Cwmcarn High School launches a ‘Basic Skills Passport’

Cwmcarn High School in Caerphilly is using its Basic Skills Agency Local Promotion Grant to launch a pilot of the ‘Basic Skills Passport’. The passport is the head teacher’s original innovation and is being implemented by the school’s Basic Skills Team, with representatives from all levels and curricula’s in the school. The Basic Skills Team has identified the core skills that pupils should achieve in communication, numeracy and ICT across the curriculum. When all these skills are achieved pupils will receive a passport. The funding was used for the development of the Passport which needed to be good quality in order to be covetable, and also for the whole project. Extra funding was raised through non-uniform day and other activities.

The Basic Skills Passport

This consists of:

• Bronze Passport
• Silver Passport
• Gold Passport
• Platinum Passport

These can be achieved throughout the five years so pupils continue to develop their skills. SEN Pupils will be able to achieve the Bronze award as it is at a very basic level suitable for SEN/lower ability pupils. The Platinum award is for very able/gifted pupils. The Passport is of a superior quality to ensure it is covetable and will contain the pupils name, photograph and pages to be stamped with various privileges’ including ‘early dinner pass’, ‘award winner’s party’, tokens for cinema or bowling and tokens towards a place on an end of term trip.

The school has identified many advantages for pupils. It has given them a tangible reminder of basic skills as a passport for the future and as a working document with a changing and developing skills list. It ensures pupils develop and transfer basic skills across the curriculum. It serves as a reminder to teachers to highlight skills in lessons which will enhance teaching strategies by increasing pupil/teacher communication about basic skills progression. It is seen as a key monitor for pupils not currently on the target list, and for pupils in target groups it develops basic skills in a range of lessons and contexts. As well as individual pupil advantages, the whole school can benefit. Work on the Basic Skills passport enables the schools Leadership Group to monitor departments who are not responding to the Basic Skills strategy and ‘map’ skills development across the curriculum. It further develops the Basic Skills strategy in the school with pupils identifying these skills and their own development. It promotes the School Development Plan, supports other whole school activities and prepares the school for the 2008 Curriculum Orders. The school also hopes to receive accreditation for the award in the future.

But the benefits do not stop there. This scheme can help at all levels of learning. Future advantages at Primary (KS2 to KS3) level are achieved as the school will share the passport idea with local feeder schools to develop links in literacy, ICT and numeracy. In this way primary pupils can be alerted to Basic Skills early on and how to transfer them to secondary school. The 14-19 Learning Pathways (KS4) scheme can benefit as the school can promote the initiative to local businesses giving an opportunity to ‘sell’ the importance of Basic Skills to all ages. It will also provide a link to local businesses, enabling discussions on employee skills, and addressing frequent complaints like the feeling that GCSE English and Maths does not always guarantee a literate workforce. By promoting the Welsh Assemblies Lifelong Learning philosophy the school sees the Basic Skills Agency support as key in attracting business sponsorship and accreditation, and at a national level the school is hoping that possible links with UK Phone Solutions/T-Mobile could lead to a national promotion of the strategy.