Artwork is taken from a piece of Year 11 GCSE coursework 2015

Artwork is taken from a piece of

Year 11 GCSE coursework - 2015

Page

Introduction __________________________________________ 4

GCSE Examination Analysis 2015 __________________________ 6

Attendance Analysis 2015 _______________________________ 8

Pupil Premium Allocated Spending _______________________ 10

Destinations _________________________________________ 16

Reintegration ________________________________________ 17

English ______________________________________________ 18

Maths ______________________________________________ 22

Science _____________________________________________ 26

Art and Design _______________________________________ 28

Expressive Arts _______________________________________ 30

Design Technology ____________________________________ 34

Child Development____________________________________ 36

ICT _________________________________________________ 38

PACC _______________________________________________ 40

History _____________________________________________ 42

Geography __________________________________________ 44

Literacy _____________________________________________ 45

Vocational Provision __________________________________ 47

Cross Curricular ______________________________________ 50

Looked After Children _________________________________ 52

Moving On 2015 ______________________________________ 54

List of contents

Introduction

T he CE Academy continues to grow and offer our young people improved

opportunities. Numbers have increase way beyond our agreed numbers.

This has presented some funding issues that we hope to resolve.

The Key Stage 3 provision at Spring Gardens Campus, Wellingborough, opened and

provided education for a number of young people both dual registered and

permanently excluded. It has provided another option for the attendance of

Northampton pupils and has relieved the pressure on places at Chiltern House.

The vocational provision is also partly open. A beauty teacher was appointed and

the Beauty Salon has been open for much of the year; the majority of young people

attending achieved successes in external examinations. A hairdressing teacher has

been appointed and the Salon should be in use by mid- September.

There were problems with the flooring in the DT room and several attempts were

made before it could be deemed a satisfactory finish. Consequently equipment

orders were delayed and the workshop is unlikely to be ready before the end of

October.

The determination of one member of staff has resulted in the virtual completion of

the catering kitchen and the beginnings of a kitchen garden. Her absolute

commitment has resulted in a Business Plan, gathering the necessary quotations

from commercial kitchen fitters, second-hand and new equipment bought via EBay,

a dedicated twitter account, negotiation and commitment from many chefs and other

professionals to offer free help and equipment. We hope to begin teaching in the

kitchen by the end of October.

Another member of staff gave up some of his holiday last year to ensure the

Music Tech teaching room was fully equipped enabling us to begin offering the

Music Tech course in September last year. It has been particularly successful for

Key Stage 4 young people.

Forest Gate/Oaklands Campus has now spent a year in the refurbished building.

Oversights by the architect, builder and project manager have led to continuing

problems with drains. Hopefully these will be resolved in the near future.

A successful bid for new windows for the London Road Campus was successful and

these should be completed by September. The windows were in a very poor state

and so we will definitely benefit from increased security and heating bills.

The offer of external funding for an arts project resulted in the film work of young

women at Fairlawn being shown at the Cube in Corby. The project involved them in

deciding on a focus for their film, interviewing and selecting artists to work with and

being involved in filming. Aware that young people excluded from school are often

judged harshly, The Young Women wanted to show the advantages of attending

Fairlawn and give a more positive view of young people excluded from school. The

film shows The CE Academy in a very positive light and is available to view on YouTube.

A young man from London Road Campus who was a positive role model for his peers

was nominated by a member of staff and fellow students, for the NCC award of Young

Role Model of the Year. He was shortlisted for the award and although he didn’t win, it

was gratifying to meet his very proud extended family at the ceremony and hear their

positive view on The CE Academy. There were miles of smiles all round!

During the latter part of the year we worked with a young person who had been

permanently excluded from school. The relationship between the family and the

school had broken down. Our response to their requests and agreement to a flexible

approach to ensuring the young person was still able to take his GCSEs was very

gratefully received by the family. As a result they have given us use of a field on their

farm. They have agreed to plough it for us ready for use by our young people.

One of our outstanding achievements of the year was to be Finalists in the National

Pupil Premium Awards. The winnings will be spent on providing much needed mental

health support for our young people. We are in negotiations with Relate who offer

counselling for young people and families and also intend continuing to use the

Occupational Health professional who has already successfully provided support for

some of our young people.

Introduction

2015 GCSE Exam Analysis

IntroductionIntroduction

The CE Academy focuses on ensuring that all young people work towards achieving

meaningful valuable qualifications. We work on the premise that all GCSE examination

passes are valuable and help to improve life chances and provide future chances in life

for young people. All young people who show that they have the potential to achieve a

GCSE pass grade are entered for examinations. Circumstances where a young person is

not entered for an examination may be when they have missed a large percentage of

the course, failed to complete controlled assessments or are not timetabled for a

subject.

In 2015 young people at The CE Academy have achieved grades from A grade to G grade

across a wide variety of GCSE subjects and vocational Level 1 and Level 2 qualifications.

Where the potential exists pupils achieve at a high level, illustrated by two pupils

gaining five GCSE passes (including English and maths), with one of these passing nine

GCSE’s.

Comparison with previous yearsComparison with previous years

Performance of the percentages of young people achieving differing numbers of GCSE

examination passes has remained fairly stable over the past few years. With results in

2015 similar to 2013 and 2014. Higher percentages of young people have achieved two,

three and four GCSE passes and a lower percentage have achieved seven and eight

GCSE passes.

2015 GCSE Exam Analysis

The fewer pupils achieving seven or eight passes can be largely attributed to the greater

number of vocational programmes being offered at Key Stage 4. In 2015 focusing on

preparing young people for college and apprenticeships we placed a larger emphasis on

ensuring young people passed five GCSE’s alongside vocational qualifications. With 20%

of Year 11s achieving a Level 1 and above vocational qualification.

Comparison with National ResultsComparison with National Results

On a national level we draw comparisons with national data from hospital schools and

PRU’s accessed from Government Statistics (2014).

Once again it is apparent that pupils at The CE Academy outperform other pupils at

hospital schools and PRU’s when drawing comparisons at a national level. Examples of

this include 49% of pupils achieving five A*-G grade (or equivalent) including English and

mathematics and 44% achieving at least 1 A*-C grade, both significantly in excess of

national figures.

Future developments and challengesFuture developments and challenges

Our challenge in 2015 was to increase both the percentage of pupils gaining at least five

GCSE examination passes and the percentage of GCSE examination passes at grade C

and above. We have achieved this and will focus on improvements in this area once

again next academic year.

A development to achieve this is an introduction of our progress tracker designed to

monitor progress and to allow for the introduction of early interventions to ensure that

achievement is maximised for both vocational awards and GCSE examinations.

Having established Expressive Arts GCSE we now have the challenge of choosing a

meaningful qualification to take its place following it being discontinued in 2017. We

are searching for a qualification that draws on similar skills that is recognised by both

colleges and potential employers.

Attendance Analysis 2015

The CE Academy The CE Academy continues to have a significant challenge in improving school

attendance and focuses efforts on reducing the number of pupils who are designated

persistently absent from school.

We are aware that a large percentage of our pupils have been persistently absent from

their mainstream schools. Therefore attendance is always discussed at the initial

meeting with parents, and monitored closely by both key tutors and campus

secretaries.

The Deputy Headteacher is responsible for pupil attendance and regularly visits each

campus, (once a term) and has regular meetings with the campus secretaries who have

taken a lead in monitoring attendance and raising concerns to key tutors and the Senior

Leadership Team (SLT)

Attendance procedures are included in the induction training programme for all staff

and all CE policies and procedures are regularly reviewed. The CE Academy also

employs an Attendance Welfare Officer who conducts Parental Contract Meetings and

advises SLT on attendance related matters and queries.

Comparison with mainstream school attendanceComparison with mainstream school attendance

We have analysed the attendance rates of all those pupils permanently excluded from

school both prior to joining The CE Academy and during their time with The CE

Academy.

Once again over 80% of pupils referred to The CE Academy were designated as

persistently absent from school prior to joining our school roll. Through both strong

partnerships with parents and other agencies, and the robust implementation of our

attendance procedures we continue to see a significant fall in persistent absence rates.

The focus of this analysis is on the percentage of pupils who improve their attendance

whilst at The CE Academy, using mainstream school attendance as a baseline.

The pie-chart on the following page illustrates that 85% of pupils in 2015 either

maintained or improved their attendance during their time at The CE Academy with

only 15% seeing a decrease in their attendance. Of those who didn’t see an

improvement the vast majority were already designated as being persistently absent

from school.

Attendance Analysis 2015

Overall attendanceOverall attendance

We have also analysed our overall attendance since we converted to an AP Academy.

Overall during this time we have seen a gradual increase in our average attendance,

which has stabilised over the last two years.

In 2014-15 the average attendance of pupils improved from 69% at their mainstream

schools to an average of 87% at The CE Academy.

80.0%

81.0%

82.0%

83.0%

84.0%

85.0%

86.0%

87.0%

88.0%

89.0%

90.0%

Jan-13 Jan-14 May-14 Jul-15

Overall Attendance since converting to AP Academy

CE Academy Attendance 2013-2015

Pupil Premium Allocated Spending: 2015-2016


In 2015 The CE Academy made an application to the Pupil Premium Awards

(Special Schools and Alternative Provision). Following the application we were

shortlisted for an award and were visited by one of the judges Sir John Dunford

(Pupil Premium Champion) At the awards in March we received a National Runner Up

prize of £50,000.

The pupil premium continues to be allocated to schools to work with pupils who have

been registered for free school meals at any point in the last six years (known as

“Ever 6 FSM”), Looked After Children and services children. For AP Academies and PRU’s

pupil premium funding is calculated based on the January census. Due to the ever

changing school roll this funding is not linked to specific pupils as many complete

Year 11 and others join our roll after this date.

In the case of Looked After Children (LAC) we are in receipt of Pupil Premium Plus

Funding and Spending is identified and monitored through the young person’s Personal

Education Plan (PEP). All PEP meetings are conducted by our Multi Agency Coordinator

who alongside SLT takes responsibility for this spending allocation.

As previously, Schools and Academies have the freedom to choose how they will

allocate this spending but are held accountable through the Ofsted inspection

framework and the reports that they have to publish online which explain their

spending choices and measure the impact of their spending.

When making decisions upon where and how to allocate this funding we continue to

refer to the research conducted by the Sutton Trust. This is whilst ensuring that we

consider which methods would work for the pupils in our Academy.

In 2014-2015 we predicted Pupil Premium funding will increase slightly to £116,584.

In total we received £117,799 and an additional £50,000 prize money from the Pupil

Premium Awards.

We have decided to allocate this prize money to focusing on supporting young people

with their mental health and developing their self esteem. This has included staff

training on setting up an Anger Management programme, implementing a course

“being the girl I want to be” and buying in the services of an Occupational Health

Therapist to work with our young people.


Spending was allocated in the following areasSpending was allocated in the following areas

Initiative Aim

Curriculum leaders to

drive forward our

marking and feedback

policy

To ensure all staff are using CE Academy marking and feedback policy.

Allowing pupils to benefit from quality feedback to enhance their learning.

To drive improvements in the quality of teaching and learning.

Funding places on

outdoor residential visits

to Govilon in Wales

For groups of pupils to spend three days at an outdoor adventure learning

centre in Wales, focusing on social development and teamwork. We

ensure this residential includes a high degree of collaborative learning with

a high level of physical and sometimes emotional challenge. There is also

time allocated for practical problem solving activities and reflection and

thinking (metacognition).

School uniform and

equipment for vocational

courses

By providing all the necessary equipment and clothing this has allowed all

pupils to take up a place on vocational courses.

Adventure Ways

The impact of Govilon led The CE Academy to source outdoor adventure

based activities for pupils within Northamptonshire. We have formed a

partnership with a company called “Adventure Ways” who shares our

philosophy on collaborative learning and giving the opportunity for

reflection and problem solving.

Equine Learning

Programme

Offering group and 1:1 behaviour interventions (many of the pupils who

benefit from this are LAC or have a SEN) The focus is on re-engagement

and specific behaviour interventions aimed at reducing aggression, violence,

aggression and substance abuse.

Fermyn Woods Arts

Project

This involves pupils working alongside professional artists in an outdoor

environment. This not only allows pupils to have new and challenging

experiences but has led to pupils having their work displayed in local

galleries and improved exam outcomes.

Staff Training (Setting

up an Anger

Management

Programme)

This involved whole staff training providing all staff with the skills to set up

and deliver an anger management programme. It also provided all staff with

a common approach and common language to use when dealing with young

people who struggle to control their anger.

Pace Setters (being the

girl I want to be)

This intervention focused on selected KS4 girls who were identified as

needing to develop their own identity, self worth and self esteem. It was

an eight week programme delivered at our Fairlawn campus in

Wellingborough.

One to one tutoring

Some of our young people find it difficult to access their learning in the

presence of their peers. This has enabled many learners to catch up with

their peers and experience success giving them the confidence to

re-engage in a classroom environment.


Success of these initiativesSuccess of these initiatives

One of our key spending projects was directed at ensuring the quality of our teaching

and learning remained outstanding and that a whole school system for feedback and

self/peer assessment was introduced.

Our recent Ofsted report (July 2014) supports the success of this strategy:

“Typically, teaching is outstanding at both key stages, including in English and mathematics.

The teaching over time is outstanding.”

“Excellent marking often takes place on the spot and students are given clear guidance on what

they need to improve.”

This shows the importance of outstanding teaching and learning and the role that

marking and feedback plays. We have continued with this initiative during 2015. We

now have a whole school approach to marking and feedback and have developed peer

and self assessment models. To further embed this we have implemented whole school

marking scrutinies which have standardised good practise and led to the further

sharing of excellent practise across the Academy.

Our partnership with The Seeds of Change continues to strengthen. This year we saw a

number of young people not only benefiting from the behavioural interventions from

equine learning but also achieving Level 1 vocational qualifications which were positive

in securing placements at college and apprenticeships.

Additionally an increased number of young people were successful in achieving Arts

Awards through the Fermyn Woods Arts Project. Several young people also had the

recognition of their work being displayed in a local gallery with several gaining

commission from selling a piece of their work.

In 2015/16 In 2015/16 we are predicting that Pupil Premium funding will be £116,205 plus the

remainder of our £50,000 prize from the 2015 Pupil Premium Awards.

We intend to continue spending on the projects that have proved successful over the

past four years but have identified three new areas in which to channel our spending

this year. These projects are identified by the Education Endowment Foundation as

projects that have the potential to show a positive impact on the progress of young

people. These are outlined on the next page.


New initiatives in 2015New initiatives in 2015

Initiative Cost

Identified

Sutton Trust

Approach

Aim

Peer

Tutoring

Project in

partnership

with UFA

£4,500

Improve learning outcomes

for both tutors and tutees

Peer Tutoring

+ 5 months

Develop young people’s

confidence and self esteem

Improve young people’s

collaboration and teamwork

skills

Reading Wise

Literacy

Programme

£1,500

Reading and

Comprehension

+ 5 months

Phonics

+ 4 months

To develop pupils’ literacy

skills and support the learning

of pupils with English as an

additional language

Group and

individual

Anger

Management/

self-esteem

counselling

£25,000

Social and

emotional

learning

+ 4 months

Behaviour

interventions

+ 4 months

Support young people with

their mental health.

Improving self regulation and

self awareness and helping to

develop coping strategies

Provide targeted

interventions for specific

young people to improve and

to reduce their aggression,

violence, bullying and general

anti-social activities.


Impact of Pupil Premium spending on pupil outcomesImpact of Pupil Premium spending on pupil outcomes

When measuring the impact of Pupil Premium spending we have analysed a number of

performance indicators for pupils at The CE Academy in relation to the performance of

disadvantaged pupils (Ever 6 FSM and Looked After Children). These include attainment,

attendance, destinations and pupils’ wider development.

AttainmentAttainment

To monitor the impact of Pupil Premium we analyze our GCSE results, in comparison

with national data and then look at our results for all pupils in comparison with those in

receipt of Pupil Premium. Nationally 11% of pupils in Alternative Provision (2014/15)

achieved 5+ A*-G grades (including English and maths).

At The CE Academy 100% of non Pupil Premium pupils achieved 1+ A*-G grades with

96.1% of Pupil Premium pupils achieving this same benchmark. Also 33% of non Pupil

Premium pupils achieved 1 A*-C grade. They were out performed with 39.2% of Pupil

Premium pupils achieving this landmark. Both results for Pupil Premium pupils are

above the national average for pupils in Hospital Schools and PRU’s. This is further

supported by data for the past few years shows that pupils in receipt of Pupil Premium

achieve at the same level as those who don’t .


DestinationsDestinations

We also use Year 11 destinations data to show the impact this work is having. The most

recent Government data shows that the NEET rate for 16-18 year olds is 7.6%, with

approximately 50% of Alternative Provision leavers finding a sustainable destination on

leaving.

In both 2013 (92%) and 2014 (94%) of leavers had a clear destination upon leaving The

CE Academy. This included college placements, apprenticeships, Princes Trust and

Youth Training.

In 2015 we have analysed destination for groups of young people who are in receipt of

Pupil Premium and those who are not.

We can clearly see that once again there is no evident gap with 95% of pupils in receipt

of Pupil Premium achieving a destination for the end of Year 11.

We are particularly pleased to have bucked the National trend for the percentage of

pupils who have managed to gain an apprenticeship upon leaving The CE Academy.

This is a combination of the work of CE Academy key tutors and the strong partnership

working with Connexions Northamptonshire.

In order to record the individual impact of Pupil Premium funding we have produced

several detailed case studies showing the impact that Pupil Premium funding has had

on specific pupils.

College/Training

Apprenticeships

Employment

PrincessTrust

NEET

Non Pupil Premium 76 11 2 7 4

Pupil Premium 75 11 3 5 5

01020304050607080

Pe

rce

nta

ge

CE Academy Destinations 2015

Destinations: 2015-2016

Destinations 2012Destinations 2012--1515

A key focus of the work we do at The CE academy involves ensuring that wherever

possible our Year 11 leavers have secured a pathway for the following academic year, at

times securing more than one place on a course so that a choice is still possible. At

Key Stage 3 we continue to focus on supporting pupils to return to mainstream school.

The most recent national Government data shows that the NEET rate for 16-18 year

olds is 7.6%, with 71% of pupils from Hospital Schools and PRU’s having a planned

destination with only 50% finding a sustainable destination. Once again we have been

successful in ensuring pathways for our Year 11 leavers.

Our records show that 94% of young people were engaged in a full time commitment

once they had left The CE Academy. This included full time college, Youth Training and

Princes Trust courses. Of those without a full time course 5% were NEET and 1% were

not available to the labour market (at home with baby). This has been consistent over

the past three years.

The trend has changed over the last few years with higher percentages going to college

or into apprenticeships. The significant change was that 11% of CE Academy leavers

secured an apprenticeship at the end of Year 11 - twice the National average.

Reintegration: 2015-2016

Reintegration 2013Reintegration 2013--20152015

The CE Academy continues to strive to aid pupils’ reintegration to school where they

can better meet the needs of a pupil. This is always a considered decision that must

acknowledge the wishes of our pupils and parents but also takes into account the

impact that another disruption to/change of school may have if the transition is not

successful.

As an AP Academy our partnership working with mainstream schools continues to be an

important aspect of our work. Dual registration continues to work as a short term

intervention strategy at Key Stage 3 and with some Key Stage 4 pupils as an alternative

to permanent exclusion. These changes were represented in our reintegration analysis

last academic year with 36% of pupils returning to their original mainstream school.

We have seen a continuation of this trend during 2014/15. Last academic year we saw

40 pupils reintegrated to county schools with a further 15 moving out of county. These

reintegrations fall onto three categories. 45% are permanently excluded pupils

successfully reintegrated back into mainstream schools with a further 50% being dual

registered pupils who made a successful return to their original mainstream school

following a period of dual registration with The CE Academy. The remaining 5% of pupils

arrived with a Statement of Educational Need and where then reintegrated to a special

school.

This illustrates how reintegration work has evolved since Complementary Education

converted to an AP Academy, with a large percentage of reintegrations now being

pupils returning to their mainstream school (not an option for schools or pupils prior

to conversion). Once again this shows the rapid progress that some pupils have made

both academically and socially allowing them to successfully return to mainstream

education.

45%

50%

5%

Reintegration 2014 -15

Return to amainstream school

Dual Registeredreturn to original

mainstream

EHCPlan return toSpecial School

English


English is taught by seven members of staff across all nine CE Academy Campus sites, in

combination with a highly valued contribution from tutors across the county.

Wherever it is taught and to whichever age group our aim as a curriculum group remains the

same: English is a subject to be enjoyed first and foremost and it is from this enjoyment and the

close relationship to staff that it brings, that we can engage students with a demanding

curriculum and ultimately lead them to exam success.

This emphasis on the enjoyment of the subject is felt most keenly at Key Stage 3. The teaching

of literacy at our KS3 campuses has allowed the English staff to spend more time with novels,

plays, drama and creative writing: re-enthusing the young people following what was often a

difficult time for them at mainstream.

At Key Stage 4 our commitment to the pleasure of English remains equally strong, which allows

us to tackle the requirements of the GCSE syllabus.

Although we do not directly teach literacy we are fully aware of our responsibility as models of

accurate, appropriate and clear communication and have devised a number of techniques that

allow us to improve young people’s sentence structure, spelling and vocabulary without

drawing from the pleasure of reading a text.

We firmly believe that we have a responsibility to all our students to offer them an alternative

vision of their lives via the escapism of literature; to emphasise that the enjoyment and study of

books is a right open to all people, irrespective of background or circumstance.

All students who spend at least a year at The CE Academy will read a novel, sometimes to help

with GCSE coursework or sometimes at KS3 or even in Year 10, just for the experience. This is

something about which we remain staunchly proud, especially amidst the recent drive to make

English teaching a series of scientifically discrete components.

Exam Entries and ResultsExam Entries and Results

This year’s exam season presented us as teachers with some great successes but also some

stark warnings for the immediate and longer terms.

This year we entered more students than ever before for GCSE English. 70 students were

entered for the examination: 15 more than in 2014 and 27 more than in 2013. We are proud of

this number – the same entry as Maths, given the demands of the coursework folder. This high

number was greatly helped, the staff felt, by a specific English coursework morning in early

Spring. This number fell to 66 after the examination: three students failed to attend and one

was disqualified.

English

The marks for the individual coursework components also rose from last year: for the Reading

Literary Texts, it rose marginally from an average of 18.53 to 18.81 and in the Imaginative

Writing, where we had a stated focus following a dip last year, the rise was significant: from

17.98 in 2014 up to 20.55 this year.

In the exam itself the final marks offered both encouragement and further reminders of the

challenges ahead. We can take great encouragement that for the second year running the

young people at The CE Academy scored significantly higher in their exam, on average, than in

their coursework: nearly 12 percentage points higher. This obviously bodes well for an era

without coursework, although it is yet to be discovered whether this can be attributed to the

difficulty of the language in the coursework folder (Shakespeare, poetry) or whether it is

because of the silence, concentration and adrenalin that characterise the written exam. Only

time will tell. The challenge, however, is clear: no student managed to gain a mark higher than

a C in their written examination; even those who were awarded an A for their coursework

folder.

Elsewhere the results threw up some intriguing discrepancies, all of which clearly highlight the

difficulties of the path ahead.

Between exam centres, those who sat their exam at the Cromwell Campus were down about

0.5 of a percentage point on those who sat the exam at the Forest Gate Campus.

In terms of gender: girls were far more likely (61%) to achieve a D-E grade, whereas the majority

of boys weighed in at grades E-F (45%). Worryingly, 17% of boys who started the English course

were withdrawn either in advance of the exam or on the day. Most English students received a

grade E. Whereas we are proud that not a single student failed, there is concern that only 5%

reached A*-C compared with 12% in Maths. We were, however, the only subject of the three

core-curriculum subjects to have any students earn higher than a grade C: two Bs from both

genders. Both these students received Free School Meals, tying into the overall statistic that

FSM is no measure of a handicap in CE Academy English.

Of our LAC students we had a 100% entry and pass rate.

An area that we are proud of, given the demands of poetry and Shakespearean English to even

native speakers, is our results with EAL students. 80% of our EAL students were entered for the

English exam. At the Cromwell Campus they represented over 20% of the total entry number.

English

ChallengesChallenges

As teachers of English within The CE Academy we face many great challenges. Firstly, the old

issue that students bring to us: namely, that they have a dislike and even a mistrust of English

from their time in mainstream school. This could manifest itself as a fear of having their

weaknesses exposed, either through testing or reading aloud. It remains our policy never to ask

students to read aloud (they may ask us, of course!) and not to test in lessons. The changing

face of Ofsted and of mainstream education’s reaction to their inspection policies mean that as

a service we are to begin testing new referrals in reading but this is to be done away from the

English lesson and is designed to measure progress for staff, not pigeon-hole our young people.

Another fear of young people coming in to our lesson is that of the ‘blank page’. Independent

thought is not always a strength of our young people and we have invested in training,

literature and resources as a means of breaking this down.

We clearly have a challenge ahead in raising the attainment of our top-end students and of

pushing the D grade students up into the A-C bracket.

We have the challenge of the new English curriculum from 2016, combined with efforts to allow

students to measure their own progress, identify their own weaknesses and consolidate their

strengths. We deliberately took a lead on this last year as a department and have created a

number of resources and self-assessment programmes that have had very positive feedback

from the young people and are being shown to the heads of other departments. These include

Progress Maps and Skills Charts devised from popular X-Box games. We have also introduced

the use of a new website www.tripticoplus.com to help students structure and understand their

own work more clearly.

Dual registration remains a challenge, as students arrive firmly entrenched in a different exam

board. In response we have created a database of exam boards and texts, keeping a permanent

library of other texts, anthologies and syllabuses at the Overleys Campus that can be used by all

staff.

Reading a novel in a PRU is always a challenge, especially as all of our students are not referred

to us at the beginning of the book. The current syllabus demands only one novel but the new

GCSE could raise that number. We have worked closely with support staff to ensure that they

know the book and are able to take individual students aside to get them up to speed. We are

grateful to those non-English teaching staff who took these books home to read at weekends!

CE

English

Curriculum DevelopmentsCurriculum Developments

English is changing massively over the next few years. Coursework is disappearing and Speaking

and Listening has been totally marginalised. The focus on literature is intensifying as is the need

to demonstrate a greater assurance of spelling, punctuation and grammar. The literature that is

now deemed desirable by the government has an emphasis on the 19th Century, which again

increases the difficulty for our students to access the book, both in terms of language and size:

we are still managing to get most students through a two year course in a little over nine

months.

We also have to look at the way we measure our progress throughout the year. Previously,

we had the coursework as a set of signposts at every half term but, as that disappears, we

need a clear strategy in order that students do not get bogged down in a quagmire of exam

preparation.

We also have to consider the incentive that the government has offered all English teachers to

encourage their students to aim for a GCSE in English literature. This has, in the past, thrown up

all sorts of practical issues for timetabling, but as we assess whether it could make an enormous

difference to the future of our young people, we shall have to find a way.

Future PlansFuture Plans

The year to come is one of profound importance for us. We have big decisions to make

regarding the new syllabus, which books to choose, learning which exam boards place emphasis

on which assessment objectives and how to structure the entire package. We plan to research,

learn and implement ways in which to foster greater independence in our young people for

100% examination. We plan to work on new thinking about modelling and ‘scaffolding’ clear,

well-structured sentences and secure punctuation without making the English lesson another

‘death-by-worksheet’ experience.

We are working on ways to combat the issue of “assumed knowledge”, whereby students lack

the basic understanding of phrases, institutions, history and politics and so struggle to engage

with texts. This has already involved all English staff reading books by cognitive psychologists

and investigating ways that students can learn to tackle unfamiliar vocabulary using context.

Finally, despite government policy heading in a different direction, we are not walking away

from Speaking and Listening. We believe firmly that it greatly benefits our young people to be

able to communicate with adults and peers, that an understanding of tone, register, body-

language and Standard English make them more employable, more likely to resolve conflicts

and more likely to achieve success away from the campus.

Mathematics


The mathematics curriculum group is committed to improving all young people’s understanding

and participation in the subject. We promote the importance of the subject to society and the

economic benefits to their individual futures.

The subject is taught to Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 across nine campus sites based around the

county. This includes three Key Stage 3 sites, two sites for school age mothers and four sites for

Key Stage 4 (to include one mixed gender campus and three single sex campuses).

The curriculum will be delivered by seven members of staff including two subject specialists,

four multi-discipline teachers and one trainee teacher.

Key Stage 3Key Stage 3

At Key Stage 3 young people follow the requirements of the national curriculum. The Scheme of

Work is designed to work with groups of varying ages and ability. We focus on two key areas:

to teach core skills that young people should have the opportunity to study at each level;

to address essential areas that are missing from their education.

Key aims are:

to re-engage disaffected pupils;

to identify and address identified areas of need crucial to progress within the subject;

to maintain and extend existing knowledge to enable identified pupils to be reintegrated

to mainstream;

to promote a sense of value and enjoyment in the subject;

to identify pupils of higher attainment and encourage a desire to achieve at the highest

level.

The curriculum allows the young people the opportunity to develop core numeracy skills, the

ability to investigate mathematical concepts, problem solving, logical thinking and application of

knowledge to the world around them.

The scheme addresses the needs of pupils who may arrive in year 7 or later and stay with us for

a significant portion of their secondary education. It sets out clear objectives for each year

group and currently facilitates entry for the GCSE course in year 10 or early examination where

deemed appropriate on an individual basis. It also has the flexibility to include and engage

pupils who are dual registered for a fixed period of time.

Mathematics


At Key Stage 4, young people follow the OCR J567 Syllabus B GCSE course. This is a terminal

exam only course available at Foundation and higher tiers. All young people study the subject

in years 10 and 11 with the expectation of being entered for accreditation by the end of year

11.

Entry in year 10 is still appropriate for a very small number of students. Any entries at this stage

will be made on an individual basis, according to these considerations:

the potential to achieve a minimum of a grade C that will provide the stimulus to study

the subject to a higher level;

concerns that circumstances may place them in an increasingly vulnerable position

outside of education that will prevent engagement in year 11;

pupils who need practical experience of the exam system to allow them to more

effectively assess their own ability and potential.


The mathematics curriculum consistently enters the majority of young people for accreditation

at GCSE level. In the academic year 2014–2015, 92% of all Year 11 students were entered.

Results were directly comparable to English in this academic year and overall the curriculum

entered more students than other subjects. There was an increase this year in the number of

pupils not achieving a pass, not being ready for entry or being withdrawn on the day. A small

number of students were not entered at their request as it was deemed to be in their overall

interest. However they studied the course for the duration of the year. Key points:

12% of students entered achieved a grade A – C. An increase of 3% on the previous year

with an increased number of candidates.

84% of pupils entered on the day of the exam passed.

92% of all pupils were entered for the terminal exams.

13 pupils achieved an ungraded mark. Two are being appealed because they missed by

2 marks or less. A further 4 pupils would have passed if the grade boundaries had not

been raised for the 4th consecutive year.

There were no significant variations according to gender or free school meals.

Pupils who had been previously excluded in Key Stage 3 also performed statistically

below pupils excluded in Key Stage 4.

Pupils with EAL have also performed below the whole year group.

Mathematics


Mathematics is often a subject that has presented many of our young people with significant

challenges in mainstream. This can be apparent in a variety of ways including:

Lack of confidence, self-esteem and resilience in the classroom.

Historically poor attendance or withdrawal from the subject in mainstream.

A deep dislike or mistrust of the subject engendered from mainstream experiences.

Additionally, many of our young people are in vulnerable circumstances and may have to

prioritise personal issues over their learning and education. Practical necessities also dictate

that the majority of lessons are of mixed age and ability and are subject to constant change.

We also experience a reluctance to engage that has been promoted by some parents. This may

reflect parents’ attitudes from their own educational experience. It can also be a misguided

attempt to make their children's lives easier by offering them work and money with the promise

of a future not dependant on qualifications.

This year represents a significant milestone in the delivery of the subject. Year 10 pupils will

commence the new more rigorous syllabus with terminal grading of 1 to 9. This will bring

additional challenges:

Delivery of a new Scheme of Work with significantly increased content and difficulty at

foundation level and more challenging terminal exams in parallel with the final year of

the old syllabus.

Uncertainty over the difficulty level of the new syllabus following trial examinations

nationally, resulting in exam boards having to redesign terminal assessments.

Currently the changes have disadvantaged many of our students by removing examinable

content taught across both key stages. The increased emphasis on Algebra content, much of it

brought down from the higher tier also represents a hurdle as many of our pupils find it hard to

relate to its importance with their planned careers. This is compounded with a loss of some

topics of a more practical and visual nature.

Developments within the curriculumDevelopments within the curriculum

During this year, the following have been introduced or pursued across all campuses:

Continued promotion of pupil’s self-awareness and assessment of their progress.

Continued promotion of the importance of achieving a grade C. (This may be supported

by the experience of friends now having to repeat the subject on post 16 courses.)

All staff now employ a unified system of recording work and assessment of progress by

teachers.

Mathematics

Continued use of online resources to support pupils within the classroom and at home

with parents.

Delivery of Key Stage 3 Scheme of Work to enable pupils to engage with the transition to

Key Stage 4 and the new curriculum.


Promote increased participation in the terminal exams to allow students successful entry

to higher education where continued study of the subject will be mandatory.

Increase the aspirations of students to achieve a minimum of a grade C.

Promote the importance of the subject for 16–19 education and employment.

Integrate changes to the curriculum for the Key Stage 3 Scheme of Work by the end of

the year (for examinations in 2017).

Effectively use online resources to support students across all key stages.

Continue to develop effective self-assessment.

More effectively identify students who appear likely to not attend terminal exams and

work with parents/staff/other agencies to overcome this outcome.

Review procedures for entering pupils for whom the qualification may be too challenging.

More closely monitor LAC, EAL and Key Stage 3 transfers to make more effective

interventions.

Employ a dedicated numeracy assessment to improve baseline information upon

admission.

Science


The science curriculum group is committed to improving students’ understanding and enjoyment of science. All young people study science at Key Stages 3 and 4 unless attendance at college or other curriculum arrangements preclude them from doing so.

Science is taught only by specialist staff, who firmly believe in the importance of science within the curriculum but also as an opportunity to improve pupils scientific literacy; develop enquiring minds; and improve life skill through a topical and relevant themes.


At Key Stage 3 work is based on the Heinemann “Catalyst” Series, but has recently been supplemented through the introduction of the Smart Science work scheme and the Key Stage 3 Board Works resource. Both schemes follow the National Curriculum programme of study and encouraged students to develop an understanding of the following areas:

Scientific thinking Applications and implications of science The cultural context of science Collaboration Practical enquiry

The Scheme of Work allows for a variety of learning styles: experimentation; discussion and research. We hope that our curriculum will encourage young people to question the world around them and look for explanations of how thing work in real life settings. This is done by providing opportunities to develop experimentation, discussion and personal research.


At Key Stage 4 young people follow the OCR Gateway Science B Specification. This is available at both Foundation and Higher levels. Should students sit the examination in Year 10 they may be offered the opportunity to take a second GCSE qualification (usually Additional Science) in Year 11. The curriculum is broad and balanced and, at the same time, enables us to structure its delivery to accommodate individuals’ interests and needs.

The controlled assessment comprises 25% of the final GCSE grade. The remaining 75% is derived from two written exam papers.


2015 saw a fall in entries with 53 pupils entered for the exam. This was a lower percentage than for the 2014 cohort. This was principally due to increased proportion of students not completing their coursework and reduced teaching time in one campus.

In general there was an upward shift of pass grades. The percentage of passes at grade C and D increased by 19.2% to 33.9% of all entries. C grades increased by 5.3% to 7.5%.

96.2% of all students entered obtained a C to G pass grade. It was disappointing that we had two students who gained a U grade, especially when one had lost her grandfather on the day of her final exam. She did not receive any consideration from the exam board despite them being informed.

Boys on average outperformed the girls in gaining the higher grades with 7.5% of all entrants (4 boys) getting a C grade. This was a large swing from last year’s results.

Science

Of the 53 Year 11 students entered for the GCSE in science, 27 (50.9%) were in receipt of free school meals (FSM). This was comparable to the percentage of science entries for this cohort and provides evidence of no significant difference between free school meals and non-free school meals students.

2 out of 4 Looked After Children (LAC) and 4 out of 9 English as a Secondary Language (ESL) students obtained a GCSE qualification in Science.

71% of students scored more highly on Paper 2 than Paper 1.


Many young people who join us have negative feelings about science as a subject. This can often be because of the general belief that science is hard and the frequent exclusion from science lessons due to their poor behaviour. In addition our young people have often experienced long periods of interrupted education and join us at unpredictable times during the school year. This means our teaching groups, whilst small, consist of pupils across years 10 and 11 at Key Stage 4, and years 7, 8 and 9 at Key Stage 3. Groups can also be subject to frequent changes.


The curriculum group continues to explore the use of online resources and developing practical activities. The Key Stage 3 curriculum has been reviewed recently and we have enhanced our teaching resources by purchasing the new Smart Science Scheme of Work and Key Stage 3 Boardworks as an interactive discussion tool. Both increase our ability to differentiate and bring our lessons more alive.

The Key Stage 4 curriculum has major changes arriving in September 2016 where science will no longer be able to be examined as a single science. Only a double qualification will be available. This will make teaching science at GCSE in an already tight timetable difficult. The curriculum group continues to investigate alternative qualifications.

Sue Eley has retired after leading the science curriculum group for the past 3 years. Richard Atkins has taken on the role from 1st September 2015.


The science curriculum group will be teaching themed weeks in order to give students a broad and balanced curriculum throughout the year. This will happen in both key stages.

It is hoped in Key Stage 4 by mixing up the contents required for both exam papers throughout the year and focusing on key concepts exam performance will improve.

A key statement for each lesson is being developed for every student to “take away” in Key Stage 3. This will be accompanied with supporting differentiated learning statements. We are exploring and working on a variety of different practical activities to enable us to do this. RAG sheets will then be developed to track pupil progress and promote self-assessment.

We will continue to develop student’s literacy through the use of dictionaries and key word walls. In the longer term, and in light of the proposed changes to GCSE courses that are due to be introduced in September 2016, we will be evaluating new course specifications and alternative options as they become available.

Art and Design


The art and design and textiles curriculum group is committed to improving young peoples’

understanding, knowledge and skills. All young people have the opportunity to study art and

design at Key Stage 3 and 4 across all campuses unless attending college or other curriculum

opportunities. Two campuses offer textiles as an additional art specialism. We see art as an

important means to helping young people gain confidence, self–esteem and understanding that

the process of creating art can be beneficial in improving their attitude towards learning.


At Key Stage 3 young people follow schemes of work linked to the national curriculum for art

and design. A two year programme enables young people to develop skills and understanding.

The programme allows them to develop vocabulary and techniques and to be able to give a

considered evaluation of their own and others work.

Each year there are six project titles which are linked to artists, craftspeople or designers that

young people are encouraged to investigate.


At Key Stage 4 young people follow a programme of study following OCR specifications. The

theme ‘Environment’ offers all the young people an extremely broad range of subject matter

to investigate, research and record. This contributes to them producing coursework which is

engaging, vibrant and refined.

Most young people at Key Stage 4 work towards taking Art and Design GCSE. The Fairlawn

Campus offers Textiles as an additional GCSE subject.

Fermyn Woods Contemporary Arts WorkshopFermyn Woods Contemporary Arts Workshop

Key Stage 3 young people have had the opportunity to attend the arts workshop again this year.

James Steventon, Fermyn Woods’ Education Officer, has this year provided us with a wide and

diverse group of artists and the young people have worked to improve their skills in drawing,

modelling and carving and have been awarded an Arts Award Discoverers Certificate.

Work produced by CE pupils at Fermyn Woods was also exhibited at the Alfred East Gallery in

Kettering during the summer term. Pupils achieved awards and even sold their work, receiving

cheques in the post.


This year 47 young people were entered for OCR GCSE Art and Design and 11 young people

were entered for OCR GCSE Textiles. This has increased from last year.

Art and Design

AchievementsAchievements

Art and Design

100% pass rate

23% achieved A* - C an increase from last year

2 young people have gone on to study Art and Design at Northampton College

Textiles

100% pass rate

1 young person achieved a B


Many young people attend art lessons feeling negative and lacking in confidence generally

because of previous experience in their former school. Often they would be excluded from art

lessons because of behaviour issues and a feeling that they don’t have the necessary skills to

do art. In Key Stage 4 young people joining at different stages in the academic year makes it

difficult to encourage interest and enthusiasm for art. Teachers work hard to find a level that

young people feel comfortable and confident with. There is a gender split when it comes to

results; girls do better at GCSE than boys.


The teaching staff within the art department have met to discuss how they can address the gap

in attainment between boys and girls. There is a focus on motivating boys by concentrating on

particular techniques, processes and media that seem to inspire boys. Staff have also looked at

the appeal of particular artists to boys.

It has been identified that our young people lack enthusiasm for observational work. The art

team have explored ways to address this which should reflect positively in next years results.

Staff are now using a progress tracker to identify any concerns with pupil progress. These will

be discussed at every campus and art curriculum meeting.

Key Stage 3 will continue to work to improve young people’s skills, ideas and confidence. The

Fermyn Woods Arts Workshop will continue to support the young people’s learning in an

exciting and positive way.


It is hoped this year that all young people will have the opportunity to visit museums and

galleries. Photography has been introduced at Cromwell which will be an exciting addition to

the timetable. We are also awaiting the results from our application for the Artsmark.

Expressive Arts


GCSE Expressive Arts is now firmly embedded in the CE Academy curriculum at Key Stage 4 and is successfully delivered by a variety of staff with different subject specialisms.

The beauty of this subject is that it extends pupils’ understanding of different art forms and encourages them to explore relationships between each of them, whilst allowing pupils to develop their creative and imaginative skills.

It encourages independent learning and decision making and introduces pupils to a wide range of media. A wide variety of programs, software and techniques allow students of all abilities to access this GCSE at appropriate levels whilst providing suitable challenge. At CE Academy it is particularly successful as it enables pupils to work to their strengths and allows opportunities for them to develop their own skills and interests. It is also a great subject to introduce different cultures and arts practitioners perhaps unfamiliar to pupils.


At Key Stage 4 pupils follow the OCR GCSE Expressive Arts specification. This is made up of three mandatory units.

Working in response to the study of artworks by practitioners.

Working in response to a stimulus.

Working in response to a commission in a community context.

The first two units are controlled assessments and comprise 60% of the final grade. The final unit is a practical exam. Throughout the specification pupils must explore and apply the work of practitioners and develop final realisations for each unit in at least three art forms. They can choose from the following:

Art and Design

Music

Drama

Dance

Music


It has been a fantastic year for expressive arts at CE Academy. The status for expressive arts continues to rise with a record number of 51 entries for the subject, overtaking the number of art entries for the first time.

We had a 100% pass rate with all 51 pupils entered achieving a GCSE Expressive Arts with 37% gaining A-C grades. Again this is a huge achievement; a marked improvement from the previous year at 21% and even the year before at 31%.

Other specific achievements included:

Three pupils achieved a grade A and seven pupils achieved a grade B.

A year 10 pupil entered this year achieved a grade A.

Expressive arts out performed other subjects at CE.


Many young people join us without having any experience of expressive arts and what it means

so it is essential that the subject is introduced to them in an exciting and imaginative way. Many

pupils wrongly assume if they do not like art as a subject that this will also apply to expressive

arts. We feel it is important that we make a clear distinction. Where possible we endeavour to

teach expressive arts in a classroom other than the art room.

GCSE candidates at mainstream school often perform their exam pieces for the external

moderator when demonstrating drama as an art form. At CE Academy we have used both film

and still image successfully as a way of representing drama, as many of our young people do not

have the confidence to perform to an audience. The spread of sites would also cause logistical

difficulties. This year we encountered a difficulty during the external moderation where the use

of still image was challenged when using it to represent drama as an art form. Fortunately we

were able to evidence dramatic content within pupil’s photography and argue its place within

the art form.


The use of stop-motion animation in pupil’s work was again strengthened by workshops held in

campuses by Barry Skillen from the Manchester based company ‘Animation Nation’.

Pupils at CE have been able to experience many theatre productions this year. Intermission

Theatre, a London based theatre group visited Key Stage 4 campuses and performed Verona

Road, a modern-day interpretation of Romeo and Juliet. This clearly helped our young people

gain a better understanding of the play for their English GCSE but also introduced expressive

arts pupils to drama and live theatre. In January, pupils from Overleys, Oaklands, Cromwell and

Forest Gate had the opportunity to see the amazing production of ‘The Lion King’ at The Lyceum

Theatre in London; an inspiring show, enabling pupils to gain valuable experience of the use of

masks and puppets in a live musical performance. Later on in the year pupils from Fairlawn

went to see ‘No Way Back’ at the Corby Cube; a piece of physical theatre performed by the

award winning group ‘Frantic Assembly’. The show was inspired by the local people of Corby

and their stories and even featured local non-actors of all different ages. It was a great way to

illustrate that anybody can become involved in local theatre.

An exciting collaboration with CE Academy, The Mighty Creatives and the Core in Corby came

about during the Spring and Summer terms involving the girls at Fairlawn. We were delighted to

hear that we were chosen to host the first Priority Arts project in Wellingborough which

enabled local groups of young people to produce a piece of art which they felt was of

importance to their locality. The group chose to make a film where they were keen to dispel the

myths surrounding alternative education and what it was like to be excluded from mainstream

school.

Expressive Arts

Expressive Arts

“We felt the idea generated at the consultation session was really

exciting and perfectly captured the spirit of Priority”.

Priority partners Feb 2015

The group had £4000 to spend on the project which they chose to spend wisely on the use of

practitioners to help them make their film. Girls took part in the interviewing and recruitment

process choosing to work mainly with Dom Breadmore from Ludicrooms, a digital film maker,

with support from Sam Acquaah, MC and spoken word performer. As part of the process girls

participated in poetry, dance and digital media workshops. The end result was incredible; a

touching and thought provoking short film entitled, 'A Sparkle Itching to Show'. The film was

showcased at the Corby Cube as part of the Slam event and was received with much applause.

“Firstly a massive thank you to you all on a brilliant project. The film

created by the group has been the talk of the Slam event and our

chief executive even requested to see it following the buzz coming from

audiences at the event! And that is rare! In addition to this the whole

process and delivery of the project was challenging and brilliant and

that is all thanks to the hard work and an excellent team so thank

you all so so much”.

Lisa Shepherd, Creative Practitioner, Priority Project July 2015

The film can be used as a part of GCSE expressive arts coursework for those pupils sitting the

exam in 2016 and is a fine example of how different art forms can interact with each other. It

will also be loaded onto the CE Academy intranet and will be available on YouTube.

It was noted that pupils and staff were struggling to access music software. Some of our

equipment was outdated and not running efficiently and the music package ‘Reason’ was too

difficult to use for the majority. It was essential that this was addressed quickly as music is often

the third art form that pupils choose during the exam. Four IMacs have been purchased that

come complete with the music package ’Garageband’ which have already been put to good use.

Cameras have also been purchased for staff teaching expressive arts as it was noted that

photographing pupil’s work at different stages is a useful evaluation tool.

The theme of China was the focus of Key Stage 4 cross curricular 2014 with the return of

expressive arts being the driving force. The programme kicked off with a ‘lion dance’ and pupils

experienced a range of workshops looking at different Chinese art forms over the two days,

whilst producing a piece of GCSE expressive arts coursework.


Expressive Arts enables young people to work with a range of media. Within CE we have a

variety of different and exciting digital resources that are utilised within expressive arts. Within

the staff team we are in the process of producing ‘idiot’s guides’ for the following software

packages: Crazy Talk, Audacity, Photoshop, Serif, Scratch and I Can Animate. Both staff and

pupils will be able to work through these enabling them to learn the skills needed to get the

best from what is on offer at CE. We will still provide in house training for those staff who lack

the confidence.

We will be working in partnership with Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Trust and

increasing musical opportunities for the young people at CE Academy. A vocal coach with be

working with pupils to develop their singing skills and a rock band will be delivering workshops

in a number of Key Stage 4 campuses.

We continue to aim for increased number of entries and to further our success in achieving an

even higher number of grade A-C passes. A focus will be on improving the grades of boys, as

girls outperform the boys by a considerable margin. As a curriculum group we will be looking at

what works best with the boys; what sort of activities, art forms, practitioners, projects inspire

them the most. We will be analysing further where they can achieve more marks and target

these objectives to build on the success of expressive arts at The CE Academy.

Expressive Arts

Design Technology

Introduction

The Design and Technology (DT) curriculum group is committed to improving our students’

understanding of good design and of the role that technology plays in everyday life. DT is

timetabled at both Key Stage 4 (Cromwell, Fairlawn and London Road Campuses) and Key Stage

3 (Chiltern, Spring Gardens and William Knibb Campuses). A further workshop is currently being

commissioned at Spring Gardens. DT is taught by four members of staff. We see the study of DT

as not just the nurturing of practical ability, but as a subject which equips students with skills

that employers value. Of equal importance is the way in which the subject promotes

independent research, evaluation and risk taking, all of which will be useful throughout their

lives.

Key Stage 3

At Key Stage 3, the curriculum allows young people to design and construct a range of products

that incorporate processes and materials to equip students with the knowledge and skills they

will need for their transition to the GCSE syllabus in Key Stage 4.

The scheme of work provides opportunity for individual enquiry and scope for students to

communicate their design ideas using traditional graphical media and also through the

utilisation of CAD and CAM technologies. Modern materials are explored and the concept of

quality is investigated through the honing of existing skills and the development of fresh ideas

and competencies.

The scheme of work allows for a variety of learning styles: experimentation, discussion and

research.

Key Stage 4

At Key Stage 4 young people follow the WJEC Design and Technology Resistant Materials full

course specification. If students sit the examination in year 10 they may be offered the

opportunity to re-take the qualification the following year, depending on the previous GCSE

grade attained. The curriculum is broad and balanced and, at the same time, it enables us to

structure its delivery to accommodate individual interests and needs.

The WJEC Design and Technology, full-course qualification is comprised of one 30 hour

controlled assessment module that carries 60% of the final marks. The remaining 40% of the

marks for the final grade are contained in a 2 hour final written examination paper.

Students learn about sustainable design, research methods, work of designers selected by the

WJEC for study, manufacturing processes, tools and their uses, construction methods and

methods of fixing.

Exam Entries and Results

This is the first year that our students have been entered for this WJEC qualification. There has

been an increase in the number of students that have taken the DT exam this year.

The quality of student entries has improved due to measures implemented in the DT curriculum

development plan; staff have introduced learning mats and resources to encourage the use of

technical vocabulary and to provide visual reference of student progress.

Challenges

Many of the young people have chosen to study an area of DT that is not available at The CE

Academy. Therefore many have large gaps in both their skills and knowledge for working with

Resistant Materials.

In Key Stage 4 the most significant challenge is preparing our young people for the 2 hour

written examination.

Developments within the curriculum

The curriculum group continues to strive to improve the quality of practical projects by the

introduction of starter activities which feature smart and modern materials and by the recent

introduction of project work booklets. Student technical vocabularies have been a concern and

work has been actioned to incorporate key words into workshops and into lessons. Student self-

evaluation of projects using two stars and a wish has now become an integral part of lessons

and has helped to document student progress and achievement. Additional training has taken

place to enable staff to effectively integrate CAD CAM and 3D modelling into lessons and to

improve the quality of student products.

Future Plans

Changes made to the National Curriculum Design and Technology programme of study have

prompted the curriculum group to revise the Key Stage 3 scheme of work to incorporate

programmable digital electronics and opportunities for student led design and making activities.

This year’s student cohort will be the first to access this revised Key Stage 3 curriculum.

Design Technology

Child Development


Child Development is taught at both of the school age mother campus sites: at Overleys in

Northampton and at Oaklands in Corby. All of the students study Child Development unless they

attend other college courses, in which case specific relevant topics are covered in PACC

sessions.

Last year it had also been successfully timetabled at our Key Stage 4 provision in Corby and has

continued to be this year.

This year a student from another campus who expressed a keen interest in this subject has also

been offered the opportunity to study and work toward a GCSE in this subject.

Child Development is a fundamental subject to our students in preparing them for the

expectations and changes that occur during pregnancy and parenthood.

Students follow the OCR GCSE Home Economics: Child Development. The subject focuses on the

growth and development of children from conception to the age of five.

Areas covered include:

family and parenting;

preparation for pregnancy and birth;

physical development;

nutrition and health;

intellectual, social and emotional development;

community support.

The OCR Child Development course for GCSE consists of 4 controlled assessments and a final

written exam.

The present scheme of work allows for students to learn using a variety of learning styles. They

are also required to complete some of the work outside of school.

Unit BO11: Three short tasks

Candidates submit 2 practical and 1 investigative, short tasks chosen from a list of tasks provided by OCR. Each of the 3 tasks should focus on different practical skills and knowledge. 60 marks (20 marks per task)/30 % of the total GCSE marks. This unit is internally assessed and externally moderated. These tasks will assess the following skills: planning, practical work, evaluation, investigation.

Unit BO12: Child study task

Candidates submit one individual task chosen from a list of themes provided by OCR. 60 marks/ 30% of the total GCSE marks. This unit is internally assessed and externally moderated. This task will assess the following skills: research, selecting and justifying choices, planning, practical work, evaluation.

Unit BO13: The examination

The examination is a 1 hour 30 minute written paper which consists of five compulsory questions, including short answers, picture stimulus, data response, structured and free-response formats. Questions will cover all areas of the specification content. 80 marks/40% of the total GCSE marks. It is externally assessed.


In 2015 six pupils sat the Child Development examination. There was a 100% pass rate.


As Child Development is just taught by one member of staff that can be challenging because

they are solely responsible for the subject. The pupils also face a variety of challenges in

achieving a GCSE in Child Development. For some the subject is something that they have not

studied before. The subject contains a high percentage of assessment by controlled

assessments, consisting of 3 short tasks and a child study task. Due to the nature of the

provision, students may join us throughout the year increasing the pressure to complete

controlled assessments by the specific dead line. Students may also require time off from school

to give birth to their baby and adjust to motherhood.


The curriculum continues to develop in classroom resources, worksheets relating to subject

topics. The subject is now being taught in more of the campuses.


To continue to make the subject and assessments more interesting and appealing to

students.

To increase the varieties of resources, work sheets, revision aids and library contents

relating to the curriculum subject.

To offer a variety of learning aids to appeal to different learning styles.

To continue to offer Child Development as a subject to pupils at other campus sites

where an interest is shown.

To continue to try and encourage boys to take the subject seriously and consider it as a

GCSE option.

Child Development

ICT

Introduction Introduction

The CE Academy continues to deliver ICT as a component of both the Key Stage 3 and

Key Stage 4 curriculum both as a discrete subject and as a cross curricular tool throughout other

subject areas. Pupils are taught how to use a variety of software packages and to understand

and consider the use of ICT in business and in society. Young people join us with vastly different

skills and abilities in ICT and we aim to support their development further to enhance their

learning in other areas of the curriculum.


At Key Stage 3 the curriculum is skills based; teaching the skills needed to aid success in other

subject areas. We have developed a new scheme of work around the requirements of the new

national curriculum and the skills that will benefit pupils across the curriculum. This includes

PowerPoint presentations, movie making, animation, programming, ICT in society and coding

skills.


At Key Stage 4 there is a focus on pupils achieving nationally recognised City and Guilds ICT

qualifications. The examination course promotes self-assessment of work, accuracy and

attention to detail. These examination passes have been instrumental in enabling young people

to access further education courses. We have developed a scheme of work at Key Stage 4 to

specifically target skills required in Expressive Arts to support the controlled assessment

projects and examinations. This will include music production, movie making software, game

maker and developing animations.

Exam entries and resultsExam entries and results

In 2014-2015 there has been a small decline in examination entries and passes. However, our

Key Stage 4 only male/female campus produced 28 examination passes 21 of which were First

Class Passes; several of the girls obtaining up to 3 City and Guilds qualifications throughout the

year. In our single sexed girls campus 12 examination passes were achieved and in our single

sexed boys campus 6 passes were achieved. These included a range of subjects including text

production skills, word processing, spreadsheets and databases.


A major challenge is the differing experience of ICT young people have had at their mainstream

school. Some young people have not engaged with ICT previously, others have good knowledge

of ICT packages but require more structure to their use of software to maximise their potential.

Developments in the curriculumDevelopments in the curriculum

At Key Stage 3 we have a new scheme of work including coding and programming. At

Key Stage 4 we are continuing to develop schemes of work to specifically target skills requires in

other subject areas. This has been enhanced by offering training from colleagues who teach

Expressive Arts or who have knowledge of certain aspects of the new ICT curriculum.

Future plansFuture plans

Staffing will be increased within the Key Stage 4 ICT area which will offer opportunities to our

young mums campuses, mixed campus and our single sexed campuses. We intend to continue

to teach our skills based curriculum aiming for all pupils to achieve at least one ICT qualification

at Key Stage 4. However the ICT curriculum group will continue to conduct research to identify

qualifications that employer’s value in particular the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL).

E-safety and cyber bullying is now embedded in our PACC curriculum and taught as discrete

lessons at both Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4.

ICT

PACC


PACC is an acronym, standing for PSHE, Activities and Careers and Citizenship. We consider it a

vital opportunity to engage pupils in these aspects of their education. To this end Wednesday

mornings are dedicated to its delivery across all campus sites. All staff have a role in its delivery,

preparation and planning in order to promote its importance and effective delivery. This

enables a wide range of personal experiences to be incorporated into lessons.


PACC at Key Stage 3 is split into smaller, targeted sessions than at Key Stage 4, largely focusing

on working together as a group or in a community. At its heart is a long process of socialisation

which we feel strongly is the basis of the education that we are giving our young people.


PACC at Key Stage 4 incorporates the National Curriculum for PSHE. We also seek to incorporate

topics designed to meet the specific needs of our pupils. Additionally there are also topics of

national importance that have been identified as relevant to pupils currently. Within the time

allocated, staff try to balance the requirements of the National Curriculum with current affairs

and issues that are dominating our campuses or young people’s lives. The stated aim of these

sessions is to prepare our young people for life beyond school in a manner that cannot be

achieved in a lesson that has coursework/GCSE objectives. However, delivery of many topics

occurs on an informal basis throughout the school day. Many opportunities arise within lessons

and unstructured times to continue discussions generated earlier and incorporate them into a

wider appreciation of their education.


Many pupils find the subject content challenging for a variety of reasons. These can include a

reluctance to engage in topics that are outside of their personal experience. Reluctance to

admit the relevance of topics to their personal lives and aspirations. A personal background that

is already in conflict with society’s accepted conventions and responsibilities. For all these

reasons, it is vital to develop their sense of membership of a wider community, not just on a

local level, but also on a national and global level. Our pupils need the opportunity to develop

their awareness of such issues to enable them to make the most of the opportunities and

challenges facing them in a rapidly changing world.


It hoped this year to continue the development of the “Hard Drive”. This is intended to be a

comprehensive library of resources that will enable staff to effectively deliver topics, confident

that many multimedia resources will be available. Alongside this development will be a review

of existing topics and lesson plans with consideration to their current relevance.

We are also looking to give pupils the opportunity to guide some of the content and the order

of delivery. This is being developed by the Cromwell PACC group.

A review and evaluation of resources gathered for Key Stage 3 will also be carried out with the

intention of continued development by all staff involved its delivery.


PACC remains an essential component of the pupil’s wider education. Attendance and pupils

oral feedback suggests that they benefit from the more informal and wide ranging approach to

the topics.

The “Hard Drive” will continue to evolve with the involvement of all staff. It will need to meet

ever more specific and demanding needs, reflecting the rapidly changing society in which we

live.

PACC

History

Introduction

The history curriculum group is committed to improving students’ understanding and

enjoyment of history. Many young people study history at Key Stages 3 and 4 across

The CE Academy unless attendance at college or other curriculum arrangements

preclude them from doing so. It is taught by 4 members of staff. We see the study of

history as essential for our students’ development in terms of study skills and

awareness of the wider world. In addition we feel it is a gateway to many career

opportunities.

Key Stage 3

At Key Stage 3 young people follow the SHP Development of Britain course which allows

students to develop an understanding of the following key areas:

Skills in historical enquiry

Applications and implications of history

Cultural understanding

Evaluative skills

The curriculum enables the development of practical enquiry skills, an understanding of

evidence and opportunities for communication through both written work, ICT based

work and discussion. The study of history in real life settings (locally, nationally and

globally) is also catered for. We hope the study of history will encourage young people

to question their world and find explanations.

The scheme of work allows for a variety of learning styles; visual, intrapersonal, social,

aural, verbal, kinaesthetic and logical.

Key Stage 4

At Key Stage 4 young people follow the AQA History B Short course specification.

Should students sit the examination in year 10 they may be offered the opportunity

reattempt the course in year 11. The curriculum is broad and balanced and, at the same

time, it enables us to structure its delivery to accommodate individual interests and

needs.

The controlled assessment comprises 50% of the final grade. In addition there is an

exam paper which makes up the other marks.

Exam entries and results

For many years our entries for History GCSE have compared favourably with other

humanities subjects. 2015 was our first year delivering the AQA specification having

previously taught the OCR specification the number of young people entered in 2015

was higher than the previous year and we would expect this trend to continue moving

forward. In 2015 15 young people achieved a pass at GCSE in the subject.

Challenges

Many young people who join us have negative feelings about history as a subject.

It is often one of, if not the first subject, to be removed from their timetables during

the build-up to their being permanently excluded. This can often be because of the

challenging nature of the subject and the literacy content involved. This is something

that is being addressed directly in the department’s lesson planning and differentiation

and indirectly by The CE Academy’s literacy strategy and work with Ruth Miskin

materials.

Developments in the curriculum

The curriculum group continues to access and develop its use of online resources,

media and ICT based resources. The BBC History Timeline as an ICT tool is a central

theme to our programme of study at Key Stage 3. The roles of software packages such

as Crazy Talk, Serif Movie, Photoshop and the MS Office suite are as consistent as they

are essential.

Future plans

As we have changed specification the history curriculum group has identified the tasks

needed to be undertaken to fully prepare students for this and working groups are

looking at different aspects of this.

Tasks for these groups include:

Continuing to adapt our delivery of the new controlled assessment aspect of the

course to ensure we meet the needs of our young people.

Adapting our Cold War programme of study to allow for the absence of source

evaluation in favour of content driven materials.

There is also a Key Stage 3 working group to review the curriculum for years 7 to 9.

History

Geography


Geography is delivered within The CE Academy at Key Stage 3 and 4. Last year it was delivered

in one of the Key Stage 4 campuses and at William Knibb at Key Stage 3.

Geography at both Key Stage 3 and 4 is linked to other curriculum areas such as English and

science.


At Key Stage 3, geography was taught at William Knibb. The subject aims to develop the

students’ understanding of their local area and how this interlinks nationally, with the rest of

the European Union and the rest of the world. The programme of study includes physical and

human aspects which takes account of current issues such as flooding, migration, employment,

industry and sustainability. They study indicators of development.


At Key Stage 4, geography was delivered in Oaklands. The students followed the OCR short

course. The course is assessed by a final examination which makes up 50% of the final grade.

The remaining 50% is teacher assessed through one enquiry which is fieldwork based. This is

a change from previous years where two controlled assessments were required.


In 2015 four students were entered for the GCSE at Foundation Level. There was very little

difference between pupil performance in the enquiry and in the exam. All students entered

achieved a grade at GCSE.


Many of the young people who sat the GCSE had no previous experience of geography so were

studying the subject for the first time. Geographical knowledge and understanding of subject

specific vocabulary are consequently limited. Staffing prevented geography being offered in

other campuses.


Staff have recently reviewed the range of courses offered by other exam boards but at present

the short course offered by OCR remains as the best option. Staff will continue to review the

courses on offer.


At The CE Academy we continue to focus on improving the literacy skills of young people.

All pupils attending our Key Stage 3 campuses have 30 minutes targeted literacy support every

day. All Key Stage 3 staff teach literacy and have received training in delivering the literacy cur-

riculum both in-house and by external providers. Some of the Key Stage 4 staff have also been

trained and are able to offer targeted support to those whose poor literacy skills are having a

detrimental affect to their learning in other lessons. Through improving literacy skills we aim to

reduce this barrier to learning across all subjects and develop or rekindle the desire for young

people to read for pleasure.


We continue to follow the Ruth Miskin Fresh Start literacy programme. This is a highly struc-

tured scheme where students work through up to 35 modules with each one providing a variety

of different activities including:

understanding and identifying the different phonemes (sounds) in words and the Graph-

emes (letters) used to represent them;

reading and spelling words using a given sound;

sentence creation and improving sentence structure;

finding errors and editing the work of themselves and others;

answering questions about text both verbally and in writing;

guided writing tasks.

The highly structured approach gives opportunity for success at all levels.

We have seen significant improvements in the reading ages of most young people following the

programme.

For those that have completed the Fresh Start programme we have also invested in the use of

‘First News’ resources. These provide a variety of activities based on the articles in the weekly

newspaper that aim to improve literacy skills and link to current news.


There are no formal examinations in Literacy, however we have seen significant improvement in

the reading ages of the Key Stage 3 pupils. Many of these pupils have then made the successful

transition back to mainstream school.

Literacy

Literacy


Many of the young people who attend The CE Academy have experienced periods of interrupt-

ed education and may have not developed basic literacy skills or have an underlying reading

difficulty. This may not have been detected, or hidden by poor behaviour in school. In addition

most of our young people have limited access to books and other written materials when not in

school.

Over the last two years we have had an increased number of pupils with English as an Addition-

al Language (EAL). This places another challenge on subject teachers and we are looking into

potential support packages and interventions.


The CE Academy continues to develop its use of different resources and invest in staff training

to improve Literacy across both Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 where identified pupils receive tar-

geted support.

For 2015 we have subscribed to the ‘Reading Wise’ online resource. This is a programme that

young people can work through independently with staff supervision and support. The pro-

gramme uses a range of tasks that suit a variety of learning styles. It is allowing young people to

learn at a pace that suits them. All Key Stage 3 staff and English teachers have received training

in this and the programme which will be implemented at Key Stage 3 and targeted at specific

Key Stage 4 pupils.


The growth of vocational provision continues to enrich the experiences of the young people at

The CE Academy. Many young people who join us have negative feelings about their education

but by giving them an option/choice to attend and experience a vocational area can inspire

them to achieve. A large proportion of our young people engage well with practical activities,

this can then provide them with that positive experience and achievement that enhances their

confidence in other areas of the curriculum.

Between September 2014 and July 2015, in addition to GCSE’s, The CE Academy continued to

offer vocational courses to our Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 young people using the following

external provisions within Northamptonshire as listed below:

Vocational Provision

Moulton College

Plumbing

Food Preparation and Cooking

Northampton College

Caring for Children

Centurion Training

Motor Vehicle

ProgressAbility

Fishing

Personal Development

Employability skills

Youth Works

Bike Maintenance

Music Technology

Photography

Hairdressing

Groundwork – The Green

Patch

Gardening and Horticulture


Fire Service

ARC Scheme

Aston Training

Hairdressing

Adventureways

Personal Development – Outdoor Activities

Fermyn Woods

Art Workshops

Seeds of Change

Equine

Landbased Studies


Employability skills

CAVE

Basic Construction

Pinnacle Climbing Centre

Indoor Climbing and Personal Development

Futurestarts

Photography


Vocational Provision

We offer provisions from mainstream colleges to private training organisations and offer a

variety of qualifications from Entry Level 3 (Key Stage 3 pupils) up to Level 2 (Key Stage 4), in

addition to non-qualification and personal development qualifications. The CE Academy also

offers in-house workshops in Hairdressing, Beauty Therapy, Music Technology and Design

Technology.

Our young people attend provisions as individuals, infill with other schools and/or in groups

from The CE Academy. We offer support to our young people whilst attending provisions which

assists them to keep on task and engage with the subject area.


All Key Stage 3 timetables include academic study in one of our campus buildings and

enrichment activities at either external provisions or in house workshops. These include:

The Key Stage 3 courses were felt to be ideal for this age group and resulted in good attainment

and achievement. The young people that were capable and willing were given the opportunity

of gaining Entry Level 3/Level 1 units of qualifications.


At Key Stage 4 we offer Level 1 and/or Level 2 unit led qualifications which enable our young

people to achieve greater success. The majority of qualifications are at Level 1 but we are

expanding the number of Level 2 courses on offer where pupils are capable of working at a

higher level.

In 2015 a large proportion of our young people achieved at least one vocational qualification.

In year 10, 8 young people completed one or more courses and in Year 11, 35 young people

completed one or more courses. The majority of year 10 will continue with their courses into

year 11.


Achievement for Key Stage 4 has continued to improve this year with the majority of our young

people who attend for a full year achieving Level 1 Awards and Certificates in Equine and/or

Land Based Studies, Fishing, Motor Vehicle, Construction, Hairdressing and Caring for Children.

Design Technology

Hairdressing

Music Technology

Motor Vehicle

Photography

Personal Development - Fishing

Personal Development – Outdoor Activities

Personal Development – Equine/Landbased

Gardening and Horticulture

Bike Maintenance and Bikeability Training

Fermyn Woods arts Project

Vocational Provision Page 49 Vocational Provision

For those who did not manage to achieve a full Award or Certificate, units at Level 1 could be

achieved. Key Stage 3 achievement also improved with the majority achieving some units at

Entry Level 3 or Level 1 and also AQA units.


The changes to school transport continued to be an issue this year with a high percentage of

our young people struggling to access vocational opportunities, often having to catch one or

more bus to a provision taking as long as two hours in some cases. Despite this having some

negative impact on punctuality and attendance, achievement has continued to improve. One of

the most significant barriers to our young people’s learning whilst working towards a Level 1

and/or Level 2 qualification can be low levels of literacy. Due to this the majority of the courses

we offered were unit led which allowed our young people to achieve part of a qualification

where the full award was not achievable. Additionally as most of our young people join us

throughout the school year this can be a barrier to them achieving a full Level 1 or 2 Award or

Certificate.


We continue to keep up to date with the changes in the vocational areas and offer qualifications

that have a natural progression in a given subject area and are relevant to employers. We have

also increased our in-house workshops throughout the county and now offer workshops in

Northampton and Wellingborough. We work on the premise that any qualifications gained

should be useful to our young people in the real world. For this reason we continue to work

with our partners to ensure that qualifications on offer to our young people are recognised by

both employers and further education providers.


Our partnership with Seeds of Change Equine Learning continues to evolve. We continue to

offer Key Stage 3 pupils a full day at The Acorn Centre where the curriculum includes literacy

and numeracy tasks, land based studies and equine learning which has proved to be successful.

We have now refurbished the building in Wellingborough which offers additional in-house

vocational courses. This includes a hairdressing salon, beauty therapy salon, a design

technology workshop, a professional kitchen to offer catering and a sound-proofed music

room.

We plan to build our partnership with City & Guilds and offer Level 1 and Level 2 qualifications

in both Hair & Beauty and Catering & Hospitality.

Cross Curricular


Britain is a multicultural society and has a rich heritage of cultural and ethnic diversity. In order

to promote and celebrate this and to increase pupil awareness, The CE Academy ran a two day

cross curricular event at the end of the summer term each year. At Key Stage 4 this is an arts

based programme which has a different cultural theme each year, which enables the young

people to learn about cultural diversity. This can help them to live and work together in diverse

communities, both in this country and the wider world. Arts activities are important vehicles in

promoting community cohesion and ‘one off’ programmes are an effective way to motivate and

energise young people to interact in new ways.

The timetables are changed and a programme of activities is delivered both by CE staff and

visiting practitioners. We invite many practitioners both local and from further afield into the

campuses to work with the young people teaching them new skills and allowing them to

experience a vast and varied array of activities. All work produced during the two days is

displayed to provide pupils with a positive and happy memory of school for their return after

the long summer holiday.


At Key Stage 3 pupils explored the topic of ‘Chocolate’ during their two day cross curricular

programme which covered many areas of the curriculum. The topic of Fairtrade was covered

when looking at the origins of chocolate and how it is produced and sold and cooking was

enjoyed when pupils cooked savoury recipes using chocolate. Pupils were given the option to

be creative when given the task to design a chocolate bar or box. They used their mathematical

skills when analysing data from a chocolate survey and translated this into a pack of top trump

cards. Pupils thoroughly enjoyed watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and were able to

compare the film with extracts from the classic book by Roald Dahl.


This year our theme at Key Stage 4 was China. Staff dressed up in traditional outfits celebrating

the beautiful fabrics and colours used in Chinese attire. Staff in each campus worked hard to

decorate classrooms and social areas using Chinese flags, lanterns and posters. There was a

large variety of displays informing pupils about Chinese art, food, important events in Chinese

history and geographical information. When pupils arrived on the first day of cross curricular

they were greeted with a lion dance. It definitely gave them the wow factor!

Activities were based around the story of the lion dance and involved pupils making masks

which “retold” the story, using the software, ’Crazy Talk’. Pupils will be able to use this work as

part of their GCSE expressive arts portfolio. Other activities included silk painting, lantern

making and a Photoshop workshop where pupils were able to transform themselves into a

terracotta warrior! Pupils enjoyed cooking a range of Chinese dishes which was a great

opportunity to try new food and flavours.

Pupils had the opportunity to participate in a calligraphy and traditional Chinese dance

workshop which were led by external practitioners.


Cross curricular at CE is organised and refined by two Campus Coordinators and an Assistant

Head. This year, information about the programme was filtered back to staff as a whole staff

group during a training day and through email. As a way to encourage pupils to use their work

as part of their expressive arts coursework, it was decided to focus on one finished task that

could be completed in the two days.


We will be developing a 2016 cross curricular programme and continue to offer a menu of

exciting activities. Practitioners will be invited in to share their expertise and knowledge with

our young people.

Our aims for the coming year are:

to provide existing young people, who will be returning to The CE Academy the following

academic year, with a positive and happy lasting memory of school to encourage an

enthusiastic return in the autumn;

to enable Key Stage 4 pupils to produce coursework for GCSE;

to promote community cohesion;

to develop pupils’ knowledge and understanding of local and national communities;

to promote good relationships and mutual understanding within different communities;

to promote an understanding of cultural diversity and to widen pupil understanding of

different cultures, lifestyles and beliefs;

to allow young people the opportunity to meet and work with visitors from a diverse range

of ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds;

to promote common values and help pupils to value differences and challenge prejudice

and stereotyping.

Cross Curricular

Looked After Children


In the academic year 2014-2015 there was a total of 17 students on the LAC register through

the year. However, as expected, there was fluidity within this as students moved in and out of

care and placements. Over the year 3 students left CE as they were moved out of county, 1 left

as they reintegrated into a mainstream school and 2 other students remained with CE but left

Local Authority care.

Breakdown:Breakdown:

There were 13 males and 4 females

1 student was being individually tutored

1 student was attending a full-time Level 1 vocational course at Tresham College

14 students were on roll at the exclusion campuses

1 student was on roll at a school aged mother campus

6 students were dual registered

1 student was an out of county placement from Oxfordshire


In the summer of 2015 there were three Year 11 LAC students still attending the academy.

One sat exams at Tresham College as they were studying a vocational course there on a full-

time programme. The other two sat their exams with us where one gained 5 passes at

A*-G grades and the other 4 passes at A*-G grades. One Year 10 student was also entered early

for and passed Geography GCSE. Two of the Year 11 students are now attending college and

the third is applying for an apprenticeship.

Year Group Number

7 1

8 1

9 2

10 7

11 6


New guidelines for completing Personal Education Plans (PEPs) have come into place this

academic year; this required further training for staff and the specific allocation of pupil

premium funding. With several young people regularly moving placements and coupled with

changes to social workers this has proved difficult to monitor.


With PEPs due to transfer to an electronic system in 2015 further training will be required.

Our multi-agency coordinator will undertake this training and ensure that all PEPs are

completed as required.

Moving On 2015

Moving On Moving On

During the Summer Term Year 11 students and their parents/carers were questioned about

their experience of The CE Academy.

The student’s questionnaire highlighted that our students appreciated the greater support,

understanding and help offered by staff. They also preferred the smaller class sizes, increased

educational opportunities, attending The CE Academy (rather than mainstream), the teaching

and support staff. They recognised that staff genuinely want the best for them and are willing to

spend time supporting them. Over 85% of students said they were more prepared for life after

The CE Academy, and 90% said they were more confident than when first joined the Academy.

At least 90% of students believe their attendance, behaviour and work rate was okay or better.

There has been a significant improvement in students stating that they were having more

conversations about their work in class and a belief that telephone calls as well as reviews

had a positive effect on their behaviour. During reviews students generally appreciated the

opportunity to express themselves and could feel more motivated after them.

On average 85% of students thought they had received enough information on drugs, alcohol

and sexual matters. There has been a 9% increase in students stating that they had been given

enough information on Citizenship. Information on healthy eating has remained static at 77%.

In the school age mother campus sites, Overleys and Oaklands, there has been a significant

improvement in the help the students have been given with parenting skills.

Careers work has been received well by our students with 98.4% of students questioned having

a destination for September. Based on this figure CE Academy staff should be congratulated as

25% of students thought that Connexions had been no help to them this year.

Pupils said The CE Academy had:

helped them to achieve GCSE’s that they would not have achieved elsewhere;

improved their self-esteem and self-belief;

improved them as a person both emotionally and academically;

improved them socially;

helped them with college applications;

given them many different opportunities.

Activities that students enjoyed most at The CE Academy included:

Seeds of Change (equine learning);

Adventure Ways; Govilon (residential trip to Wales);

Govilon (residential trip to Wales);

the fire course (ARC);

interaction with staff;

hair and beauty courses;

trips to numerous places such as Woburn Safari Park, the Space Centre and London.

Pupils also stated that they enjoyed activities such as:

the Christmas dinner;

creative courses;

physical education;

cookery and various acting groups which visited the campuses throughout the year.

Students’ suggestions for improving The CE Academy include:

more staff;

bigger campuses;

more subjects;

a uniform;

a Sixth Form.

Again the parent/carer questionnaire illustrates the good relationships that we strive to make

between staff and parents and carers. The majority of parents and carers felt they were

involved in their child’s education through communication from key tutors, reviews and termly

reports. They responded that The CE Academy encourages good behaviour and their child is

well cared for. In some of the questions the response had shifted from “agree” to “don’t know”

on matters such as; “made to feel welcome when I visit the campus”; “my child is expected to

work hard”; “teaching is good” and general information about the day to day happenings in the

campuses. This can be improved by parents being invited into the campuses for reviews to

promote our philosophy. At present many educational reviews are completed at the parent’s/

carer’s home.

There was a small increase in pupils expressing concern about relationships with their peers.

However pupils also acknowledged that their concerns had been addressed by staff. It should

be noted this mainly appeared to be relevant only with the female cohort. Parents reflected this

concern when responding to the question of their child’s happiness and enjoyment at school.

Over 80% of parents believed that their child was happy to attend school.

The final question on each questionnaire asked for additional comments. Many students

responded favourably about their enjoyment of their time at The CE academy, the support and

caring from staff both academically and through personal troubles. The importance of key tutor

work and the respect for the efforts shown by key tutors was highlighted frequently. They also

thanked staff for their help and support. Parents/Carers too responded with praise for the work

that the Academy does on behalf of their child through support at school and key tutors. Many

believed that their child did far better academically, showed improved behaviour and enjoyed

school a lot better at The CE Academy (compared to if they had remained at mainstream).

Again, many parents took the opportunity to thank staff for the “lengths” they go to cater for

each student’s needs and the positive impact that The CE Academy has had on their child.

Moving On 2015

The CE Academy Annual Report 2014-15

Artwork is taken from a piece of Year 11 GCSE coursework 2015

Documents

Transcript of Artwork is taken from a piece of Year 11 GCSE coursework 2015