Playing away day
Courtesy of Cathy Eckett, (Joint Director of Sports College) and Jan Schofield (Assistant Headteacher Applied Learning).
What an adventure!
As Eurostar pulled out of St Pancras International Station at the crack of dawn, five members of staff from Biddenham International School and Specialist Sports College in Bedford couldn’t believe this was work!
Members of staff from the languages, citizenship, religious studies and English as an additional language (EAL) departments planned a visit to incorporate meeting their MEP at the European Parliament in Brussels.
Applied Learning at Biddenham
Biddenham has been developing applied learning across the curriculum for several years. In order to further develop and embed work related learning and employer engagement, all staff were invited to take part in a ‘Playing Away Day’ as part of the schools continual professional development programme.
The thinking behind the idea was for staff to improve their knowledge, skills and understanding of a chosen industry which would, in turn, enhance their work at school. For teachers, it was an opportunity to experience, at first hand, aspects of industry which could be brought back into the classroom to bring their teaching to life, using real examples of industry scenarios to engage students and apply their learning experiences. For support staff, it was an opportunity to explore aspects of their work which they may have thought of, but didn’t have time to develop and to learn from industry. For example, project management, IT programmes, processes and systems.
ALI-G helped Biddenham to ‘Play Away’
The Applied Learning Implementation Group (ALI-G) led on the Playing Away Day. ALI-G was established two years ago to as a vehicle to embed applied learning and the 14-19 agenda across the school. The group meets half termly and has representation from all departments, the enterprise and work related learning coordinators, support staff, EAL and individual needs departments, the library, trainee teachers, Connexions and other stakeholders.
The group is lead by Jan Schofield (Assistant Headteacher Applied Learning and former Specialist Schools and Academies Trust National Coordinator Applied Learning) and Elizabeth Armstrong (Biddenham’s Personal Advice and Careers Manager). The agenda consists of two items per meeting and enjoys presentations by members of staff with expertise in an area. For example, the Sport and Active Leisure Borough Line Lead, who is Biddenham based, inputting on Diplomas and how school can embed the multifarious concepts of the Diploma into many aspects of teaching and learning. Other areas have included Personal Learning and Thinking Skills (PLTS), Functional Skills, Information Advice and Guidance Quality Standards, Enterprise Education and the Bedford Schools Grand Prix, hosted by Jonathon Palmer, which is whole school applied learning at it best!
Planning how to ‘Play Away’
There was a three month planning period for ‘Playing Away day’. Staff discussed ideas in departments and explored how their experience could enhance schemes of work. The responsibility of finding a relevant employers and making the initial contact was that of individual members of staff or departments. Elizabeth Armstrong provided support in finding placements and ideas on how to approach employers. Staff were very much encouraged to see the experience as making sustainable links with industry. Administrative support was key to the success of the venture. Gillian Wriggleworth was the Project Manager. She developed an extensive data base which has been used on many occasions since for employer engagement opportunities across the school. A map of the UK, and beyond, in the staffroom was kept up to date as placements were confirmed...it become quite competitive to find the most exciting, adventurous or high profile visit!
We wanted the visits to be win:win for education and employers. A reciprocal visit for employers to come to school to discuss the visit and what Biddenham could offer them was arranged.
Outcomes of ‘Playing Away’
The adventures were obviously evaluated to embed and enhance the experience for next year. 99% of staff rated the day as good or outstanding. Comments included:
- “ I was initially sceptical about the whole concept, but was pleasantly proved wrong”
- “A really useful day”
- “Excellent day”
- “An amazing exchange! Powerful and fully supported by the employer. Lots of learning by both parties”
- “From just speaking to people on the phone, I can now put a name to a face and will be more willing to phone to ask for advice and ideas”
- "Great day – the employers were very welcoming and keen to get involved”
- “Great opportunity to network and bring industry into the classroom”
- "Extremely valuable for both parties – contacts and content of the day”
- “Great for team building in the department”
- “Inspirational and thought provoking”
- "Ideas to take straight back into the classroom”
- “ Really enjoyed the first hand experience which undoubtly will help our students and staff about what applied learning really is”
The transformational experiences of ‘Playing Away’ has been embedded into Biddenham’s Performance Management and Appraisal processes for all staff.
Playing Away had its hurdles to overcome
Inevitably, for such a big adventure to take place, it wasn’t all plain sailing. Initially, the day was quite labour intensive for some staff to make initial contacts. Some departments found it difficult to contact a relevant employer to enhance their schemes of work and some support staff found it quite challenging to think of ideas which would really help them in their work. Thinking big and ‘outside the box’ was encouraged.
‘Playing Away’ was WIN: WIN!
Many and various sustainable contacts have been made and are continuing to be embedded at Biddenham in teaching as CPD for the teachers, applied learning for the students and enhance processes and systems for the support staff.
Through active employer engagement and real work related learning, employers have become clearer in how 21st Century schools operate; how teachers can teach and what students are really like – great fun to work with ...their future employees!
...and we plan to be even more adventurous next year!
