Reports

Basic Information about the School

Woodford All Age School is located in the parish of St. Andrew in the rural coffee farming community of Woodford. It is an extra-small school with approximately 80 students. With four teachers including the principal, the student teacher ratio is 20:1. The average daily attendance is 82 per cent. Most of the students are from the immediate community with some coming from Papine. They are generally from a poor socioeconomic background, with many of the families being seasonally employed on coffee farms or in low income jobs. Approximately 46 per cent of students are beneficiaries of the PATH programme. Students are generally polite and welcoming. Some students and parents express concerns about poor students’ behaviour and some parents feel that there is a lack of support from parents regarding their children’s behaviour. The general perception of the school is improving and this is supported by the increased number of enquiries for admission in September.

Overall Effectiveness of the School

The overall effectiveness of the school is unsatisfactory

Leadership and management are unsatisfactory. The principal has done a lot in a short time to improve the ethos of the school but he still has some way to go in moving the school from unsatisfactory to at least good. The school lacks effective instructional leadership, systems of accountability and reliable governance. It also lacks a school improvement plan to keep it focussed and to guide the process of moving the school forward. The quality of teaching and learning is unsatisfactory. Most lessons have a narrow range of activities and are not child-centred. Students are passive learners with little opportunity to apply their learning or to develop research and problem solving skills.

Students’ performance in English in national and regional tests is satisfactory and they make satisfactory progress in the subject from their point of entry to performance in the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT). In mathematics, students’ performance is good in relation to national and regional tests. However, when tracked from Grades 1 to 6, their overall progress in mathematics is only satisfactory.

The social and personal development of students is satisfactory. Most behave well, have good attitudes to school and keep their school environment clean
The school is adequately resourced but the resources are mainly underutilized. Curriculum and enhancement programmes are unsatisfactory. Although attempts have been made to modify the curriculum at Grades 4 and 5, this is not consistent across the school. For most of the students, work is not differentiated to meet their varying needs.

The safety, security, health and well-being of the school are unsatisfactory. Students feel safe at school but engage in potentially dangerous activities in the playground. The school lacks perimeter fencing and is a thoroughfare for some members of the community.

Although students’ emotional needs are catered for through guidance and counselling, there is insufficient monitoring of punctuality and attendance. The reported use of corporal punishment in one class is an inappropriate means of controlling behaviour.

The following key strengths are identified in the school:

• Performance of students in mathematics and English, especially with the additional support from the homework centre and a volunteer who teaches extra lessons in mathematics.
• A clean and tidy school compound with staff and students being proud of their school environment.
• Positive attitudes of most students

Basic information about the School

Cavaliers All Age School was established on its present site in 1951 and is located in the parish of St. Andrew. It is a small multi-grade school with approximately 99 students, and it has a capacity of 250. With eight teachers, the student teacher ratio is 17:1. The average daily attendance is 64 per cent. Most students are from the rural communities of Cavaliers, Burnt Shop and Golden Spring. The school previously participated in the New Horizons Project and is a current participant in the British Council sponsored, School Leadership and New Tools for Learning (SLANT) programme. This is in addition to being recently selected to be featured in an international magazine highlighting agriculture and entrepreneurship. The school has a strong Christian ethos that is supportive and contributes significantly to students’ satisfactory personal development. The institution enjoys a high reputation for its initiatives and results in agriculture.

Overall effectiveness of the school

The overall effectiveness of Cavaliers All Age School is unsatisfactory The school’s leadership and management are unsatisfactory. The Board is committed to the school and offers support and advice to the principal. However,
there is insufficient monitoring of the work of the school, particularly with respect to achievement, and too little involvement in strategic development. Leaders and managers at all levels are yet to be held to account for students' achievement. The impact of teaching on learning is unsatisfactory. Teachers have satisfactory subject
knowledge. However, teaching does not build on students’ knowledge and understanding and lacks sufficient attention as to how lessons might be organised to promote effective learning. Attainment in English is satisfactory but attainment in mathematics is unsatisfactory. Students make little progress from their starting points when joining the school, and levels of attainment at the end of Grades 4 and 6 are consistently below the national averages in both English and mathematics. The school evaluates the overall personal and social development of its students as satisfactory. However, students’ behaviour and attitudes are unsatisfactory and
school attendance and punctuality are poor.

Students’ spiritual and civic development is satisfactory. They have a good understanding of their heritage, roles as citizens of the future and of the economic systems in which they live. Students take pride in their environment and care for their surroundings. The school has sufficient teachers, all of whom are suitably qualified, and class sizes are generally small. The school has a satisfactory supply of material resources but does not use them effectively to improve teaching and learning and cater to students’ well-being. The curriculum is enhanced minimally to integrate agriculture into core subjects but further adaptations need to be made to cater to the needs and abilities of all learners. The school has strong links with the church and is making an effort to improve links with parents. It uses contacts with the British Council sponsored SLANT programme to incorporate technology in teaching and to improve agricultural and entrepreneurial skills. Students’ safety, security, health and well-being are satisfactory and effective procedures are in place with rigorous supervision. Guidance programmes and clubs help students build healthy relationships.

In 2008, Plan launched its pioneering global campaign to end violence against children in schools – Learn Without Fear. That campaign, focusing on the need to end sexual violence, bullying and corporal punishment, has met with a huge response worldwide. In this report, we look at the cumulative achievements of the campaign to date, as it completes its third year, to July 2011.

This report is one outcome of the Raising Boys‟ Achievement Project, which operated in English primary and secondary schools between 2000 and 2004. The report highlights the challenges and strategies employed by these schools, which will have implications for the debate concerning the gap in achievement by gender. Schools that had strategies implemented, which improved the academic performance of boys without negatively affecting girls‟ performances, were identified and called originators. Based on research conducted with originators, strategies can be placed in four categories:

o Pedagogic: classroom based approaches centred on teaching and learning
o Individual: focus on target- setting and mentoring
o Organizational: ways of organizing learning at the whole school level
o Socio-cultural: approaches that attempt to create an environment for learning that facilitate the congruence between students‟ beliefs and attitudes, and the goals of the school

During the intervention phase, schools and originators formed triads. The triads implemented strategies of originators and the outcome was monitored. The main pedagogic approach focused on literacy. Strategies include the development of a „reading buddy‟ scheme, and using drama to teach literacy. There was a focus on encouraging boys to become successful and satisfied readers by establishing a context in which boys wanted to read. This involved:

1)  having a wide range of texts available, creating a space for talk and reflection about reading, and sharing ideas about the text and what was enjoyable in it
2)  providing opportunities to choose interesting reading matter, and to discuss reading in a meaningful way

Research conducted during the project did not support the belief that the dominant learning styles of boys differ from those of girls nor the case of boy-friendly pedagogies, either in the context of mixed-sex or single-sex teaching. However, the authors noted a set of pre-conditions that seem essential in any attempt to implement single-sex classes for particular subjects:

• Teachers must use a proactive and assertive approach, which avoids the negative or confrontational, but conveys high expectations and a sense of challenge, and uses praise regularly and consistently.
  

• There must be the promotion of a team ethic, to forge an identity for the class of which the students can feel part, with humour and informality, and identification with students‟ interests and enthusiasms.

It is noted that “One of the essential conclusions we have reached through the RBA Project, is that „under-achieving‟ boys and girls are not likely to engage with learning if schools simply concentrate on adopting narrowly focused and quick-fix solutions in isolation from the ethos of the whole school.” Instead, the authors conclude that the characteristics of quality teaching are just as suitable and effective for both boys and girls.