Tag Archive glossopdale
Collaboration for Inclusion
One of the later nicknames children in school gave me was Mr Minion. Whilst I wasn’t too keen having people alter my surname it is infinitely more preferable to the conversations I’ve had with pupils over the years about my first name! It has the additional benefit of allowing me to seamlessly link the video below too!
SENDCode Primary School Pilot
Minions are great and I use that video a lot in training and it is also part of my introduction for a pilot of SENDCode in a local primary next week. Clearly the themes I will be working on are collaboration, teamwork and communication rather than how many Minions (or Mannions) it takes to change a lightbulb! These skills are exactly what employers, particularly those in the creative and digital sectors are looking for and so the idea is that young people develop those skills in a small mixed ability group setting. In my experience many young people learn best through collaboration with other young people, something which is backed up by The Education Endowment Foundation and so we should be doing all we can to encourage that, particularly for key groups such as More Able and SEND.
Inclusion
The mix of More Able (50%) and SEND learners (50%) collaborating on tasks that develop metacognition which allows for two groups of students that may not usually collaborate to be able to do so through the inclusive nature of the programme involving multi-sensory learning, discussion, 3D mindmap modelling using building bricks (see above) provided by Structural Learning and the delivery of a presentation for the Headteacher on what the children learn and experience.
Cyber Security Operations Centre
The programme includes the chance for the group to visit and take part in a bespoke programme at Youth Fed’s Cyber Academy in the heart of Salford Quays, where many global Cyber Security companies have bases and so by default a pretty inspiring place to visit!
Legacy
Once the pilot is complete should it should provide enough impact data to secure funding to allow me to work with other schools in the local area of Glossopdale. In my opinion Glossopdale misses out on lots of initiatives, because it is part of Derbyshire, despite bordering Tameside and Oldham whilst also only being 12 miles from Manchester (can you tell I used to teach Geography!). Having such a great location means that we need to be supporting young people there to be able to access the future opportunities in the digital hub of Greater Manchester.