Interesting Practice

Video Link: https://www.youtu.be/lWrEP3wPdgQ

Key Facts

The Curriculo Primary Programme - An Introduction to Skills for Work is split into 3 modules:

• M1 Introduction to Skills and Strengths
• M2 Understanding what makes me great
• M3 Making the most of my skills and strengths (Curriculo Competition)

These modules are focused on P5-7 pupils and the resources have been developed to enable the teachers and school to deliver against Curriculum for Excellence, Building the Curriculum 4 - Skills for Learning Skills for Life and Skills for Work. The teachers' resource specifically highlights the Experiences and Outcomes that this programme delivers. For example Module 1 covers: HWB 2-19a,HWB 2-20a, LIT 2- 10a and TCH 2-03b.

The Head Teacher, Martine Watt, agreed to become a part of the pilot with Curriculo Solutions.

St Stephen's school has been involved with Curriculo for more than 12 months as a pilot school and have been working with previous versions of the full Primary programme. Teachers in P5, P6 and P7 have been using the Curriculo Programme over this period. The pupils currently in P7 who took part in the Curriculo Competition for this specific project had already been working with the materials from their time in P6 and were familiar with the terminology and concept of understanding their skills, the skills of their friends and classmates and how these relate to work. This is evident from the confident articulation of the subject matter in the video by Aiva and Emily (2 P7 Pupils) as well as the comments from the P7 teacher and the head teacher. In total 16-18 P7pupils were involved during June 2015.

How it developed

After briefing the head teacher and P7 teacher on the new version
of Module 3, The Curriculo team introduced the competition element to Mr Mckay's class. Mr Mckay then ran the sessions and the Curriculo team supported on occasions by both listening to the conversations in the class, videotaping the children interviewing one another and answering some questions for us.

Video Link: https://www.youtu.be/0R2rLMS8wFo

The winning team and the school were presented with their certificates on 24th June at prize giving.

Outcomes and what pupils gained

This Curriculo pilot was completed in a very short timeframe. The feedback from both teachers and pupils was very good. Attached is a video of 2 young pupils telling us what they enjoyed most about the programme and what they have learned. They make reference to their increased confidence as well as a significant improvement in being able to identify their own skills and strengths and those of their classmates. They also commented that they feel they will be able to use the knowledge gained in later life.

Video Link: https://www.youtu.be/pECZ24pEC6A

The attached video content highlights the impact of the programme from both a pupil's perspective as well as that of the class teacher and the head teacher. Please also read the head teachers comments below.

• Firstly HT Martine Watt describes the strategic impact of delivering the Curriculo Programme in her school
• Class Teacher Alistair Mckay then discusses the value of the programme from his perspective as a class teacher and its effectiveness in building an understanding of skills for work with his pupils
• Pupils Aiva and Emily then speak about what they learnt/have learned from 'Curriculo'
• Finally see Nadia in action asking tough interview questions to Josh who has applied for the role of 'Head of a Children's Charity'.

Comments from the teachers:

The Head Teacher was asked to rate the content, materials and the competitive element of the programme and gave each the highest possible score with a 'very good' rating.

When asked: what impact did this programme have on your pupils? The Head Teacher responded:

"Very positive and impressive impact on all pupils who were fully engaged in the learning in a meaningful, purposeful and fun way. All pupils gained knowledge and understanding about their own skills and strengths and are able to relate them to possible careers or employment in future. They enjoyed researching and discovering more about specific jobs and the skills and qualities required for each position. As a result pupils are more confident about discussing own skills and strengths, and those of their friends. Pupils are more resilient in their learning due to the active learning and assessment approaches promoted within the programme."

Contact details

• ht@st-stephens.n-lanark.sch.uk
• amckay@st-stephens.n-lanark.sch.uk

Other useful information

This was one of six primary schools and one secondary school within a North Lanarkshire Council cluster who took part in the Curriculo pilot.

Thank you to NLC and to Mrs Martine Watt and Mr Alistair Mckay and all P7 pupils.