Winchmore School
With the end of the current school year (2008/2009) Winchmore School in Enfield, North London will have been implementing Opening Minds for two years. A large secondary comprehensive with nearly 1500 pupils in total, 2% of pupils are recognised as having SEN, whilst 25% receive free school meals. Winchmore teaches Opening Minds to pupils to in year 7. The subjects which are integrated into the lessons are History, Geography, R.E., and I.T. English is also included but this is also still taught as a distinct subject.
Asked about the main motivations behind moving to a competence based curriculum, Opening Minds co-ordinator, Theresa Ziten, stated that the desire to ease the students transition from their smaller primary schools to a large secondary is prevalent, allowing pupils to settle into the unfamiliar environment quickly and easily. The school also has belief that the skills taught in Opening Minds are invaluable to their students, believing that they would give students greater potential to study and learn throughout their school careers.
To begin the implementation of the curriculum the school first began to identify teachers who would be willing to teach such a curriculum and set about trying to acquire resources and materials to teach with. The staff co-ordinating the project visited a local school also implementing Opening Minds and then went on to attend courses run at Campion School, Northamptonshire, and John Cabot Academy Bristol.
Ease of Transition
By taking some aspects of primary school life and replicating them in first years the secondary school, Opening Minds can make the move up between schools less daunting. This can then have strong positive effects on the nerves, behaviour, concentration and confidence of new students at secondary school and increases the likelihood of students enjoying their first terms at a new school, one area which Winchmore was keen to address.
The Winchmore school timetable works on a two week rotation with Opening Minds being dedicated 11 hours per fortnight. Lessons are for the most part taught as double periods allowing for greater flexibility in delivery methods used.
For all eleven hours pupils are taught by the same teacher in the same classroom, reducing the number of rooms the pupils must get to know, the frequency they must move around the school, and how many new teachers they must meet. Teachers at Winchmore have found that this has allowed them to get to know students better and has allowed them to foster good relationships with the pupils. Displays of Opening Minds and details of the modules being studied are on display in all Opening Minds classrooms.
Modules
The modules taught at Winchmore have all been bought from various outside sources.
A-Lite sell various courses and publications based on a variety of learning techniques. Winchmore use their 'Learning to Learn' module as the first in their Opening Minds course.
Some modules have then been adapted to include references and influence from the local area. For example the ‘Breaking News’ module has been adapted to discuss issues effecting housing, environment and provision of services in Enfield. Through personalizing Opening Minds Winchmore is able to take a greater ownership of it’s curriculum and tailor what is taught to the needs and experiences of it’s own students making them aware of their own community.
Like so many schools thinking of implementing Opening Minds, one area of the implementation was particularly contentious for Winchmore. How do we teach modules of combined subjects, which place focus on competencies rather than curriculum content, and make sure each individual subject is catered for?
Naturally heads of the specific subject departments were sceptical about whether this could be achieved and their subject not be left out. This resulted in several meetings between the heads of department of the subjects involved, English, History, Geography, R.E. and I.T. to review the modules which had been chosen to ensure that they had the relevant National Curriculum content. As the members of staff delivering the curriculum now cover topics and content not in their specific subjects increased communication has had to occur between different departments to ensure teachers are comfortable doing so – this in turn has increased awareness of what is going on in the different departments outside Opening Minds as a whole and help unitise staff at the school.
Outside Collaboration.
One area in which collaboration has become increasingly common is between the Opening Minds team and the drama department, the lessons being taught in double periods meaning that more creative approaches to delivering the lessons can be taken. Winchmore also collaborates with ‘A New Direction’ an outside organisation dedicated to connecting schools with other creative practitioners and organisations. ‘A New Direction’ works specifically with Winchmore on their ‘It’s not Fair’ module which is themed around free and fair trade. Students visit a feeder primary school and discuss what they have learnt in their module with the younger pupils.
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