Aspirations
Wigan’s vision for lifelong learning including its secondary schools is currently being produced in conjunction with its schools and other learning providers, governors, dioceses, unions, local employers, community groups, parents and young people. This document is the working draft of our vision that has been developed with partners and focuses on meeting learner needs and improving participation. Our aspiration is that all Wigan secondary schools will be transformed to:
- become self-managing, self-evaluating, self-determining and empowered to develop innovations, sharing responsibility for all of Wigan’s secondary pupils;
- be equally successful, inclusive and extended, meeting the needs of all learners;
- provide high quality, flexible and environmentally friendly learning environments that will reflect the importance the Council places on education and learning;
- be located in centres of population around Wigan’s Township model, thus reducing the need for pupils to travel;
- work in partnership with other learning providers, each other, and primary schools to serve their local communities;
- accommodate a refocused enriched curriculum, with complementary specialisms sharing expertise and resources;
- promote participation and provide opportunities to mix vocational and academic subjects for learners of all ages providing parents and pupils with enhanced life chances and opportunities;
- promote citizenship, self worth and self discipline and be responsive to the skills needs of the local and regional community; and
- become centres for the provision of other services for young people and their families including social care, and primary health care.
The delivery of this vision will close current achievement gaps, increase staying on rates and raise the profile of education and learning in the community. Schools, other learning providers and the Council are committed to raising standards at a rate in excess of national trends and expectations and those of our statistical neighbours.
Deprivation and Regeneration
Wigan’s current FSM percentage is 17.2% for primary schools and 13.8% for secondary schools. Other indicators however, indicate that the Borough is significantly more deprived. The Index of Multi Deprivation ranks Wigan as the 63rd most deprived LA in England, scoring particularly low on health and life expectancy where Wigan ranks 361st of the 408 Local Authorities. Wigan’s vision is that BSF will be the catalyst for the regeneration of communities, with schools providing flagship buildings where services and resources are delivered from the school site. Extended schools will encourage people of all ages to develop skills to improve their employment opportunities, develop social capital and enhance the local economy. Developments in Wigan’s infrastructure will improve labour market opportunities.
Diversity
Wigan has 21 Mainstream secondary schools of which 13 are Community, 1 Voluntary Controlled and 7 Voluntary Aided, of these 2 have Sixth forms. There are 3 secondary special schools and 5 special schools where the age range includes Key Stage 3 and/or Key Stage 4, 3 PRUs, where the pupils are mainly of secondary age. We aim to maintain our rich diversity of mainstream school provision complemented by some secondary and all aged special schools. One of the major strengths of Wigan are the relationships established between the schools, the Council and other partners, based on regular programmed meetings. The Chief Executive of our Connexions service and Director of the Education Action Zone sit on the Children and Young People's Services Senior Management Team, together with regular representation from Wigan and Leigh College.
BSF together with the extended schools and the 14 – 19 strategy will be used to encourage parents and pupils to have high aspirations and expectations of their schools including consistently excellent teaching and first rate buildings and facilities. In return they will be expected to work with their schools and commit to responsibilities about attendance, pupil behaviour, school work and membership of their school community.
Curriculum
The Key Stage 3 and 14 – 19 curriculum will:
- be central to Wigan’s vision for BSF and 11 to 19 education;
- identify, promote and meet the needs of learners;
- improve attainment and post-16 retention;
- ensure high quality teaching and learning and be reflective of the 14 – 19 and KS3 strategies;
- focus on curriculum design and content, course development and accreditation providing parity of esteem for vocational and academic subjects and a range of routes to support achievement and continuity;
- provide an entitlement curriculum for all learners from a wide range of providers;
- create an interactive professional environment for teachers and support staff that facilitate collaborative working and promotes their development;
- engage wide stakeholder involvement to meet the needs of the local community and employers; and
- reflect the school organisation plan and support a successful indicative BSF bid.
Schools and learning providers will be linked via ICT clustered in mini-hubs and spokes around lead providers. Curriculum and course content will be developed by groups of providers and shared across the Borough. The KS3 and 14 – 19 curriculum will be used to encourage and support the development of extended schools and healthy living to address Wigan’s high levels of deprivation that are strongly associated with health.
Sixth form education in Wigan is provided at 2 VA 11-18 schools, 2 Sixth Form Colleges of which one is Catholic, and the local Tertiary College. Improving the low staying-on rates and low course-completion rate is central to this vision as is the desire to improve the aspiration and life chances of students and their ability to contribute to the local and regional economy. Radical plans are being developed with the sixth form providers and the LSC for the provision of Key Stage 5 education in the Borough. This work is integral to our planning for BSF.
A major review of SEN in the Borough is currently underway. 4.3% of Wigan’s school population is statemented and 1.69% is educated in special schools both in and out of the Borough. Our vision that all secondary schools will be fully accessible and able to deliver a full curriculum to all children, this will reduce the number of the special school places required. The continuing review of specialist provision is integral to our planning for BSF.
Workforce and Premises
BSF will be used to encourage secondary schools to maximise new technologies and provide centres which may support other schools and individual learners. ICT will be used to encourage imaginative, innovative, vocational and academic learning and impact upon standards of attainment, delivered by diverse learning and teaching styles. Technology will be used to link with higher and further education institutions and employers and to facilitate distance learning. The ICT skills in schools will be used to extend knowledge and expertise in the Community and to improve the employment prospects of adults. Building specifications will exploit the potential of high level technology.
BSF will provide the opportunity to ensure that all schools have accommodation that will allow new and innovative ways of teaching and learning styles to flourish. This will maximise the delivery of workforce reforms to develop and will include appropriate facilities and rooms for support staff, teachers and external agencies like Connexions, to work with young people either on a one to one basis or small group arrangement. Appropriate preparation and staff rooms will feature. The needs of each learner will be met through high quality teaching and learning with well trained, well qualified and confident staff offering high quality teaching and learning to all learners. Children and Young People's Services will support schools to recruit, retain and develop staff.
BSF will provide buildings in which a modern and inclusive curriculum will be delivered with sufficient flexibility to accommodate future developments and innovations. Schools will have recreational space for pupils, wide circulation spaces, room in teaching areas for more than one adult to work, up to date ICT infrastructure and flexibility to allow community use of the buildings. Premises will support the management of good behaviour, inspire learning and be flexible to encourage learning at times which suit users. These premises will be low maintenance and the buildings’ energy management and water recycling systems will be used as a learning resource. As a community resource the buildings of these extended schools will provide outreach facilities for other mainstream services such as Connexions, Youth Centres, Social Services and the Health Authority and provide full and shared facilities such as sports provision and public libraries. Schools will be used to deliver services that impact directly on health standards for learners and the whole community. Wigan’s work on extended schools is integral to our planning for BSF. Through the Borough’s spatial policy BSF will be used to create secondary schools that will be the flagship buildings to improve architectural standards in the Borough.
Structure
The 20% drop in Wigan’s birth rate over the last 10 years will impact on secondary intakes in Wigan for the first time in September 2004. Wigan’s vision is that 11 – 16 secondary schools will be of approximately 1200 pupils. As the birth rate is predicted to continue to drop by approximately 1% a year over the next 20 years, some of the schools will reduce in size over time, while others may retain intakes of 240. To achieve this size of school, but to retain a sensible spread of provision contemporaneous with ten Townships and parental preference, the number of mainstream secondary schools required may reduce.
Conclusions
BSF will provide the catalyst for secondary schools to become the centres of their Communities, enabling all learners to achieve their maximum potential, increasing the profile of education and training in Wigan and making a major contribution to the much needed economic regeneration of the Borough. Wigan is confident of its capacity to deliver on BSF.
