Sandwell MBC Education and Lifelong Learning SECONDARY EDUCATION UNIT Aspiration for All: Secondary Schools in Sandwell A World Class Learning Community G:\ADV\SEU\SECONDARY VISION-16-07-04.DOC Final draft 16 July 2004 Aspiration for all Introduction: Aspiration for All Young people should have the best start in life. Our vision is to raise the aspirations of all young people in Sandwell and to lift levels of achievement significantly. Education in Sandwell is about preparing young people to participate in its community. It will be the necessary catalyst to bring about lasting change in our multi-cultural, multi-faith communities. We want healthy, aspirational communities whose members understand the possibilities that their talents and the world can give them, who have high self-esteem which promotes aspiration, who are aware of the contribution they can make to others and who enjoy emotional, social, cultural and economic fulfilment. The Sandwell Partnership’s vision is that ‘Sandwell will be a thriving, sustainable, optimistic and forward looking community’. This document reflects our response to the Green Paper ‘Every Child Matters’. We believe that the secondary education we can deliver through strategic capital investment in our schools will act as a cornerstone for community and economic regeneration in the borough. The vision outlined in this document makes clear the cross-cutting objectives of Building Schools for the Future by supporting our 14-19 Area Inspection Action Plan, developing a lifelong learning culture and by supporting community development and regeneration. It is part of a coherent and integrated set of aspirations which is directly linked to our Excellence in Cities plan, the Sandwell Plan, our School Organisation Plan, the Behaviour Support Plan and Inclusion Strategy and our Education Development Plan. Linked to the Council’s priorities to raise standards, our main priorities in education, as identified across these documents, are: • Primary education • Secondary education • Young people’s strategy • Student disaffection • Extended schools • Learning innovation • Community and family learning Page 1 Final draft 16 July 2004 Aspiration for all Secondary schools, working together with local partners, have the potential to create flexible, dynamic and innovative learning communities which promote excellence and embrace diversity. We want to create 21st century learning environments which are genuinely forward-looking and responsive to the needs of our young people and their communities. This can only happen through collaboration within schools, between schools and beyond schools. Within and beyond institutions, however, the needs of the individual learner must be at the centre of our provision. A number of important themes recur throughout this document. Inclusion - broadly defined as the process of enabling all children and young people to be present, participating and achieving - permeates all our goals. Inclusion should focus on providing diverse and appropriate opportunities and resources for all. e-learning, a priority within the borough, provides the means of achieving many of our goals through personalised learning, flexible provision and enhanced community involvement. Supporting a remodelled workforce is crucial and every adult involved in educating young people is part of our vision of a learning community. The spirit of collaboration between ‘independent specialist schools’ underpins everything contained in this document. We benefit from a wide and expanding range of specialisms within the borough and the willingness to form challenging partnerships between them is already one of our key strengths. We will continue to move the collaborative effort which underpinned our Excellence in Cities strategy three years ago into a higher level of collaboration and partnership. The capacity to build strong leadership will be crucial if we are to achieve our vision and we are committed to recruiting and developing the highest quality leaders at all levels in our schools. Finally, our local priorities reflect the national imperative to raise aspirations and attainment in areas most urgently in need of economic regeneration. The raising of standards across the borough, demonstrated in part by an increase in the quality of our examination results at all levels, will therefore be one important measure of our success in achieving our fundamental goal - aspirations for all. Page 2 Final draft 16 July 2004 Aspiration for all Excellence through personalised learning We are committed to: 1. Providing flexible pathways which cater for diverse and individual learning needs Flexibility must take account of when young people are ready to move between key stages and pathways, what is most appropriate for them to learn and where this learning might take place. When The opportunity to progress through education should be based on ability and readiness rather than on age. This is already anticipated in our 14-19 Area Inspection Action Plan. Furthermore, schools in Sandwell will actively pursue an accelerated or extended curriculum at Key Stage 3. Learning will take place in mixed age groups, particularly for students over 14. There will be clear pathways through 14-19 and into Higher Education. Sandwell embraces and promotes the notion of lifelong learning and will promote progression beyond 19. We are actively seeking to raise the staying-on rate into Higher Education. What All children in Sandwell are entitled to an innovative curriculum which is inclusive, accessible and purposeful. Multiple and flexible pathways will provide more choice and the ability to select highly personalised routes through secondary education. There will be parity of esteem between different routes and ways to combine them. We are committed to work-based learning and enterprise education and will continue to develop positive links with our business partners as well as the new Academy in order to provide both. All our students have an entitlement to enrichment opportunities such as off-site learning. This includes our gifted and talented students, provision for whom will build on the excellent Excellence in Cities networks that already exist in the borough. Where According to the Tomlinson Report, ‘it is naïve to believe that any school can meet the learning needs of all its students.’ The provision of highly flexible pathways requires a broad definition of the learning place. The three Local Learning Campuses already outlined in the 14-19 Area Inspection Action Plan anticipate this. Page 3 Final draft 16 July 2004 Aspiration for all Students’ learning will not be restricted to one physical site, especially after 14, and our provision must be learner-focused, not institution-focused. There will be movement between institutions and beyond as necessary which will maximise different specialisms. Our schools will provide diverse and high quality provision on a continuum which ranges from mainstream schools to schools for children with complex and profound difficulties and to enhanced work-based learning. We will also promote a virtual learning space which will help us to personalise learning further and keep travel to a minimum. All children will have an entitlement to off-site learning including a residential experience. At the heart of this vision lies collaboration between strong, confident and vibrant schools, balanced by the freedom to innovate. We envision an end to the traditional school day which will allow us to maximise the use of new buildings through the extended school programme. 2. Putting the learner at the heart of the learning process We already pay great attention to the identification of learner needs. We use diagnostic tools – uniquely – in every secondary school in the borough in order to anticipate learning needs and pre-emptively address difficulties. Under our 14-19 Area Inspection Action Plan, every student in Sandwell is entitled to an individual learning plan, mediated through the Learner Management Centre, which takes account of individual needs and identifies pathways through a diverse curriculum. Systems to track students are being developed through e-technology so that individuals negotiating their way through different pathways can be effectively monitored. This has the potential to change the pastoral dimension of teaching in powerful ways, especially at 14-19. We are committed to the provision of one-to-one support for our students through the use of para-professionals and seek to extend our provision of academic coaches and learning mentors. Essentially, our vision is to identify personal needs, attitudes and preferences in order to tailor the curriculum as closely as possible to the individual. This is not just about opportunity; it is also about challenging and stretching all learners to the limit of their abilities. Aspiration for all means not only that young people should want to achieve but that they are provided with the appropriate means to do so. Page 4 Final draft 16 July 2004 Aspiration for all 3. Educating the whole learner Our young people have diverse needs which include an entitlement to good health, broadly defined in physical, emotional, intellectual and social terms. Our schools will recognise, celebrate and sustain the emotional, social and moral development of all our students whilst also developing essential personal skills. Successful education in the 21st century is dependent on individuals acting as democratic citizens who have a respect for – and an understanding of – their own capacity