Where does this take us?

The reframing of the curriculum, together with the emphasis on how we teach and for what reasons, enable us to redefine success. Not all of our students will gain five higher grades at GCSE but we are able to explain clearly to all of our students what’s in it for them.

We recognise the need to

• abandon GCSE as the sole qualification available post-14. From September 2004 we will introduce work-related qualifications such as NVQs directly related to a new curriculum structure.
  
  
• use Key Skills and other non-GCSE accreditation to recognise performance pre-16; at the end of the Y9 Learning to Learn course, for example, we can accredit teamwork and taking responsibility for your own learning via Key Skills.
  
  
• make it absolutely explicit what we are trying to do, which is to prepare our students for the 21st century; this means emphasising not just what we teach but HOW we teach and making it clear WHY we do so; it means stressing that the process is as important as the outcome; it means that both teachers and students should be able to articulate the purpose of schooling and particularly “what’s in it for me, the student?”
  
  
• All of this will mean that teachers will have to think of themselves as educators in the wider sense – not only delivering subject knowledge, but also emphasising to their students
  
  
• how to work as a member of a team, respect diverse perspectives and develop leadership skills; multiple examples through the Year 9 Learn to Learn course, the critical skills approach, thinking skills including OPV, De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats, Key Skills accreditation and throughout the curriculum.
  
  
• how to use ICT as a tool to help their learning and to communicate and present information; includes Key Stage 4 accreditation and throughout the curriculum.
  
  
• how to think issues and problems through to a conclusion; critical thinking, systems thinking, creative thinking, problem solving cycle and throughout the curriculum.
  
  
• how to analyse, evaluate and create information in a variety of forms, contexts and media, and to understand the role of media in society; Year 9 Learning to Learn course and throughout the curriculum -- accredited in Key Stage 4.
  
  
• learning to act responsibly with the interests of the larger community, Global and Local, in mind; Citizenship, Humanities and throughout the curriculum -- accredited in Key Stage 4.

To this we can later add agreed values, providing we feel that we can genuinely help our students understand how they underpin our school and our relationships. This is a process we will explore this year. For our students it will be an example of how agreed and ‘lived’ values can underpin and enrich our community. 

We can also enrich our students experience further by introducing greater breadth in extra-curricular activities.

The Pastoral Structure has also been transformed, particularly in Year 9. Replacing the traditional role of Year Heads with that of ‘Learning Managers’ has given a new dimension of pastoral care in Year 9; it is proactive and based on the needs of the individual. Learning Managers and other colleagues will know the individual learning styles of their students and will be actively involved in monitoring their progress and negotiating an Individual Learning Plan. 

Students will be actively encouraged to:

• involve themselves in extra curricular activities
  
  
• become active citizens
  
  
• exercise leadership through, for example, web site development and ICT infrastructure, organising displays and managing parents evenings, advising on homework and the effectiveness of various teaching strategies and teaching appointments
  
  
• play a much more important role in the school; their feedback through the ‘Transforming Learning’ package and questionnaires will help shape our teaching and learning both on an individual and whole-school basis.

As the new Year 10 and Year 11 curriculum structure unfolds so will we change the pastoral structure to keep pace. Already we use pastoral assistants to support these years and it is likely that additional resources will be progressively added.

External commentators leave us in no doubt that they feel we have the capability to transform our school into a world class educational establishment. But, how do we build the capacity to deliver world class education, day in and day out?

• through the appointment of an additional Web Designer in order to help with continuing unitisation.
  
  
• through continuing specific INSET on Wednesday afternoons and using Teacher Days for colleagues to work together on unitisation; in October 2004 the two teacher days will be back to back -- we will use Investigation Week in 2004 to release staff for intensive training
  
  
• through wireless networking the campus in order to develop opportunities to exploit mobile computer technology
  
  
• by providing more laptops for teaching staff
  
  
• by raising additional finance to provide extra technical support for ICT
  
  
• by alleviating the need for staff to cover for absent colleagues by turning the Multi-Media Centre into an area where classes without teachers go and receive on-line tuition; four such classes at a time will be supervised by a permanently employed teacher together with support staff
  
  
• by up-skilling staff through an on-site M.Ed Course to start in October 2004
  
  
• by providing a ‘researcher in residence’ who will feedback to us on the effectiveness of our policies
  
  
• by supporting the development of the Intranet across our Middle Schools, leading to better equipped students joining us
  
  
• by introducing a staged ‘Discipline for Learning’ structure, through which all students will know exactly the consequences if they choose to misbehave.
  
  
• by investigating the need for a ‘time-out’ supervised room for disaffected students.
  
  
• by making better use of our own resources through ‘in-house’ secondments to share expertise; for example, a colleague trained in the critical skills approach will be internally seconded to the Maths Department to help them prepare and write ‘challenges’.
  
  
• additionally, by facilitating more time for cross-curricular work and breaking down departmental barriers through Intensive Study Weeks, providing training on classroom management and teacher behaviour to encourage a positive classroom climate.
  
  
• by integration of home learning into new schemes of work, particularly with the opportunity to access work for home learning remotely.