» Welcoming New Students and Teachers to Your School

LESSONS

KEY STAGE 3

• 7 FIRST IMPRESSIONS Students design a reception area to encourage awareness of the school as a potentially welcoming place.
• 9 SHY - WHY? Students write a diary to develop empathy with new students.
• 11 SWOT OR NOT? This page examines the pressures on new students to avoid seeming conscientious, using poster work.
• 13 WHY I DO IT Students consider the reasons given for bad behaviour towards a new teacher, and why they should behave well.
• 15 BEING NEW Students consider their attitudes towards new adults in school by writing an advice sheet.
• 17 MAKING FRIENDS Students are encouraged to empathise with newcomers and evaluate strategies for making friends.
• 19 THE WAY TO TALK Students evaluate accents and dialects in order to understand prejudices about a newcomer's speech.
• 21 STARTING AGAIN An illustration forms the basis for considering problems faced by non-teaching staff starting work in a school.
• 23 CAN I SIT HERE? A narrative is used to encourage empathy with students joining the group.
• 25 ON THE PANEL Students devise questions for teaching job applicants to examine what they look for in a new teacher.
• 27 WELCOME TO... Students plan a welcome reception to examine what would make new members of staff feel welcome.
• 29 THIS IS OUR SCHOOL Students are asked to think positively but objectively about their school, and to consider how it would seem to new staff.
• 31 YOU'RE NEW, AREN'T YOU? Students investigate behaviour towards new teachers, and script a conversation with parents about a letter from school.
• 33 ARE YOU A PROPER TEACHER? Students consider their attitudes towards student teachers, by writing a student teacher's diary.
• 35 TIME FOR A CHANGE Students examine reasons for changing school, in order to encourage empathy with newcomers.

KEY STAGE 4

• 37 FITTING IN Students rank illustrated teenagers and suggest 'makeovers', to examine the role of appearance in social acceptance.
• 39 CHANGE OF ATTITUDE Students explore prejudices towards newcomers who are noticeably 'different'.
• 41 BRIGHT SPARK! Students look at pressures on newcomers to avoid seeming conscientious; they then design a work routine leaflet.
• 43 THE IN-CROWD Students consider and comment on how people behave on entering a new group.
• 45 ACTING UP Students consider how and why they 'act up' with a new teacher, and list the consequences.
• 47 WHO'S NEW? Students consider behaviour towards new non-teaching staff by evaluating a caretaker's resignation letter.
• 49 JOIN THE CREW Students consider one means of making all staff - especially newcomers - feel that they are a valued part of the school.
• 51 THAT POSH PERSON Students examine how the class element of speech influences social acceptance, and write to a newspaper about their views.
• 53 A NEW START Students are encouraged to empathise with a mature newly trained teacher.
• 55 NEW SCHOOL BLUES Students are encouraged to empathise with newcomers joining the group, and are asked to write a letter as if from a new student.
• 57 THE TOUR Students are encouraged to empathise with teaching job applicants, and develop an objective view of the school.
• 59 RECEPTION DUTY Students examine what is involved in welcoming the public to the school, and write an advice sheet for reception duty.
• 61 THE NEW TEACHER Students devise an action plan to help new teachers reach maximum efficiency as soon as possible.
• 63 FINDING OUT THE FACTS Students devise a questionnaire to gauge how welcoming the school is to parents.
• 65 WHY ARE YOU TAKING US? Students examine attitudes to supply teachers, and write a letter to a supply teaching agency.