Technology College

As from September 2006 Blackfriars has commenced its second phase as a Technology College. On reflecting on the impact this has had on the School we came to the realisation that specialist status has taken us beyond the boundaries in which we had previously worked and in what the School has been able to provide.

Above all it is reflected in the academic achievement of the pupils with Ofsted [Feb 2006] stating, ‘the Y11 pupils who left at the end of each of the last two years easily exceeded the scores predicted for them from their Y6 SATs results, reflecting the benefits of the school gaining specialist technology status.’

Visibly our status can be seen in totally refurbished and equipped D&T, science, maths and ICT facilities, a community building and improved technology resources. Enhanced staffing in the technology areas has impacted on our work and pupil achievement. This includes; D&T, science and ICT technicians and maths and D&T support staff. The ICT and Science curriculum leaders have been appointed as Advanced Skills Teachers [AST’s].

Strong, beneficial and lasting collaborations have been established with our partner schools and the wider community. These have been facilitated by the Community Liaison Officer. The relationship between our partners and us is extremely strong and there is a commitment from all to work collaboratively during the next phase.

The School has been actively involved in the special schools network of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust. A School deputy is chair of the group, a member of the National Headteachers Steering group and lead practitioner. The Headteacher is on the Steering Group and is an SSAT consultant. Both have presented papers on behalf of the Trust at the National Conference, in the USA and the ICSEI Conference in Barcelona. Research in the UK and the USA has been carried out with Prof Mel Ainscow [inclusion] and Prof David Hargreaves [Deep Support]. Blackfriars is proud to be at the forefront of special schools as specialist schools. Good practice, which has been observed and researched, has been implemented in to the work of Blackfriars e.g. use of digital technology to record pupil progress and achievement.

Technology increasingly permeates the curriculum across the whole school and as a result of specialist status ICT is embedded and integrated in every aspect of the curriculum. The ICT staff has worked across every key stage in the school and with every subject specialist to ensure that this occurs. Teacher planning documents include a section on ICT and every teacher has to indicate how it is being used in all their lessons. Three lunchtime and after school training sessions for all staff [non-teaching and teaching] are held every week to ensure that the ICT skills of the staff are outstanding.

The whole school benefits from the facilities, resources and staffing that has been provided e.g. all Foundation, KS1 & KS2 groups use the D&T facilities, the specialist maths and science rooms and the ICT suite. The technology specialist teachers, technicians and support staff work with the primary staff in establishing schemes of work in the technology subjects and use their expertise to increase the knowledge base of primary staff. In all non technology subjects at KS3, 4, & 5 the maths and science subject leaders have worked with staff to identify the key elements of science and maths in these subjects and to ensure that maths and science are supported by every other teacher.

In recognition of its work as a Technology College the school became the lead school in the Leading Edge Partnership Programme which enabled good practice to be shared across a wide network of schools – the activities in which we became involved centred on our work as a specialist school. The Local Authority, in observing our collaborative work, emanating from our specialist status, designated us as a Key Learning Centre with an outreach role, enhanced via a service level agreement, across the whole county supporting 140 primary and secondary schools.

The new four year action and development programme is even more challenging than the first and all connected with the school are excited by the immense possibilities for all our pupils that lie ahead. A key feature of the programme will be to bring together both Technology College status with our second specialism, vocational education. The curriculum delivery emphasis within technology will be directed towards work related learning.

The submission can be seen by clicking on the link on the left of the page.