Honywood’s Celebration of Learning – Dr Barbie Clarke

Celebration of learning at Honywood is an emotional affair. Asked to present prizes for achievement to learners at the school this month, I met with some truly amazing young people. Honywood Community Science School in Essex was one of our first Tablets for Schools research partners; the leadership, staff, teachers and learners have contributed a great deal to our findings, as well as the development of the Tablets for Schools initiative. Despite the cold, and the snow that was slowly settling that evening, parents, friends and family turned out in force in support.
As with all the schools in our research, Honywood has inspiring leadership and staff. Many had been there since 7a.m. but were still upbeat, cheerful, and truly committed to their young learners some twelve hours later, and as proud as the parents there of what these young people had achieved.
Some learners gave speeches, and it was difficult to keep a dry eye. As deputy head Mark Williams explained, achievement does not necessarily mean getting the top marks; hearing some of the speeches such achievement could be described as ‘overcoming adversity’. All the prize winners had their own remarkable stories; young people are coping with disabilities, learning difficulties, broken limbs, and bereavement to name some. And yet they had persevered and achieved their goals.
It was particularly enlightening to hear the part that having their own tablet device, combined with the adoption of ‘honyskills’, had played in the young people’s experience of the school, and especially in the way communication with teachers and peers had been supported by this. Year 7 Wesley spoke of the technology helping him, in his first year at secondary school, to be more creative, and improve his communication skills. Year 10 Rebecca explained that she had been brought up in several different countries, but at Honywood had finally felt a sense of belonging, helped greatly by teachers who ‘extend their teacher roles far beyond the four magnolia walls of our classrooms’.
Equally movingly Year 9 Grace explained in a clear voice how she had been born severely deaf, and the way in which she had to rely on technology to help her learn, but also how supportive the staff had consistently been. And Alona, Year 9, described how she had arrived at the school from Israel, without a full grasp of English, and how the tablet device had allowed her to keep up in lessons by the use of translation and dictionaries. She too emphasised the support teachers gave her through her tablet, ‘it is very easy to contact teachers if I am not sure about the independent study, or what we have learnt. The teachers reply very rapidly and do what they can to help, even in their own time!’.
And Adam in Year 8 talks about the way his tablet device had assisted him in winning his prize for creativity, noting its function in collaborative learning. Adam explains ‘I like to present my work by mostly creating movies, eBooks or PowerPoint’s for my classmates benefit and mine’. He adds ‘I think that the iPad has made a huge impact on the learning at Honywood for everyone.’.
Hearing young people’s acceptance speeches was truly moving and inspiring, and as head teacher Simon Mason said, anything he had prepared to say would never do justice to them. A selection of some of the excellent speeches can be downloaded on the Tablets for Schools website. Congratulations to all the young people who received their prizes on that cold night, 13 March, 2013.