Case Study - Improving the life chances

Improving the life chances of disadvantaged and low-achieving secondary school students PET-Xi’s Positive Directions programme, funded by the European Social Fund in partnership with Skills Training UK, has been successfully used by The Sir Thomas Boughey Academy in Staffordshire to improve outcomes for its Year 10 students identified as at risk of becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training).

About the school The Sir Thomas Boughey Academy is a mixed community comprehensive school in Newcastle, Staffordshire. With a pupil roll of around 700 11-16-year-olds, it is smaller than the average secondary school. Its intake is p ­ redominantly white British with English as the first language, with an ­average number of students qualifying for free school meals and a lower than average number with special ­educational needs and/or disabilities. In its February 2017 Ofsted inspection the school was rated as ‘requires improvement’ and a new head teacher set about turning things around.

Work towards changing that, has to start before Year 11 of course, so the school identified a group of five Year 10 ­students, aged 15, who were working below their ­expected grades in both maths and English. These same students were also of concern due to their low attendance and behaviour issues which risked their becoming NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) upon leaving Year 11.

The school wanted to support these disadvantaged ­students and improve their performance so that there was no difference in their progress and attendance, compared to others in the school and nationally.

The challenge

The solution

Chief among the school’s priorities was the need to increase the support offered to disadvantaged pupils. For while a higher than average proportion of Year 11 students were progressing successfully to the next stage of their education or training, the achievement of disadvantaged students was, at that time, well below that of other pupils in the school and nationally.

The school decided to help this group of 15-year-old RONI (Clear Risk of NEET Identified) students by putting them on the ‘Positive Directions’ programme run by educational training providers PET-Xi, which is specifically designed to support such learners.

The programme for each student begins with a series of one-to-one meetings between them, their families and school staff, aimed to encourage their participation and engagement and to agree individual learning plans.

The programme focuses strongly on maths, English and ICT - all delivered with high impact and intensity. O ­ utcomes are both accredited and non- accredited. The accredited outcome is a Level 2 IT User Skills qualification covering Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, taken over five days.

While it doesn’t count towards Progress 8, it is however an invaluable qualification that boosts confidence and is a great asset for future employment opportunities.

Additionally, students attend PET-Xi’s popular and proven maths and English topic focus days - immersive and ­intensive revision sessions with high staff ratios and ­innovative classroom resources.

Positive Directions can also be customised to focus on any other subjects which a particular cohort of students may need. In this case The Sir Thomas Boughey students received additional wrap around support focussing on ­behavioural awareness and life choices. This enabled them to fully engage with the programme and make ­individual plans for their post-16 progression.

“Early interventions like our Positive Directions programme are imperative in supporting students to stay in education and training or progress into employment,” explained PET-Xi’s managing director Fleur Sexton. “We have been supporting schools in helping students achieve their full potential for over 25 years now, so we know that our ­approach works.

“This is quite a personal project for me as I feel strongly that as a country, we owe all our young people the chance to develop the skills they need for adult life. If we fail then they are at far greater risk of negative outcomes ­throughout their whole lives, such as unemployment, homelessness and depression. By setting those students on a more positive path we help society too. Estimates show that each person who is NEET could cost public ­finances an average £56,000, due to welfare payments and loss of tax and national insurance revenues for ­example, before they reach retirement age.

“Our Positive Directions programme is new, yet already replicating our exemplary track record. In its first three months the programme has been used by eight schools, delivering to 158 students across Years 10 and 11. Of those students who have completed their IT Qualification, 84% have passed with distinction*, with the remaining 16% all gaining a merit grade.

The results “The programme has been a fantastic opportunity for our students,” said Scott Taylor, Sir Thomas Boughey ­Academy’s associate assistant principal - intervention.

“The support from PET-Xi has been first class. The fact that all the pupils have received a D or D* means we as a school are very proud of their hard work and effort.”

The following example from the Academy’s ‘Learner A’ who completed a six-week PET-Xi Positive Directions ­programme speaks volumes.

Learner A wanted to achieve a grade 4 in Maths and English but was performing at a grade 3. She would like to progress into further education and complete a ­photography course, but has difficulty focussing during her lessons and describes being easily distracted by her friends and finding her lessons ‘boring’.

During the initial one-to one discussions, Learner A was very keen to improve her focus, as well as her grades in Maths and English. Her carefully planned, custom-made programme with PET-Xi included highly intensive support aimed at re-engagement, improving her expected GCSE grades and adding wrap around support focussing on behavioural issues within an educational setting. Learner A also received life choice support to map out her own progression routes, which means she now has a vested interest in achieving her plans.

Learner A completed and achieved 25 hours of non-regulated learning of Maths and English to support her in achieving her desired GCSE grades. She also achieved a Distinction* in IT User Skills in Open Systems and ­Enterprise.

Altogether she has reduced her risk of becoming NEET and improved her chances of remaining in full time ­education.