About
Kaleidoscope Education was founded by Jim Henderson in 2019. Following a long career in teaching since 1984, including 19 years in school leadership and the headship of two schools, Jim is returning to his original passion - to inspire a new generation of science enthusiasts through high quality curriculum design, creative and exciting learning activities and strong and confident teaching.
The newly-revitalised importance of curriculum, amplified by the new focus from Ofsted, is exciting and encourages school science departments to revisit the intent and implementation of their curriculum offer. We can help you to shape that new curriculum.
Jim’s deep understanding of the connectivity of the science curriculum, his experience of many years of science teaching, including A-level Physics, and his long experience of school leadership means he is able to diagnose the strengths and areas for development of your school’s science offer and work closely with middle leaders, teachers and science technicians to strengthen that offer.
We provide training for science colleagues, in particular running programmes to support the development of non-specialists as teachers of science and non-Physics science teachers as teachers of Physics.
We provide a range of audits for senior leaders and trusts and work collaboratively with schools to enrich and strengthen your science offer.
Who we are
Kaleidoscope Educational Consulting Ltd was established in March 2019 to provide training, support, consultancy and enrichment opportunities to primary and secondary schools to enhance their delivery of their science curriculum.
Our founder, Jim Henderson, graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in Natural Sciences. He trained as a teacher in 1984 and has worked as a teacher of science and physics in secondary comprehensive schools across London since then, teaching up to A-level Physics.
Jim was head of science at Camden School for Girls from 1991-2000. During this time he was involved in an early Department of Trade and Industry WISE initiative. He was also involved in research projects and PGCE training with King’s College London.
Since 2000 he has been in school leadership including two headships, opening a brand new secondary school in Lambeth in 2013 and spending two years as consultant headteacher in a school in special measures.
He has now returned to his original passion for science education in general and physics in particular, able to bring his leadership experience to bear to support schools and science departments to strengthen and excel.
He is also close to completing his first novel set in the world of particle physics research…
How we can help?
The list below provides examples of the services we are told that are most wanted by schools and trusts. However, we are happy to have a discussion about providing a bespoke service to meet your individual needs.
Science audits
We will spend one to two days in your school reviewing all aspects of your science offer. This will result in a report with sections on Curriculum, Assessment and Tracking, Leadership and Structure, Quality of Teaching and Learning and Resources. We will help to develop an action plan to support identified areas of development
Curriculum review
We will review your curriculum to ensure it meets the requirements of the KS1-3 National Curriculum and/or GCSE and A-level specifications. We will help your science lead to articulate the intent of their curriculum. We will ensure the teaching sequence is logical and that the big ideas of science are mastered. We will examine and make proposals about key practical work and other learning opportunities to develop literacy, numeracy and ICT
Middle leadership support
We can provide external coaching or mentoring for the science lead in your primary school or head of science in secondary to make sure that he or she has a strong vision for the place of science in your school and the leadership skills to bring the team together to deliver this. This work can be carried out with an initial face-to-face meeting followed by phone or email support as needed
NQT/RQT support
Do you have an NQT or RQT in science who has potential to be an excellent teacher but you do not have the time, capacity or expertise to provide the support and guidance they need? We can work with that colleague to strengthen their subject knowledge, pedagogy confidence and classroom management
Growing your own
Do you struggle to recruit strong teachers of science for your school or MAT? Do you have strong teachers in other subjects who are ambitious to broaden their portfolio? We can deliver a cohort training programme over the course of an academic year to develop up to 12 strong non-science specialist teachers into strong teachers of science
A-level Physics teaching support
Does your school run A-level Physics? Is this delivered by a single subject specialist, a non-specialist or a newly-qualified Physics teacher? We can provide support, knowledge enhancement, strong teaching approaches, support with using and delivering practical sessions using specialist equipment to enhance the delivery of this course
Equipment training for science teachers and technicians
Do you have pieces of specialist equipment in cupboards that no-one knows how to use?; do you want to purchase new equipment but are not sure how to make it sing?; is there a nearby school from whom you might borrow equipment but you do not know how to set it up and use it? We can provide training to ensure you get maximum learning value and engagement out of this equipment
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