Before the pandemic, UTC South Durham began a journey to transform how we prepare young people for the future. With generous funding from Edge, coaching from Ford Next Generation Learning, and input from our wider community, we developed a new Student Leaver Profile (SLP). The SLP represents everything we want for our students when they leave the school and is now at the heart of everything we do. It impacts everything from curriculum design to industry-integrated project work and student self-assessment.
In July, we held a showcase event to reflect on the SLP's impact on our students so far. Over 100 community members attended, including parents, teaching staff, local MPs, councillors and members of the wider business community – all groups who helped shape the SLP in the first place. We were also delighted to welcome Edge and Ford NGL to watch our three sets of student-led presentations, one for each strand of the SLP.
Academic and technical knowledge and understanding
A vital aspect of the SLP has been to evolve students’ understanding of academic topics by delivering the national curriculum through project-based learning. At the event, a group of students shared an English project they’d worked on, relating the play of Macbeth to modern-day mental health issues. The pandemic heavily impacted young people’s mental well-being. So rather than simply sitting in the classroom reading the play, drawing on their experiences in this way made the content much more current and topical. The project culminated in student presentations that showed an impressive level of knowledge and engagement with the topic.
Core skills
The SLP includes six core skills school leavers should be able to demonstrate: communication, collaboration, perseverance, organisation, reflection and respect. Accompanying each is an action plan and self-assessment rubric that students must use to critically self-evaluate and outline gaps in their progress. This involves reflecting on their development via student-led conferences. Naturally, each learner's journey is highly personal, so it was inspiring to see three students sharing their experiences at the event. Before joining UTC South Durham, one young man, in particular, had faced challenges at school. At the event, he shared how the student-led conferences had encouraged self-reflection and transformed his mindset. His mother also spoke, sharing the positive impact of his educational journey on his wider family. It was a very powerful moment.
Professional and career experiences
The final strand of the SLP involves developing young people’s professional and career experiences. We offer all students optional project work. One of our sixth formers – who chose to take on every project offered – shared how these professional experiences helped build the skills he needed to apply for a degree apprenticeship. Following a successful interview, he is now preparing to start his dream apprenticeship with BMW group in Birmingham in September. He was emphatic that he would not have had the knowledge, skills or confidence to secure this opportunity without the professional experiences he gained at UTC South Durham.
Reflections from the wider community
While the event celebrated the impact of the SLP on student outcomes, we also wanted to reflect on what more we could achieve moving forward. The entire community has played a vital role in defining what a work and life-ready student should look like, and our external partners are all part of the extended team. It is a particular mark of pride for us that they often refer to us as ‘their’ UTC – their involvement is not just a bolt-on, nor a box-ticking exercise for the Gatsby benchmarks. The entire community is deeply involved and dedicated to ensuring that our young people are the best they can be.
With this in mind, we asked them to reflect on each presentation. What resonated? What do people value? Do industry representatives like what they see? What about parents and carers? Where do our strengths lie? Most importantly, where are the gaps in our work? All these questions contribute to our distributed leadership approach. We’ll now collate the feedback to inform our future work. As a taste, Edge’s chairman, Neil Bates said:
“I was inspired by what I saw at UTC South Durham. Not just by the building and its equipment, but by the culture, leadership and ambition. Most impressive were the students, who were unfailingly polite, confident, happy and purposeful. UTC South Durham has recognized that it is not enough to prepare children to pass exams. It’s just as important to develop them as individuals, preparing them for the transition to work and becoming good citizens.”
Being supported by Edge and Ford NGL has been a real catalyst for UTC South Durham. Edge’s support, in particular, has been invaluable as an external accountability measure. While Edge asks for nothing, they’ve invested time, funding and thought into our work. That's why we are determined to make it a success. While we’ve celebrated some successes already, this is just the beginning of our journey. I can’t wait to see what we achieve next.
Catherine Purvis-Mawson is Deputy Principal at UTC South Durham.