Subtitles

Associated Teachers TV programmeBridging the Gap: In Portsmouth

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The number of familieswith second and third generations

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who've never worked in the city...

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And that unfortunately carries onwith some of those families.

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I think one of the key thingsthat's changed has been the belief -

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and that's belief in the staff,the parents and the children

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that here is a school where youwill achieve and you can achieve.

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(narrator) We've travelled acrossthe country to visit five areas

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where schools are working ininnovative and interesting ways

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to raise attainment and are

succeeding in bridging the gap.

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In this episode we've cometo Portsmouth on the south coast

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to find out what their schools aredoing to bridge the attainment gap.

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Portsmouth suffers fromareas of urban deprivation

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with above-average levelsof child poverty.

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It might sound incredibly strange,but some of our children...

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We have the sea 1.5 miles awayfrom our school

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and lots of them by the age of sevenhave never been to visit it.

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So it's importantwe provide that opportunity

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where perhaps the parents haven'tseen that there's been a need to.

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For me that's a great sadnessbut also a great joy

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that we're able to bringthat richness to them.

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Portsmouth has had a historyof urban deprivation,

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being a port city.

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It does seem to follow ports around.

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If we look at Liverpool and Bristoland even London to a degree,

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you do find that there'ssignificant urban deprivation

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in the ports around the country.

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We have suffered for that over theyears for many different reasons.

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We are a small island

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but the most heavily

populated island

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in Western Europe, for example.

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This has broughtits own constraints -

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lack of space, lack of resourcesand also lack of opportunity

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because so many jobs wentinto the navy and the dockyard

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which meant there weren'tso many opportunities

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for other business activitiesto take place in the city.

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(narrator) Faced with theseproblems, St John's Primary School

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and St Edmund's Secondary Schoolare working to raise attainment

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by engaging parents,increasing attendance

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and helping to ease the transitionfrom primary to secondary.

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Getting the studentsto regularly attend school

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is one of this school's keystrategies for raising attainment

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and one which headCatherine Hobbs believes

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moved her school from the bottomof the league tables

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to being one of the top five schoolsin Portsmouth.

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Attendance has been an issue for us,not drastically,

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but we're sort of a fractionbelow the national average.

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Year on year it's been verydifficult to push us above the 94%

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and it was an issue raised for usat our last Ofsted.

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The children are aware thaton a weekly basis in our assembly

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we'll announce the class

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that has the greatest attendanceduring the week.

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We've all got something to offerbut we can only offer it

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if we're all hereand we're all here every day.

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This has led to some of the childrenalmost saying to their peers:

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"We didn't get the awardbecause of you."

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And so we've actually improved theattendance of some of our children

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who would have the occasional dayoff when they didn't really need to.

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Don't forget that we're all workingtowards our attendance cup

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that we're going to getat the end of term.

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So in third place it was

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a joint year 2 and a joint year 1,so they deserve a round of applause.

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Right from our very firstreception parents' meeting

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I make it clear thatwe really do expect the children

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only to have time off if theyreally are ill and under a doctor.

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It's a firm and fair policy that Ihave with the parents and children.

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Congratulations to year 6.So, well done, year 6.

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(applause)

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During the eight yearsI've been at St John's

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I've seen dramatic changes

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and I think one of the key thingsthat's changed has been the belief -

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and that's belief in the staff,the parents and the children

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that here is a schoolwhere you will achieve

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and you can achieve and you'llbe given the support to do so.

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(narrator) St John's offers familylearning to help engage parents.

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I was watching and most peoplehad their fingers...

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It was like they were putting theirfinger on the word and copying it,

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just like a child would do.

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And they're physically justconcentrating on their writing,

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so it is quite tricky for them.

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The family learning programmeis a very exciting programme

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and one that I know has enrichedthe life of the children,

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adults and staff here at St John's.

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We offer a termly workshopto all parents in every year group.

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I want you to change to the handthat you're not used to...

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(Catherine) It's an opportunityto show to the parents,

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to make them more aware of what goeson within literacy and numeracy.

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(woman) So, what shall we write?Who do you want to write about?

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We come in every Wednesdayfor the next few weeks.

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We have a joint session in themorning and one in the afternoon.

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The big part is the language for me,

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because I'm good at writingand everything in Spanish

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but not in English,so that's why I'm here.

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And to improve my English as well.

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(narrator) The changing fortunesof these schools is supported

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by a wider strategy developedby Portsmouth City Council.

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The number of familieswith second and third generations

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who've never worked in the city...

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And that unfortunately carries onwith some of those families,

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so we're trying to break thosebarriers down and make sure they see

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there is a future for them,there are opportunities for them

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and they should grabthose opportunities.

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Good afternoon, everybody.

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I'm here today to tell you about theCommunity Improvement Partnerships.

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As you know, schools in the past,

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and schools still, can be very muchworking behind closed doors

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and it's difficult for agenciesto get involved with schools.

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(narrator) Today Mark Scarboroughis discussing an integrated strategy

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at a meetingfor voluntary community workers.

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Some people might say,"Hang on a minute."

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"It's about schools, isn't it? Whyare you using the word 'community'?"

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It works both ways because if we use"School Improvement Partnerships"

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that would switch off organisations

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who thought it wasjust about schools.

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In actual factit's a lot more than schools.

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It is about extendinginto the community.

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Community Improvement Partnershipshave made a difference.

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We're measuring differentranges of impact that it's had

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in the city as a whole.

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(narrator) The partnerships divideup Portsmouth into five areas.

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Each area has a project managerto coordinate

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local services for the schools.

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St Edmund's and St John's areboth supported by Helen Corkery.

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Today was really about

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the representatives of thecommunity and voluntary sector,

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whose work involves workingwith children and young people,

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coming together as a group so theycould really speak with one voice

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about what the issues are for them,

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about how they would liketo be more involved

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in the Community ImprovementPartnerships across the city

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and their views as to howthat can best be achieved.

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(narrator) St Edmund's Secondaryhas felt a real benefit

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from this newly integratedcommunity support.

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In the past the schoolswere very much isolated,

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so when you had problems

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and you wanted to ringsocial services or health people

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it was difficult to get hold of themand you didn't have link people.

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Now you know who they areand you have met with them before

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so the turnaround is faster,

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the communication is better

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and the child is at the centreof everything that we do.

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(narrator) Easing the transitionfrom primary to secondary is seen

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as another key solutionto bridging the attainment gap.

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St Edmund's head teacherIsabelle O'Mara is actively working

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to engage prospectiveyear 7 students.

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We have visits from pupilsin year 5 and year 6

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who come in for taster days.

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We have staff who do presentationsto the primary schools,

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to the pupils, to the parents.

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So by the time they come to year 7they already know the school.

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They know the layout.They know a lot of the teachers.

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We do what we canhere at this school

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to make sure thatthey do feel eased into it.

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What sort of feedback did you getfrom the children this morning

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about how they settled in?

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My job is to make surethat before they come

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I have all the information necessary

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to ensure thatthey're correctly grouped,

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that the curriculum that we'replanning for them is appropriate

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and that they feel happy, confidentand settled as quickly as possible.

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I work closely with Colin Flanagan,

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the deputy head there,also a class 6 teacher,

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and so we have regular contactthrough our joint activities

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and the curriculum initiativesthat we do together.

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(narrator) Along with workingto improve transition,

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Isabelle O'Mara wanted to raiseboys' attendance and attainment.

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Part of the solution has been

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the use of a mobile skate parkat the school.

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The most important thingis creating an environment

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that pupils want to come toin the morning.

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They get up and they want to say,"I can't wait to come to school."

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Therefore you need to make schoolmuch more attractive

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and to have exciting lessons.

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To have things that are going onoutside lessons as well,

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because we have a lot of childrenwho are not keen to come to lessons

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and we need to attract them by doingthings that perhaps they like.

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(narrator) Boys' attendance improvedon days the skate park was running

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and the school is now looking forfunding for a permanent skate park.

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Raising aspirations is a key elementin closing the attainment gap.

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These year 6 children are visitingthe University of Portsmouth

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as part of the UP for It scheme.

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A lot of the areasof Portsmouth are areas

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where entry into higher educationhas traditionally been quite low.

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There's a question in your booklet:

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"Name three thingsyou can see in the library."

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I think it's importantfor all children to learn

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they can do what they want to do andhigher education could help them.

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So it's just that we wereone of the first universities

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that started to do workwith primary schools.

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That's the age wherethey're starting to think

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about what they might wantto do when they're older.

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For them to actually go and seethe university hands on

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and experience whatuniversity courses are like,

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it just raises awareness thatthere's something beyond GCSEs,

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beyond A Levels, for them to do.

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The children come in for theiryear 6 visit and they start off...

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We meet them in the square and thenwe bring them down to a lecture,

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so they have an academic lecture.

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It can be based around any ofthe subjects that we study here.

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Today's was dentistry, so they gotto have a go at filling a tooth,

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learn about what dental hygienistsdo and look at the phantom heads.

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(woman) If I go in the mouth here,they can see exactly what I'm doing.

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So when I'm lookinground the mouth...

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And then finally they gettheir exciting bit -

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they get to graduateon the Guildhall steps

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so they get to put on a miniaturegown and they can graduate

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and throw their hats in the air.It's quite good fun.

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OK, let's hear it for Joel.

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I think it's important they do itbefore they go to secondary school

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so that when they do gothey have a vision to work towards

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and they actually knuckle downand work towards

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whatever it isthey want to do in later life.

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(narrator) St Edmund'sare raising their attainment

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by easing the transitionfrom primary to secondary

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and engaging their students.

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If school isn't exciting for themthey won't come to school

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and if it's not excitingthey won't work

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and they won't get engaged.

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(narrator) St John'sare rewarding attendance

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and engaging family support.

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We realise childrenonly get once chance in life.

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We've been privileged that parentshave trusted that chance to us

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and it's important,by working with the parents,

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the staff and the children together,

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that we actually ensure thateverybody achieves their potential.

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We're up for it!

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Visiontext Subtitles:Margaret Burke

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