Flight, what is it? Questions answered.

Welcome to Flight.

Thanks for taking the time to have a look at us and what we offer. In this first blog I want to explain exactly what Flight is and how your school will benefit by working in partnership with us.

I guess the first obvious question to answer is, ‘why do  we need Flight?’ in what is already an overcrowded, overwhelming and confusing educational landscape why add a new player?

When schools all need time to pause, breathe and consolidate, why add something else into the mix?

There is a simple answer, and that is, change is the one certainty in our lives [professional and personal] so we can either resent and resist it or see it as an opportunity that will benefit us providing we control and own it [as much as is possible].

That's the general answer but how does Flight help here?

The answer is two fold.

1. Yes, it is true that the landscape is very busy and is likely to remain so as schools strive to provide rich and inclusive learning environments where students do more than survive, they thrive and where there is a joy, a sense of wonder and  a sense of magic in every day. The problem is that most of the external support offered to school tends to be done to  schools and not done with  schools. Some new research/technology/programme/requirement is offered to schools, often with some vigour or even an actual mandate and schools have little time or space to contextualise and ‘own’ the initiative. They are expected to adopt and in adopting somehow be fixed.  Inherently this is wrong. The only group that really knows and understands a child is the community that surrounds and loves it, whanau and, increasingly, school. This is the  village that surrounds the child and it  needs to be able to filter/contextualise, authenticate and ‘own’ any change if it is to be  beneficial and sustainable.  This is where Flight  comes in. Our purpose is to take what is rich within a school, review what needs attention and work with the school to develop a cohesive process and plan that will work for the school and is sustainable. One that has the school vision as the anchor and the aspiration and works to ensure that every action /initiative/ taken by the school aims at helping the akonga meet the vision, live the values and develop the skills required to be able to leave the school with their mana intact and their heads held high with a firm  and confident focus on their next stage of life. So what we offer is a partnership that respects the mana of the school and aims at empowering the school in order to empower its akonga. See more about this process here.
   

2. Every school wants to do better, every school wants to do the very best for all of its learners. As a result, we are sometimes guilty of grabbing the next shiny new idea in the hope that it will solve our problems and unlock the door to a bright new future. The problem is that, after a while, this acquisition of, often quite random initiatives or approaches, will swamp the school and leave it cluttered and confused. This chaotic picture is a bit like a Christmas tree. We start with the tree [school]  and then over time we grab more and more lights and brightly coloured ornaments to decorate the tree and make it ‘better’ until we have a blaze of colour but the actual tree is lost under the baubles. That is the danger we face, especially as we are reluctant to let anything go.  What is needed is a reflection and review process, using the school's vision and awareness to see how the initiatives are linked and able to be contextualised. The aim being to develop a cohesive and interdependent process that enhances all aspects of school life.  For example, Introducing wellbeing as a new ‘ornament’ is unlikely to ‘stick’ long term unless we deliver it through deliberate actions, this requires us to look at the timetable, meeting structures and PLD as well as our current approaches to restorative practices, assessment, discipline etc. We need to filter all of this through our vision to ensure relevance for our situation.  This is the only way schools can gain clarity, cohesion and sustainability in an ever changing, unpredictable and volatile world. 

How does Flight do this?

We use our matrix to identify what areas the school needs/wants to work on and at what level and use our guiding document to develop a plan around these focus areas. We plan with an awareness of the interconnections that operate within the ecosystem that is a school. Introducing a series of critical and transferable skills is pointless unless they are incorporated and prioritised as a deliberate part of the school’s strategic plan, unless they are developed through deliberate planning and delivery. We need to justify the initiative by identifying how it will enhance the vision of the school and empower all akonga. I will explore this concept of interconnection in my next blog. Nothing exists in isolation. We look at a school as a living ecosystem and not a fragmented series of cells. After all, when a flower does not thrive we don't just blame the plant, we look at the environment that surrounds it, the nutrients in the soil, the sunlight, water etc.

Our learners are our flowers. Please get in contact and let's have a conversation about how Flight can work for you.