artwork is taken from a piece of year 11 gcse coursework 2015
TRANSCRIPT
Page
Introduction __________________________________________ 4
GCSE Examination Analysis 2015 __________________________ 6
Attendance Analysis 2015 _______________________________ 8
Pupil Premium Allocated Spending _______________________ 10
Destinations _________________________________________ 16
Reintegration ________________________________________ 17
English ______________________________________________ 18
Maths ______________________________________________ 22
Science _____________________________________________ 26
Art and Design _______________________________________ 28
Expressive Arts _______________________________________ 30
Design Technology ____________________________________ 34
Child Development____________________________________ 36
ICT _________________________________________________ 38
PACC _______________________________________________ 40
History _____________________________________________ 42
Geography __________________________________________ 44
Literacy _____________________________________________ 45
Vocational Provision __________________________________ 47
Cross Curricular ______________________________________ 50
Looked After Children _________________________________ 52
Moving On 2015 ______________________________________ 54
Page 3 List of contents
Introduction
T he CE Academy continues to grow and offer our young people improved
opportunities. Numbers have increase way beyond our agreed numbers.
This has presented some funding issues that we hope to resolve.
The Key Stage 3 provision at Spring Gardens Campus, Wellingborough, opened and
provided education for a number of young people both dual registered and
permanently excluded. It has provided another option for the attendance of
Northampton pupils and has relieved the pressure on places at Chiltern House.
The vocational provision is also partly open. A beauty teacher was appointed and
the Beauty Salon has been open for much of the year; the majority of young people
attending achieved successes in external examinations. A hairdressing teacher has
been appointed and the Salon should be in use by mid- September.
There were problems with the flooring in the DT room and several attempts were
made before it could be deemed a satisfactory finish. Consequently equipment
orders were delayed and the workshop is unlikely to be ready before the end of
October.
The determination of one member of staff has resulted in the virtual completion of
the catering kitchen and the beginnings of a kitchen garden. Her absolute
commitment has resulted in a Business Plan, gathering the necessary quotations
from commercial kitchen fitters, second-hand and new equipment bought via EBay,
a dedicated twitter account, negotiation and commitment from many chefs and other
professionals to offer free help and equipment. We hope to begin teaching in the
kitchen by the end of October.
Another member of staff gave up some of his holiday last year to ensure the
Music Tech teaching room was fully equipped enabling us to begin offering the
Music Tech course in September last year. It has been particularly successful for
Key Stage 4 young people.
Forest Gate/Oaklands Campus has now spent a year in the refurbished building.
Oversights by the architect, builder and project manager have led to continuing
problems with drains. Hopefully these will be resolved in the near future.
A successful bid for new windows for the London Road Campus was successful and
these should be completed by September. The windows were in a very poor state
and so we will definitely benefit from increased security and heating bills.
Page 4
The offer of external funding for an arts project resulted in the film work of young
women at Fairlawn being shown at the Cube in Corby. The project involved them in
deciding on a focus for their film, interviewing and selecting artists to work with and
being involved in filming. Aware that young people excluded from school are often
judged harshly, The Young Women wanted to show the advantages of attending
Fairlawn and give a more positive view of young people excluded from school. The
film shows The CE Academy in a very positive light and is available to view on YouTube.
A young man from London Road Campus who was a positive role model for his peers
was nominated by a member of staff and fellow students, for the NCC award of Young
Role Model of the Year. He was shortlisted for the award and although he didn’t win, it
was gratifying to meet his very proud extended family at the ceremony and hear their
positive view on The CE Academy. There were miles of smiles all round!
During the latter part of the year we worked with a young person who had been
permanently excluded from school. The relationship between the family and the
school had broken down. Our response to their requests and agreement to a flexible
approach to ensuring the young person was still able to take his GCSEs was very
gratefully received by the family. As a result they have given us use of a field on their
farm. They have agreed to plough it for us ready for use by our young people.
One of our outstanding achievements of the year was to be Finalists in the National
Pupil Premium Awards. The winnings will be spent on providing much needed mental
health support for our young people. We are in negotiations with Relate who offer
counselling for young people and families and also intend continuing to use the
Occupational Health professional who has already successfully provided support for
some of our young people.
Page 5 Introduction
Page 6 2015 GCSE Exam Analysis
IntroductionIntroduction
The CE Academy focuses on ensuring that all young people work towards achieving
meaningful valuable qualifications. We work on the premise that all GCSE examination
passes are valuable and help to improve life chances and provide future chances in life
for young people. All young people who show that they have the potential to achieve a
GCSE pass grade are entered for examinations. Circumstances where a young person is
not entered for an examination may be when they have missed a large percentage of
the course, failed to complete controlled assessments or are not timetabled for a
subject.
In 2015 young people at The CE Academy have achieved grades from A grade to G grade
across a wide variety of GCSE subjects and vocational Level 1 and Level 2 qualifications.
Where the potential exists pupils achieve at a high level, illustrated by two pupils
gaining five GCSE passes (including English and maths), with one of these passing nine
GCSE’s.
Comparison with previous yearsComparison with previous years
Performance of the percentages of young people achieving differing numbers of GCSE
examination passes has remained fairly stable over the past few years. With results in
2015 similar to 2013 and 2014. Higher percentages of young people have achieved two,
three and four GCSE passes and a lower percentage have achieved seven and eight
GCSE passes.
Page 7 2015 GCSE Exam Analysis
The fewer pupils achieving seven or eight passes can be largely attributed to the greater
number of vocational programmes being offered at Key Stage 4. In 2015 focusing on
preparing young people for college and apprenticeships we placed a larger emphasis on
ensuring young people passed five GCSE’s alongside vocational qualifications. With 20%
of Year 11s achieving a Level 1 and above vocational qualification.
Comparison with National ResultsComparison with National Results
On a national level we draw comparisons with national data from hospital schools and
PRU’s accessed from Government Statistics (2014).
Once again it is apparent that pupils at The CE Academy outperform other pupils at
hospital schools and PRU’s when drawing comparisons at a national level. Examples of
this include 49% of pupils achieving five A*-G grade (or equivalent) including English and
mathematics and 44% achieving at least 1 A*-C grade, both significantly in excess of
national figures.
Future developments and challengesFuture developments and challenges
Our challenge in 2015 was to increase both the percentage of pupils gaining at least five
GCSE examination passes and the percentage of GCSE examination passes at grade C
and above. We have achieved this and will focus on improvements in this area once
again next academic year.
A development to achieve this is an introduction of our progress tracker designed to
monitor progress and to allow for the introduction of early interventions to ensure that
achievement is maximised for both vocational awards and GCSE examinations.
Having established Expressive Arts GCSE we now have the challenge of choosing a
meaningful qualification to take its place following it being discontinued in 2017. We
are searching for a qualification that draws on similar skills that is recognised by both
colleges and potential employers.
Page 8 Attendance Analysis 2015
The CE Academy The CE Academy continues to have a significant challenge in improving school
attendance and focuses efforts on reducing the number of pupils who are designated
persistently absent from school.
We are aware that a large percentage of our pupils have been persistently absent from
their mainstream schools. Therefore attendance is always discussed at the initial
meeting with parents, and monitored closely by both key tutors and campus
secretaries.
The Deputy Headteacher is responsible for pupil attendance and regularly visits each
campus, (once a term) and has regular meetings with the campus secretaries who have
taken a lead in monitoring attendance and raising concerns to key tutors and the Senior
Leadership Team (SLT)
Attendance procedures are included in the induction training programme for all staff
and all CE policies and procedures are regularly reviewed. The CE Academy also
employs an Attendance Welfare Officer who conducts Parental Contract Meetings and
advises SLT on attendance related matters and queries.
Comparison with mainstream school attendanceComparison with mainstream school attendance
We have analysed the attendance rates of all those pupils permanently excluded from
school both prior to joining The CE Academy and during their time with The CE
Academy.
Once again over 80% of pupils referred to The CE Academy were designated as
persistently absent from school prior to joining our school roll. Through both strong
partnerships with parents and other agencies, and the robust implementation of our
attendance procedures we continue to see a significant fall in persistent absence rates.
The focus of this analysis is on the percentage of pupils who improve their attendance
whilst at The CE Academy, using mainstream school attendance as a baseline.
The pie-chart on the following page illustrates that 85% of pupils in 2015 either
maintained or improved their attendance during their time at The CE Academy with
only 15% seeing a decrease in their attendance. Of those who didn’t see an
improvement the vast majority were already designated as being persistently absent
from school.
Page 9 Attendance Analysis 2015
Overall attendanceOverall attendance
We have also analysed our overall attendance since we converted to an AP Academy.
Overall during this time we have seen a gradual increase in our average attendance,
which has stabilised over the last two years.
In 2014-15 the average attendance of pupils improved from 69% at their mainstream
schools to an average of 87% at The CE Academy.
80.0%
81.0%
82.0%
83.0%
84.0%
85.0%
86.0%
87.0%
88.0%
89.0%
90.0%
Jan-13 Jan-14 May-14 Jul-15
Overall Attendance since converting to AP Academy
CE Academy Attendance 2013-2015
Page 10 Pupil Premium Allocated Spending: 2015-2016
IntroductionIntroduction
In 2015 The CE Academy made an application to the Pupil Premium Awards
(Special Schools and Alternative Provision). Following the application we were
shortlisted for an award and were visited by one of the judges Sir John Dunford
(Pupil Premium Champion) At the awards in March we received a National Runner Up
prize of £50,000.
The pupil premium continues to be allocated to schools to work with pupils who have
been registered for free school meals at any point in the last six years (known as
“Ever 6 FSM”), Looked After Children and services children. For AP Academies and PRU’s
pupil premium funding is calculated based on the January census. Due to the ever
changing school roll this funding is not linked to specific pupils as many complete
Year 11 and others join our roll after this date.
In the case of Looked After Children (LAC) we are in receipt of Pupil Premium Plus
Funding and Spending is identified and monitored through the young person’s Personal
Education Plan (PEP). All PEP meetings are conducted by our Multi Agency Coordinator
who alongside SLT takes responsibility for this spending allocation.
As previously, Schools and Academies have the freedom to choose how they will
allocate this spending but are held accountable through the Ofsted inspection
framework and the reports that they have to publish online which explain their
spending choices and measure the impact of their spending.
When making decisions upon where and how to allocate this funding we continue to
refer to the research conducted by the Sutton Trust. This is whilst ensuring that we
consider which methods would work for the pupils in our Academy.
In 2014-2015 we predicted Pupil Premium funding will increase slightly to £116,584.
In total we received £117,799 and an additional £50,000 prize money from the Pupil
Premium Awards.
We have decided to allocate this prize money to focusing on supporting young people
with their mental health and developing their self esteem. This has included staff
training on setting up an Anger Management programme, implementing a course
“being the girl I want to be” and buying in the services of an Occupational Health
Therapist to work with our young people.
Page 11 Pupil Premium Allocated Spending: 2015-2016
Spending was allocated in the following areasSpending was allocated in the following areas
Initiative Aim
Curriculum leaders to
drive forward our
marking and feedback
policy
To ensure all staff are using CE Academy marking and feedback policy.
Allowing pupils to benefit from quality feedback to enhance their learning.
To drive improvements in the quality of teaching and learning.
Funding places on
outdoor residential visits
to Govilon in Wales
For groups of pupils to spend three days at an outdoor adventure learning
centre in Wales, focusing on social development and teamwork. We
ensure this residential includes a high degree of collaborative learning with
a high level of physical and sometimes emotional challenge. There is also
time allocated for practical problem solving activities and reflection and
thinking (metacognition).
School uniform and
equipment for vocational
courses
By providing all the necessary equipment and clothing this has allowed all
pupils to take up a place on vocational courses.
Adventure Ways
The impact of Govilon led The CE Academy to source outdoor adventure
based activities for pupils within Northamptonshire. We have formed a
partnership with a company called “Adventure Ways” who shares our
philosophy on collaborative learning and giving the opportunity for
reflection and problem solving.
Equine Learning
Programme
Offering group and 1:1 behaviour interventions (many of the pupils who
benefit from this are LAC or have a SEN) The focus is on re-engagement
and specific behaviour interventions aimed at reducing aggression, violence,
aggression and substance abuse.
Fermyn Woods Arts
Project
This involves pupils working alongside professional artists in an outdoor
environment. This not only allows pupils to have new and challenging
experiences but has led to pupils having their work displayed in local
galleries and improved exam outcomes.
Staff Training (Setting
up an Anger
Management
Programme)
This involved whole staff training providing all staff with the skills to set up
and deliver an anger management programme. It also provided all staff with
a common approach and common language to use when dealing with young
people who struggle to control their anger.
Pace Setters (being the
girl I want to be)
This intervention focused on selected KS4 girls who were identified as
needing to develop their own identity, self worth and self esteem. It was
an eight week programme delivered at our Fairlawn campus in
Wellingborough.
One to one tutoring
Some of our young people find it difficult to access their learning in the
presence of their peers. This has enabled many learners to catch up with
their peers and experience success giving them the confidence to
re-engage in a classroom environment.
Page 12 Pupil Premium Allocated Spending: 2015-2016
Success of these initiativesSuccess of these initiatives
One of our key spending projects was directed at ensuring the quality of our teaching
and learning remained outstanding and that a whole school system for feedback and
self/peer assessment was introduced.
Our recent Ofsted report (July 2014) supports the success of this strategy:
“Typically, teaching is outstanding at both key stages, including in English and mathematics.
The teaching over time is outstanding.”
“Excellent marking often takes place on the spot and students are given clear guidance on what
they need to improve.”
This shows the importance of outstanding teaching and learning and the role that
marking and feedback plays. We have continued with this initiative during 2015. We
now have a whole school approach to marking and feedback and have developed peer
and self assessment models. To further embed this we have implemented whole school
marking scrutinies which have standardised good practise and led to the further
sharing of excellent practise across the Academy.
Our partnership with The Seeds of Change continues to strengthen. This year we saw a
number of young people not only benefiting from the behavioural interventions from
equine learning but also achieving Level 1 vocational qualifications which were positive
in securing placements at college and apprenticeships.
Additionally an increased number of young people were successful in achieving Arts
Awards through the Fermyn Woods Arts Project. Several young people also had the
recognition of their work being displayed in a local gallery with several gaining
commission from selling a piece of their work.
In 2015/16 In 2015/16 we are predicting that Pupil Premium funding will be £116,205 plus the
remainder of our £50,000 prize from the 2015 Pupil Premium Awards.
We intend to continue spending on the projects that have proved successful over the
past four years but have identified three new areas in which to channel our spending
this year. These projects are identified by the Education Endowment Foundation as
projects that have the potential to show a positive impact on the progress of young
people. These are outlined on the next page.
Page 13 Pupil Premium Allocated Spending: 2015-2016
New initiatives in 2015New initiatives in 2015
Initiative Cost
Identified
Sutton Trust
Approach
Aim
Peer
Tutoring
Project in
partnership
with UFA
£4,500
Improve learning outcomes
for both tutors and tutees
Peer Tutoring
+ 5 months
Develop young people’s
confidence and self esteem
Improve young people’s
collaboration and teamwork
skills
Reading Wise
Literacy
Programme
£1,500
Reading and
Comprehension
+ 5 months
Phonics
+ 4 months
To develop pupils’ literacy
skills and support the learning
of pupils with English as an
additional language
Group and
individual
Anger
Management/
self-esteem
counselling
£25,000
Social and
emotional
learning
+ 4 months
Behaviour
interventions
+ 4 months
Support young people with
their mental health.
Improving self regulation and
self awareness and helping to
develop coping strategies
Provide targeted
interventions for specific
young people to improve and
to reduce their aggression,
violence, bullying and general
anti-social activities.
Page 14 Pupil Premium Allocated Spending: 2015-2016
Impact of Pupil Premium spending on pupil outcomesImpact of Pupil Premium spending on pupil outcomes
When measuring the impact of Pupil Premium spending we have analysed a number of
performance indicators for pupils at The CE Academy in relation to the performance of
disadvantaged pupils (Ever 6 FSM and Looked After Children). These include attainment,
attendance, destinations and pupils’ wider development.
AttainmentAttainment
To monitor the impact of Pupil Premium we analyze our GCSE results, in comparison
with national data and then look at our results for all pupils in comparison with those in
receipt of Pupil Premium. Nationally 11% of pupils in Alternative Provision (2014/15)
achieved 5+ A*-G grades (including English and maths).
At The CE Academy 100% of non Pupil Premium pupils achieved 1+ A*-G grades with
96.1% of Pupil Premium pupils achieving this same benchmark. Also 33% of non Pupil
Premium pupils achieved 1 A*-C grade. They were out performed with 39.2% of Pupil
Premium pupils achieving this landmark. Both results for Pupil Premium pupils are
above the national average for pupils in Hospital Schools and PRU’s. This is further
supported by data for the past few years shows that pupils in receipt of Pupil Premium
achieve at the same level as those who don’t .
Page 15 Pupil Premium Allocated Spending: 2015-2016
DestinationsDestinations
We also use Year 11 destinations data to show the impact this work is having. The most
recent Government data shows that the NEET rate for 16-18 year olds is 7.6%, with
approximately 50% of Alternative Provision leavers finding a sustainable destination on
leaving.
In both 2013 (92%) and 2014 (94%) of leavers had a clear destination upon leaving The
CE Academy. This included college placements, apprenticeships, Princes Trust and
Youth Training.
In 2015 we have analysed destination for groups of young people who are in receipt of
Pupil Premium and those who are not.
We can clearly see that once again there is no evident gap with 95% of pupils in receipt
of Pupil Premium achieving a destination for the end of Year 11.
We are particularly pleased to have bucked the National trend for the percentage of
pupils who have managed to gain an apprenticeship upon leaving The CE Academy.
This is a combination of the work of CE Academy key tutors and the strong partnership
working with Connexions Northamptonshire.
In order to record the individual impact of Pupil Premium funding we have produced
several detailed case studies showing the impact that Pupil Premium funding has had
on specific pupils.
College/Training
Apprenticeships
Employment
PrincessTrust
NEET
Non Pupil Premium 76 11 2 7 4
Pupil Premium 75 11 3 5 5
01020304050607080
Pe
rce
nta
ge
CE Academy Destinations 2015
Page 16 Destinations: 2015-2016
Destinations 2012Destinations 2012--1515
A key focus of the work we do at The CE academy involves ensuring that wherever
possible our Year 11 leavers have secured a pathway for the following academic year, at
times securing more than one place on a course so that a choice is still possible. At
Key Stage 3 we continue to focus on supporting pupils to return to mainstream school.
The most recent national Government data shows that the NEET rate for 16-18 year
olds is 7.6%, with 71% of pupils from Hospital Schools and PRU’s having a planned
destination with only 50% finding a sustainable destination. Once again we have been
successful in ensuring pathways for our Year 11 leavers.
Our records show that 94% of young people were engaged in a full time commitment
once they had left The CE Academy. This included full time college, Youth Training and
Princes Trust courses. Of those without a full time course 5% were NEET and 1% were
not available to the labour market (at home with baby). This has been consistent over
the past three years.
The trend has changed over the last few years with higher percentages going to college
or into apprenticeships. The significant change was that 11% of CE Academy leavers
secured an apprenticeship at the end of Year 11 - twice the National average.
Page 17 Reintegration: 2015-2016
Reintegration 2013Reintegration 2013--20152015
The CE Academy continues to strive to aid pupils’ reintegration to school where they
can better meet the needs of a pupil. This is always a considered decision that must
acknowledge the wishes of our pupils and parents but also takes into account the
impact that another disruption to/change of school may have if the transition is not
successful.
As an AP Academy our partnership working with mainstream schools continues to be an
important aspect of our work. Dual registration continues to work as a short term
intervention strategy at Key Stage 3 and with some Key Stage 4 pupils as an alternative
to permanent exclusion. These changes were represented in our reintegration analysis
last academic year with 36% of pupils returning to their original mainstream school.
We have seen a continuation of this trend during 2014/15. Last academic year we saw
40 pupils reintegrated to county schools with a further 15 moving out of county. These
reintegrations fall onto three categories. 45% are permanently excluded pupils
successfully reintegrated back into mainstream schools with a further 50% being dual
registered pupils who made a successful return to their original mainstream school
following a period of dual registration with The CE Academy. The remaining 5% of pupils
arrived with a Statement of Educational Need and where then reintegrated to a special
school.
This illustrates how reintegration work has evolved since Complementary Education
converted to an AP Academy, with a large percentage of reintegrations now being
pupils returning to their mainstream school (not an option for schools or pupils prior
to conversion). Once again this shows the rapid progress that some pupils have made
both academically and socially allowing them to successfully return to mainstream
education.
45%
50%
5%
Reintegration 2014 -15
Return to amainstream school
Dual Registeredreturn to original
mainstream
EHCPlan return toSpecial School
Page 18 English
IntroductionIntroduction
English is taught by seven members of staff across all nine CE Academy Campus sites, in
combination with a highly valued contribution from tutors across the county.
Wherever it is taught and to whichever age group our aim as a curriculum group remains the
same: English is a subject to be enjoyed first and foremost and it is from this enjoyment and the
close relationship to staff that it brings, that we can engage students with a demanding
curriculum and ultimately lead them to exam success.
This emphasis on the enjoyment of the subject is felt most keenly at Key Stage 3. The teaching
of literacy at our KS3 campuses has allowed the English staff to spend more time with novels,
plays, drama and creative writing: re-enthusing the young people following what was often a
difficult time for them at mainstream.
At Key Stage 4 our commitment to the pleasure of English remains equally strong, which allows
us to tackle the requirements of the GCSE syllabus.
Although we do not directly teach literacy we are fully aware of our responsibility as models of
accurate, appropriate and clear communication and have devised a number of techniques that
allow us to improve young people’s sentence structure, spelling and vocabulary without
drawing from the pleasure of reading a text.
We firmly believe that we have a responsibility to all our students to offer them an alternative
vision of their lives via the escapism of literature; to emphasise that the enjoyment and study of
books is a right open to all people, irrespective of background or circumstance.
All students who spend at least a year at The CE Academy will read a novel, sometimes to help
with GCSE coursework or sometimes at KS3 or even in Year 10, just for the experience. This is
something about which we remain staunchly proud, especially amidst the recent drive to make
English teaching a series of scientifically discrete components.
Exam Entries and ResultsExam Entries and Results
This year’s exam season presented us as teachers with some great successes but also some
stark warnings for the immediate and longer terms.
This year we entered more students than ever before for GCSE English. 70 students were
entered for the examination: 15 more than in 2014 and 27 more than in 2013. We are proud of
this number – the same entry as Maths, given the demands of the coursework folder. This high
number was greatly helped, the staff felt, by a specific English coursework morning in early
Spring. This number fell to 66 after the examination: three students failed to attend and one
was disqualified.
Page 19 English
The marks for the individual coursework components also rose from last year: for the Reading
Literary Texts, it rose marginally from an average of 18.53 to 18.81 and in the Imaginative
Writing, where we had a stated focus following a dip last year, the rise was significant: from
17.98 in 2014 up to 20.55 this year.
In the exam itself the final marks offered both encouragement and further reminders of the
challenges ahead. We can take great encouragement that for the second year running the
young people at The CE Academy scored significantly higher in their exam, on average, than in
their coursework: nearly 12 percentage points higher. This obviously bodes well for an era
without coursework, although it is yet to be discovered whether this can be attributed to the
difficulty of the language in the coursework folder (Shakespeare, poetry) or whether it is
because of the silence, concentration and adrenalin that characterise the written exam. Only
time will tell. The challenge, however, is clear: no student managed to gain a mark higher than
a C in their written examination; even those who were awarded an A for their coursework
folder.
Elsewhere the results threw up some intriguing discrepancies, all of which clearly highlight the
difficulties of the path ahead.
Between exam centres, those who sat their exam at the Cromwell Campus were down about
0.5 of a percentage point on those who sat the exam at the Forest Gate Campus.
In terms of gender: girls were far more likely (61%) to achieve a D-E grade, whereas the majority
of boys weighed in at grades E-F (45%). Worryingly, 17% of boys who started the English course
were withdrawn either in advance of the exam or on the day. Most English students received a
grade E. Whereas we are proud that not a single student failed, there is concern that only 5%
reached A*-C compared with 12% in Maths. We were, however, the only subject of the three
core-curriculum subjects to have any students earn higher than a grade C: two Bs from both
genders. Both these students received Free School Meals, tying into the overall statistic that
FSM is no measure of a handicap in CE Academy English.
Of our LAC students we had a 100% entry and pass rate.
An area that we are proud of, given the demands of poetry and Shakespearean English to even
native speakers, is our results with EAL students. 80% of our EAL students were entered for the
English exam. At the Cromwell Campus they represented over 20% of the total entry number.
Page 20 English
ChallengesChallenges
As teachers of English within The CE Academy we face many great challenges. Firstly, the old
issue that students bring to us: namely, that they have a dislike and even a mistrust of English
from their time in mainstream school. This could manifest itself as a fear of having their
weaknesses exposed, either through testing or reading aloud. It remains our policy never to ask
students to read aloud (they may ask us, of course!) and not to test in lessons. The changing
face of Ofsted and of mainstream education’s reaction to their inspection policies mean that as
a service we are to begin testing new referrals in reading but this is to be done away from the
English lesson and is designed to measure progress for staff, not pigeon-hole our young people.
Another fear of young people coming in to our lesson is that of the ‘blank page’. Independent
thought is not always a strength of our young people and we have invested in training,
literature and resources as a means of breaking this down.
We clearly have a challenge ahead in raising the attainment of our top-end students and of
pushing the D grade students up into the A-C bracket.
We have the challenge of the new English curriculum from 2016, combined with efforts to allow
students to measure their own progress, identify their own weaknesses and consolidate their
strengths. We deliberately took a lead on this last year as a department and have created a
number of resources and self-assessment programmes that have had very positive feedback
from the young people and are being shown to the heads of other departments. These include
Progress Maps and Skills Charts devised from popular X-Box games. We have also introduced
the use of a new website www.tripticoplus.com to help students structure and understand their
own work more clearly.
Dual registration remains a challenge, as students arrive firmly entrenched in a different exam
board. In response we have created a database of exam boards and texts, keeping a permanent
library of other texts, anthologies and syllabuses at the Overleys Campus that can be used by all
staff.
Reading a novel in a PRU is always a challenge, especially as all of our students are not referred
to us at the beginning of the book. The current syllabus demands only one novel but the new
GCSE could raise that number. We have worked closely with support staff to ensure that they
know the book and are able to take individual students aside to get them up to speed. We are
grateful to those non-English teaching staff who took these books home to read at weekends!
CE
Page 21 English
Curriculum DevelopmentsCurriculum Developments
English is changing massively over the next few years. Coursework is disappearing and Speaking
and Listening has been totally marginalised. The focus on literature is intensifying as is the need
to demonstrate a greater assurance of spelling, punctuation and grammar. The literature that is
now deemed desirable by the government has an emphasis on the 19th Century, which again
increases the difficulty for our students to access the book, both in terms of language and size:
we are still managing to get most students through a two year course in a little over nine
months.
We also have to look at the way we measure our progress throughout the year. Previously,
we had the coursework as a set of signposts at every half term but, as that disappears, we
need a clear strategy in order that students do not get bogged down in a quagmire of exam
preparation.
We also have to consider the incentive that the government has offered all English teachers to
encourage their students to aim for a GCSE in English literature. This has, in the past, thrown up
all sorts of practical issues for timetabling, but as we assess whether it could make an enormous
difference to the future of our young people, we shall have to find a way.
Future PlansFuture Plans
The year to come is one of profound importance for us. We have big decisions to make
regarding the new syllabus, which books to choose, learning which exam boards place emphasis
on which assessment objectives and how to structure the entire package. We plan to research,
learn and implement ways in which to foster greater independence in our young people for
100% examination. We plan to work on new thinking about modelling and ‘scaffolding’ clear,
well-structured sentences and secure punctuation without making the English lesson another
‘death-by-worksheet’ experience.
We are working on ways to combat the issue of “assumed knowledge”, whereby students lack
the basic understanding of phrases, institutions, history and politics and so struggle to engage
with texts. This has already involved all English staff reading books by cognitive psychologists
and investigating ways that students can learn to tackle unfamiliar vocabulary using context.
Finally, despite government policy heading in a different direction, we are not walking away
from Speaking and Listening. We believe firmly that it greatly benefits our young people to be
able to communicate with adults and peers, that an understanding of tone, register, body-
language and Standard English make them more employable, more likely to resolve conflicts
and more likely to achieve success away from the campus.
Page 22 Mathematics
IntroductionIntroduction
The mathematics curriculum group is committed to improving all young people’s understanding
and participation in the subject. We promote the importance of the subject to society and the
economic benefits to their individual futures.
The subject is taught to Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 across nine campus sites based around the
county. This includes three Key Stage 3 sites, two sites for school age mothers and four sites for
Key Stage 4 (to include one mixed gender campus and three single sex campuses).
The curriculum will be delivered by seven members of staff including two subject specialists,
four multi-discipline teachers and one trainee teacher.
Key Stage 3Key Stage 3
At Key Stage 3 young people follow the requirements of the national curriculum. The Scheme of
Work is designed to work with groups of varying ages and ability. We focus on two key areas:
to teach core skills that young people should have the opportunity to study at each level;
to address essential areas that are missing from their education.
Key aims are:
to re-engage disaffected pupils;
to identify and address identified areas of need crucial to progress within the subject;
to maintain and extend existing knowledge to enable identified pupils to be reintegrated
to mainstream;
to promote a sense of value and enjoyment in the subject;
to identify pupils of higher attainment and encourage a desire to achieve at the highest
level.
The curriculum allows the young people the opportunity to develop core numeracy skills, the
ability to investigate mathematical concepts, problem solving, logical thinking and application of
knowledge to the world around them.
The scheme addresses the needs of pupils who may arrive in year 7 or later and stay with us for
a significant portion of their secondary education. It sets out clear objectives for each year
group and currently facilitates entry for the GCSE course in year 10 or early examination where
deemed appropriate on an individual basis. It also has the flexibility to include and engage
pupils who are dual registered for a fixed period of time.
Page 23 Mathematics
Key Stage 4Key Stage 4
At Key Stage 4, young people follow the OCR J567 Syllabus B GCSE course. This is a terminal
exam only course available at Foundation and higher tiers. All young people study the subject
in years 10 and 11 with the expectation of being entered for accreditation by the end of year
11.
Entry in year 10 is still appropriate for a very small number of students. Any entries at this stage
will be made on an individual basis, according to these considerations:
the potential to achieve a minimum of a grade C that will provide the stimulus to study
the subject to a higher level;
concerns that circumstances may place them in an increasingly vulnerable position
outside of education that will prevent engagement in year 11;
pupils who need practical experience of the exam system to allow them to more
effectively assess their own ability and potential.
Exam Entries and ResultsExam Entries and Results
The mathematics curriculum consistently enters the majority of young people for accreditation
at GCSE level. In the academic year 2014–2015, 92% of all Year 11 students were entered.
Results were directly comparable to English in this academic year and overall the curriculum
entered more students than other subjects. There was an increase this year in the number of
pupils not achieving a pass, not being ready for entry or being withdrawn on the day. A small
number of students were not entered at their request as it was deemed to be in their overall
interest. However they studied the course for the duration of the year. Key points:
12% of students entered achieved a grade A – C. An increase of 3% on the previous year
with an increased number of candidates.
84% of pupils entered on the day of the exam passed.
92% of all pupils were entered for the terminal exams.
13 pupils achieved an ungraded mark. Two are being appealed because they missed by
2 marks or less. A further 4 pupils would have passed if the grade boundaries had not
been raised for the 4th consecutive year.
There were no significant variations according to gender or free school meals.
Pupils who had been previously excluded in Key Stage 3 also performed statistically
below pupils excluded in Key Stage 4.
Pupils with EAL have also performed below the whole year group.
Page 24 Mathematics
ChallengesChallenges
Mathematics is often a subject that has presented many of our young people with significant
challenges in mainstream. This can be apparent in a variety of ways including:
Lack of confidence, self-esteem and resilience in the classroom.
Historically poor attendance or withdrawal from the subject in mainstream.
A deep dislike or mistrust of the subject engendered from mainstream experiences.
Additionally, many of our young people are in vulnerable circumstances and may have to
prioritise personal issues over their learning and education. Practical necessities also dictate
that the majority of lessons are of mixed age and ability and are subject to constant change.
We also experience a reluctance to engage that has been promoted by some parents. This may
reflect parents’ attitudes from their own educational experience. It can also be a misguided
attempt to make their children's lives easier by offering them work and money with the promise
of a future not dependant on qualifications.
This year represents a significant milestone in the delivery of the subject. Year 10 pupils will
commence the new more rigorous syllabus with terminal grading of 1 to 9. This will bring
additional challenges:
Delivery of a new Scheme of Work with significantly increased content and difficulty at
foundation level and more challenging terminal exams in parallel with the final year of
the old syllabus.
Uncertainty over the difficulty level of the new syllabus following trial examinations
nationally, resulting in exam boards having to redesign terminal assessments.
Currently the changes have disadvantaged many of our students by removing examinable
content taught across both key stages. The increased emphasis on Algebra content, much of it
brought down from the higher tier also represents a hurdle as many of our pupils find it hard to
relate to its importance with their planned careers. This is compounded with a loss of some
topics of a more practical and visual nature.
Developments within the curriculumDevelopments within the curriculum
During this year, the following have been introduced or pursued across all campuses:
Continued promotion of pupil’s self-awareness and assessment of their progress.
Continued promotion of the importance of achieving a grade C. (This may be supported
by the experience of friends now having to repeat the subject on post 16 courses.)
All staff now employ a unified system of recording work and assessment of progress by
teachers.
Page 25 Mathematics
Continued use of online resources to support pupils within the classroom and at home
with parents.
Delivery of Key Stage 3 Scheme of Work to enable pupils to engage with the transition to
Key Stage 4 and the new curriculum.
Future PlansFuture Plans
Promote increased participation in the terminal exams to allow students successful entry
to higher education where continued study of the subject will be mandatory.
Increase the aspirations of students to achieve a minimum of a grade C.
Promote the importance of the subject for 16–19 education and employment.
Integrate changes to the curriculum for the Key Stage 3 Scheme of Work by the end of
the year (for examinations in 2017).
Effectively use online resources to support students across all key stages.
Continue to develop effective self-assessment.
More effectively identify students who appear likely to not attend terminal exams and
work with parents/staff/other agencies to overcome this outcome.
Review procedures for entering pupils for whom the qualification may be too challenging.
More closely monitor LAC, EAL and Key Stage 3 transfers to make more effective
interventions.
Employ a dedicated numeracy assessment to improve baseline information upon
admission.
Page 26 Science
IntroductionIntroduction
The science curriculum group is committed to improving students’ understanding and enjoyment of science. All young people study science at Key Stages 3 and 4 unless attendance at college or other curriculum arrangements preclude them from doing so.
Science is taught only by specialist staff, who firmly believe in the importance of science within the curriculum but also as an opportunity to improve pupils scientific literacy; develop enquiring minds; and improve life skill through a topical and relevant themes.
Key Stage 3Key Stage 3
At Key Stage 3 work is based on the Heinemann “Catalyst” Series, but has recently been supplemented through the introduction of the Smart Science work scheme and the Key Stage 3 Board Works resource. Both schemes follow the National Curriculum programme of study and encouraged students to develop an understanding of the following areas:
Scientific thinking Applications and implications of science The cultural context of science Collaboration Practical enquiry
The Scheme of Work allows for a variety of learning styles: experimentation; discussion and research. We hope that our curriculum will encourage young people to question the world around them and look for explanations of how thing work in real life settings. This is done by providing opportunities to develop experimentation, discussion and personal research.
Key Stage 4Key Stage 4
At Key Stage 4 young people follow the OCR Gateway Science B Specification. This is available at both Foundation and Higher levels. Should students sit the examination in Year 10 they may be offered the opportunity to take a second GCSE qualification (usually Additional Science) in Year 11. The curriculum is broad and balanced and, at the same time, enables us to structure its delivery to accommodate individuals’ interests and needs.
The controlled assessment comprises 25% of the final GCSE grade. The remaining 75% is derived from two written exam papers.
Exam Entries and ResultsExam Entries and Results
2015 saw a fall in entries with 53 pupils entered for the exam. This was a lower percentage than for the 2014 cohort. This was principally due to increased proportion of students not completing their coursework and reduced teaching time in one campus.
In general there was an upward shift of pass grades. The percentage of passes at grade C and D increased by 19.2% to 33.9% of all entries. C grades increased by 5.3% to 7.5%.
96.2% of all students entered obtained a C to G pass grade. It was disappointing that we had two students who gained a U grade, especially when one had lost her grandfather on the day of her final exam. She did not receive any consideration from the exam board despite them being informed.
Boys on average outperformed the girls in gaining the higher grades with 7.5% of all entrants (4 boys) getting a C grade. This was a large swing from last year’s results.
Page 27 Science
Of the 53 Year 11 students entered for the GCSE in science, 27 (50.9%) were in receipt of free school meals (FSM). This was comparable to the percentage of science entries for this cohort and provides evidence of no significant difference between free school meals and non-free school meals students.
2 out of 4 Looked After Children (LAC) and 4 out of 9 English as a Secondary Language (ESL) students obtained a GCSE qualification in Science.
71% of students scored more highly on Paper 2 than Paper 1.
ChallengesChallenges
Many young people who join us have negative feelings about science as a subject. This can often be because of the general belief that science is hard and the frequent exclusion from science lessons due to their poor behaviour. In addition our young people have often experienced long periods of interrupted education and join us at unpredictable times during the school year. This means our teaching groups, whilst small, consist of pupils across years 10 and 11 at Key Stage 4, and years 7, 8 and 9 at Key Stage 3. Groups can also be subject to frequent changes.
Developments within the curriculumDevelopments within the curriculum
The curriculum group continues to explore the use of online resources and developing practical activities. The Key Stage 3 curriculum has been reviewed recently and we have enhanced our teaching resources by purchasing the new Smart Science Scheme of Work and Key Stage 3 Boardworks as an interactive discussion tool. Both increase our ability to differentiate and bring our lessons more alive.
The Key Stage 4 curriculum has major changes arriving in September 2016 where science will no longer be able to be examined as a single science. Only a double qualification will be available. This will make teaching science at GCSE in an already tight timetable difficult. The curriculum group continues to investigate alternative qualifications.
Sue Eley has retired after leading the science curriculum group for the past 3 years. Richard Atkins has taken on the role from 1st September 2015.
Future PlansFuture Plans
The science curriculum group will be teaching themed weeks in order to give students a broad and balanced curriculum throughout the year. This will happen in both key stages.
It is hoped in Key Stage 4 by mixing up the contents required for both exam papers throughout the year and focusing on key concepts exam performance will improve.
A key statement for each lesson is being developed for every student to “take away” in Key Stage 3. This will be accompanied with supporting differentiated learning statements. We are exploring and working on a variety of different practical activities to enable us to do this. RAG sheets will then be developed to track pupil progress and promote self-assessment.
We will continue to develop student’s literacy through the use of dictionaries and key word walls. In the longer term, and in light of the proposed changes to GCSE courses that are due to be introduced in September 2016, we will be evaluating new course specifications and alternative options as they become available.
Page 28 Art and Design
IntroductionIntroduction
The art and design and textiles curriculum group is committed to improving young peoples’
understanding, knowledge and skills. All young people have the opportunity to study art and
design at Key Stage 3 and 4 across all campuses unless attending college or other curriculum
opportunities. Two campuses offer textiles as an additional art specialism. We see art as an
important means to helping young people gain confidence, self–esteem and understanding that
the process of creating art can be beneficial in improving their attitude towards learning.
Key Stage 3Key Stage 3
At Key Stage 3 young people follow schemes of work linked to the national curriculum for art
and design. A two year programme enables young people to develop skills and understanding.
The programme allows them to develop vocabulary and techniques and to be able to give a
considered evaluation of their own and others work.
Each year there are six project titles which are linked to artists, craftspeople or designers that
young people are encouraged to investigate.
Key Stage 4Key Stage 4
At Key Stage 4 young people follow a programme of study following OCR specifications. The
theme ‘Environment’ offers all the young people an extremely broad range of subject matter
to investigate, research and record. This contributes to them producing coursework which is
engaging, vibrant and refined.
Most young people at Key Stage 4 work towards taking Art and Design GCSE. The Fairlawn
Campus offers Textiles as an additional GCSE subject.
Fermyn Woods Contemporary Arts WorkshopFermyn Woods Contemporary Arts Workshop
Key Stage 3 young people have had the opportunity to attend the arts workshop again this year.
James Steventon, Fermyn Woods’ Education Officer, has this year provided us with a wide and
diverse group of artists and the young people have worked to improve their skills in drawing,
modelling and carving and have been awarded an Arts Award Discoverers Certificate.
Work produced by CE pupils at Fermyn Woods was also exhibited at the Alfred East Gallery in
Kettering during the summer term. Pupils achieved awards and even sold their work, receiving
cheques in the post.
Exam Entries and ResultsExam Entries and Results
This year 47 young people were entered for OCR GCSE Art and Design and 11 young people
were entered for OCR GCSE Textiles. This has increased from last year.
Page 29 Art and Design
AchievementsAchievements
Art and Design
100% pass rate
23% achieved A* - C an increase from last year
2 young people have gone on to study Art and Design at Northampton College
Textiles
100% pass rate
1 young person achieved a B
ChallengesChallenges
Many young people attend art lessons feeling negative and lacking in confidence generally
because of previous experience in their former school. Often they would be excluded from art
lessons because of behaviour issues and a feeling that they don’t have the necessary skills to
do art. In Key Stage 4 young people joining at different stages in the academic year makes it
difficult to encourage interest and enthusiasm for art. Teachers work hard to find a level that
young people feel comfortable and confident with. There is a gender split when it comes to
results; girls do better at GCSE than boys.
Developments within the curriculumDevelopments within the curriculum
The teaching staff within the art department have met to discuss how they can address the gap
in attainment between boys and girls. There is a focus on motivating boys by concentrating on
particular techniques, processes and media that seem to inspire boys. Staff have also looked at
the appeal of particular artists to boys.
It has been identified that our young people lack enthusiasm for observational work. The art
team have explored ways to address this which should reflect positively in next years results.
Staff are now using a progress tracker to identify any concerns with pupil progress. These will
be discussed at every campus and art curriculum meeting.
Key Stage 3 will continue to work to improve young people’s skills, ideas and confidence. The
Fermyn Woods Arts Workshop will continue to support the young people’s learning in an
exciting and positive way.
Future PlansFuture Plans
It is hoped this year that all young people will have the opportunity to visit museums and
galleries. Photography has been introduced at Cromwell which will be an exciting addition to
the timetable. We are also awaiting the results from our application for the Artsmark.
Page 30 Expressive Arts
IntroductionIntroduction
GCSE Expressive Arts is now firmly embedded in the CE Academy curriculum at Key Stage 4 and is successfully delivered by a variety of staff with different subject specialisms.
The beauty of this subject is that it extends pupils’ understanding of different art forms and encourages them to explore relationships between each of them, whilst allowing pupils to develop their creative and imaginative skills.
It encourages independent learning and decision making and introduces pupils to a wide range of media. A wide variety of programs, software and techniques allow students of all abilities to access this GCSE at appropriate levels whilst providing suitable challenge. At CE Academy it is particularly successful as it enables pupils to work to their strengths and allows opportunities for them to develop their own skills and interests. It is also a great subject to introduce different cultures and arts practitioners perhaps unfamiliar to pupils.
Key Stage 4Key Stage 4
At Key Stage 4 pupils follow the OCR GCSE Expressive Arts specification. This is made up of three mandatory units.
Working in response to the study of artworks by practitioners.
Working in response to a stimulus.
Working in response to a commission in a community context.
The first two units are controlled assessments and comprise 60% of the final grade. The final unit is a practical exam. Throughout the specification pupils must explore and apply the work of practitioners and develop final realisations for each unit in at least three art forms. They can choose from the following:
Art and Design
Music
Drama
Dance
Music
Exam Entries and ResultsExam Entries and Results
It has been a fantastic year for expressive arts at CE Academy. The status for expressive arts continues to rise with a record number of 51 entries for the subject, overtaking the number of art entries for the first time.
We had a 100% pass rate with all 51 pupils entered achieving a GCSE Expressive Arts with 37% gaining A-C grades. Again this is a huge achievement; a marked improvement from the previous year at 21% and even the year before at 31%.
Other specific achievements included:
Three pupils achieved a grade A and seven pupils achieved a grade B.
A year 10 pupil entered this year achieved a grade A.
Expressive arts out performed other subjects at CE.
Page 31
ChallengesChallenges
Many young people join us without having any experience of expressive arts and what it means
so it is essential that the subject is introduced to them in an exciting and imaginative way. Many
pupils wrongly assume if they do not like art as a subject that this will also apply to expressive
arts. We feel it is important that we make a clear distinction. Where possible we endeavour to
teach expressive arts in a classroom other than the art room.
GCSE candidates at mainstream school often perform their exam pieces for the external
moderator when demonstrating drama as an art form. At CE Academy we have used both film
and still image successfully as a way of representing drama, as many of our young people do not
have the confidence to perform to an audience. The spread of sites would also cause logistical
difficulties. This year we encountered a difficulty during the external moderation where the use
of still image was challenged when using it to represent drama as an art form. Fortunately we
were able to evidence dramatic content within pupil’s photography and argue its place within
the art form.
Developments within the curriculumDevelopments within the curriculum
The use of stop-motion animation in pupil’s work was again strengthened by workshops held in
campuses by Barry Skillen from the Manchester based company ‘Animation Nation’.
Pupils at CE have been able to experience many theatre productions this year. Intermission
Theatre, a London based theatre group visited Key Stage 4 campuses and performed Verona
Road, a modern-day interpretation of Romeo and Juliet. This clearly helped our young people
gain a better understanding of the play for their English GCSE but also introduced expressive
arts pupils to drama and live theatre. In January, pupils from Overleys, Oaklands, Cromwell and
Forest Gate had the opportunity to see the amazing production of ‘The Lion King’ at The Lyceum
Theatre in London; an inspiring show, enabling pupils to gain valuable experience of the use of
masks and puppets in a live musical performance. Later on in the year pupils from Fairlawn
went to see ‘No Way Back’ at the Corby Cube; a piece of physical theatre performed by the
award winning group ‘Frantic Assembly’. The show was inspired by the local people of Corby
and their stories and even featured local non-actors of all different ages. It was a great way to
illustrate that anybody can become involved in local theatre.
An exciting collaboration with CE Academy, The Mighty Creatives and the Core in Corby came
about during the Spring and Summer terms involving the girls at Fairlawn. We were delighted to
hear that we were chosen to host the first Priority Arts project in Wellingborough which
enabled local groups of young people to produce a piece of art which they felt was of
importance to their locality. The group chose to make a film where they were keen to dispel the
myths surrounding alternative education and what it was like to be excluded from mainstream
school.
Expressive Arts
Page 32 Expressive Arts
“We felt the idea generated at the consultation session was really
exciting and perfectly captured the spirit of Priority”.
Priority partners Feb 2015
The group had £4000 to spend on the project which they chose to spend wisely on the use of
practitioners to help them make their film. Girls took part in the interviewing and recruitment
process choosing to work mainly with Dom Breadmore from Ludicrooms, a digital film maker,
with support from Sam Acquaah, MC and spoken word performer. As part of the process girls
participated in poetry, dance and digital media workshops. The end result was incredible; a
touching and thought provoking short film entitled, 'A Sparkle Itching to Show'. The film was
showcased at the Corby Cube as part of the Slam event and was received with much applause.
“Firstly a massive thank you to you all on a brilliant project. The film
created by the group has been the talk of the Slam event and our
chief executive even requested to see it following the buzz coming from
audiences at the event! And that is rare! In addition to this the whole
process and delivery of the project was challenging and brilliant and
that is all thanks to the hard work and an excellent team so thank
you all so so much”.
Lisa Shepherd, Creative Practitioner, Priority Project July 2015
The film can be used as a part of GCSE expressive arts coursework for those pupils sitting the
exam in 2016 and is a fine example of how different art forms can interact with each other. It
will also be loaded onto the CE Academy intranet and will be available on YouTube.
It was noted that pupils and staff were struggling to access music software. Some of our
equipment was outdated and not running efficiently and the music package ‘Reason’ was too
difficult to use for the majority. It was essential that this was addressed quickly as music is often
the third art form that pupils choose during the exam. Four IMacs have been purchased that
come complete with the music package ’Garageband’ which have already been put to good use.
Cameras have also been purchased for staff teaching expressive arts as it was noted that
photographing pupil’s work at different stages is a useful evaluation tool.
The theme of China was the focus of Key Stage 4 cross curricular 2014 with the return of
expressive arts being the driving force. The programme kicked off with a ‘lion dance’ and pupils
experienced a range of workshops looking at different Chinese art forms over the two days,
whilst producing a piece of GCSE expressive arts coursework.
Page 33
Future PlansFuture Plans
Expressive Arts enables young people to work with a range of media. Within CE we have a
variety of different and exciting digital resources that are utilised within expressive arts. Within
the staff team we are in the process of producing ‘idiot’s guides’ for the following software
packages: Crazy Talk, Audacity, Photoshop, Serif, Scratch and I Can Animate. Both staff and
pupils will be able to work through these enabling them to learn the skills needed to get the
best from what is on offer at CE. We will still provide in house training for those staff who lack
the confidence.
We will be working in partnership with Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Trust and
increasing musical opportunities for the young people at CE Academy. A vocal coach with be
working with pupils to develop their singing skills and a rock band will be delivering workshops
in a number of Key Stage 4 campuses.
We continue to aim for increased number of entries and to further our success in achieving an
even higher number of grade A-C passes. A focus will be on improving the grades of boys, as
girls outperform the boys by a considerable margin. As a curriculum group we will be looking at
what works best with the boys; what sort of activities, art forms, practitioners, projects inspire
them the most. We will be analysing further where they can achieve more marks and target
these objectives to build on the success of expressive arts at The CE Academy.
Expressive Arts
Page 34 Design Technology
Introduction
The Design and Technology (DT) curriculum group is committed to improving our students’
understanding of good design and of the role that technology plays in everyday life. DT is
timetabled at both Key Stage 4 (Cromwell, Fairlawn and London Road Campuses) and Key Stage
3 (Chiltern, Spring Gardens and William Knibb Campuses). A further workshop is currently being
commissioned at Spring Gardens. DT is taught by four members of staff. We see the study of DT
as not just the nurturing of practical ability, but as a subject which equips students with skills
that employers value. Of equal importance is the way in which the subject promotes
independent research, evaluation and risk taking, all of which will be useful throughout their
lives.
Key Stage 3
At Key Stage 3, the curriculum allows young people to design and construct a range of products
that incorporate processes and materials to equip students with the knowledge and skills they
will need for their transition to the GCSE syllabus in Key Stage 4.
The scheme of work provides opportunity for individual enquiry and scope for students to
communicate their design ideas using traditional graphical media and also through the
utilisation of CAD and CAM technologies. Modern materials are explored and the concept of
quality is investigated through the honing of existing skills and the development of fresh ideas
and competencies.
The scheme of work allows for a variety of learning styles: experimentation, discussion and
research.
Key Stage 4
At Key Stage 4 young people follow the WJEC Design and Technology Resistant Materials full
course specification. If students sit the examination in year 10 they may be offered the
opportunity to re-take the qualification the following year, depending on the previous GCSE
grade attained. The curriculum is broad and balanced and, at the same time, it enables us to
structure its delivery to accommodate individual interests and needs.
The WJEC Design and Technology, full-course qualification is comprised of one 30 hour
controlled assessment module that carries 60% of the final marks. The remaining 40% of the
marks for the final grade are contained in a 2 hour final written examination paper.
Students learn about sustainable design, research methods, work of designers selected by the
WJEC for study, manufacturing processes, tools and their uses, construction methods and
methods of fixing.
Page 35
Exam Entries and Results
This is the first year that our students have been entered for this WJEC qualification. There has
been an increase in the number of students that have taken the DT exam this year.
The quality of student entries has improved due to measures implemented in the DT curriculum
development plan; staff have introduced learning mats and resources to encourage the use of
technical vocabulary and to provide visual reference of student progress.
Challenges
Many of the young people have chosen to study an area of DT that is not available at The CE
Academy. Therefore many have large gaps in both their skills and knowledge for working with
Resistant Materials.
In Key Stage 4 the most significant challenge is preparing our young people for the 2 hour
written examination.
Developments within the curriculum
The curriculum group continues to strive to improve the quality of practical projects by the
introduction of starter activities which feature smart and modern materials and by the recent
introduction of project work booklets. Student technical vocabularies have been a concern and
work has been actioned to incorporate key words into workshops and into lessons. Student self-
evaluation of projects using two stars and a wish has now become an integral part of lessons
and has helped to document student progress and achievement. Additional training has taken
place to enable staff to effectively integrate CAD CAM and 3D modelling into lessons and to
improve the quality of student products.
Future Plans
Changes made to the National Curriculum Design and Technology programme of study have
prompted the curriculum group to revise the Key Stage 3 scheme of work to incorporate
programmable digital electronics and opportunities for student led design and making activities.
This year’s student cohort will be the first to access this revised Key Stage 3 curriculum.
Design Technology
Page 36 Child Development
IntroductionIntroduction
Child Development is taught at both of the school age mother campus sites: at Overleys in
Northampton and at Oaklands in Corby. All of the students study Child Development unless they
attend other college courses, in which case specific relevant topics are covered in PACC
sessions.
Last year it had also been successfully timetabled at our Key Stage 4 provision in Corby and has
continued to be this year.
This year a student from another campus who expressed a keen interest in this subject has also
been offered the opportunity to study and work toward a GCSE in this subject.
Child Development is a fundamental subject to our students in preparing them for the
expectations and changes that occur during pregnancy and parenthood.
Students follow the OCR GCSE Home Economics: Child Development. The subject focuses on the
growth and development of children from conception to the age of five.
Areas covered include:
family and parenting;
preparation for pregnancy and birth;
physical development;
nutrition and health;
intellectual, social and emotional development;
community support.
The OCR Child Development course for GCSE consists of 4 controlled assessments and a final
written exam.
The present scheme of work allows for students to learn using a variety of learning styles. They
are also required to complete some of the work outside of school.
Unit BO11: Three short tasks
Candidates submit 2 practical and 1 investigative, short tasks chosen from a list of tasks provided by OCR. Each of the 3 tasks should focus on different practical skills and knowledge. 60 marks (20 marks per task)/30 % of the total GCSE marks. This unit is internally assessed and externally moderated. These tasks will assess the following skills: planning, practical work, evaluation, investigation.
Page 37
Unit BO12: Child study task
Candidates submit one individual task chosen from a list of themes provided by OCR. 60 marks/ 30% of the total GCSE marks. This unit is internally assessed and externally moderated. This task will assess the following skills: research, selecting and justifying choices, planning, practical work, evaluation.
Unit BO13: The examination
The examination is a 1 hour 30 minute written paper which consists of five compulsory questions, including short answers, picture stimulus, data response, structured and free-response formats. Questions will cover all areas of the specification content. 80 marks/40% of the total GCSE marks. It is externally assessed.
Exam Entries and ResultsExam Entries and Results
In 2015 six pupils sat the Child Development examination. There was a 100% pass rate.
ChallengesChallenges
As Child Development is just taught by one member of staff that can be challenging because
they are solely responsible for the subject. The pupils also face a variety of challenges in
achieving a GCSE in Child Development. For some the subject is something that they have not
studied before. The subject contains a high percentage of assessment by controlled
assessments, consisting of 3 short tasks and a child study task. Due to the nature of the
provision, students may join us throughout the year increasing the pressure to complete
controlled assessments by the specific dead line. Students may also require time off from school
to give birth to their baby and adjust to motherhood.
Developments within the curriculumDevelopments within the curriculum
The curriculum continues to develop in classroom resources, worksheets relating to subject
topics. The subject is now being taught in more of the campuses.
Future PlansFuture Plans
To continue to make the subject and assessments more interesting and appealing to
students.
To increase the varieties of resources, work sheets, revision aids and library contents
relating to the curriculum subject.
To offer a variety of learning aids to appeal to different learning styles.
To continue to offer Child Development as a subject to pupils at other campus sites
where an interest is shown.
To continue to try and encourage boys to take the subject seriously and consider it as a
GCSE option.
Child Development
Page 38 ICT
Introduction Introduction
The CE Academy continues to deliver ICT as a component of both the Key Stage 3 and
Key Stage 4 curriculum both as a discrete subject and as a cross curricular tool throughout other
subject areas. Pupils are taught how to use a variety of software packages and to understand
and consider the use of ICT in business and in society. Young people join us with vastly different
skills and abilities in ICT and we aim to support their development further to enhance their
learning in other areas of the curriculum.
Key Stage 3Key Stage 3
At Key Stage 3 the curriculum is skills based; teaching the skills needed to aid success in other
subject areas. We have developed a new scheme of work around the requirements of the new
national curriculum and the skills that will benefit pupils across the curriculum. This includes
PowerPoint presentations, movie making, animation, programming, ICT in society and coding
skills.
Key Stage 4Key Stage 4
At Key Stage 4 there is a focus on pupils achieving nationally recognised City and Guilds ICT
qualifications. The examination course promotes self-assessment of work, accuracy and
attention to detail. These examination passes have been instrumental in enabling young people
to access further education courses. We have developed a scheme of work at Key Stage 4 to
specifically target skills required in Expressive Arts to support the controlled assessment
projects and examinations. This will include music production, movie making software, game
maker and developing animations.
Exam entries and resultsExam entries and results
In 2014-2015 there has been a small decline in examination entries and passes. However, our
Key Stage 4 only male/female campus produced 28 examination passes 21 of which were First
Class Passes; several of the girls obtaining up to 3 City and Guilds qualifications throughout the
year. In our single sexed girls campus 12 examination passes were achieved and in our single
sexed boys campus 6 passes were achieved. These included a range of subjects including text
production skills, word processing, spreadsheets and databases.
ChallengesChallenges
A major challenge is the differing experience of ICT young people have had at their mainstream
school. Some young people have not engaged with ICT previously, others have good knowledge
of ICT packages but require more structure to their use of software to maximise their potential.
Page 39
Developments in the curriculumDevelopments in the curriculum
At Key Stage 3 we have a new scheme of work including coding and programming. At
Key Stage 4 we are continuing to develop schemes of work to specifically target skills requires in
other subject areas. This has been enhanced by offering training from colleagues who teach
Expressive Arts or who have knowledge of certain aspects of the new ICT curriculum.
Future plansFuture plans
Staffing will be increased within the Key Stage 4 ICT area which will offer opportunities to our
young mums campuses, mixed campus and our single sexed campuses. We intend to continue
to teach our skills based curriculum aiming for all pupils to achieve at least one ICT qualification
at Key Stage 4. However the ICT curriculum group will continue to conduct research to identify
qualifications that employer’s value in particular the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL).
E-safety and cyber bullying is now embedded in our PACC curriculum and taught as discrete
lessons at both Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4.
ICT
Page 40 PACC
IntroductionIntroduction
PACC is an acronym, standing for PSHE, Activities and Careers and Citizenship. We consider it a
vital opportunity to engage pupils in these aspects of their education. To this end Wednesday
mornings are dedicated to its delivery across all campus sites. All staff have a role in its delivery,
preparation and planning in order to promote its importance and effective delivery. This
enables a wide range of personal experiences to be incorporated into lessons.
Key Stage 3Key Stage 3
PACC at Key Stage 3 is split into smaller, targeted sessions than at Key Stage 4, largely focusing
on working together as a group or in a community. At its heart is a long process of socialisation
which we feel strongly is the basis of the education that we are giving our young people.
Key Stage 4Key Stage 4
PACC at Key Stage 4 incorporates the National Curriculum for PSHE. We also seek to incorporate
topics designed to meet the specific needs of our pupils. Additionally there are also topics of
national importance that have been identified as relevant to pupils currently. Within the time
allocated, staff try to balance the requirements of the National Curriculum with current affairs
and issues that are dominating our campuses or young people’s lives. The stated aim of these
sessions is to prepare our young people for life beyond school in a manner that cannot be
achieved in a lesson that has coursework/GCSE objectives. However, delivery of many topics
occurs on an informal basis throughout the school day. Many opportunities arise within lessons
and unstructured times to continue discussions generated earlier and incorporate them into a
wider appreciation of their education.
ChallengesChallenges
Many pupils find the subject content challenging for a variety of reasons. These can include a
reluctance to engage in topics that are outside of their personal experience. Reluctance to
admit the relevance of topics to their personal lives and aspirations. A personal background that
is already in conflict with society’s accepted conventions and responsibilities. For all these
reasons, it is vital to develop their sense of membership of a wider community, not just on a
local level, but also on a national and global level. Our pupils need the opportunity to develop
their awareness of such issues to enable them to make the most of the opportunities and
challenges facing them in a rapidly changing world.
Developments within the curriculumDevelopments within the curriculum
Page 41
It hoped this year to continue the development of the “Hard Drive”. This is intended to be a
comprehensive library of resources that will enable staff to effectively deliver topics, confident
that many multimedia resources will be available. Alongside this development will be a review
of existing topics and lesson plans with consideration to their current relevance.
We are also looking to give pupils the opportunity to guide some of the content and the order
of delivery. This is being developed by the Cromwell PACC group.
A review and evaluation of resources gathered for Key Stage 3 will also be carried out with the
intention of continued development by all staff involved its delivery.
Future PlansFuture Plans
PACC remains an essential component of the pupil’s wider education. Attendance and pupils
oral feedback suggests that they benefit from the more informal and wide ranging approach to
the topics.
The “Hard Drive” will continue to evolve with the involvement of all staff. It will need to meet
ever more specific and demanding needs, reflecting the rapidly changing society in which we
live.
PACC
Page 42 History
Introduction
The history curriculum group is committed to improving students’ understanding and
enjoyment of history. Many young people study history at Key Stages 3 and 4 across
The CE Academy unless attendance at college or other curriculum arrangements
preclude them from doing so. It is taught by 4 members of staff. We see the study of
history as essential for our students’ development in terms of study skills and
awareness of the wider world. In addition we feel it is a gateway to many career
opportunities.
Key Stage 3
At Key Stage 3 young people follow the SHP Development of Britain course which allows
students to develop an understanding of the following key areas:
Skills in historical enquiry
Applications and implications of history
Cultural understanding
Evaluative skills
The curriculum enables the development of practical enquiry skills, an understanding of
evidence and opportunities for communication through both written work, ICT based
work and discussion. The study of history in real life settings (locally, nationally and
globally) is also catered for. We hope the study of history will encourage young people
to question their world and find explanations.
The scheme of work allows for a variety of learning styles; visual, intrapersonal, social,
aural, verbal, kinaesthetic and logical.
Key Stage 4
At Key Stage 4 young people follow the AQA History B Short course specification.
Should students sit the examination in year 10 they may be offered the opportunity
reattempt the course in year 11. The curriculum is broad and balanced and, at the same
time, it enables us to structure its delivery to accommodate individual interests and
needs.
The controlled assessment comprises 50% of the final grade. In addition there is an
exam paper which makes up the other marks.
Page 43
Exam entries and results
For many years our entries for History GCSE have compared favourably with other
humanities subjects. 2015 was our first year delivering the AQA specification having
previously taught the OCR specification the number of young people entered in 2015
was higher than the previous year and we would expect this trend to continue moving
forward. In 2015 15 young people achieved a pass at GCSE in the subject.
Challenges
Many young people who join us have negative feelings about history as a subject.
It is often one of, if not the first subject, to be removed from their timetables during
the build-up to their being permanently excluded. This can often be because of the
challenging nature of the subject and the literacy content involved. This is something
that is being addressed directly in the department’s lesson planning and differentiation
and indirectly by The CE Academy’s literacy strategy and work with Ruth Miskin
materials.
Developments in the curriculum
The curriculum group continues to access and develop its use of online resources,
media and ICT based resources. The BBC History Timeline as an ICT tool is a central
theme to our programme of study at Key Stage 3. The roles of software packages such
as Crazy Talk, Serif Movie, Photoshop and the MS Office suite are as consistent as they
are essential.
Future plans
As we have changed specification the history curriculum group has identified the tasks
needed to be undertaken to fully prepare students for this and working groups are
looking at different aspects of this.
Tasks for these groups include:
Continuing to adapt our delivery of the new controlled assessment aspect of the
course to ensure we meet the needs of our young people.
Adapting our Cold War programme of study to allow for the absence of source
evaluation in favour of content driven materials.
There is also a Key Stage 3 working group to review the curriculum for years 7 to 9.
History
Page 44 Geography
IntroductionIntroduction
Geography is delivered within The CE Academy at Key Stage 3 and 4. Last year it was delivered
in one of the Key Stage 4 campuses and at William Knibb at Key Stage 3.
Geography at both Key Stage 3 and 4 is linked to other curriculum areas such as English and
science.
Key Stage 3Key Stage 3
At Key Stage 3, geography was taught at William Knibb. The subject aims to develop the
students’ understanding of their local area and how this interlinks nationally, with the rest of
the European Union and the rest of the world. The programme of study includes physical and
human aspects which takes account of current issues such as flooding, migration, employment,
industry and sustainability. They study indicators of development.
Key Stage 4Key Stage 4
At Key Stage 4, geography was delivered in Oaklands. The students followed the OCR short
course. The course is assessed by a final examination which makes up 50% of the final grade.
The remaining 50% is teacher assessed through one enquiry which is fieldwork based. This is
a change from previous years where two controlled assessments were required.
Exam entries and resultsExam entries and results
In 2015 four students were entered for the GCSE at Foundation Level. There was very little
difference between pupil performance in the enquiry and in the exam. All students entered
achieved a grade at GCSE.
ChallengesChallenges
Many of the young people who sat the GCSE had no previous experience of geography so were
studying the subject for the first time. Geographical knowledge and understanding of subject
specific vocabulary are consequently limited. Staffing prevented geography being offered in
other campuses.
Future PlansFuture Plans
Staff have recently reviewed the range of courses offered by other exam boards but at present
the short course offered by OCR remains as the best option. Staff will continue to review the
courses on offer.
Page 45
IntroductionIntroduction
At The CE Academy we continue to focus on improving the literacy skills of young people.
All pupils attending our Key Stage 3 campuses have 30 minutes targeted literacy support every
day. All Key Stage 3 staff teach literacy and have received training in delivering the literacy cur-
riculum both in-house and by external providers. Some of the Key Stage 4 staff have also been
trained and are able to offer targeted support to those whose poor literacy skills are having a
detrimental affect to their learning in other lessons. Through improving literacy skills we aim to
reduce this barrier to learning across all subjects and develop or rekindle the desire for young
people to read for pleasure.
Key Stage 3Key Stage 3
We continue to follow the Ruth Miskin Fresh Start literacy programme. This is a highly struc-
tured scheme where students work through up to 35 modules with each one providing a variety
of different activities including:
understanding and identifying the different phonemes (sounds) in words and the Graph-
emes (letters) used to represent them;
reading and spelling words using a given sound;
sentence creation and improving sentence structure;
finding errors and editing the work of themselves and others;
answering questions about text both verbally and in writing;
guided writing tasks.
The highly structured approach gives opportunity for success at all levels.
We have seen significant improvements in the reading ages of most young people following the
programme.
For those that have completed the Fresh Start programme we have also invested in the use of
‘First News’ resources. These provide a variety of activities based on the articles in the weekly
newspaper that aim to improve literacy skills and link to current news.
Exam entries and resultsExam entries and results
There are no formal examinations in Literacy, however we have seen significant improvement in
the reading ages of the Key Stage 3 pupils. Many of these pupils have then made the successful
transition back to mainstream school.
Literacy
Page 46 Literacy
ChallengesChallenges
Many of the young people who attend The CE Academy have experienced periods of interrupt-
ed education and may have not developed basic literacy skills or have an underlying reading
difficulty. This may not have been detected, or hidden by poor behaviour in school. In addition
most of our young people have limited access to books and other written materials when not in
school.
Over the last two years we have had an increased number of pupils with English as an Addition-
al Language (EAL). This places another challenge on subject teachers and we are looking into
potential support packages and interventions.
Future plansFuture plans
The CE Academy continues to develop its use of different resources and invest in staff training
to improve Literacy across both Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 where identified pupils receive tar-
geted support.
For 2015 we have subscribed to the ‘Reading Wise’ online resource. This is a programme that
young people can work through independently with staff supervision and support. The pro-
gramme uses a range of tasks that suit a variety of learning styles. It is allowing young people to
learn at a pace that suits them. All Key Stage 3 staff and English teachers have received training
in this and the programme which will be implemented at Key Stage 3 and targeted at specific
Key Stage 4 pupils.
Page 47
IntroductionIntroduction
The growth of vocational provision continues to enrich the experiences of the young people at
The CE Academy. Many young people who join us have negative feelings about their education
but by giving them an option/choice to attend and experience a vocational area can inspire
them to achieve. A large proportion of our young people engage well with practical activities,
this can then provide them with that positive experience and achievement that enhances their
confidence in other areas of the curriculum.
Between September 2014 and July 2015, in addition to GCSE’s, The CE Academy continued to
offer vocational courses to our Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 young people using the following
external provisions within Northamptonshire as listed below:
Vocational Provision
Moulton College
Plumbing
Food Preparation and Cooking
Northampton College
Caring for Children
Centurion Training
Motor Vehicle
ProgressAbility
Fishing
Personal Development
Employability skills
Youth Works
Bike Maintenance
Music Technology
Photography
Hairdressing
Groundwork – The Green
Patch
Gardening and Horticulture
Personal Development
Fire Service
ARC Scheme
Aston Training
Hairdressing
Adventureways
Personal Development – Outdoor Activities
Fermyn Woods
Art Workshops
Seeds of Change
Equine
Landbased Studies
Personal Development
Employability skills
CAVE
Basic Construction
Pinnacle Climbing Centre
Indoor Climbing and Personal Development
Futurestarts
Photography
Personal Development
Page 48 Vocational Provision
We offer provisions from mainstream colleges to private training organisations and offer a
variety of qualifications from Entry Level 3 (Key Stage 3 pupils) up to Level 2 (Key Stage 4), in
addition to non-qualification and personal development qualifications. The CE Academy also
offers in-house workshops in Hairdressing, Beauty Therapy, Music Technology and Design
Technology.
Our young people attend provisions as individuals, infill with other schools and/or in groups
from The CE Academy. We offer support to our young people whilst attending provisions which
assists them to keep on task and engage with the subject area.
Key Stage 3Key Stage 3
All Key Stage 3 timetables include academic study in one of our campus buildings and
enrichment activities at either external provisions or in house workshops. These include:
The Key Stage 3 courses were felt to be ideal for this age group and resulted in good attainment
and achievement. The young people that were capable and willing were given the opportunity
of gaining Entry Level 3/Level 1 units of qualifications.
Key Stage 4Key Stage 4
At Key Stage 4 we offer Level 1 and/or Level 2 unit led qualifications which enable our young
people to achieve greater success. The majority of qualifications are at Level 1 but we are
expanding the number of Level 2 courses on offer where pupils are capable of working at a
higher level.
In 2015 a large proportion of our young people achieved at least one vocational qualification.
In year 10, 8 young people completed one or more courses and in Year 11, 35 young people
completed one or more courses. The majority of year 10 will continue with their courses into
year 11.
Exam entries and resultsExam entries and results
Achievement for Key Stage 4 has continued to improve this year with the majority of our young
people who attend for a full year achieving Level 1 Awards and Certificates in Equine and/or
Land Based Studies, Fishing, Motor Vehicle, Construction, Hairdressing and Caring for Children.
Design Technology
Hairdressing
Music Technology
Motor Vehicle
Photography
Personal Development - Fishing
Personal Development – Outdoor Activities
Personal Development – Equine/Landbased
Gardening and Horticulture
Bike Maintenance and Bikeability Training
Fermyn Woods arts Project
Page 49
Vocational Provision Page 49 Vocational Provision
For those who did not manage to achieve a full Award or Certificate, units at Level 1 could be
achieved. Key Stage 3 achievement also improved with the majority achieving some units at
Entry Level 3 or Level 1 and also AQA units.
ChallengesChallenges
The changes to school transport continued to be an issue this year with a high percentage of
our young people struggling to access vocational opportunities, often having to catch one or
more bus to a provision taking as long as two hours in some cases. Despite this having some
negative impact on punctuality and attendance, achievement has continued to improve. One of
the most significant barriers to our young people’s learning whilst working towards a Level 1
and/or Level 2 qualification can be low levels of literacy. Due to this the majority of the courses
we offered were unit led which allowed our young people to achieve part of a qualification
where the full award was not achievable. Additionally as most of our young people join us
throughout the school year this can be a barrier to them achieving a full Level 1 or 2 Award or
Certificate.
Developments within the curriculumDevelopments within the curriculum
We continue to keep up to date with the changes in the vocational areas and offer qualifications
that have a natural progression in a given subject area and are relevant to employers. We have
also increased our in-house workshops throughout the county and now offer workshops in
Northampton and Wellingborough. We work on the premise that any qualifications gained
should be useful to our young people in the real world. For this reason we continue to work
with our partners to ensure that qualifications on offer to our young people are recognised by
both employers and further education providers.
Future plansFuture plans
Our partnership with Seeds of Change Equine Learning continues to evolve. We continue to
offer Key Stage 3 pupils a full day at The Acorn Centre where the curriculum includes literacy
and numeracy tasks, land based studies and equine learning which has proved to be successful.
We have now refurbished the building in Wellingborough which offers additional in-house
vocational courses. This includes a hairdressing salon, beauty therapy salon, a design
technology workshop, a professional kitchen to offer catering and a sound-proofed music
room.
We plan to build our partnership with City & Guilds and offer Level 1 and Level 2 qualifications
in both Hair & Beauty and Catering & Hospitality.
Page 50 Cross Curricular
IntroductionIntroduction
Britain is a multicultural society and has a rich heritage of cultural and ethnic diversity. In order
to promote and celebrate this and to increase pupil awareness, The CE Academy ran a two day
cross curricular event at the end of the summer term each year. At Key Stage 4 this is an arts
based programme which has a different cultural theme each year, which enables the young
people to learn about cultural diversity. This can help them to live and work together in diverse
communities, both in this country and the wider world. Arts activities are important vehicles in
promoting community cohesion and ‘one off’ programmes are an effective way to motivate and
energise young people to interact in new ways.
The timetables are changed and a programme of activities is delivered both by CE staff and
visiting practitioners. We invite many practitioners both local and from further afield into the
campuses to work with the young people teaching them new skills and allowing them to
experience a vast and varied array of activities. All work produced during the two days is
displayed to provide pupils with a positive and happy memory of school for their return after
the long summer holiday.
Key Stage 3Key Stage 3
At Key Stage 3 pupils explored the topic of ‘Chocolate’ during their two day cross curricular
programme which covered many areas of the curriculum. The topic of Fairtrade was covered
when looking at the origins of chocolate and how it is produced and sold and cooking was
enjoyed when pupils cooked savoury recipes using chocolate. Pupils were given the option to
be creative when given the task to design a chocolate bar or box. They used their mathematical
skills when analysing data from a chocolate survey and translated this into a pack of top trump
cards. Pupils thoroughly enjoyed watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and were able to
compare the film with extracts from the classic book by Roald Dahl.
Key Stage 4Key Stage 4
This year our theme at Key Stage 4 was China. Staff dressed up in traditional outfits celebrating
the beautiful fabrics and colours used in Chinese attire. Staff in each campus worked hard to
decorate classrooms and social areas using Chinese flags, lanterns and posters. There was a
large variety of displays informing pupils about Chinese art, food, important events in Chinese
history and geographical information. When pupils arrived on the first day of cross curricular
they were greeted with a lion dance. It definitely gave them the wow factor!
Page 51
Activities were based around the story of the lion dance and involved pupils making masks
which “retold” the story, using the software, ’Crazy Talk’. Pupils will be able to use this work as
part of their GCSE expressive arts portfolio. Other activities included silk painting, lantern
making and a Photoshop workshop where pupils were able to transform themselves into a
terracotta warrior! Pupils enjoyed cooking a range of Chinese dishes which was a great
opportunity to try new food and flavours.
Pupils had the opportunity to participate in a calligraphy and traditional Chinese dance
workshop which were led by external practitioners.
ChallengesChallenges
Cross curricular at CE is organised and refined by two Campus Coordinators and an Assistant
Head. This year, information about the programme was filtered back to staff as a whole staff
group during a training day and through email. As a way to encourage pupils to use their work
as part of their expressive arts coursework, it was decided to focus on one finished task that
could be completed in the two days.
Future PlansFuture Plans
We will be developing a 2016 cross curricular programme and continue to offer a menu of
exciting activities. Practitioners will be invited in to share their expertise and knowledge with
our young people.
Our aims for the coming year are:
to provide existing young people, who will be returning to The CE Academy the following
academic year, with a positive and happy lasting memory of school to encourage an
enthusiastic return in the autumn;
to enable Key Stage 4 pupils to produce coursework for GCSE;
to promote community cohesion;
to develop pupils’ knowledge and understanding of local and national communities;
to promote good relationships and mutual understanding within different communities;
to promote an understanding of cultural diversity and to widen pupil understanding of
different cultures, lifestyles and beliefs;
to allow young people the opportunity to meet and work with visitors from a diverse range
of ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds;
to promote common values and help pupils to value differences and challenge prejudice
and stereotyping.
Cross Curricular
Page 52 Looked After Children
IntroductionIntroduction
In the academic year 2014-2015 there was a total of 17 students on the LAC register through
the year. However, as expected, there was fluidity within this as students moved in and out of
care and placements. Over the year 3 students left CE as they were moved out of county, 1 left
as they reintegrated into a mainstream school and 2 other students remained with CE but left
Local Authority care.
Breakdown:Breakdown:
There were 13 males and 4 females
1 student was being individually tutored
1 student was attending a full-time Level 1 vocational course at Tresham College
14 students were on roll at the exclusion campuses
1 student was on roll at a school aged mother campus
6 students were dual registered
1 student was an out of county placement from Oxfordshire
Exam Entries and ResultsExam Entries and Results
In the summer of 2015 there were three Year 11 LAC students still attending the academy.
One sat exams at Tresham College as they were studying a vocational course there on a full-
time programme. The other two sat their exams with us where one gained 5 passes at
A*-G grades and the other 4 passes at A*-G grades. One Year 10 student was also entered early
for and passed Geography GCSE. Two of the Year 11 students are now attending college and
the third is applying for an apprenticeship.
Year Group Number
7 1
8 1
9 2
10 7
11 6
Page 53
ChallengesChallenges
New guidelines for completing Personal Education Plans (PEPs) have come into place this
academic year; this required further training for staff and the specific allocation of pupil
premium funding. With several young people regularly moving placements and coupled with
changes to social workers this has proved difficult to monitor.
Future PlansFuture Plans
With PEPs due to transfer to an electronic system in 2015 further training will be required.
Our multi-agency coordinator will undertake this training and ensure that all PEPs are
completed as required.
Page 54 Moving On 2015
Moving On Moving On
During the Summer Term Year 11 students and their parents/carers were questioned about
their experience of The CE Academy.
The student’s questionnaire highlighted that our students appreciated the greater support,
understanding and help offered by staff. They also preferred the smaller class sizes, increased
educational opportunities, attending The CE Academy (rather than mainstream), the teaching
and support staff. They recognised that staff genuinely want the best for them and are willing to
spend time supporting them. Over 85% of students said they were more prepared for life after
The CE Academy, and 90% said they were more confident than when first joined the Academy.
At least 90% of students believe their attendance, behaviour and work rate was okay or better.
There has been a significant improvement in students stating that they were having more
conversations about their work in class and a belief that telephone calls as well as reviews
had a positive effect on their behaviour. During reviews students generally appreciated the
opportunity to express themselves and could feel more motivated after them.
On average 85% of students thought they had received enough information on drugs, alcohol
and sexual matters. There has been a 9% increase in students stating that they had been given
enough information on Citizenship. Information on healthy eating has remained static at 77%.
In the school age mother campus sites, Overleys and Oaklands, there has been a significant
improvement in the help the students have been given with parenting skills.
Careers work has been received well by our students with 98.4% of students questioned having
a destination for September. Based on this figure CE Academy staff should be congratulated as
25% of students thought that Connexions had been no help to them this year.
Pupils said The CE Academy had:
helped them to achieve GCSE’s that they would not have achieved elsewhere;
improved their self-esteem and self-belief;
improved them as a person both emotionally and academically;
improved them socially;
helped them with college applications;
given them many different opportunities.
Activities that students enjoyed most at The CE Academy included:
Seeds of Change (equine learning);
Adventure Ways; Govilon (residential trip to Wales);
Govilon (residential trip to Wales);
the fire course (ARC);
interaction with staff;
Page 55
hair and beauty courses;
trips to numerous places such as Woburn Safari Park, the Space Centre and London.
Pupils also stated that they enjoyed activities such as:
the Christmas dinner;
creative courses;
physical education;
cookery and various acting groups which visited the campuses throughout the year.
Students’ suggestions for improving The CE Academy include:
more staff;
bigger campuses;
more subjects;
a uniform;
a Sixth Form.
Again the parent/carer questionnaire illustrates the good relationships that we strive to make
between staff and parents and carers. The majority of parents and carers felt they were
involved in their child’s education through communication from key tutors, reviews and termly
reports. They responded that The CE Academy encourages good behaviour and their child is
well cared for. In some of the questions the response had shifted from “agree” to “don’t know”
on matters such as; “made to feel welcome when I visit the campus”; “my child is expected to
work hard”; “teaching is good” and general information about the day to day happenings in the
campuses. This can be improved by parents being invited into the campuses for reviews to
promote our philosophy. At present many educational reviews are completed at the parent’s/
carer’s home.
There was a small increase in pupils expressing concern about relationships with their peers.
However pupils also acknowledged that their concerns had been addressed by staff. It should
be noted this mainly appeared to be relevant only with the female cohort. Parents reflected this
concern when responding to the question of their child’s happiness and enjoyment at school.
Over 80% of parents believed that their child was happy to attend school.
The final question on each questionnaire asked for additional comments. Many students
responded favourably about their enjoyment of their time at The CE academy, the support and
caring from staff both academically and through personal troubles. The importance of key tutor
work and the respect for the efforts shown by key tutors was highlighted frequently. They also
thanked staff for their help and support. Parents/Carers too responded with praise for the work
that the Academy does on behalf of their child through support at school and key tutors. Many
believed that their child did far better academically, showed improved behaviour and enjoyed
school a lot better at The CE Academy (compared to if they had remained at mainstream).
Again, many parents took the opportunity to thank staff for the “lengths” they go to cater for
each student’s needs and the positive impact that The CE Academy has had on their child.
Moving On 2015