Even before the pandemic, that attainment gap was described by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation as ‘ stubbornly large’ (https://www.jrf.org.uk/data/education-england)
The Government has recognised the impact of the pandemic through its Catch up programme ( https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-education-recovery-package-for-children-and-young-people) This programme, which includes individual tutoring, focuses on the academic loss that children have experienced.
Important as academic catch up is, for disadvantaged children, the loss has gone much beyond the academic. For disadvantaged students, schools offer an extension of experience which is not on offer at home. Such experiences include visits to museums, parks and sporting activities, as well as opportunities for musical, artistic and residential experiences. Not only are horizons widened by such experiences, but such opportunities enable social interactions in non-classroom settings, something that was lost during the pandemic, where children were linked to school only via their laptops and others were entirely isolated. England’s ‘catch-up tsar’, Sir Kevan Collins, has pointed out that children need to be physically, socially and emotionally ready to learn “before you start cramming in knowledge”.
The problem, therefore, is, how can we respond to the wider losses experienced by disadvantaged children, those losses of wider experiences, interactions with others and broader cultural experiences that they missed during remote learning? What community-based opportunities could fill these ‘experience gaps’ that many disadvantaged children now have?
A co-operative solution – The Hi-Five Project
Summary
If we are successful, the prize money will be invested in Year 7 students attending the Cressex Community School in High Wycombe. The focus will be the development of that ‘cultural capital’ that many students have missed out on during the pandemic. This small-scale Pathfinder project would harness community resources to the benefit of disadvantaged students; it could become a template for similar projects in other schools serving similar communities. It would complement existing state-led initiatives and would enhance the purely academic catchup programmes already in place by: extending students’ range of experiences; increasing the range of students’ social contacts (much diminished during the pandemic); and so also promoting mental wellbeing. Uniquely, it includes the school’s partners in the Cressex Co-operative Learning Trust, among which are the independent Wycombe Abbey School, Bucks New University and, Henley Sixth Form College. It would bring together a wide range of students, in shared and cooperative experiences. The project would offer the guarantee of a range of high value non-classroom experiences, including performance of music/theatre, an Outward Bound-type experience and a museum visit. Further details are given below.
The setting
Cressex is a secondary modern school in a wholly selective Local Authority area. Its population is notably urban, very different from the remainder of Buckinghamshire, the second most affluent of 152 English Councils. The Indices of Multiple Deprivation show that Cressex students come from wards experiencing high levels of income deprivation, low levels of skill and training and low levels of adult skills.
Key characteristics of the student body are: well below average prior attainment; above average entitlement to Pupil Premium; well above average proportion with Special Educational Needs (with and without EHC plans); and well above average proportion with English as an Additional Language.
A very high proportion (86%) are of minority ethnic heritage, by far the largest group being Pakistani (Mirpuri), roughly 65% of the school population. Some students in each year group are recent arrivals to the UK. Many of these speak limited English when they join and need intensive support to access the curriculum.
Many students also face challenges arising from domestic, community and social issues. The school has a consistently high level of involvement with Children’s Social Services and other support services including CAMHS and The Police. High Wycombe and the local community have at times been a focus of Prevent activity.
Here is the school website:
https://www.cressex.org/
The Offer
Supported by the Heywood prize, the school would offer this ‘Guarantee’ to all Year 7 students. Through the ‘Hi Five Project’, students would have a choice of 5 enrichment activities from a ‘menu, in their first year at the school. These options would include:
a) A theatre workshop
b) A music workshop
c) A dance workshop
d) Local museum visit
e) National museum visit
f) Residential experience
g) Science based visit/experience
h) Sporting/team building experience
The in-school experience would be enhanced by:
a) Artist in Residence programme
b) Musician in Residence programme
What makes this project innovative?
Cressex belongs to a group of schools who subscribe to co-operative values in education, based on the principles established by the Rochdale Pioneers in 1844:
– Openness, Honesty, Social Responsibility, Caring for Others
– Self-help, self-responsibility, Democracy, Equality, Equity, Solidarity
The Cressex Cooperative Learning Trust was established in 2010, principally to broaden the curricular opportunities available to Cressex students. It includes a unique group of partners. Wycombe Abbey School, a local independent girls’ school, has been a loyal, long-term partner. Staff and girls from the school have worked alongside Cressex students on various projects. Bucks New University offers experiences to students that encourage participation in Higher Education. Many Cressex students go on to attend Henley College.
The Hi-Five project would involve students from all partners. This invitational approach will bring together very diverse students and will encourage social interaction, as students work alongside each other or share experiences of music, art or sport.
The Trust also includes a Community member, a County Councillor. Through him the school has accessed funds from the local Council; this new project would lend itself well to individual aspects being sponsored. Assessing impact
Evaluation would be conducted through:
• Feedback from participants and providers
• ‘Before and after’ attitude surveys
• Case studies
• Analysis of behavioural, attendance and academic progress data held by the school
We would share what we have learned through the network of Cooperative schools and through the educational press.
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