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Good Practice Awards 2009 Scottish Support for Learning Association Good Practice Awards 2009 Friday, September 18th 2009, saw the finals of the Good Practice Awards 2009 at the Cairn Hotel, in Bathgate. Although the number of entries was down this year, the quality was excellent. The Scottish Support for Learning Trustees had narrowed the entries down to twelve, and these were sent off to our judges who, in turn, narrowed it down to six finalists who would come and present to them. Unfortunately, the entry from Queen Anne High, Dunfermline had to withdraw due to illness and so there were five presentations on the day. Our judges were Tim Wright (former President of SSLA), Simon McCauley (EIS) and Jacque Fee (Department of Education, Strathclyde University) and the presenting schools were
Margaret Penketh, SSLA President, introduced the judges to the presenting schools, staff and children, and welcomed everyone. The first presentation was from Clyde Valley H.S. and they showcased the work of their Social Skills group, which has been running for three years now. The group is made up of a mixture of students with ASN, ranging from ASD to SEBD, but what they all have in common is a need to make friends but a lack of the skills to do so. As the course has grown and developed, other staff have joined in and the school police officer is now an integral part of the scheme. He spoke movingly of the huge changes he has seen in the students’ confidence and ability to speak up and to each other and this was demonstrated in their PowerPoint presentation, which was all their own work. The students had put it together to show us all of the different activities that the group undertook ranging from visits to building projects (the greenhouse made out of plastic bottles was particularly impressive) and it was obvious how much they had gained from this group as they worked together to present everything to us. The second presentation, from Trinity H.S. was very different. The PT Support for Learning explained to us that since 2007, her school had welcome many “New Scots” from all over the world, including Poland, The Philippines, Nepal and Pakistan. Her department had developed materials and activities to address these EAL needs but also had started an After School Club for New Scots which was initially supposed to run for six weeks but was so successful it continued for the rest of the term. The certification event was attended by parents, and strong links have been formed between the parents and the school, with parents coming in to work with the students. Information about community learning classes for adults is offered too. The Support for Learning Department felt that English classes were culturally biased and very literature based and so they have developed ESOL courses at Intermediate 1 & 2 and Access 3 level for their EAL students. The response and their results have been excellent. The school has concentrated a great deal on an exchange of cultures and a valuing of the different backgrounds of all their students – as the Scottish Executive has said: one Nation-5 million voices. All eight students who spoke during the presentation showed a confidence and command of the English language, although most had only been here for a couple of years, that fully justified the school’s pride in their work and approaches. The third presentation was from Kirkholme Primary School. This project had developed from a concern that children with reading difficulties were missing out on the cultural experiences that are shared by those children who read well and often. They decided to set up an Audio-Library for P4-7 students with reading difficulties. Looking into what is available they found Calibre – a charity for those with visual impairment, which has now moved onto helping Dyslexics. The pupils told us that they took their case to the parents’ Association and asked them for money to pay to join and also to buy MP3 players that would be small and “trendy”. They had raised £90 themselves and asked the PA for £350 and – they were delighted to tell us – they actually got £500, they did such a good job of selling the concept! This enabled them to buy 20 MP3 players and earphones plus hard drive. They showed us a video of interviews with students and also their parents and the parents delight that their children could now enjoy books was very moving. All pupils in P7 can now join the book group and they are so skilled with the MP3 players that they use them for newsletters, memorising times tables and learning lines for the school play. The enthusiasm of the pupils for the stories and their plans for what they wanted to read next was very encouraging and a testament to the overwhelming success of the project. After a break for lunch, we returned for the fourth presentation, also from a primary school, Our Lady of Good Aid Cathedral Primary School, which had seen a huge influx of EAL students joining them in the last few years. At present there are 63 Polish students in a school of about 450, and although now, everyone feels quite comfortable and able to cope, it has been a journey of discovery. When a new family arrives, they are given a welcome pack in dual language and the monthly newsletters are also published in dual language format. The Polish community is invited into the school and the school attends events held in the Polish community. The school has resourced dual language reading books and when P 2 had their ceilidh, Polish dancing was included plus the shortbread and IronBru was intermingled with Polish food. The local priest is Polish and there are strong links through the church which is a great place to recruit volunteers. Many of the parents and grandparents have been trained by the EAL teacher to work on reading together. One of the Polish mums spoke about her work in the school. She is there so that the pupils can tell her about any worries they may have, but she also helps with the reading groups. It is important that the young children can hear and use their own language too. The teacher described their week of “Winter Olympics” , a week full of cross curricular activities, culminating in the delivery of 20 tons of snow on the last day when the Polish boys “had a ball!” The school appreciates that they are lucky to have such a strong Polish community in the area. The priest said that it was the prospect of work and also the welcome from the Scottish people that attracted so many to his diocese. They have set up a Polish School of Language and Culture which started as an after school club but has grown to included all the Polish students in Lanarkshire now and runs on a Saturday from 9am till 2pm. The whole presentation exemplified the good working relationship between the school and the Polish community to retain the Polish culture while being happy in their new environment. The fifth presentation was from Kirkcudbright Academy and we were delighted when the students appeared in their bright red dungarees to tell us all about the project and what they have gained from working on their ARC days. ARC stands for Academy Rural Course and covers a wide range of activities for students with ASN including:
A Learning Assistant, who feels that SfL assistants can bring their previous life experiences into school and thus help to expand the flexible curriculum, runs the whole scheme. In S2, the students can join ARC and carry on into S3 and then in S4, they move onto Rural Skills at Intermediate 1 level. The course provides basic practical skills plus an insight into local industry with the day visits to the construction site, for example and, because they raise their own funds to finance most of this, the students learn about running a small business too. When they visit the workplaces in S4, they can see how they can fit into the local community and what they can offer. S5 students who have completed the course can return as Peer mentors and SfL staff help out when needed. The course has benefited the school too in that the group has grown herbs for H.E. and improved the school environment. The students’ pride in their achievements was very obvious in their presentation as they overcame their shyness to let us know how much they had done. They were rightly proud of their achievements and eager to share them with us. The judges then went off to deliberate while everyone else congratulated themselves on NOT having to perform such an unenviable task. All five presentations were so different and each was a worthy winner that choosing had to be very difficult and so it proved. Jacque Fee drew the short straw to deliver their verdict and she left us in no doubt about how hard it had been. She expressed the judges’ pleasure at the standard of presentation and their delight in all the good work that is being done in Scotland’s schools – so often unsung. She thanked the SSLA for highlighting this work and said she felt positively uplifted by what she had seen during the day. In joint 3rd place, receiving cash and medals were Cathedral PS and Clyde Valley HS. In joint 2nd place, receiving a substantial cash reward and medals for all, were Kirkcudbright Academy and Trinity HS but the winner this year of the Good Practice Award, £500 and medals for all was Kirktonholme P.S.
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