Good Practices

scottish learning association

GOOD PRACTICE AWARDS 2011

The finals of the Good Practice Awards were held on 30^th September 2011 at the Cairn Hotel, Bathgate. The finalists showcased their efforts via visual boards display and then a short presentation to the judges.

The judges were looking for sustainability in the projects plus a range of partner involvement. They wanted the projects built into the fabric of the school and supported and managed largely by the pupils themselves.

The judges were Jacqe Fee from Education Scotland; Leo Moscardini from Strathclyde University and George McBride, former Vice-President of SSLA. They were presented with a very difficult task as the finalists came from a range of backgrounds – nursery, primary, secondary and special schools – and each project was very worthy of praise.

However, we had to have a winner and after a very long day for both judges and children (and staff!), the first prize of £500 went to Kirkcudbright Academy for the “Brain Bites Bar”. Their challenge was to encourage pupils to eat food to help their brains and all the pupils involved in delivering this project had Enterprise in their IEPs. They ran the project during examination times to help with concentration. The ‘Brain Bites Bar’ is an example of a project designed to give pupils with additional support needs the opportunity to manage a service for the school while bringing several aspects of the secondary curriculum into one active learning experience.

Six pupils worked together to research foods which would help energy and concentration. Then they approached 2 local food shops to ask if they would donate foods so that they could create their own range of ‘brain bites’ such as ‘brainy berry kebabs’ and ‘natural energy drinks’ to sell to pupils during the SQA exam diet.

The project was innovative in that it brought foods that are good for the brain into the school during the exam diet in a way new and quirky way that would appeal to teenagers. The project was also innovative in that it crossed many curricular contexts and involved the local community.

Initially, Tesco and Brambles, a local Deli, sponsored the project, and provided the foods to make the ‘brain bites’. Following this, the project was able to sustain itself by purchasing new stock from the profits made.

Windyknowe has a number of pupils who have specific needs and who take part in the Life Learners’ Programme. This offers pupils in the middle and upper stages, who face barriers in their learning, an opportunity to develop skills through real life learning. Their project was “Hedgehogs.” Initially literacy skills were developed through researching but, after a visit from Lugs the hedgehog, the children decided they would like to build hedgehog boxes. A friend of a member of staff was invited in to school to demonstrate how to construct boxes. After planning and purchasing materials the group successfully made the boxes and organised and invited parents into an open afternoon. Finally, the boxes were raffled at the Christmas Fair where the group ran their own stall. Everyone was impressed with the enthusiasm and knowledge displayed by the Windyknowe pupils.

In Harrysmuir Primary, the Support for Learning pupils were Twinned with pupils from other European countries to broaden their horizons as well as provide a practical purpose for reading and writing. They had a map of Europe to find where they were writing to and different groups of children made cards, wrote information sheets, addressed and packaged envelopes and took turns opening mail to include as many children as possible. They enclosed photographs, a brief information sheet about Christmas customs in Scotland and received similar information back. The project continued at Easter time too plus a Postcard exchange in August. All the cards were displayed. The group has evolved slightly during the session but again exchanged Christmas and Easter cards and this time included recipes. Now the group send cards to a local Care Home where the residents do not get much mail. The use of eTwinnng and GLOW has sustained this project and like Topsy it has “growed and growed”.

In joint third place, and receiving £100 each were Croftcroighan School, Crieff HS ad Cathkin Community Nursery.

Croftcroighan Special School put on a Christmas show every year and everyone in the school and even drivers and escorts are involved in this huge undertaking. From making the sets, costumes and props to learning about animals and their habitats, plus the songs and the actions, the show enhances the lives of the pupils and stimulates their learning. We were treated to an extract from the show and it was obvious what effect it had on the pupils whose faces lit up when they sang their songs and relived the experience. It takes over two months to prepare and stage this but the effect on parents and carers is huge.

The Fit for Life course at Crieff High School taps into a range of opportunities within the wider community to reinforce classroom teaching. The pupils learned to organically grow vegetables in a raised bed provided by Comrie in Colour Community Group at Cultybraggan. They learned the history of Cultybraggan Camp on a walking tour conducted by a local historian and they worked with the local Countryside Ranger to learn about climate change. They learned basic hygiene and cookery in the Community Life Skills kitchen and everything they did helped towards the achievement of the John Muir Award for the pupils.

The third project came about as a result of the move to the new campus for both Rutherglen High School and Cathkin Community Nursery. The pupils at Rutherglen have additional support needs and often experience difficulties with literacy and/or self esteem issues. The project tries to address these needs and also to establish working links between the two establishments. Three pupils each year, from Rutherglen High work to improve their reading in order to present a story to the nursery school. In 2009-2010 and the present year pupils choose the text to enhance nursery learning by linking to topics studies in the nursery.

Each senior takes part in an induction training (working with the nursery teacher reading) and then is involved in learning the text in their free time and preparing to present the story to a small group.

This project also contributes to ASDAN accredited courses in school. The skills learned are also relevant to employment and timekeeping and reliability are emphasised as vital skills for the young people as the nursery children and staff are relying on them.

All the students were presented with medals by the judges and everyone felt very uplifted by the enthusiasm and effort so evident in each of the presentations. In times of economic downturns, it is very pleasing to see what is still being achieved by all the schools which entered our Good Practice Awards. We wish we could award prizes to everyone who entered, as they all deserved it. Once again our thanks to the judges and to the six finalists who did so well.