VIEW FROM THE CLASSROOM
Stone Soup Academy – a curriculum that creates futures
September 2012 as part of Stone Soup Project. Our school works with local schools and local authorities to ensure that students who fail to thrive in a mainstream school environment have a genuine educational alternative. In March 2013, we moved to our new site on High Pavement in Nottingham’s City centre and settled into our first classes in the new building. In the academic year 2014-15 we catered for 70 pupils aged between 14 and 16, who studied subject areas including construction, creative industries, fashion and textiles as well as traditional core GCSEs. Over the coming years we added further subjects, increasing the number of students that we work with and adding further educational bases and partnerships to our current offer. In May 2014, and again in 2019 the school was rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted. The places available at Stone Soup Academy for the academic year 2020/21 is 80 across KS3 and KS4.
I
n our ever popular View from the classroom feature this month we’re
delighted to hear from Younes Henini, Vice Principal at Stone Soup Academy in Nottingham, who explains the vision behind the school’s innovative curriculum and its approach to collaborating with local businesses and other colleges.
Tell us about your school Stone Soup Academy is an alternative provision free school based in Nottingham that opened in
You are an alternative provision school – how is that reflected in your curriculum? We deliver an engaging imaginative, innovative and flexible curriculum tailored to meet the needs of all our young people. It facilitates their inquisitive nature and it is underlined by our desire to see that there is ‘no limit to achievement’. Our curriculum is delivered in a creative and personalised way to capture all students' interest. It is a balanced curriculum, constructed by a combination of academic and
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vocational subjects. A mix of onsite lessons complemented by off site work experience with well established businesses in the city including Crown plaza and John Lewis gives students valuable life skills experiences. Alongside work experience the students work toward gaining their Occupational Studies for the Workplace qualification.
You also work with other colleges – what are the benefits of this approach? We understand that education can be complemented by making effective use of local colleges and as part of our offer students can opt to attend one day a week courses at college to complement and extend our offer. This allows students to have a variety of choices, gain qualifications and get the insight of the life experience at college aiding transition post 16. This is proven to add a great benefit to our offer by using the college's extensive facilities and expertise. The college courses currently include Hair and Beauty, Transport Maintenance, and a City & Guilds in Construction Skills.
Can you explain the referral process? Stone Soup Academy will provide places for students who are outside of mainstream education. Students are referred by schools and local education authorities from across the East Midlands.
July/August 2021
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