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Home Fellowship Digital Journal Archive Spring 2010 Outward bound
Outward bound
Outward bound
From the outset of the RSA Academy project, our chair of governors, Sir Mike Tomlinson,
set some challenging targets (Will academies make the grade?, RSA Journal June
2006). He identified a range of measures by which we should be judged, including:
improved staying-on rates at 16 and 17
more students going on to higher education or training
the Academy being seen as a focal point by the community and the provider of lifelong
learning
a rise in students and parents expectations and ambitions.
Weve already made good progress towards academic success and we anticipate that
our 2010 results will outstrip last years headline figure of 73% of Academy students
gaining five GCSEs at A* to C level. This year, more than half of our 43 Year 13 students
have applied for university courses and most have already received offers (as of mid-
February). Other recent highlights include one of our post-16 students being offered a
position with leading accountants Grant Thornton. Nathan Breckell faced worldwide
competition to secure one of only 10 training and employment contracts offered this year.
This is the first cohort of students to reach Year 13, so these achievements give us a
solid base on which to build.
These successes are vital given that the post-16 students are role models for the rest of
the students; younger pupils aspirations will be higher if they see people like themselves
being accepted onto university courses and entering the professions. This is also why our
Student Bursary Fund is important we want to be able to provide funding for students
who are offered work experience placements nationally and even internationally.
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More features
The power to create
Governments, business and our
institutions need to make the most of the
technologies and methods that are
transforming our economy. By Adam Lent
Paths to progress
The return to business as usual since the
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who are offered work experience placements nationally and even internationally.
Learning begins at home
Our most important partners on this transformational journey are the students parents.
Research clearly shows that children do better when parents are involved in their
education and in school decision-making. However, many parents are not used to being
valued as genuine partners, so the process is neither quick nor easy. We are trying to
create a culture in which parents understand that we want and need to work
collaboratively with them and that their contributions will not only be valued but will also
have a positive impact on their childrens education.
The creation of a Parent Council has enabled parents to take part in an ongoing dialogue
with the Academy. This dialogue is wide-ranging, covering issues that affect the children,
the Academy and the local community. Parents have already made valuable contributions
to discussions and decisions about the curriculum, internet safety, how we report to
parents and how to address the issue of teenage pregnancy. Its a good start and theres
more to be done. Its rewarding to see parents becoming ever more enthusiastic when
they find that their views are being listened to and are influencing Academy policy and
actions.
We are dissolving the Academys boundaries so that we become a resource for people of
all ages, using the RSAs Schools Without Boundaries programme as a blueprint for
how we can take this work forward. We hope to be able to feed in our own experiences
and successes, which might, in turn, help other schools to extend their community work.
Parents are a key link into the community, so we are asking them what they want rather
than providing what we think they want a significant change from the norm. We are also
part of a local cluster of schools, working collaboratively to respond to the communitys
needs. This cluster includes our local primary schools, which is important given that
primary schools generally find it easier to involve parents in their childrens education than
do secondary schools. Joint membership of the same cluster means that we can foster
parental involvement before the children come to the Academy. Currently, our community
work is based around four main areas: the environment, the arts and sport, health and
information and communication technologies (ICT).
Beyond the classroom
Firstly, the environment provides us with an enormous agenda and an abundance of
opportunities. A group of environmental economists called EQ2 is working with our
Environmental Action Group students with a particular interest in environmental issues.
EQ2 helped them to calculate their average daily carbon footprint and then to devise
strategies to reduce it. Again, there are opportunities to expand this work outside of the
Academy to homes and local businesses. We are exploring how to make Tipton a
transition town one that works to reduce its collective dependency on oil and to
become more self-reliant. Our Grow your Own group has kicked off this work by
harvesting a crop of vegetables, which were then cooked and served to students at
financial crisis can be traced to the
complex way the British state was formed.
By David Marquand
Pensions grow up
The governments announcement on
collective pensions was down to advocacy
by the RSA. By David Pitt-Watson and Dr
Harinder Mann
Seeing things differently
We must get back to basics to allow
visualisation to reach its full potential. By
Shaaron Ainsworth
Closing the creativity gap
An inclusive and adaptive society must
develop everyones creative capacities
throughout life. By Joe Hallgarten
Rekindling innovation
We have lost the economic dynamism of
the modern economy and, to secure a
genuinely prosperous future, we must get
it back. By Edmund Phelps
Lose the competition
In all walks of life, incessant and
dangerous competition has blunted the
skills we need to secure our futures. By
Margaret Heffernan
Life beyond capitalism
New solutions are emerging to fix our
current damaging and dysfunctional
money system. By Michael Townsend
FRSA
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lunchtime. Several Fellows have already volunteered their expertise to help achieve our
ambitious target and we hope to tap into the knowledge that exists within the community.
Gardening is an activity that can bring generations together in a common cause.
Secondly, the outstanding performing arts facilities in the new building will be an
invaluable community resource, and one that is not linked to traditional academic ability.
People can find fulfilment, increase their self-esteem and learn new skills through the
arts. Plans are already afoot to hold a dance festival that would involve local primary
schools and introduce a range of international dance styles to students, adults and
younger children.
The third of the Academys specialisms is health, which we are tackling in various ways.
Our catering team provides a range of healthy options at lunchtime, all of which are
cooked on site. Some students bring packed lunches and we are advising parents to
make sure that these include fruit instead of the usual chocolate bars and crisps. Our
cookery classes, which take place in the evening and during the holidays, have proved to
be very popular with groups of parents and students, who work together to cook a range
of healthy supper dishes to enjoy at home. It is especially important to encourage healthy
eating and home cooking in an area such as Tipton, whose residents suffer from high
rates of heart disease, obesity and diabetes.
Finally, ICT courses are on offer for parents and members of the local community, helping
to tackle the skills gap that exists in the area and making local people more employable.
Our Computers for Beginners sessions have attracted parents, other relatives and former
students, as well as Academy staff keen to learn new skills. We are now a Microsoft
Academy, meaning that we can offer industry-standard courses and qualifications
something that is likely to be of interest and value to local businesses looking to improve
their employees skills. Six students have already enrolled, with the cost subsidised by
the Academy, and in return will help to train other people, thereby spreading the
expertise.
The new ICT courses also count towards the three weekly hours of community service
that students must complete as part of the International Baccalaureate (IB). The IB
Diploma is an internationally recognised qualification that has more breadth than A Levels
and includes a Theory of Knowledge component. This requires students to show an
awareness of themselves as learners, apply their knowledge and demonstrate critical
analysis skills. Our Opening Minds curriculum helps students to develop these skills,
making the IB an ideal qualification for them.
Opening Minds is at the core of the Academy from the design of the new building, with
its large, flexible spaces, to the structure of the Academy day, with its three-hour
teaching sessions. These longer sessions encourage investigation and exploration of the
RSA competences, together with high-level subject learning. Devised by the RSA in 1999
and piloted in 2000-03, Opening Minds has an impressive track record and is now a
nationally recognised framework, used by more than 200 schools.
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The Academy and the RSA are working in concert to put structures in place that will
significantly strengthen the Opening Minds curriculum framework. These include an
Opening Minds National Centre, competence assessment and an accreditation system
for Opening Minds schools.
The Opening Minds National Centre, based at the Academy, will become a hub of
expertise, offering training and development for schools introducing Opening Minds.
Supported by expert staff (from the Academy and other Opening Minds schools), events
and a suite of online and paper resources, it will offer initial and ongoing support to
schools as they plan and introduce their competence-based curriculum. Together with our
partner, the University of Warwick, we are putting together a programme of research that
will be channelled through the Comino Centre, also based at the Academy. This research
will inform both the Opening Minds National Centre and other Opening Minds schools.
The Academy will be offering further development placements for a small number of
Postgraduate Certificate in Education students from the University of Reading this
summer. These students will help us clarify and develop the Opening Minds pedagogy
an ideal way of getting the National Centre up and running.
Recognising success
Many schools have asked for a means of recognising their students achievements within
Opening Minds. Academy staff have therefore worked quickly to draft an Opening Minds
Short Course. This will soon have external recognition as half of the curriculum
requirements for the Award Scheme Development and Accreditation Networks (ASDAN)
Certificate of Personal Effectiveness, which has GCSE equivalence at Levels One and
Two. We are also taking the logical next step of moving towards an Opening Minds
qualification at Levels One and Two. The next few months will be busy ones, as we draft
the qualifications framework and then seek approval from the Qualifications and
Curriculum Development Agency. We are working hand in hand with ASDAN on this
initiative and are benefiting substantially from their experience. If all goes well, the Short
Course should be available later this year and the qualification in 2011-12.
An initiative that should prove to be equally influential is the Opening Minds Quality
Mark. This would be optional but would give schools national recognition for the quality of
their Opening Minds work. A central tenet of Opening Minds is that each school develops
a competence-based curriculum that is appropriate for both it and its pupils. This has
resulted in a number of different methods of implementation. Rather than reducing
Opening Minds to a one size fits all curriculum, the Quality Mark would be flexible
enough to recognise these different methods. The RSA has always celebrated its close
working relationship with Opening Minds schools, which will become hubs at the core of
a wider network. These hubs will create a regional structure, providing training and
support for schools that want to implement Opening Minds and/or want to apply for the
Quality Mark, with the whole process coordinated by the National Centre. This
accreditation would mean that, in future, there will be clear criteria against which the
curriculum of an Opening Minds school can be judged and approved a huge step
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forward for us.
Sir Mike Tomlinsons 2006 challenge has helped shape our priorities for the first couple of
years and will continue to do so as we move forward. This is going to be a long journey,
not a short haul. I know that I am setting a challenging pace, but I am determined that we
will succeed. Our young people and their families deserve the best and that is what the
Academy is about nothing less will do. Were creating a new blueprint for education
that extends outside of the Academys building and into Tipton. Our motto, Transforming
learning, transforming lives, must become a reality. I believe that we can do it by working
with parents and the community, and lets not forget the huge potential of the RSA
Fellowship a truly unique asset.

Michael Gernon is principal of the RSA Academy in Tipton

Find out more
For more information about the RSA Academy, visit the website at
www.RSAacademy.net. To find out about the RSAs broader education agenda, visit
www.theRSA.org/education

[pull quote] Were creating a new blueprint for education that extends outside of the
Academys building and into Tipton



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