futures
futures FEBRUARY 2009
8 SCHOOLS
A lot to do
in gloomy
times
I
HOPE it's not too late to wish
everyone a Happy New Year and,
despite the gloomy economic
times, for anyone interested in
education and training there is
much to look forward to this year.
There will certainly be enough to
keep us busy. Just prior to
Christmas, one Education Bill passed
into statute and a new one was
introduced in the Queen's Speech.
The one that was passed, the
Education and Skills Act 2008,
legislates formally for extending the
compulsory participation age to 18.
But this is just one part of the Act.
Another part covers the provision of
impartial careers advice following
the transfer of funding for
Connexions to local authorities, and
the Act legislates for careers
information to be presented in "an
impartial manner". The Act also
allows for the announced changes to
Key Stage assessment
arrangements.
The Bill introduced in the Queen's
speech, the awkwardly-titled
Children, Skills and Learning Bill, is a
collection of disparate proposals,
some simply legislating for what is
already happening such as an
independent regulator of tests and
examinations, Ofqual; some
legislating for things already
underway, such as the creation of a
Skills Funding Agency and a
National Apprenticeship Service; and
others, like the establishment of
Children's Trusts, require some
action to be taken albeit they have
been under discussion for some
time. Prior to Christmas, the first
anniversary of the Government's
Children's Plan brought forth a
range of policy papers � on the
primary curriculum and on the
School Report Card, for example,
and of special interest to schools, a
`Vision for 21st Century Schools',
likely to lead to a White Paper in the
spring.
In education and training, the LSC
will be ceding control of its 16-19
budget. One of the priorities set out
in the Government's annual Grant
Letter to the LSC for 2009/10 is to
assist the "meaningful transition"
of this to local authorities. The Grant
Letter also sets out the
Government's expectation that the
LSC will "drive improvement in the
quality of school sixth forms".
For higher education, a series of
reviews, nine in all, launched by the
Secretary of State for Innovation,
Universities and Skills last year, have
been completed and will now lead,
before the debate on tuition fees
gets underway, to a 10-15 year
policy framework for the expansion
and development of HE.
Not much to think about and do,
then!
MICK
FARLEY
UCLan's Director for Cumbria
A hundred good
reasons to smile
HERE'S TO US: From left, Kevin Green (head of 6th form), Tom Sharpe, Tom Pilkington, Katheryn Wells, Mrs Carla Tomlinson (Student support officer)
and Rachel Fisher
S
T BENEDICT'S Sixth Form Centre
was celebrating recently after it
received a record-breaking 100
university applications. Staff saw
100 applications from year 13
students with the number still rising
before the sixth form closed for its
Christmas break.
The figures were a new record for the
sixth form at Red Lonning, Whitehaven,
which has 122 students in year 13.
Tom Sharpe, 17, of Main Street,
Frizington, was the 100th applicant.
He said: "I've applied to a handful of
northern universities where I hope to
study sports science."
Kevin Green, head of sixth form, said
he was overjoyed to have so many
students applying to university this year.
"I'm absolutely on top of the world. This
has to be one of the highlights of my
career as head of sixth form.
"The fact that so many of our students
have applied to university is testament to
the dedication and support the sixth form
staff have given the students.
"But student support is only one of the
reasons we've had so many applications
this year. We offer Aimhigher-funded
university trips to a selection of
universities around the UK and this has
been instrumental in highlighting
opportunities to our students.
"They are encouraged to believe they
are capable of going to university and
reach their aspirations."
Thomas Pilkington, 17, of Fell View
Drive, Egremont, was another student
who ranked close to the 100 application
mark. He said: "It was quite exciting to be
so close to the 100th position and it's
really good news that so many of us have
decided to apply for university this year.
"My first choice university is
Northumbria, where I want to study
engineering.
"I decided to apply to university for the
student experience and to give myself
more opportunity to further my career.
"I went on the university trip which the
sixth form centre ran this year and it
really opened my eyes to university life.
We had the chance to experience living in
the halls of residence and seeing a taster
of the nightlife.
"It really confirmed university as a
further education option for me."
EXPERIMENT WITH INNOVATION
M
Y name is Annie Hewgill and I am
at college in Carlisle studying for
my A-levels.
Although when I was at my secondary
school, William Howard in Brampton, I was
on the student forum, each year I would
attempt to try and contribute something
valid but never really succeeded.
This was mainly due to my shy
personality and a lack of confidence which
held me back from speaking out.
This is why it was such a surprise when
my head of sixth form, who chaired the
meetings, asked if I would be interested in
being a member of Edge Learner Forum.
The forum is an organisation of young
people from all over the country who are
asked to work on different projects,
contribute to debate and advise.
Its main aim is to promote and make
young people aware of different ways of
learning with a large focus on `different
routes to success'.
In the past year I have been down to
London three times to take part in
different events.
My most recent trip was an event held by
the National Endowment for Science
Technology and the Arts � Nesta � which
wants to make the UK more innovative.
There were two of us from the Cumbria
Forum who went down to London and at
the start of the day admittedly we didn't
have a clue what being innovative was. We
soon learned all about it and by the end of
the day I felt inspired to be innovative and
inform others about the word.
Innovation is the idea of doing
something different to how you would
usually � it's like breaking out of the box. It
can be anything from something small to
something huge.
Pretty much anything can be innovative
as long as you have the confidence to do it;
for example, I no longer write my notes at
college on lined paper in Biro pen, I now
enjoy experimenting with materials � my
latest innovative way of making notes is
doing my revision cards with ink and quill
pen on my sketch paper that usually I
would have used in art.
To some people my notes may look
useless but to me they are much more
helpful than my old exercise books.
If you would like to find out more about
Edge forum then you can visit our website:
www.edgelearnerforum.co.uk/home
ANNIE HEWGILL
The Edge Learner Forum

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