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CPD activity: Linking with the community - welcoming visitors
From the CPD activities online resource
Invited visitors can cause great excitement and offer
huge benefits to pupils and staff alike, especially if both you
and the visitor
are well prepared beforehand. This activity aims to generate discussion
about what to consider when inviting visitors into school and
what
visitors might find helpful for their own preparation. Here are
a few points that you might like to throw into the discussion
when
participants are making lists of suggestions for a successful visit.
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Is the visitor aware of and in agreement with the school's
aims and ethos, the policies on Equal Opportunities, and codes
of behaviour?
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Are they clear about the pupils' and your own expectations,
and the level at which to pitch the presentation?
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Are you clear about and happy with what the visitor intends
to do?
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Are you and the visitor sure about the pronunciation of each
other's names?
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Are you clear about how the visitor wishes to be introduced?
What to do:
1. In groups, ask the participants to choose a classroom topic,
and then suggest visitors who might be helpful in its teaching.
2. Next ask them to focus on one of their suggested visitors, and
make two lists. First, everything the visitor would need to know
before their visit. Second, everything you as hosts would need to
have considered in order to make the visit successful. (Refer to
the ideas above if necessary.)
3. In a plenary session, amalgamate the views from the groups.
Aim to produce some practical and agreed 'Guidelines for Visits'
- some relating to the school, others to the visitor. To maximise
the mutual benefit to visitor and school, the Guidelines should
be available for staff reference, and those applicable to visitors
should be sent out before the visit.
4. To end the session, distribute copies of the 'Visitor
checklist' from Sanders and Swinden (1990) and discuss with
the person next to you. This is particularly useful in ensuring
that pupils maximise the experience of preparing for and looking
after a visitor. It relates to both the process and content of a
visit.
From the CPD activities online resource
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