1. Personalising Learning Development and Research Hubs Yorkshire and the Humber Birley Community College Curriculum Hub
Andy Ireland – Assistant Headteacher
Ruth Sorsby – SSAT Regional Coordinator

2. The challenge is to meet more needs
‘Personalised learning demands that every aspect of teaching and support is designed around a pupil’s needs…’
David Miliband, January 2004
The challenge is to meet more needs
of more students more fully than in the past

3. Assessment for Learning
PL – The gateways
Student Voice
Design&Organisation
Assessment for Learning
Workforce Reform
Learning to Learn
Students have all the information needed to make a classroom great and none of the power to make it happen. Teachers have all of the power and little of the information’
Dr Lee Jenkins, Enterprise School District, Redding, California
Mentoring&Coaching
New Technologies
Advice&Guidance
Curriculum

4. ‘The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust works to give practical support to the transformation of secondary education in England by building and enabling a world-class network of innovative, high performing secondary schools in partnership with business and the wider community’
by schools for schools

5. D & R Networks 1
5 innovation networks in 11 regions led by a hub school
Student voice
Learn to learn
Curriculum
New technologies
Assessment for learning
Resources
£6000
Regional Coordinators
Developing Leaders
ICT infrastructure

6. Over 500 schools potentially!
D & R Networks 2
Four networks
A gateway-specific regional network
i.e. a hub and its local partners
A gateway-specific national network
i.e. all the regional hubs for that gateway
A regional hub network
i.e. the region’s hubs for each gateway
A national hub network
i.e. all hubs of all gateways in all regions
Over 500 schools potentially!

7. Aims of D&R Knowledge creation or production Knowledge capture
Knowledge transfer
Challenges
how to make it disciplined
in what form is the knowledge available & to whom
what are the mechanisms for moving it from person to person and institution to institution

8. Strategy lateral transfer of good practice
new practice through development and research
teacher-led, school based
no top-down, quick fix solutions
Doing things differently in order to do them better

9. Curriculum Hub Philosophy
To establish effective regional inter-school networks to promote greater and more effective personalisation
To identify and share best practice in curriculum design across the networks
To develop and innovate next practice across the networks
To share regional developments nationally with other regional Hubs

10. Background to Birley
2000 – Designated specialist Technology College status
2001 – Introduced first vocational qualifications in KS4 (part 1 GNVQ ICT)
2002 – Full, intermediate GNVQ in Science and ICT introduced
2003 – Full Pathways curriculum introduced to KS4
2006 – GNVQ successors – BTEC, OCR National, DiDA, NVQ integrate into pathways
A*-C GCSE – 35%
A*-C GCSE – 52%
A*-C GCSE – 58 %
Demonstrable curriculum change management at KS4
In top 100 most improved schools

11. Background to Birley - Pathways
Pathway 1: 10 or 11 GCSEs (some do triple science) +ECDL+ (some able engineers do Applied GCSE in engineering as a double award)
Pathway 2: One of four GNVQs (or now, their successors) + 6/7 GCSEs +ECDL for most
Pathway 2a: Asdan (Cope), NVQ1 (one day at Sheffield College) and 5/6 GCSEs + ECDL(or similar)
Pathway 3: Asdan (Cope), NVQ1 or similar (external),3 GCSE’s and work based learning + ECDL (or similar)
Pathways has now become established in many schools particularly across the SSAT network.
The Hub needs to broaden its focus to cover KS3, KS5 and alternative approaches

12. Establishing the Hub Steering group forms shares experience and
expertise
Birley submits
Plan to cover
all aspects of
curriculum
Regional SSAT
schools invited
to participate
in Hub
Network
Established
and maintained
by Birley/hub
steering group
Conference
organised to
share practice
with school not
yet changed
curriculum
Next practice to
develop from
best practice
within hub

13. Key Hub Schools Birley Community College, Sheffield
Pathways curriculum at KS4
Oakwood TC, Rotherham
Alternative provision at KS4
Firth Park Community Arts College, Sheffield
Pathways and secure routes to KS5
Outwood Grange School, Wakefield
Compression of KS3, expansion of KS4
Beckfoot School, Bradford
Early GCSE entry
Kingstone School, Barnsley
Thematic approaches to KS3
Yewlands School, Sheffield

14. Workshop/network opportunities
Establishing and managing pathways at KS4
B. Wider qualification choice at KS4
C. Progression to post 16 with vocational courses
D. 2 year KS3, 3 year KS4, Y9 GCSE entry
E. Pedagogy driven curricula in Y7,
F. Changes to the Science Curriculum at Key Stage 4

15. Contacts: Andy Ireland – Assistant Headteacher
Birley Community College
Thornbridge Avenue
Sheffield
S11 7LQ
Tel: Fax:
Ruth Sorsby – Regional Coordinator, Yorkshire and Humber
Tel: Mob: