How to... ➜ help a school to face outwards for the sake of the most vulnerable pupils ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... How to... help a school to face outwards for the sake of the most vulnerable pupils Chris Bennett tells how he developed his school to be outward facing through setting up an alternative curriculum and developing staff through partnership working with outside agencies. ■■ Context Leasowes High School is a co-educational 11-16 secondary school with 1,018 pupils in Halesowen, an area of deprivation in the West Midlands: a third of pupils are entitled to free school meals. Ofsted judges it as requiring improvement. We needed to raise achievement, decrease exclusions and improve attendance from 92%. My focus was to help the most vulnerable students. Leasowes has a range of existing links with partners who support the school’s work, yet teaching staff often do not have the time to maintain and utilise links - or to foster new ones. ■■ What I wanted to achieve I identified a number of aims, which were to: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ establish Leasowes as an outward facing school by making links with other agencies, services, businesses and voluntary groups. connect Leasowes staff with external partners by initiating a frequent staff e-bulletin. create alternative curriculum packages for young people at risk of exclusion from school. initiate targeted support for young people at Greenhill Alternative Learning Campus promote the alternative curriculum to neighbouring schools with the creation of a learning prospectus. promote information about the external services and activities available to the school community by creating dedicated webpages. ■■ How I went about it Initially I met department heads to establish the strands of outward facing work that would complement the curriculum, the aim being to make lessons more interesting and contextual for learners. The two days per week that were granted by the Sinnott Fellowship gave the invaluable networking time needed to establish links with organisations from the voluntary, community and faith sector (VCFS), as well as local businesses and partners from the metropolitan borough council. New contacts I met through such networking proved to be able to support the school and the pupils’ learning in many ways. Some professionals were able to provide outward facing pastoral care to young people and families. Business leaders were forthcoming in guest speaking during different lessons - making the learning experience contextual and engaging for pupils. The network of contacts made, along with the collation of local community project details, formed an information base to cascade through to the school staff team as an emailed bulletin. This became a catalyst for outward facing work, empowering staff by making them aware of a range of services that can support pupils. Furthermore, this created opportunities for teaching staff to invite guest speakers, companies and agencies into lessons to enhance our curriculum and pupils’ experiences. The “Beyond Leasowes” Staff Bulletin contained suggestions for outward facing work, both academic and pastoral. In addition, pages dedicated to funding opportunities and staff professional development were a mainstay of the bulletin. 42 ➜ How to... 1. English Car Marketing Day – Audi, Jaguar, Land Rover and Mitsubishi showcased some of their top-of-the-range cars in the school playground. Year 9 pupils were able to inspect the vehicles, sit inside them and ask questions relating to the performance of each vehicle in order to create marketing campaigns. This helped improve their persuasive writing. 2. Girls and Maths – A female business owner and a female ex-military representative spoke to all Year 8 girls, to explain the importance of maths and numeracy skills in working life. This inspired girls to value the maths curriculum and its relevance with the working environment. 3. English Dragons’ Den – A local video producer acted as a ‘dragon’ along with our school Principal. Year 10 pupils prepared pitches for a sequel to a movie of their choice and presented these to the panel as part of their GCSE oral assessment. This encouraged pupils to deliver exceptional presentations; these were of a high quality due to the presence of a panel audience. 4. No Smoking Day – Year 9 pupils took part in a smoking awareness workshop led by Moo Moo Youth Stop Smoking Service. The professionals linked with the PE department to deliver the workshop for the BTEC Sport curriculum. 5. Travel and Tourism visit – Year 11 pupils visited the Birmingham Airport Flight Centre where they were able to observe and identify aircraft, learn about foreign currency and speak to professionals from the industry. 6. High Performance Engineering Master Class – Year 10 pupils visited Birmingham University where they heard from representatives from Mercedes Benz and McLaren about how Formula One vehicles are engineered, and what careers and study routes are available to enter the industry. 7. Marks and Spencer Charity Bag Pack - Pupils and 43 help a school to face outwards for the sake of the most vulnerable pupils Since having the time to build new links with a range of external entities the following activities have been possible: staff volunteered alongside Marks and Spencer employees to pack customers bags at the checkouts. Year 8 pupils were able to understand the operations of a retail environment whilst assisting customers with their bags. £500 was raised to buy new library books for pupils. 8. Transform behaviour programme – Pupils displaying consistently disruptive behaviour ventured out in their own time every Friday for a period of 6 weeks to undertake community work as a condition of their behaviour contract. New links established with local organisations provided a platform for litter picking, graffiti cleans ups and general maintenance by pupils. This gave time for personal reflection and active citizenship within the local area. ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ■■ What difference it made How to... ➜ help a school to face outwards for the sake of the most vulnerable pupils 2013. This has community information, news bulletins of our outward facing activity, details relating to adult education opportunities and an electronic version of the Greenhill Learning Campus prospectus.So our Beyond Leasowes section is dedicated to outward facing work that is carried out in school. Since its launch, the website has had 477 visits and 677 page views. The web pages are updated regularly sharing the outward facing work undertaken with pupils and the community through its popular news section. ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Eight staff e-bulletins have been shared thus far, reaching an audience of 118 staff per issue. Using read receipts I was able to measure interest and the impact it was making on the team. Issue 1 was read by 34.7% whereas the latest, 8th edition was read by 51.6% of the workforce. The “Beyond Leasowes” bulletin is still in operation and will continue for the foreseeable future. Staff member feedback is clear that having one document where information can be disseminated is in invaluable. The bulletin became the stimulus for seeking funds, with considerable success: Adapting to pupil needs ■ ■ ■ ■ £27,000 secured for transition summer school from the DFE. £1,500 secured from public health to run a water campaign. £400 secured from Super Act to run a school music festival that attracted pupils from all feeder schools and their relatives. £900 secured from the NHS to operate a sports bank project (sports equipment shared with local community groups). Developing of the website To disseminate information beyond Leasowes’ gates, our website had a huge overhaul. By working closely with a web developer, I was able to add a ‘Beyond Leasowes’ section of the site that went live in April Working closely with young people who were at risk of exclusion, and the senior leadership team, I began to put together curriculum ‘pathways’ that aimed to meet the needs of KS4 pupils. Through extensive consultation, a part-time and full-time curriculum pathway was established which was versatile enough to meet the range of abilities. The services of a professional photographer, funded by The Sinnott Fellowship, were employed to spend one day at the fledgling offsite provision, Greenhill. The pupils took part in a range of sporting and academic workshops throughout the day, whilst directing the photographer to take pictures that they thought would appeal to learners in a similar situation to them. The photographs taken were shortlisted and used to build a draft prospectus that was printed in April 2013. 44 ➜ How to... Refurbishment In order to take things to the next stage we presented the progress that pupils were making to the Principal and set out proposals to develop the building into a modern alternative learning campus. After presentations to the leadership team and the Leasowes governing body, £40,000 of funding was allocated to help bring about a significant refurbishment of the site. The works have now been carried out and the campus was launched on 9 July 2013 - the images below show the transformation. After 45 help a school to face outwards for the sake of the most vulnerable pupils Before ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... The prospectus became the catalyst for a series of positive developments. It caught the attention of two neighbouring schools who integrated five learners at Greenhill onto our new alternative curriculum pathways. We found that pupils improved quickly, engaging in Duke of Edinburgh Awards and both GCSE and BTEC courses. Each of the 10 pupils who were educated at Greenhill in 2012/13 achieved a minimum of 5 A – C GCSE grades or their equivalents. Furthermore, all have secured post-16 education and 90% improved their attendance. How to... ➜ help a school to face outwards for the sake of the most vulnerable pupils ■■ Personal professional development In terms of professional development, the fellowship has made possible the undertaking of many training courses such as bid writing, expedition leader studies and education conferences, and my career has benefitted due to the fellowship; I have been promoted from Mentoring Services Manager to Director of Alternative Provision and Community Development. I am proud to say that the Sinnott Fellowship has been the catalyst for significant changes at Leasowes. Our outward facing approach is creating valuable learning experiences for young people, teachers and our community. ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... An Ofsted monitoring visit judged that exclusions have decreased significantly as a result of the successful use of an off-site provision at the Greenhill Centre, which has enabled staff to reintegrate disengaged students through meeting their individual needs. We are part of the Halesowen Learning Community of schools, which support each other. ■■ And next? The Greenhill provision is going from strength to strength, with 15 learners from a range of schools on both full time and part time pathways this academic year. Plans are afoot to recruit additional support staff in order to increase the curriculum offer available to learners across the town. HOW TO guidance for readers The following reflection on our experience may help readers wishing to plan a similar project. ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Leadership backing: Ensure the drive, vision, communication, and support from senior leaders; these are key to success. Timing and deadlines: Allocate considerable planning time to establish aims and clear deadlines which are essential to the process of creating alternative curriculum models. Pupil focused: Make sure a pupil-centred approach is the basis of the development of curriculum packages which aim to meet additional needs. Compelling communication: Invest in extensive communication. Compiling and editing an e-bulletin can be time consuming, but it is a very useful catalyst for connecting staff with external entities. Establish and draw on networks: Construct a range of contacts from different sectors that can help play a part in educating young people. Demonstrate the outcomes of outward facing work: Record the impact of the action you take and share it with senior leaders and governors: this highlights the importance of outward facing work to decision makers. If you’d like to know more See the school website: www.leasowes.dudley.sch.uk Chris Bennett is Director of Alternative Learning and Community Development, Leasowes High School 46