Walsall EBP - Achieving Success Together

Partnership News - Spring 2002 - Issue 11

Did we fix it? Yes we did!

90 year two pupils at Alumwell Infant School recently celebrated National Construction Week in style thanks to CITB, Peters Bookselling Services and Walsall EBP. The pupils worked in teams of six, with the help of an adult supporter, to design and build a room which then formed part of the ‘Alumwell Palace’.

They learnt about:

- construction;
- team work;
- working to a set task;
- safety on building sites; and
- asking appropriate questions.

At the end of an exciting and tiring day each child was presented with a “House that Bob Built” book arranged as part of the Walsall EBP ‘Let’s Get Reading’ scheme. Each child will receive a second construction-related book, of their choice, later in the year provided that their level of reading has improved. All of the books selected are appropriate to the construction theme.

Headteacher Cynthia Hughes commented that ‘I witnessed many references to maths skills and the employment of maths language throughout the project. Needless to say the high quality of language, wide vocabulary and confidence to ask appropriate questions were all employed in a most natural learning and enquiring situation. It was absolutely brilliant, a most fabulous day, teaching and learning as it should be.’

Thank you

A number of Alumwell Infant School pupils who had been involved in the Bob the Builder day visited Alumwell Community School a few days later to thank the sixth form students who had helped to make the day such a success. Each of the sixth formers was presented with a certificate to mark their achievement and the infant school pupils are shown presenting a commemorative photograph to one of the sixth formers.

Employer Conference

At its sixth annual Employer Conference entitled ‘Building on Success’ Walsall Education Business Partnership celebrated another outstanding year of work linking schools and employers. Sponsored by Kepston Limited, and held at the Education Development Centre, the event included a number of Activity Showcase sessions. These allowed the 100 delegates to sample a wide range of partnership activities featuring employers and young people working together.

The activities included:

- Teacher Placements
- WISE (Women Into Science and Engineering) vehicle
- Young Enterprise
- Mentoring
- Work Experience
- ‘SuccessMaker’
- ‘Maths at Work’
- ‘Smart Choices’

Walsall EBP Employer Awards

The Employer Award is given to recognise those organisations who have given outstanding support to Walsall EBP in the previous 12 months. The award is divided into four categories, based on the number of employees in the organisation.

The winners for 2001 were:

Valued Partner Certificates

These are awarded to those companies and schools who have given significant support to Walsall EBP programmes.

- Alumwell Nursery School
- ERA Products
- Express and Star
- First Friends Nursery
- Inland Revenue, Cannock
- Jabez Cliff
- Paxton
- Pelsall Village Primary School
- Rainbow Tots Nursery
- Walsall MBC Building Works DSO
- Walsall Observer
- Walsall Rotary Club

RM SuccessMaker - Walsall Awards

Walsall EBP has facilitated the introduction of the SuccessMaker Integrated Learning System into the majority of the Walsall secondary schools. Each school involved has been given an RM SuccessMaker Award and has been able to choose the criteria, for their particular award, so that the appropriate pupils can be rewarded for their effort and achievement. Melanie Parker, RM Training Manager presented awards to pupils from some of the schools.

Young Enterprise Primary Programme

Thanks to the new Young Enterprise Primary programme a number of Year 3 pupils (7 year-olds) and parents at Harden Primary School were able to look at ‘Our Community’.

Through five 45-minute sessions, delivered by a trained volunteer in conjunction with a teacher, the group looked at jobs, shops, wages, taxes, local government, decision-making and ‘making’ using unit production and production line methods.

Engineering Roadshow

The first one-day Engineering Roadshow, organised by Walsall EBP, recently took place at Blue Coat CofE Comprehensive School. The event was opened by Frank Knight, Engineering Manager with Performance Through People, who have been extremely supportive of this initiative since in began in 1996.

Volunteer Reading

Company volunteers agree to visit an identified primary school to listen to pupils read for a specified number of sessions. Wherever possible this programme targets the schools involved with ‘Let’s Get Reading’ and provides additional help and support for readers in the borough.

All of the volunteers receive training on the preferred approach to being a good listener, prior to their first visit into school. Everyone who has trained receives a certificate to confirm their involvement.

Feedback from the schools, pupils and volunteers has been most favourable. Walsall EBP is keen to extend its reading support programmes and any companies or individuals who would like to be involved should give Jane Dart a ring on 01922 424200 or email her at jdart@walsallebp.co.uk.

Teacher Placement Success

Teacher Placements have officially been re-named Teacher Professional Development Placements to reflect their true purpose and role. John Lynch from Three Crowns School certainly made this a reality when he took part in a Holiday Bursary Placement in the Summer of 2000. His placements took him to a number of photographic environments as a means of helping him to prepare a photography course for his students back in school.

Not only did he achieve this aim but he decided to extend his skills further and with the help of some modules of study at a local college he made a submission to the Royal Photographic Society and has gained a Distinction membership. A copy of John’s letter to Walsall EBP is reproduced on this page.

Practice run for Young Enterprise companies!

This year’s Young Enterprise companies recently took part in a ‘practice' Trade Fair to prepare them for the real event in March. Representatives from each company prepared their stand as if they were at the proper Trade Fair and then received feedback on the layout, product display, labelling etc from a panel of ‘judges’. This is the first time that this idea has been tried and it is hoped that it will help the companies to produce even better stands at the Trade Fair.

Information update

Vocational GCSEs

As part of the Government’s drive to offer more vocational options to Key Stage 4 pupils (14 – 16 year olds) vocational GCSEs are due to be available for first teaching from September 2002. They will cover levels 1 and 2 (foundation and intermediate) of the National Framework of Qualifications and will initially be available in eight vocational areas:

- art and design;
- business;
- engineering;
- health and social care;
- ICT;
- leisure and tourism;
- manufacturing; and
- science.

Vocational GCSEs are equivalent to two GCSEs in terms of size and demand and provide an introduction to a broad vocational area. Qualification results will be reported using the same scale as other GCSEs (A* - G) but will be reported with two grades (eg AA or EE) to reflect the volume of the achievement.

Further information is available at: www.qca.org.uk/nq/framework/vgcse

Student Apprenticeship

The original Student Apprenticeship idea was developed by Charles Thomas, at Walsall TEC, and involved sixth form students spending one day each week with an employer to develop their understanding of the world of work.

- The intention was to give students:
- real experience of the world of work;
- the opportunity to evidence their key skills; and
- the opportunity to gain units towards NVQs.

Towards the end of TEC’s life the Department for Education and Employment became increasingly interested in the Student Apprenticeship model and have translated this interest into action with the Black Country and West of England Learning and Skills Councils given the ‘go-ahead’ for extended pilots this year.

The Black Country EBL Consortium was approached by the Black Country LSC to work through the Education Business Partnerships to make the initial contacts with the schools and to encourage students to apply for the 200 places available across the four boroughs. The programme has been extremely well received within Walsall with 64 young people completing application forms. It is hoped that the Students Apprenticeship will be expanded further in 2002/2003.

More information is available from Lorenzo Cosco here at Walsall EBP.

Barclays help Hatherton Lane School

Barclays Bank, Bloxwich recently presented Hatherton Lane School with a £500 cheque for new football kit thanks to Walsall EBP. Barclays have supported ‘Let’s Get Reading’ at the school for a number of years and when Bloxwich Branch Manager Pam Kelly heard that additional funding, to support schools, was available from the bank she successfully nominated Hatherton Lane.

'Bridging the Basin' Final

Primary school pupils from across the West Midlands (Birmingham, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Walsall, Warwickshire and Wolverhampton) recently converged on the New Art Gallery Walsall for the final of the ‘Bridging the Basin’ competition. The aim was for each team of pupils to design and build a bridge to span the canal basin outside the New Art Gallery utilising simple materials and techniques developed by the Architecture Workshop Association (AWA). The pupils had already had experience of this type of activity in their own schools earlier in the year. The activity involved the practical application of mathematical concepts (number, angles, triangles etc) in a genuine problem-solving situation.

The quality of the bridges produced was outstanding making the judges’ job extremely difficult. The eventual winners of the Nigel Frost Memorial Trophy were Bhylls Acre School from Wolverhampton.

The event was organised by Walsall EBP in conjunction with the Architecture Workshop Association and the Construction Industry Training Board. It is planned to hold a similar event at the same venue later this year.

Stop Press

Employer Conference 2002

Walsall EBP’s seventh Annual Employer Conference is being held at the Education Development Centre, Pelsall on the morning of Thursday 16 May 2002. If you would like to attend please contact Andrea Jarvis on 01922 424200 for more information.

Website Design Competition

Walsall EBP has combined with Walsall Rotary Club to organise a website design competition which is open to all secondary school pupils in the borough. The winning entries will be featured at the Employer Conference in May.

Student Apprenticeship

It has been announced that DfES are to extend the current Post-16 Student Apprenticeship pilots (featured on page 7) across the whole country. More details in the next edition.

Walsall EBP is supported by the Black Country Learning and Skills Council, Advantage West Midlands and the Government's Single Regeneration Budget

© Walsall EBP 2008