculum.

Rosalind Walker. My #rEDBrum talk: The Nature of School Science Knowledge

Mark Enser: Knowledge in the classroom | Teaching it Real

Rebecca Foster and Claire Hill: On our #rEDDurrington presentation: Practical approaches to bringing research-informed practice to the classroom, the department and whole school | The Learning Profession

There are also numerous blogs from Michael Fordham (Knowledge and curriculum – Clio et cetera), Clare Sealy (Memory not memories – teaching for long term learning – primarytimerydotcom) or Christine Counsell: the dignity of the thing

Along with plenty of others, I initially struggled to get my ahead around this idea. As a science teacher I’ve always felt my curriculum was packed with knowledge and, without question, I’ve seen numerous cohorts sit lots of GCSE exams year after year, each requiring significant knowledge. However, having engaged in the debate, read Martin Robinson’s Trivium 21c and Dan Willingham’s work, I’m increasingly convinced that a knowledge-rich/focused/led/based curriculum is an important concept that we ought to embrace.

Based on my work with lots of schools in varying circumstances over the last few years, I would say that not only is this approach often different to the default practice, it offers a secure route to the rising standards that we’re continually seeking.

What is a knowledge-rich curriculum in principle?

Based on various ideas pulled from the blogs and books cited above, I would suggest there are four components:

Knowledge provides a driving, underpinning philosophy: The grammar of each subject is given high status; the specifics of what we want students to learn matter and the traditions of subject disciplines are respected. Skills and understanding are seen as forms of knowledge and it is understood that there are no real generic skills that can be taught outside of specific knowledge domains. Acquiring powerful knowledge is seen as an end itself; there is a belief that we are all empowered through knowing things and that this cannot be left to chance. There is also a sense that the creative, ’rounded and grounded’ citizens we all want to develop – with a host of strong character traits – will emerge through being immersed in a knowledge-rich curriculum.

The knowledge content is specified in detail: Units of work are supported by statements that detail the knowledge to be learned – something that can be written down. We do not merely want to ‘do the Romans’; we want children to gain some specified knowledge of the Romans as well as a broad overview. We want children to know specific things about plants and about The Amazon Rainforest, WWII, Romeo and Juliet and Climate Change. We want children to have more than a general sense of things through vaguely remembered knowledge encounters; in addition to a range of experiences from which important tacit knowledge is gained, we want them to amass a specific body of declarative and procedural knowledge that is planned. This runs through every phase of school: units of work are not defined by headings but by details: eg beyond ‘environmental impact of fossil fuels’, the specific impacts are detailed; beyond ‘changes to transport in Victorian Britain’, specific changes are listed.

Knowledge is taught to be remembered, not merely encountered: A good knowledge-rich curriculum embraces learning from cognitive science about memory, forgetting and the power of retrieval practice. Our curriculum is not simply a set of encounters from which children form ad hoc memories; it is designed to be remembered in detail; to be stored in our students’ long-term memories so that they can later build on it forming ever wider and deeper schema. This requires approaches to curriculum planning and delivery that build in spaced retrieval practice, formative low-stakes testing and plenty of repeated practice for automaticity and fluency.

Knowledge is sequenced and mapped deliberately and coherently: Beyond the knowledge specified for each unit, a knowledge-rich curriculum is planned vertically and horizontally giving thought to the optimum knowledge sequence for building secure schema – a kinetic model for materials; a timeline for historical events; a sense of the canon in literature; a sense of place; a framework for understanding cultural diversity and human development and evolution. Attention is also given to known misconceptions and there is an understanding of the instructional tools needed to move students from novice to expert in various subject domains.

What is a knowledge-rich curriculum in practice?

The best way to attack this is through some examples:

Exhibit A: The Romans

If you imagine some Year 8s looking back to their time in Year 4, when they ‘did the Romans’, what would we want them to remember? They might remember their trip to the ruins or the museum, the video of the gladiators and something about togas and what the soldiers looked like. They might have a general sense that Romans had an empire and that they were around a long time ago. In a knowledge-rich curriculum they would remember all of this but would also be expected to know the terms empire, emperor, centurion, amphitheatre, aqueduct. They would know who Julius Caesar was; they would know a set of dates, placing the Romans in time in relation to Jesus and 1066 and be able to identify the location of key Roman sites in the UK and Europe.

All of the teaching could be supported by giving students a knowledge organiser with all the key facts on it from which various quizzes and tests are derived to support their retrieval practice. This would be part of a long-term plan that ensured students returned to Roman history beyond Year 4; there would be an expectation that their knowledge would be built on, not left behind.

Exhibit B: Parliament Hill Science

At this Camden school, the science department has developed a superb set of resources to support students with learning. This is linked to their FACE It approach described in this post: FACE It. A formula for learning. The idea is that students need to master the recall of basic science facts and concepts on the road to deep understanding and the ability to apply knowledge to problem solving. They are provided with excellent study guides; more detailed than a knowledge organiser but stripped down from what might be in a text-book. Here’s a sample from the GCSE unit on genetics and selection.

Significantly, students are shown the quizzes that will be used to test them on their knowledge. They are embedded in the books. They are seen in advance so that students can learn the form in which knowledge is sometimes expressed. It guides their learning. Students are asked to learn the material after being taught it and then take the quizzes without any study aids. The aim is that all students get all the questions right. That’s the point. Their theory is that, if students can’t get the simple factual recall questions right, they have no chance of then getting the ‘application to new contexts’ questions right.

This embedded quizzing teachers lower attaining students to build confidence, gaining important study skills and has paid dividends. It also helps a team of teachers to focus their energies and to plan collaboratively. It’s a Godsend for any new or non-specialist teachers too.

Exhibit C: Trial by Ordeal

If you were teaching the GCSE History theme study on Crime and Punishment, you might show this BBC Bitesize video: https://www.bbc.com/education/clips/zrtk2hv. It’s a great colourful story full of information, examples, facts, concepts, gory details. You could watch it and have a wonderful engaging discussion during a lesson. But…. some days and weeks later, what would students remember? If you hoped students would recall as much as possible simply through absorbing information or by making their own notes, you’re going to get a wide range of responses – and for certain, the weakest students will have the worst notes and, in all likelihood, the lowest level of recall. It’s not enough.

In a knowledge-rich approach, we don’t leave this to chance. We spell it all out. Alongside watching the video and having the discussion, we make the note-making absolutely explicit. These are the key facts; this what everyone must know; this is what you must all remember. Not only this, but at least all of this:

You might choose to train students to produce their own structured notes in a quizzable format or you might just give them the notes and focus on the retrieval practice and application. But what you won’t do is all students to scrabble around dredging memories for half-remembered titbits of facts in the hope that they have a coherent picture of the idea of trial by ordeal. You control it; you are precise about it.

Exhibit D: Sequenced knowledge of Motors.

This is my favourite bit of teaching physics – one of them at least. If I teach this through a knowledge-rich approach I want to make sure that the knowledge builds securely. Firstly, say in Year 8, through demos and practicals, I want students to build their tacit knowledge of the key phenomena: magnetism, magnetic fields, attraction and repulsion, the idea of ‘strength’ of a magnet; forces; current in circuits – each with direction and magnitude; the idea that phenomena interact. All of this can be highly qualitative – simply focusing on changes of direction and the simple awe and wonder thing that motors work at all in our universe. I will also secure recall and understanding of some key terminology.

Later, as part of a spiral curriculum, avoiding cognitive overload and building on prior knowledge, I need students to understand and use F = BIL and Fleming’s left hand rule. I need them to know the terms, that magnetic flux density more or less means ‘strength’, has a symbol B and units Teslas. I need them to learn the equation by heart and practise using it and manipulating it. All of that needs focus – so that they think about the equation away from the buzzy distraction of a sparking, whizzing motor. I build the sequence carefully, deliberately with a focus on practice and recall and schema-building.

Is this new? Well, yes I think it is to many teachers and in many schools – especially once the cogscience combines with the idea of subject grammar. It’s way beyond some reductive idea of rote learning and regurgitating facts for no purpose. It’s about ensuring students always have a secure knowledge platform allowing them to reach the next level. But it’s not too important (is it?) whether we did this before… some of us will; some won’t and that will depend on context, subject, phase… The point is that we do it now. It’s actually rather exciting….

What is a knowledge-rich curriculum? Principle and Practice. published first on https://medium.com/@KDUUniversityCollege

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workreveal-blog · 7 years

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How teachers could drive students back to schools and colleges

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How teachers could drive students back to schools and colleges

Faculty teachers are in all likelihood to welcome the brand new Ofsted chief’s comments approximately the pressures of responsibility, that’s a key challenge. The ASCL conference is also in all probability to cognizance on developing investment forces in faculties.

A brand new survey with the aid of ASCL favourite shows that headteachers are being pressured to increase magnificence sizes, axe GCSE and A-level courses and cut mental health and special needs assist for students due to a loss of budget.

School trips, college clubs, sports furnishings and summer schools are being cancelled, teachers.even as School premises are falling into disrepair, IT system is out-of-date, and universities are unable to shop for textbooks for brand spanking new GCSE courses, the file claims. A bad teacher can’t help students. Even bad school teachers make future students black.

school

Eight out of 10 respondents (eighty-two%) who took component in the survey said that they had accelerated their magnificence sizes within the past year because they had a fewer group of workers. A fifth said there had been an extra six to ten students in a category, at the same time as some training exceeded 40 scholars.

More than seven in 10 (seventy-two%) of those in colleges coaching GCSEs or vocational publications for 14- to 16-yr-olds said guides had been dropped inside the past 12 months, at the same time as in 6th bureaucracy 79% said A-level courses have been being cut because of funding shortages. Bad teachers also turn this upside down. So a student needs to find a college good enough. In other words, use college matches or college matchmaker or search for best universities.

Of folks who mentioned cuts to GCSE courses, forty-four% said design and technology (DT) had been misplaced; other casualties had been acting arts publications (26%), music (18%), German (18%), artwork and design options (16%), drama (14%), Spanish (8%) and French (6%). At A-stage, once more it turned into DT (forty-one%), followed by way of the track (39%) and German (37%).

The report, posted on Friday, paints a bleak photograph of the impact of investment pressures on England’s colleges and comes after parents and instructors have been disappointed using Wednesday’s price range, which prioritised loose colleges and new grammar schools.

“Over the last six years, we’ve made significant ‘performance savings’, and the School is beginning to creak with all staff running to full potential,” one School chief told ASCL. “Regardless of this, our projected budget suggests a £1.4m deficit by way of 2020.”

“The pupils getting into this college in 2017 will have a vastly inferior deal,” said any other.

“We are shifting to bare bones education; if they haven’t been already, all the additives that made schooling unique and exciting are being eroded away,” said some other.

instructors are primarily concerned about the loss of pastoral and mental health aid in schools as headteachers are trying to find savings – fifty-eight% stated unique needs support were affected even as 50% said mental health funding had been reduced.

One School chief advised ASCL: “The number of college students with complicated wishes, which includes mental fitness conditions, is rising and we’ve needed to reduce the supply to aid them. This has often most useful added to their misery and has made it Greater difficult for them to engage with their studying.”

Malcolm Trobe, the intervening time trendy secretary of ASCL, stated the survey showed the not possible alternatives Faculty leaders had had to make.

“decreased budgets way fewer staff and, with the fewer body of workers, magnificence sizes must ensure growth. faculties can’t maintain the extent of aid they provide to students or the variety of difficulty options and enrichment sports.

“The effect on intellectual health guide is especially worrying at a time while the incidence of mental fitness problems amongst young human beings is rising and nearby fitness offerings are crushed and beneath-resourced.”

The government says spending on colleges is at a report high. However, schools say rising prices of country wide insurance and pensions contributions, in addition to the creation of the apprenticeship levy following month, are eroding budgets.

The country-wide Audit Workplace, meanwhile, has warned that faculties will need to discover savings of £3bn via 2019-20.

Returned in September, Nic Fearon-Low acquired a letter from the top of his daughter’s School, Coombe Hill Juniors in Kingston upon the Thames, south-west London, suggesting a voluntary parental contribution of £60 12 months for Faculty funds. He turned into; he says, “a piece put out”. Two months later any other letter arrived, signed a number of local heads, the caution of a dire funding shortfall if the government’s plan for A brand new countrywide investment formulation, taking money from a few regions and giving More to others, is going in advance in its modern form.

At this factor,

Fearon-Low says, “I was incensed” – no longer on the headteachers, But at the crisis they face. “They should come to us to meet core investment. That any authorities can place them in that role is awful.” He launched a petition asking the training secretary, Justine Greening, to deal with headteachers’ worries.

teacher

A record by the National Audit Office has stated schools face an investment discount of 8% in real phrases using 2019-20. They are already going through many expanded charges: higher contributions to countrywide coverage and teachers’ pensions, the advent of the “statewide residing wage”, pay rises and the apprenticeship levy. There’s no extra money for those; neither is funding according to student growing in step with inflation. Faculties have made some painful cuts in staffing and offerings, which includes counselling. Now a few are begging.

There aren’t any guidelines to save you schools from looking for voluntary expenses from parents, whether or not for extras inclusive of journeys, or for basics like books and body of workers salaries, as long as there may be no hyperlink among that and admission to the Faculty. But it doesn’t imply the concept is famous.

Mark Clutterbuck

The Headteacher of Coombe Hill juniors, feels he has no alternative. “I, in reality, don’t like asking dad and mum for money,” he says. “It feels uncomfortable.” He hopes mother and father’ reaction might be “frustration with country wide authorities because it’s a huge issue”.

Many different faculties also are turning to mother and father, it appears. Ilkley Grammar College has asked mother and father for as much as £a hundred and eighty a yr.

college

A letter despatched in September through the Hawthorns number one School in Wokingham says that Regardless of lobbying its local MP and council for higher investment, and seeking to store cash on staffing, the Faculty is “nonetheless suffering to balance the price range, that’s in warfare with our preference to provide the training and learning possibilities we need for our scholars”.

Its headteacher, Pat Keaton, says: “I’d reached the factor I couldn’t manage to pay for to update my reading scheme, and that’s a core principal for a centre concern.” Her letter to mother and father asks for between £1 and £5 a month, even as seeking to reassure them that they need to no longer sense “below economic stress or sense responsible” if they can not pay. Does she suppose she needs to need to ask mother and father for donations? “Genuinely now not. Dad and mum told me they have been willing to do it, But it’s wrong. They’re already paying [for education] in their taxes.”

At Caversham number one in studying, headteacher Ruth Perry has simply requested mother and father for £1 an afternoon, £190 per yr, because of cuts to the education budget, and said the decision turned into “no longer one that We are glad to be making”. And in Muswell Hill, north London, Fortismere Secondary School is linking its economic plea without delay to unavoidable improved prices – rises in pension and country wide insurance contributions and pay increases – and the planned public investment method. “Indicative numbers advise that Fortismere will lose 1.5% of its price range in 2018/19 and three% in 2019/20, period” says the letter, dated January this 12 months. The School is calling every circle of the relative time, due to the fact No matter preceding fundraising efforts, “departments nevertheless face a massive shortfall in funding in comparison to previous years”.

Grammar faculties aren’t immune.

Pate’s Grammar School in Cheltenham has a button on its homepage known as Making Ends Meet, which states it faces “such extreme revenue pressures that we haven’t any opportunity However to direct our entire fundraising efforts to help the ‘sales pot’, in place of to buy additional sources”. Pate’s isn’t asking parents to pay for extras – it’s clear that the £a hundred twenty-five,000 it is trying to raise this 12 months is for centre investment. Different grammar faculties are threatening to comply with healthy.

So what do dad and mum experience is acceptable? It seems to come back down to what’s an applicable “greater”, and what’s essential to teaching and getting to know. Joanna York, co-founder of the parents’ marketing campaign Honest Funding For All colleges, says three schools in her region are requesting ordinary direct debit expenses. “What has changed is the want for colleges to depend upon dad and mum to plug the shortfall. It’s exceptional from having a whip round for the Christmas display,” she says. “We make no complaint of the heads or governors – our criticism is geared toward the government, that’s causing an unsustainable financial situation for our schools. It is no secret. However, the authorities are making an attempt to fake that it isn’t always occurring, Teachers are the main core over here.

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