The launch of the Diploma in the North Hertfordshire Strategic Area Partnership in September 2008 has been welcomed and strongly supported by many local employers. ‘This is what we’ve been waiting for,’ the Senior Nursing Officer from the North Hertfordshire and East Bedfordshire Trust told visitors from the DCSF about the Society Health and Development Diploma. ‘I expect this will be our preferred route of entry into employment from now on.’

The Society Health and Development Diploma is a popular choice for students across the Partnership. Learners engage not only with local health care bodies and agencies but also with the police, the Local Authority, employers and practitioners across a wide range of sectors. For this Diploma, as for all the Diploma lines, applied learning is the key element in the programme of study: each unit of work has a theoretical and practical component. (This supports Step 3-Balance of theoretical and practical learning.)

As part of their Experience of Work at the beginning of this year a school-based group of Level 3 Y13 learners, defined as a ‘rainbow group’ with students from more than one institution, were asked by the Head Teachers of local primary schools in Stevenage to provide lunchtime clubs for junior pupils. This not only contributed to the operation of the local Extended Schools network but also, for the primary schools involved, it provided evidence of partnership working within the local community, part of the agenda for Ofsted inspection.

As part of their Experience of Work at the beginning of this year a school-based group of Level 3 Y13 learners, defined as a ‘rainbow group’ with students from more than one institution, were asked by the Head Teachers of local primary schools in Stevenage to provide lunchtime clubs for junior pupils. This not only contributed to the operation of the local Extended Schools network but also, for the primary schools involved, it provided evidence of partnership working within the local community, part of the agenda for Ofsted inspection.

The primary schools decided that the clubs were to be for pupils in Y3 to Y5 and they were not to be sports or drama clubs that had been only partially successful on previous occasions. The Diploma group offered to run art and crafts clubs to these year groups and, in addition, life skills clubs for pupils in Y6: these last focussed on tackling issues such as budgeting pocket money, making telephone calls in an emergency and developing presentation skills which would help them on transfer to secondary schools. Of the art and crafts clubs one Head Teacher said, ‘The pupils thoroughly enjoyed creating and making things they could take home and show to their parents.’

In preparation, the students undertook training in child protection and confidentiality from a senior Local Authority Officer as well as training in the basics of first aid from a health professional: (this supports Step 4 – Experienced staff). They worked on the legislation surrounding child protection and on policies and procedures which support the legislation: ((This supports Step 3-Balance of theoretical and practical learning.) The Level 3 learners wrote their own ‘behaviour management’ policy and worked side by side with an experienced Teaching Assistant: they also adapted their schemes of activity to suit the needs and ages of the primary pupils they were working with. Learning by doing the job, which included delivering a quality service for the employer, i.e. the Head Teacher, enabled them apply in the Primary School workplace of the theory they had learned in the classroom through professional input and their own research.

The Senior Curriculum Leader for the North Hertfordshire Strategic Area Partnership explained that the Level 3 learners had gained a real sense of ‘being part of the employment structure of the school’. They had also matured and learned to understand the value of Personal Learning and Thinking Skills (PLTS) which contribute to the assessment of the Diploma at all levels. Diploma learners develop the ability to take responsibility for their own learning through a process of reflection, review and planning from experience so they can apply what they have learned to practical situations and tasks.

Tina Jarvis, Head Teacher of Broom Hill Primary School, was very impressed by the work achieved by the Diploma learners with the pupils in her school. ‘From the primary perspective it’s been brilliant: our young people have got a lot from the clubs.’ She said. ‘What I’d like now is for the same group to come back and run clubs for Y1.’

There are currently 851 young people in North Hertfordshire following Diploma courses at all three levels in seven lines of learning with another three to be added from September 2010. The Strategic Area Partnership which comprises 14 mainstream schools, 4 special schools, 2 educational support centres, the North Hertfordshire College and a private provider is committed to offering students access to a wide range of Diplomas at Foundation, Higher and Advanced Levels , Levels 1,2 & 3. (This supports Step 3-KS4 students choosing a pathway matched to their interests and abilities and Step 5-KS5 students specialising in a chosen pathway.)

Diplomas are offering learners the opportunity to develop 20/20 skills for employment together with progression routes into Apprenticeships and Higher Education as well as into employment with training. Across the Partnership they have access to high quality, specialist facilities and to teachers in the schools and at the College who have the skills and experience to motivate and excite young people about the world of work and the Diploma style of learning. (This supports Step 4- Experienced staff and specialist facilities.)

Contact: Pippa Frost, Senior Curriculum Leader, North Hertfordshire Strategic Area Partnership