Biography
I am Daniel Guiney. I read History (2.i Hons) at the University of Sheffield in 2000 and trained to teach under the tutelage of Bob Unwin at the University of Leeds (PGCE) in 2001. I began teaching history at Springwood High School in King's Lynn in 2001 and consider myself an exciting and dynamic classroom practioner. I then became a Year Leader at Neatherd High School in Dereham in 2003 before moving on to take on my present role as Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator in 2008. I have hugely enjoyed all my roles and presently work at Wayland Community High School, an 11-16 comprehensive in Watton. The three paragraphs below outline some of my achievements in these three fields.
History. I have a genuine passion for Irish history as well as that of Industrial Britain. Some of my achievements include regular healthy exam results: my most recent GCSE results showed considerable value added including 13 A*s. I have led several history trips. These have included sites as varied as the National Archives, the British Library, IWM, local castles, universities, themed events, and a city history trip. I have also led residential trips for approximately 100 students to both Berlin and the Battlefields of France and am an established GCSE examination marker. I have also co-led various history projects within school. These have included working on British Council International Projects. During the summer of 2008 I was awarded the Her Majesty Queen Mother Great War Scholarship by the Royal British Legion and spent 5 weeks researching the Norfolk Regiment on the Somme the findings of which I fed back at county network which will impact upon all schools in Norfolk. I am presently working on a Gifted and Talented project based around the research skills I developed during this work.
Pastoral. My pastoral responsibilities have included creating and implementing whole-school strategies to deal with challenging behaviours, the findings of which I published in the British Journal of Pastoral Education. I have also devised PSHE schemes of learning, regularly delivered enspiriting assembly programmes, organised Year 11 Leaver's Proms and Leaver's Books, and implemented stress-busting and exam-busting workshops focussed on revision skills. This also included devising a mock exam results simulation day and using data to boost student performance. 36% of my Year group achieved at least one grade above their Yellis predictions, up 24% on the previous year. I have found the application of ICT invaluable in promoting a positive ethos and in rewarding student success. Pastoral projects I have been engaged with include the CAMHS project which aimed to promote positive mental health across school settings nationwide. The objective of the project was to encourage multi-layered friendships, provide students with genuine vehicles of self-expression, and to boost student sense of ownership. I delivered my findings in October 2007 in two 30 minute talks at the Healthy Schools conference at Carrow Road, Norwich. I have also delivered a workshop to a variety of childrens' service professionals on the subject of student self-advocacy at the Norfolk Secondary Behaviour Forum. Moreover, I have an ongoing passion for social and emotional aspects of learning. I very much hope to pursue this in the near future and am presently writing up my findings into a book which I hope shortly to publish. This year I will be completing a TLA in collaboration with partner schools and county advisors on the issue of anti-bullying.
SEN. I was excited to be asked to be a keynote speaker at the second annual SEN conference in Nottingham in April 2008. Moreover, I am presently pursuing a Masters Degree in Advanced Educational Practice at the University of East Anglia with a research focus on Gifted and Talented Children which will dovetail neatly with the exciting challenges of my present post. I will be delivering whole school training in January 2009. I am in the process of compiling a 'rough guide' for future SENCos in Norfolk basde upon my experiences of the role in 2008-9. Finally, I am looking forward to taking part in a SSAT visit to Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands in February 2009. The visit will focus on inclusion and literacy in mainstream Dutch schooling as well as giving me an opportunity to examine models of leadership and management.
Most importantly, I place relationships at the heart of a very child-centred approach to learning and I rather enjoy it!