Pensnett High School

1. Pensnett High School National Challenge Impact Intervention 2009-10 in collaboration with The Albion Foundation (TAF) Compiled by Dave Wood (Head teacher) and Rich Spittle (IMPACT Coach)

2. Pensnett and the Albion Foundation Context In 2008 only 11% of students gained 5 A*-C including English and Mathematics grades and 26% gained 5+ A*-C. These improved to 19% and 29% respectably in 2009 but remained well below the national average. The school is facing difficulty in leadership capacity and specialist staffing in the core subjects, due to notice of closure the school continues to leak capacity due to loss of staffing. Offsted judge the school to require special measures and school development planning and self evaluation has long understood that student motivation and attitudes to learning are the key to improvements in progress and achievement. Proposal Funding was requested through the National Challenge to develop activity which would build on a successful partnership with the Albion Foundation developed in 2008-09: to embed an IMPACT Coach, part funded by the school. The brief has been to organise support provision for in house activity and out of hours learning; including breakfast club, literacy and numeracy support, sports activities and collaborative learning opportunities with other local schools. The proposal included recommendation for study support provision at KS4, based on the ‘Playing for Success’ model which would be supported by teachers and mentors from the Albion Foundation. The target groups would be students at risk of disengagement and underachievement.

3. Pensnett and the Albion Foundation Improving Attitudes to Learning of Year 11 Students at Risk of Disengagement – Extracurricular Activities Since the start of the academic year students in year 11 were encouraged to become active in extracurricular activities with activities outside of school and also on the school site. During the first week of the school term students from Pensnett High school were invited to attend a football match at the newly built Emirates stadium between West Bromwich Albion and Arsenal Football Club. The aim of the trip to was give students the incentive to take part in extracurricular activities and engage with their studies. It also gave IMPACT Coach Rich Spittle the chance to meet with the students he would be working with during the next academic year on the Year 11 Mentoring program. Opportunity to take part in sports activities in and out of school (eg player visits, match day packages) continued throughout the year for this group.

4. Pensnett and the Albion Foundation Improving Attitudes to Learning of Year 11 Students at Risk of Disengagement – Extended Learning A breakfast club started at the beginning of the school term for year 11 students. The club was open twice a week and during this time students were able to complete subject coursework and/or have a structured time for revision. The help of subject teachers during these session was very beneficial. 56% of year 11 students attended breakfast club at some point during the year, with an average of 13% of the year group for each session. 100% of the year 11 students that attended the trip to the Emirates Stadium continued to attend breakfast club on a regular basis. Year 11 mentoring and individual subject help continued sporadically throughout the year and most of the students worked tremendously well as they have been able to finish class worked but more importantly outstanding coursework in order to start revision as soon as possible for their GCSE’s. Students in year 10 and 11 also had the opportunity to attend lunchtime revision clubs. A lot of students took up this opportunity which could prove very beneficial with upcoming exams. Mentoring year 11 students that have been asked to leave certain lessons also worked very well, with all pupils being able to return to normal timetabled lessons within a few weeks, due to improved behaviour and the completion of outstanding work. Study support within lessons worked well, and seemed to have a positive affect as students were beginning to ask for my attendance.

5. Pensnett and the Albion Foundation Year 11 Student Mentoring Program Self Esteem Questionnaire Results Students that were short listed to be mentored took a pre and post test self esteem questionnaire. The results are very positive with only one student scoring lower in the post test. All the other students equaled or increased their self esteem from the start of the academic year.

6. Pensnett and the Albion Foundation Encouraging participation in out of hours learning and extracurricular activities for all students During October Half Term Years 7, 8 and 9 students were invited to attend a multi sports camp based at their school. During the week Football and Cricket coaches delivered a variety of enjoyable games and tournaments from the schools National Lottery funded Sports Hall. On Thursday 29th Oct West Brom and Netherland’s right back Gianni Zuiverloon made an exciting appearance, signing autographs and answering quick fire questions from the students in a press conference style Q&A session. 22 students attended the trip to Manchester United, 95% of which continued to attend other extracurricular clubs, either sporting or academic on a regular basis throughout the academic year 2009-10.

7. Pensnett and the Albion Foundation During October Half Term Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 students were invited to attend a multi sports camp based at their school. During the week Football and Cricket coaches delivered a variety of enjoyable games and tournaments from the schools National Lottery funded Sports Hall. On Friday 30th 22 students that attended the sports camp along with some year 11 students had quite a treat as they made the long journey north to Old Trafford Manchester United! The trip involved a very interesting and exciting ground tour, that included a team talk in the changing rooms sat alongside the players shirts and a walk down the tunnel in lines of two to pitch side seats in the home dugout as well as a tour of the museum and trophy room. Both pupils and staff thoroughly enjoyed the trip and very successful half term sports camp. 100% of the students in year 11 that attended the Manchester United trip attended breakfast club on a regular basis throughout the year. Pensnett students trip to Old Trafford, Manchester United. During October half term 22 pupils from years 7 to 11 visited the ‘Theatre of Dreams’ to tour the stadium and museum as a reward for attending out of hours learning clubs and extracurricular sports clubs.

8. Pensnett and the Albion Foundation Impact Since the start of the academic year the number of students that have participated in extra sports sessions has increased tremendously. Lunchtime Sports Club has enabled students to take part in extra sport, mainly football and badminton, at least twice a week. 2 afterschool clubs for both badminton and football also enable students to get more active and involved with sports activities. 72 different students have participated in lunchtime sport, with an average of 26 students per session. During the end of Term 1 over 10% of all year 11 students were attending the sports club at least once per week. A major roles of IMPACT was to mentor year 11 pupils and hopefully intervene with students deemed disengaged or underachieving. 15 students were mentored with their GCSE’s however the level of interaction with year 11s was minimised as the year group progressed throughout the year. This years GCSE results will be the best the school has ever received, and this is a reflection of the commitment and enthusiasm of both students and teaching staff at the school. Some of the time that was initially used to work with year 11 students was transferred to other years particularly, years 7, 9 and 10, as year 11 students were engaging more and more in their studies. The schools exclusion rate also reduced to its lowest ever this year with only 1 fixed term exclusion in the whole of year 11.

9. Pensnett and the Albion Foundation Impact GCSE Results: GCSE results at Pensnet High School this year were the highest the school have ever achieved with 32% gaining at least 5 A*-C GCSE grades including English and Maths. Breakfast club last year had an average attendance of 14 students. Of the students that attended breakfast club on a regular basis 13 of them gained at least 5 A*-C including English and Maths. At the start of the year 15 students were mentored, to engage them in their studies and try to assist them with coursework and revision.   8 of these students gained 5 A*-C including English and Maths, 3 of which gained a B for GCSE PE which was a subject pupils were individually mentored on. 3 students gained 4 A*-C including English

10. Pensnett and the Albion Foundation The Behavioral Improvement Plan (BIP Project) Throughout the year The Albion Foundation and Pensnett High School have been building links with the wider community and other schools. Most predominantly BIP and Team Talk projects. The Behavioral Improvement Plan (BIP Project): This project has been running since September and involves primary schools that are the feeder schools to Pensnett High School. The aim of the project is to give primary school students the chance to visit and work in a High school environment and develop skills that are essential for their transition to secondary school. The children on the BIP project are students that currently run the risk of exclusion or are currently underachieving. The session is delivered in a very similar way to that of ‘Playing for Success’. Literacy, numeracy and ICT all based around either football or topical affairs. The project also tries to increase students self esteem and help them to feel more comfortable when they return back to their learning environment. Since the project started 5 local primary schools and one class from Pensnett High School have been involved, each with 15 different students attending every 10 weeks.

11. Pensnett and the Albion Foundation The Behavioral Improvement Plan (BIP Project) 5 local primary schools have taken part in the project that is delivered during school time. Schools are provided with transport to and from Pensnett Neighborhood Centre for a 1 hours session over a 10 week timetable. Although the same schools were offered BIP for the full year the classes are sometimes rotated every 10 weeks in order to try and shape a larger group of students and give them the opportunity to improve their skills and work in a different learning environment. The project is split into 1 hour of education per week and 1 hour of sport per week. Education is delivered from Pensnett High School whilst the sport is delivered by a governing body level 2 qualified coach at the respective schools. During the year children that partake in the BIP project are monitored in their learning and personal skills. Speaking and listening skills are practiced with the hope of improving students confidence in a variety of situations. Quantative data feedback is also used to monitor the levels of students self esteem with the hope of improving this throughout the project. Since the project has begun, students self esteem on the whole has improved as well as their ICT capabilities and behavior in the classroom. This has been identified by teaching assistants, tutors, heads of year, headmaster and headmistresses all of whom fill out a separate teachers evaluation of how the project has progressed and developed students over each 10 week scheme.

12. Pensnett and the Albion Foundation Team Talk Project Team Talk (TT): This project is organised and delivered in a very similar way to BIP and ‘PfS’ in that it focuses on literacy, numeracy, ICT, improving self esteem and helping students work more productively in their school environment. However this session also involves sports, team work activities and games. This project is available to primary schools but focused more on secondary. Castle High School, Leasowes and Windsor secondary schools and community colleges have all taken part in this project, as well as some local primary schools in Pensnett; Bromley Hills and Bromley Pensnett. Team Talk is delivered as an after school club and tries to use sport and education as an incentive to engage students in their studies and improve their behavior. Students receive 1 hour of education followed by 1 hour of sport. Since the start of the project 50 students from years 5 to 7 have taken part in the project. As part of the both BIP and Team Talk project students are able to visit The Albion Foundation and attend a match day package which involves a stadium tour, football caching session and a ticket to the match.

13. Pensnett and the Albion Foundation BIP and Team Talk Statistics 2009-2010 BIP and team Talk have had a very successful year with regards to student uptake, student evaluation, attendance and general growth of the project. BIP has seen developed students ICT abilities tremendously throughout the year, increasing every childs knowledge and skills within this subject area. All students are tested at the start of the scheme and again at the end. 100% of pupils from all the schools improved their skills of working with the apple Mac computers. BIP has received a 94% attendance rate from students on the course. Team Talk has received a slightly lower attendance figure 91%, but this was expected as TT is an afterschool club. As TT has developed it has been offered to 4 different secondary schools within Dudley. Piloted with Castle High School initially, TT received very high scores for increasing students self esteem. All 7 pupils that were tested at the start and end of the year improved upon their pre test and increased their self esteem. This was also noted by teachers and teaching assistants within the classroom. During the final academic term of 2010 Team Talk was developed and delivered from the Greenhill centre and linked 3 local secondary schools together for a merged session. Earls High, Windsor High school and Leasowes Community college all sent representative students to take part in the TT project until the end of term. This has also strengthened the link between The Albion Foundation and Leasowes school and the Greenhill centre for 2010-2011.

14. Pensnett and the Albion Foundation Authentic Voices “I really enjoyed spending the day at West Brom, its better than playing the xbox all day.” – Student (Pensnett High School) “the trip to West Brom was the best I have ever been on” – Student (Pensnett High School) “The Albion Foundation is proud to support and work in partnership with Pensnett High School.”- Education and Learning Manager (TAF) It is clear that having IMPACT at Pensnett has raised the aspirations of many young people on the project and has given them the opportunity to gain new experiences - Education and Learning Development Manager (TAF)