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Slideshow: John Smeaton Community College - an inside story of change
It's got a gleaming £25m building and state of the art facilities. But the learning revolution at John Smeaton Community College has taken place from the inside out.
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Not that long ago, pupils had to be press-ganged into John Smeaton Community College.
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After years of disappointing exam results, confidence in the school had sagged and pupil numbers were dropping.
Even so, head teacher John Daulby remained positive that new learning structures and an overhauled curriculum would bear fruit and see the school surge past any previous exam scores.
Over the past two years, that determined vision has paid off, with consecutive years of record test scores. In last summer's exam, 53 per cent of pupils gained five or more good GCSE grades, putting the lower achieving students into the minority for the first time.
The proportion of pupils leaving with a least one qualification has also risen, up four points to 85 per cent.
As a result, the school's contextual value added – a government
indicator of pupils' progress during their time at school – is the best in Leeds, and amongst the highest in the country.
"We are really starting to kick on in terms of what we expect to achieve," said Mr Daulby, who took over at the school six years ago. "We are pleased with the direction we are going, but we are not complacent.
"We want to see how high we can go, how far we can push things. We want to increase the A to Gs and the A to Cs and we want to be in a position where there are no children leaving school without a qualification."
Some of the changes at John Smeaton may seem pretty basic, but they have had a cumulative effect. There's a new school uniform – endorsed by the students – and a stamp reward system for good work and behaviour. As pupils accumulate stamps, they can be exchanged for rewards ranging from erasers to CDs and MP3 players.
The school has also introduced an end-of-year Prom party, while out in the community, elderly residents have been encouraged to become regular visitors, attending computing courses and even crown green bowling on a moveable artificial surface in the main hall.
Meanwhile, alongside a traditional academic core, the school has increased its range of vocational GCSE and BTEC topics such as beauty, health and social care, performance arts, art and design, ICT and PE.
Early exams have also been introduced, with 80 per cent of Year 10 pupils gaining an ICT GCSE, while some Year 11 students begin their AS-levels a year ahead of schedule.
"We thought that if you do things differently, you will get a different outcome," said Mr Daulby. "So we set about doing things differently. We needed a different curriculum and different attitudes, and that really has been the key.
"We changed the way we assess the pupils. We told them if they did certain things, they could improve their performance. We told them their strengths and weaknesses. We changed the way we teach to accommodate their different ways of learning.
"We said we would listen to what they had to say, and they in turn would listen to what we had to say. The bottom line is about attainment and putting them in the best place possible to make decisions about
their futures.
"The pupils here believe in themselves. They believe that hard work will be reflected in good exam results."
As part of each pupil's assessment, they had meetings with senior teachers to access their learning needs. It resulted in a review of teaching techniques, the time allocated for coursework, and even exam techniques.
The changes also included a more practical approach in some topics. For example in history, which is not traditionally viewed as a practical subject, the school introduced a vocational GCSE.
The pilot programme has involved role-playing, studying weapons and war and a major focus on coursework and group work. In its first year, 70 students signed up to the course.
As exam scores continued to improve, staff and student moved into a new 25m building last September, erected directly alongside the old school.
The stunning new structure features three "pods" containing classrooms off a main "street", and boasts a spacious drama and dance theatre, purpose-built science and technology labs and state of the art computer facilities.
Each wing is named after notable historical figures: anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce, suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst and social reformer Elizabeth Fry.
Rather than posters and drawings on the walls, the corridors have flat screen displaying pupils work, while on the first floor of the predominantly two-story building, Year 7 pupils can work away in their very own cyber cafe.
For sporting facilities, the school uses the neighbouring John Smeaton Leisure Centre.
Mr Daulby said: "Before we came across to the new building, we said the building itself will not going to change the individuals in it. We were looking for huge changes prior to coming in here. The new build is really the icing on the cake."
As a result of increasing exam scores, rising community confidence and the new building, the school has hit new heights of popularity.
These days, the school, which can cater for a maximum of 1,050 children, fills up on first and second preferences. First preferences alone shot up from 50 to 135 last year for the 180 places available in Year 7.
"Over the past few years our numbers have been going up," said the head. "People in the local area are recognising the progress that's been made here.
"People are coming here now because they want to, and that's made an enormous difference. Also, the students who come here are doing far better than people expect them to.
"Children can have the confidence knocked out of them quite easily. We have really worked on that and now confidence is rising and self esteem is rising.
"We are saying to the pupils these may be your targets, but if you really work hard, you can improve and do even better. We have our own expectations of what the students can achieve and we are determined that they will reach those levels of attainment."
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Tuesday 22 May 2012
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