Pilot scheme success for young learners in Northumberland

A Group of students from Prudhoe Community High School have stepped up and turned their hands to film making and horticulture as well as more traditional subjects, thanks to a pilot programme aimed at getting them back into mainstream learning, by developing confidence, self esteem and basic skills.

Seventeen of the school’s 14 to 15-year-olds, who were seen as having a mixture of social and learning difficulties and were struggling in a standard classroom environment, have gained credits in subjects ranging from cookery and budgeting through to literacy and science, encouraging them to take steps back into successful learning.

The programme was based on the National Open College Network (NOCN) Step-UP Skills for Working Life programme. Step-UP is designed to help learners gain credits in a wide range of vocational areas as well as key skills such as literacy and numeracy. The school’s bespoke version of Step-UP was developed by a team at the OCN North East Region.

Nine of the Year 11 students on the school’s first intake of Step-UP will graduate this year, while seven have already gone on to achieve module success and will complete these in the summer. The success of the pilot programme means it will now be rolled out on a continuous basis.

Gill James, the teacher in charge of running the programme, said: “We are really impressed with the results of the pilot programme.

“Only one of the eleven students from the original intake has not finished the course and only one does no mainstream learning, which was what we wanted to achieve. We’re hoping for similar results from the six students from the Year 10 intake, who are still going through the programme.

“Step-UP was ideal for these particular students as it’s not heavily classroom based and we were able to build on the skills and interests of the students. The OCN North East Region team helped us to choose from hundreds of units to tailor a unique programme. The result was a good mix of academic and practical credits that combined literacy, numeracy and science with life skills such as healthy eating, alcohol awareness and budgeting. The students also did things like some taster sessions in horticulture and even had a go at film-making, which they were really enthusiastic about!

“We also saw benefits such as an increase in individual confidence levels, plus the whole group really bonded and supported each other.

“For some of them it has been the first time they have enjoyed learning resulting in a qualification. We’re absolutely thrilled for them all and Step-UP is set to become a permanent element of our curriculum.”

For more information on qualifications for 14-19 learners please contact us at admin@ocnner.org.uk or by telephone on 0191 518 6550.