News
Transition scheme
to help vulnerable
by Chris Parr
Ms Collins told us: “We work every six to eight weeks, parents are ning for a few years, we have man-
closely with our feeder primary invited to attend the class in order aged to make this less of an issue.”
schools to find out the reasons why to improve their relationship with The Discovery Pathway pro-
One teacher’s innovative approach some students might struggle. These the school. gramme has been recognised with
to helping vulnerable year 7 could be behaviour problems, or Ms Collins added: “So far it has a What Works Well Award, which
students with the transition to high absence rates caused by ill- worked incredibly well, with attend- is run by the government’s National
secondary school has earned her ness, but all it really means is that ance rates soaring, and confidence Strategies.
school national recognition. these students might need a little among the students improving too. Headteacher Steve Flavin said:
Stephanie Collins, who teaches more attention if they are going to These children are essentially very “I am absolutely delighted that
at Churchfields School in Swindon, do well when they get to year 11.” bright, but for a range of reasons Churchfields has received this
runs the Discovery Pathway pro- As a trained primary and sec- they have missed a lot of school. national award. Stephanie Collins is
gramme, in which new year 7 stu- ondary teacher, Ms Collins’ class- “Initially, we did have the prob- an outstanding teacher. Students have
dents who are identified by their room has what she describes as a lem of stigma, with some of the made rapid progress in their learning,
primary schools as needing extra “primary feel about it”. pupils feeling they were being iden- particularly of English and maths.”
attention are taught a range of sub- In addition, time is also set aside tified as ‘different’ or ‘special’, but Visit www.whatworkswell. ‘An outstanding teacher’: Stephanie Collins celebrates her
jects together, by the same teacher. to teach the pupils life-skills, and now the programme has been run- standards.dcsf.gov.uk national award with some of her year 7 students
Only cemeteries fare worse than schools, auditors say
Cemeteries and crematoriums are government to accelerate the imple- A record £3.5 billion is being pro- the charge that in two years of long term as it just makes backlogs
the only Scottish council-owned mentation of its much-delayed vided for infrastructure investment government, the SNP has failed to worse and leads to higher costs.”
property in a worse condition than Scottish Futures Trust (SFT), which in schools, transport and hospitals co-ordinate a school building pro- He said 23 per cent of a total
schools, according to a report by was intended to fund a new wave of this year, a government spokesman gramme despite promising to match 12,400 local authority buildings
Audit Scotland. schools, hospitals and other public said, adding that the SFT was close Labour’s pledges “brick for brick”. were unsuitable for the purposes
The withering assessment found buildings, but which has yet to to becoming operational. The Audit Scotland report added for which they are used.
that around one third of primary and commission a single school. Audit Scotland previously that the situation might even deteri- However, the Convention of
secondary schools were in poor or However, the government insist- demanded that the Scottish govern- orate if a £1.4 billion council main- Scottish Local Authorities hit back.
bad condition. About 80 per cent of ed that investment in new projects ment formulate a school building tenance backlog was not cut. Its president, Pat Watters, accused
cemeteries and crematoriums are in was not affected by the delay to the strategy, but this has yet to happen. John Baillie, chairman of the Audit Scotland of “opportunistic
a similar state. SFT and was still flowing in via old In all, 832 crumbling schools Accounts Commission, said: “While council bashing” at a time when the
Opposition parties said the report methods such as public and private have been identified in Scotland. cutting building maintenance may recession was making investment
highlighted the need for the Scottish partnerships. Opposition parties have repeated seem attractive, it won’t help in the difficult.
Horowitz broadcast
Governors told to hold staff to account
Governors are being called on to In its new report, Wales’s educa- about the benchmarked perform- have addressed issues identified in
to reach 9,000 pupils
hold heads and teachers to account tion inspectorate Estyn has found ance of their school and challenge previous inspections.
to achieve the best performance that support for such failing schools this performance appropriately”. Dr Maxwell said: “We now know
possible in schools in Wales. has improved, but says further work He is also calling on the Welsh that most local authority education
The call has been made by the is needed to ensure action is taken Assembly government to issue local services support schools very well
Author and screenwriter Anthony from Edinburgh, for P6 to S2 chief inspector of education and to boost education standards. authorities and governing bodies when identified by Estyn as caus-
Horowitz will reach about 9,000 pupils, is being provided free to training in Wales, Dr Bill Maxwell, Dr Maxwell is calling on schools with guidance and training so that ing concern, but the real challenge
primary and secondary pupils in a 216 schools and libraries, thanks in a new report on the success rate themselves to be aware of the early they are clear about what their statu- for them is to use their full range
live internet broadcast to schools to funding from the Scottish Arts of improving failing schools. warning signs and on local authori- tory powers of intervention are and of powers to improve these schools
and libraries tomorrow (Friday, Council. Twelve secondary schools in ties to “monitor school leadership how they should use them most before they are inspected by Estyn.”
May 15). Mr Horowitz will talk about Wales have been identified as caus- teams more rigorously and provide effectively. Although local authorities use
Scottish Book Trust hopes its his international bestsellers includ- ing concern in the current inspection support and challenge to address “Failing” schools typically their own risk-based categories to
Live Virtual Author event, featur- ing Alex Rider and also his super- cycle, which began in 2004. Four of shortcomings”. feature low standards of pupil determine how well a school is
ing the creator of the Alex Rider natural sequence The Power of them needed “special measures”, Governors should “focus on achievement, poor attendance and performing, inspectors found that
teenage spy series, will be the Five, of which the fourth episode one showed “serious weaknesses”, holding leaders, managers and behaviour, and important short- schools are sometimes unclear
first of many at which children Necropolis is published by Walker and seven were “in need of signifi- teachers to account” and “make comings in leadership and man- about what category they are in and
and young people can join writ- Books this month. cant improvement”. sure they receive detailed reports agement. They also tend not to what support they will receive.
ers as they discuss their work and Before the event, Horowitz
answer questions. said: “The eighth Alex Rider
Anna Gibbons, children’s opens in the Western Highlands
programme manager at Scottish and (afterwards) I’ll be visiting a
Online reporting deadline update
Book Trust, said: “What’s really couple of lochs north of Inverness.
special about this event is that any After that, more research – I’m A large number of schools will fail main reasons for the failure to hit that the challenges they face with me that the timeline from this point
Scottish school pupil can watch travelling to the Monar Dam. I to meet the 2010 deadline for online the targets is a lack of guidance regard to implementation will be to the one where every school has
– it doesn’t matter if you live in don’t want to give too much away reporting, it has been claimed. from local authorities. difficult for them to overcome. it installed and has trained all the
a very remote place, or if your but the new book has an explosive The British Educational Ray Barker, director at BESA, “These are not to do with the necessary staff to implement this
school can’t afford transport to an climax at a dam.” Suppliers Association (BESA) says said: “As well as this, there is not technology itself, but rather to do kind of use is a much longer one
event, it’s about breaking down He will also answer questions that around one in three secondary enough training for teaching and sup- with organisational, communica- than predicted.”
traditional barriers to attending about his television career. He is schools will only be at the “devel- port staff, and there are concerns over tion and financial issues.” Elsewhere, BESA found that 70
really exciting author events, and the creator/writer of several shows, opment” stage when the deadline access for pupils without a computer It comes after a SecEd inves- per cent of secondary schools said
giving everyone the opportunity including Midsomer Murders and passes in September 2010. and internet connection at home. tigation into the issue earlier this they were already using a learning
to take part.” Foyle’s War, as well as a forth- The research, which canvassed “The results did indicate that the year, during which a London head, platform, with 29 per cent saying
The GLOW intranet broadcast coming ITV series, Collision. around 500 deputy heads and ICT majority of schools recognise the speaking anonymously, told us: they would implement one later
leaders, suggests that one of the importance of the policy, but also “All my experience as a head tells this year.
Students urged to make a difference
Every secondary school in the UK It also follows the film-mak- ers, the lesson plans relate directly to
is set to receive a film and resource er’s journey to Afghanistan where, different clips from the film, and can
pack designed to support citizenship accompanied by actor Jude Law, be used across a number of curricu-
teachers. he managed to get the Taliban to lum areas – particularly citizenship.”
More than 6,000 copies of film- acknowledge Peace Day. This ulti- The resource features 19 lesson
maker Jeremy Gilley’s documen- mately led to 1.4 million Afghan plans, primarily aimed at key stages
tary, The Day After Peace, will be children being vaccinated against 3 and 4, and three different versions
sent to schools along with teaching polio. of the documentary, designed to fit
resources designed to help tackle Mr Gilley told SecEd: “We have into lessons of different lengths.
the subjects of conflict resolution, developed this resource with teach- The Peace One Day Citizenship
human rights, and bullying. ers, and there are three different Resource was officially launched
The documentary covers Mr versions of the film that teachers yesterday (Wednesday, May 13)
Gilley’s attempts to establish an inter- can use to best suit the time they at The Petchey Academy in east
national day of peace – a feat that was have available. London. More free resources
achieved in 2001, when the United “We want students to look at it are also available for download
Nations unanimously adopted Peace and think ‘if he can make a differ- from the Education section of
Day as September 21 each year. ence, so can I’. Also, to help teach- www.peaceoneday.org Art attack: Pupils in Israel, where the resource is already available, during its art lesson
 SecEd • May 14 2009
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