GP Awards 2005

scottish learning association

SSLA Good Practice Awards 2005

To down load a copy of the report in word please click on Report 2005

Saturday 1^st October 2005

The Cairn Hotel, Bathgate was the venue for the bi-annual Good Practice awards, celebrating partnerships in action. This year the focus was on ‘Joined up working: towards Inclusion’ and the six finalists most certainly epitomised that intention. Our eminent judges were John Bissett from the Scottish Executive, Simon Macauley from the EIS and the chairperson, Gwynedd Lloyd from Edinburgh University.

First we heard from Barnardo’s Matrix in Stirling who have been working in Raploch Primary School with a group of children identified as showing or being at risk of developing anti-social behaviour and/or offending behaviour. They began a lunch club as a means of giving the opportunity to these youngsters to explore some issues like learning to get along together, being positive and showing respect for each other and the community. Through games, the children explored the affect that certain behaviours have not just in school but in the wider community and vice versa and close working with parents, school and the community led to greater understanding all round. The children themselves were able to articulate what the group had done for them and the overall presentation was very strong.

Then we had a very lively presentation from Carlton Primary School in Fife who had worked for six months on the celebration of Diversity, culminating in a “Diversity Week” which showcased exhibitions and performances learned and developed over this time. We were treated to an Asian dance display from some very talented P4 children, a song which was signed by the children to include deaf pupils and a display and feedback from the pupils which showed the huge range of diversity they had considered. Such was the success of the project that the school will continue to expand its links with their local Special Needs school, maintain signing at an after school club next session and continue to liaise with local business and further the model of global citizenship. They are looking forward to exploring ‘cultural cooking’ this year too.

Our third presentation was from Biggar High School and the “Talk About” transition project. As Biggar HS has several very small country feeder primaries, the project brought them together to socialise, work together and experience a realistic S1 class size before they made the move the secondary school. The pupils reported back on the benefits they had experienced and a parent favourably compared the experience of her second child, who went into S1 knowing many more pupils than the four or five in her P7 class, with that of her elder daughter who had found the move to secondary quite overwhelming. All the support materials for the project are available on disk or by email and can be adapted easily.

The fourth finalist was Peebles High School Girls Group and this project was not a new one like the others but in its seventh year. The project is run by Pupil Support and School Nursing and works with groups of vulnerable young women (involved in highly risk taking behaviour or at risk from abuse or bullying) to increase their positive self-image and support relationship difficulties in their lives through developing decision making skills, assertiveness, communication and problem solving. After the first year, girls began to self refer as the reputation of the group grew and not one confidence has ever been breached by a group member. The approach is flexible and driven by the needs of the particular group and outside agencies such as Up2U peer group support, and Borders Health promotion can input if appropriate. This programme has been adopted by other Borders schools and reported in TES as a very successful way to reduce self harm and bullying while enhancing personal confidence.

Our penultimate presentation was from Grange Academy, Kilmarnock from the senior pupils who are members of the signing committee. We were told by one of the students how she had felt badly in S1 that she had two deaf classmates and she could not communicate with them. This frustration lead to her learning to sign and now, thanks to the work of the sign language committee, many pupils (and others) have a similar opportunity. The classes are taught by a profoundly deaf adult (promoting a positive image) and are open to all pupils from S1-S6, and to the wider community. Learners from the wider community include radiographers, policemen, firemen, shop assistants, medical professionals etc., thus removing the need for a third party in conversations with the deaf. The project is totally run by students who have learned how to organise money and classes, advertise and talk up the project, use ICT and be responsible for the smooth running of every aspect of the work. The plan for this next year is to move into P7s in the feeder primaries so that they know the basis of sign language before they come to S1 where they might meet HI pupils. We heard from deaf students from the school what they felt about the increased signing and how they were included more in mainstream as a result, and we heard from the committee members how much they felt that their work had prepared them for college and life after school because of the responsibilities they had taken on.

Finally we enjoyed the presentation from Kinloss, especially since the group had left home at 6.30 that morning to be with us! Their teacher explained that she had been working with one pupil in the afternoons as he found the whole day in school difficult. However, he suggested that he would enjoy it more if there was a bigger group and so she decided to increase the group and asked other local primaries to submit names of pupils who would benefit from being part of a small group working towards the John Muir award through a conservation project. Eventually there were nine who set out to Discover, Explore, Conserve and Share. There was a tremendous input and cooperation from others like the school janitor who was the driver, adult volunteer helpers and the forest ranger and forest craftsperson. As a result of completing the award, the boys through their work - filling potholes, clearing scrub, cutting saplings, building a wormery etc., etc., learned how to observe, wait, share, co-operate, repair after an argument, relax and make new friends as well as learning about the forest and the small animals in it.

The judges then had the unenviable task to deciding who, from all these different activities, should be our winner and our runners up. The winner received a cheque for £500 and both runners up, a cheque for £100 while the others were awarded £50 for their efforts. All the finalists were given a plaque to mark their achievement and all the students medals. After a long deliberation, the judges, after praising the efforts of all the finalists and saying that it was quite inspirational to hear all that the children had done and directly from them, announced their decisions. The runners up were Peebles High School Girls Group and the Matrix Project with Raploch Primary School, and this year’s winners were the Signing Committee from Grange Academy, Kilmarnock.

The SSLA President, Margaret Penketh thanked everyone for coming and giving us such excellent presentations, the Scottish Executive for their support for these Awards and all three of our judges for their decision making – not a task she herself would have enjoyed undertaking.