In focus: Girls' Achievement
Girls’ Achievement, now in its third year, is an intervention programme designed to increase the attainment of students working below their potential through additional monitoring, target setting and support. These students have been placed together in a girls-only form (11W4) after being identified as having a combination of, or all, of the following: negative predicted Progress 8 score, risk of missing out on a Grade 5 in core subjects, disengagement towards school and/or behavioural concerns.
In addition to helping them to pursue academic targets, I aspire to promote their overall wellbeing and want to see these students take ownership of their future: being confident, career-driven and well-informed regarding their Post-16 options. Parents have been very supportive and are kept up-to-date with the form’s developments via face-to-face meetings and regular newsletters.
Ongoing areas of focus for the cohort include organisation, routines and goal-setting. The girls remain S.M.A.R.T. by creating specific, manageable, personal and academic goals that they reflect upon in registration at the end of each week. Students also have the support of sixth-formers through mentoring and tutoring sessions for core subjects.
Successful members of last year’s cohort have also been involved, delivering sessions on revision techniques they found useful and sharing “What I wish I’d known”. In line with the careers focus, students have prepared CVs and used psychometric testing to seek out potential careers for themselves. The bravest amongst them have gone a step further in asking representatives of the likes of JP Morgan and the NHS to critique their CVs during a careers fair we attended at Olympia Conference Centre.
I wish the cohort every success!
Please do not hesitate to contact me with any comments or queries concerning 11W4. I can be contacted here: banyamah@greenford.ealing.sch.uk
Buchi Anyamah