The Alternative Curriculum programme took a huge ’step towards the summit’(!) on Friday, we established our ‘real’ name. The name Alternative Curriculum had sat uneasily with us since the idea was mooted and it was important that we gave the programme an identity of its own that encapsulated what we are trying to do.
On Friday morning the coffee and croissants came up trumps again. We decided upon Active Learning Partnerships or ALPs.
I think the name illustrates exactly what we are about; Active Learning for our youngsters, to re-engage them with learning and their personal development, Active Learning for staff to find new ways of working, developing a model to build on for the future.
Partnerships between youngsters and staff, again to impact upon the learning experience for all; Partnerships between organisations, we already have Active Steps, the Pennypit, the Integration Team and Telford College working together with the school to help deliver the programme.
The acronym ALPs, I think, conjures the idea of embarking together on a journey, which has both a clear direction and a positive outcome. We have taken a great leap forward in establishing our identity. Names, in my opinion, are definitely significant in communicating intentions.
We talked at length about funding. We are aiming to bid for funding over a 3 year period, to build sustainability into the programme, probably through the Big Lottery fund. We will however need to cover our costs between January and June. An excellent point made by Angie Davie of the Pennypit was that the staffing resources that she and the Integration team are committing, free of charge to the school, equate to somewhere in the region of £1000 per term which was something I hadn’t even considered. This idea of pulling in funding from different areas to fund a programme is pretty new to me and I’m speaking to as many people as I can to establish the best way to do it. It is a big learning curve, but thankfully the team are all working hard, doing the same, so I’m confident without being complacent, that we will succeed. I think the fact that the programme dovetails so well with the principles of ‘A Curriculum for Excellence’ will help us take things forward.
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9 responses so far ↓
OllieBray // Dec 10th 2006 at 2:01 pm
This sounds like great news – I am following the progress that you are making with your Alternative Curriculum with interest. You have taken huge steps forward in a short space of time and are providing a good model for other schools to follow. Keep up the great work! Ollie
Barry Smith // Dec 10th 2006 at 10:37 pm
Thanks Ollie, it’s been an interesting journey so far and crunch time is fast approaching so watch this space!
Barry
Don // Dec 10th 2006 at 11:32 pm
ALPs - I like it! I’m really impressed by the range of exciting practice going on at Preston Lodge and the thinking which underpins it. What’s the secret?
David Gilmour // Dec 11th 2006 at 12:44 am
We must have that conversation about potential of using ICT to improve engagement…
Also, maybe it’s time to think about how best to put in place ICT support? I know the story from your end, through your blog, but what it looks like from the perspective of the other partners is hazy by comparison. I wonder of there are any potential bloggers amongst them? Maybe hearing their day-to-day stories might help others pitch in to help round off the rough edges, and provide a good record of what’s being learned along the way?
Once it’s under way, it would be good to hear the voice of students, too, of course.
I’m also wondering if there’s an emerging need for a web site that could be a source of information for the parent/student audience on the ALPs? Everything that’s around just now (blog, wiki…) is more for an education audience. We could easily make one up using WebsiteBaker, perhaps with access granted to the various partners, to update…
Maybe we could include this in our chat!
David
Barry Smith // Dec 11th 2006 at 10:35 am
Thanks for the comments. We’re lucky to have lots of talented and motivated people involved in this project and in the other things that are happening in the school. David, your ideas sound great, we need to speak before the end of term!
Eilidh Proudfoot // Dec 11th 2006 at 10:44 pm
Well Barry - here I am. I’ve jumped aboard the cyber-bandwagon. This is my first EVER entry on a blog … and I call myself an IT teacher?!
The progress being made is fantastic for the ALP - excited to be a (very small) part of it.
It’s good that you’re “back in the saddle” back at the ranch of PLHS Guidance Room. The holidays are coming.
Now, back to my work before I continue to surf around the internet all evening …
Pauline Macdonald // Dec 12th 2006 at 12:14 am
Barry!
Don’t ask me how I got to this point, been googling for ages -ALPs is a ’sorted’ name. Kids will love being part of something so HUGE!- Image is all important at this ‘alternative’ stage for them so great decision.
The secret to what’s happening in PLHS I think is - you’re only as good as your last ‘teaching moment’and we try to create lots of them! Hook up tomorrow
Pauline // Dec 22nd 2006 at 11:02 pm
hi Barry.
I did say that I would respond and fortunately not on the same evening of the staff night out. I like the name ALPs and the programme that is being put together is something that has made me feel all enthusiastic about being part of it…the amounts of coffee being drunk at silly o’clock morning meetings is definately a factor too. I too am surfing the internet all evening. Just bought a book called ‘A Tour of Human Consciousness: From Imposter Poodles to Purple Numbers. Title like that just had to be bought. See you after the holidays.
Rhythm of Life - Good news » Barry Smith’s SQH Journey // Jan 19th 2007 at 9:23 pm
[...] The ALPs programme now seems to be in a solid position as far as funding is concerned so I am very excited about that too. This was the main stumbling block in my own mind but I have had some encouraging discussions in and out of school this week which seem to have confirmed that it’s full steam ahead! We’ve had great interest from the local community police regarding the mentoring aspect of the programme as well as some interesting ideas about their possible input. It feels like we are beginning to create real partnerships with many different community organisations which has always been one of our main targets. [...]
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