Alternative Curriculum
The work of this department continues to increase as we become better known and more etablished as a key provider within the Education system through demonstrating an ability to engage with those pupils that are experiencing great difficulties at school. It has become apparent recently that there is a tremendous need for a 'knot on the end of the rope' in terms of education as too many pupils are disengaging from the formal provision of education. The need to provide an alternative to those pupils for whom the restrictive nature of academic curriculum is too stifling is our motivation for this work. By using both teaching staff and youth workers we are able to deliver an effective group of programmes.
The challenge for the coming year is to build upon the foundations lof previous years, to ensure total compliance within the Education system in order to maintain our accreditation as an Alternative Provider, and to provide for the educational needs of those excluded or in danger of exclusion in a way that stimulates their development and prepares them for the transition into adulthood.
The majority of our work in this deprtment occurs in our Family Centre as the integration of all ages in the Centre creates an atmosphere that is both calming and capable of developing the social interaction of the pupils we work with. Although the majority of our work is based in the Centre, we do frequently get invited to work within the School system, particulaly in working with young people in danger of exclusion, and, through working intensively with them over the year, they are retained in the system and participate in the GCSE examinations.
We primarily work with Key Stage 4 students although increasingly there is a demand for earlier intervention which we are developing. The programme we are developing is capable of achieving two GCSE's to those students we work with over a five term period although as the ultimate aim is reintegration, a pupil will access our provision from anything from one term to the full five term programme offered dependant upon the pupil's needs and the school„s policies.
Within this department, we also partner with other alternative providers in the city, and a notable example of this is our partnership with Carlisle Achievement Zone. In this arrangement we do not provide any academic input but rather provide the youth work input that their students need, the life and social skill aspects that students do not access elsewhere and are therefore necessary to be provided to produce a more well rounded individual as they approach adulthood.
The department is staffed by both teaching staff and by youth workers, most of whom have at least one degree or are working towards one, and who are skilled in relationship building and engaging with difficult or hard to reach young people.
