ST MODAN'S HIGH SCHOOL
AUGUST 2006 - JUNE 2009
SCHOOL OF AMBITION CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND
The St Modan's School of Ambition plan is based on developments that have taken place in the school particularly over the last 4 or 5 years. The thinking behind the plan stems from the notion that children bring to their Secondary Education certain capacities in which they are confident and in which their aptitudes predominantly lie. These capacities can be broadly described as Arts, Culture and Health (ACH), Maths, Science and Technology (MST) and Language and Society (L&S)1.
St Modan's High School has successfully introduced a Faculty system based on these three areas together with a Pupil Support and Development (PSD) Faculty 2. Pupils may have strengths in one or other of the three broad curricular areas. In other words there may be children whose aptitudes mainly lie in the creative and aesthetic area as described by our Faculty of Arts, Culture and Health (ACH). Others may be more able in the Maths, Science and Technology (MST) area or in the Language and Society (L&S) area. Our thinking is that if the school reflects these in a coherent manner then the curriculum and courses should be developed to the point where there are increased opportunities for the children to choose to concentrate in areas where their strengths are most evident. The concentration would not be to the exclusion of the other areas but would hopefully provide a firmer basis for personal growth and formation especially of the attributes and capacities in young people so recently identified by 'A Curriculum for Excellence' and the Charter for Catholic Schools in Scotland.
Thus when it came to discussing the 'core' curriculum, we began exploring two specific ideas. One was that for certain subjects the most effective teaching methodology might be for them to be taught and developed within the classroom with a specialist teacher classroom. An example of such subjects might be Mathematics where the skills might be most effectively acquired in a Mathematics classroom with a specialist Mathematics teacher. Similarly the best place to learn Scientific skills is in a Science Lab with a specialist Science teacher. However, there are certain subject areas where the limitations of the classroom are such that real development may be inhibited. The development of, for example, musical skill or appreciation may only be possible with a regular and substantial commitment of time outside of the normal timetabled classroom curriculum. There are many such creative Arts, Culture and Health related activities where the opportunities outside the normal class time may be the major influence on pupils' development. Thus the proposition we have been exploring is that in order to promote active participation in Artistic, Creative, Musical and Physical activities, it is essential to provide children with far more time, far more choice and far more flexibility in the way they develop especially in these areas. In addition to traditional lessons with their emphasis on curricular content and pedagogical methodology on the one hand and summative assessment on the other, we aim to augment this by providing opportunities for experiential learning where the emphasis is on inclusion and participation one the one hand and formative assessment on the other.
We intend to make explicit the link between participation and formation leading to transformation in the lives of the young people. The absence of regular, structured and inclusive learning opportunities of this kind is what our Period 7 curriculum aims to address. During Period 7 the initial emphasis across all activities will be on participation; there will be less emphasis on the assessment of skill. Unlike subject lessons (eg Maths, Science or Geography) where access to timetabled periods in a specialised classroom with a specialist teacher is relatively successful, in the ACH area classroom time needs to be augmented. We intend therefore to extend and develop the curriculum for pupils in S1 to S4 using Period 7 to extend and deepen the opportunities for learning offered in the other 6 periods. We intend to do this by including those activities which can be said to make a particularly important contribution to the formation and enrichment of a pupil's life. This enrichment will be delivered by the provision of far more 'experience-based' learning activities in school and outside. These would be experiences and activities - available to all - where the emphasis would be on INCLUSION, PARTICIPATION and ENGAGEMENT rather than simply on the development of skills. Put bluntly, by participating in ACH activities (eg clubs, bands, teams, choirs etc) pupils will develop a sense of teamwork, responsibility, perseverance and commitment as well as a capacity for hard work. In other words the purposes of Scottish education as set out in 'A Curriculum for Excellence', namely that we should be aiming to develop SUCCESSFUL LEARNERS, EFFECTIVE CONTRIBUTORS, CONFIDENT INDIVIDUALS and RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS can be met through the provision of learning experiences and activities which are inclusive, require participation and involve engaging individual pupils with personal challenges. Moreover these attributes will develop through this range of experiential learning, irrespective of an individual pupil's skill level.
To this particular agenda we have added opportunities for every pupil S1-S4 to experience enterprise activities and education for work on a systematic and progressive basis which we hope will build into better preparation for life by the end of S4. In other words if we take all aspects of a pupil's development into account in Arts Culture and Health and if we include enterprise activities, then our proposal is to provide every child from S1-S4 with experiences that will help form them into confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors as well as successful learners. We aim to provide individual pupils with a wide range of activities and experiences from which they will make informed choices. However, having achieved the consent of parents, participation will be mandatory for S1-S4 by timetabling them three days per week after the normal school day: there would therefore be a Period 7 on these days. The thinking here is that since currently, each day in a pupil's school week is 6 periods long we should aim to provide the rough equivalent of a full day of activities and learning experiences. Three days per week of an 80 minute Period 7 would provide such an equivalent. The necessary parental consent required for this has already been obtained as part of the early work done on the School of Ambition Transformational Plan.
Crucial to this provision is the new location of the new school building which is adjacent to a new council-run sports village. Because virtually every pupil in the school will travel to, it was agreed that the contract buses on Period 7 days would be delayed and the school day extended for pupils on these occasions. Crucially, the conditions of service of teachers would remain unaffected since in partnership with Community Services and with school staff who opt to run 'extra-curricular' activities for pupils, the necessary activity leaders can be provided. Indeed the professional associations have been fully supportive of the proposals. Teachers who wish to offer 'extra-curricular' activities for pupils would be invited to do so in particular Period 7. The sports village will provide us with guaranteed access to a range of specialist sporting facilities far beyond what most secondary school could ever hope to provide. With School of Ambition funding we aim to provide specialist coaching in activities made possible by the proximity to the new facilities and make this available to the whole school population during the Period 7 timetabled slots. The Period 7 curriculum on the three evenings per week, could therefore become a dominant force in shaping a child's development. We believe that in addition to the Intellectual Activities offered by the normal school curriculum, the opportunities here for building into a child's life Physical, Creative and Enterprise Activities could be transformational.
The Enterprise Activities will be possible because, as well as being built next to the Sports Village and (the council-owned) Stirling Albion Football Club's Forthbank stadium, the site of the new school is adjacent to an already thriving commercial and industrial area with over 160 businesses, retail and industrial companies, light engineering and manufacturing firms with whom we hope to build lasting partnerships. Our aim is to establish a Business Strategy Group with a minimum number of 12 businesses involved which would plan and deliver a programme of Enterprise Education for the Period 7 curriculum. This group would examine the possibility of a progressive programme from S1 to S4.
The opportunities for staff under the proposals are twofold. Firstly, staff who are currently LEADING so-called 'extra-curricular' activities for pupils out of interest or enthusiasm, find that these activities cannot be properly funded by the school. All Period 7 Activities could qualify for funding under the School of Ambition proposals. This will be an enormous boost to teachers currently running activities often with meagre resources. Those members of staff will also be relieved of the burden of having to worry about variable pupil attendance. Under the Period 7 arrangements school staff who run such activities would have a guaranteed pupil group in attendance. A special contingency fund earmarked for returning pupils home safely before the end of Period 7 should their conduct or behaviour become problematic will be part of the arrangements. Secondly, staff who are interested in PARTICIPATING in an activity as learners alongside pupils may do so. This option is to be made available to all staff in our partner primaries as well. Staff involvement in either role (Leader or Participant) may be accredited as a CPD activity.
The convergence of the new building on an exciting new site with the new Period 7 curriculum and the new management structures provides a unique opportunity for the four purposes of education - ie in the development of SUCCESSFUL LEARNERS, EFFECTIVE CONTRIBUTORS, CONFIDENT INDIVIDUALS and RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS - to be pursued. The overall impact of this on the formation of our young people and staff is likely to be significant and will be rigourously monitored and evaluated.
1. The subjects in each Faculty are as follows: Arts, Culture and Health (ACH) - Art, Music, PE, HE; Maths, Science and Technology (MST) - Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Computing, Technical; Language and Society (L&S) - English, Modern Languages, History, Geography, Modern Studies, Business Education and RE.
2. The Pupil upport & Development Faculty includes all aspects of Support for Learning, pastoral care and spiritual development.