BET BASICS DAY: A UNIQUE APPROACH TO HELPING STUDENTS ‘SECURE THE 4’

100 STUDENTS, FIVE SCHOOLS, 28 PIZZAS, ONE AIM: TO HELP YEAR 11 “SECURE” A GRADE 4 IN ENGLISH AND MATHS. ON THURSDAY 28 FEBRUARY STUDENTS ACROSS BOHUNT EDUCATION TRUST ATTENDED THE INAUGURAL CROSS-TRUST STUDENT CONFERENCE, BET SECURING 4, AT BOHUNT SIXTH FORM.

“Securing” a grade 4 in English and Maths enables our students to open many doors in the future, be that through further education or in the world of work. Students from Costello, Liphook, Priory, TPS, and Worthing all joined in an immersive experience focusing on securing the knowledge and skills required to achieve their grade 4s at GCSE English and Maths.

Neil Strowger, CEO, introduced the day emphasising the unique opportunity that the students had to gain skills and knowledge to get them “over the line”, and encouraged them to make the most of the sessions that followed.

The conference opened with inspirational speaker, Colin Channon, chaplain to Nelson Mandela. During his time on Robben Island, Colin learnt much about the triumph of living a focused and motivated life from Nelson Mandela. Mandela once said, “it always seems impossible until it’s done”, which was a key message that Colin shared to encourage the students to work hard and not to give up.

One of the many advantages BET has is the wealth of experience and expertise that we have amongst the teaching staff in our schools, that all of our students can benefit from. The students were split into nine groups each with a mixture of schools and were immersed in three high quality sessions, English Language, English Literature, and Maths throughout the day. The engagement from the students was faultless, a testament to the willingness of them to soak up as much as they could from the day, and the high quality sessions that were planned and delivered expertly.

Gary Green, Head of Virtual School across the Trust commented: “I spoke to large groups of students from every school at lunch to get some feedback on the day to that point. Students commented that the teaching was clear and teachers were making sure they understood before moving on. In my classroom visits, every single student was focused and engaged.”

Since the day, it has been pleasing to hear how the day has had an impact already on students taking their second set of mocks, with one student commenting that he used the methods that he learnt from the day in his recent English examination. It will be interesting to see this summer how many of the students that attended the day do end up “securing” their 4s.

BET would like to thank Deana Buchan, Hannah St Ledger, Russell Shoebridge, Amanda Tupper, Emily Warrington, Alex Smith for leading the English sessions, Chris Andrews, Sameena Rahman, Selina Parker for the Maths sessions, Sheila Broad and Jo Baker for their help in coordinating their teams across the Trust. Thanks also to the Heads of School who released their students and to those that contributed in making the day a success.