Ballymena Primary School – Final Report for group bursary of micro-community project

1. Professional development activity undertaken and identification of need.

The need for developing pupils’ understanding of enterprise links with changes proposed by the new Revised NI Curriculum. Since teachers had a limited understanding of this aspect of the curriculum in Ballymena Primary School, it was decided that this would be an area for the school development plan. Also pivotal, was the need embed this within existing work and it was decided that children would explore elements such as mini-enterprise, citizenship and government, rights and responsibility and environment under the theme of a micro-community called Middleton.

2. Outcomes in terms of improved practice by the teacher.

All teachers who were part of the group and others now have a better understanding of enterprise education following personal research and the visit to Grange P.S. where we could see how enterprise could be incorporated into school life. Whilst not all of the work in this school was relevant in our context, elements were applicable to our own micro-community work, such as the use of a television and media centre. By speaking to teachers and pupils, we were able to use the recommendations when fitting out our own studio. Teachers had the ability to develop areas of their own interest and place these collectively under the umbrella of Middleton. Teachers also had time to evaluate existing work and plan the way forward. Specific aspects include the following:

· Mr McCullough participated in a working group to develop a framework for careers education, information and guidance which was then disseminated to staff.

· Mrs Simpson and Mrs McCarroll participated in work relating to the Rights Respecting School Award to complement Strand Two of Personal Development in Revised Curriculum. This complemented existing work undertaken in the area of Personal Development.

· Mrs Simpson and Middleton school councillors attended the Democra Schools Conference to evaluate guidance materials for developing a school council.

· Mrs McCarroll and Mrs Hyndman updated their knowledge of the Heartstart programme they undertake with P7 pupils at a course which makes children aware of safety and the importance of first-aid knowledge within a community.

3. Outcomes in terms of improvements in pupils’ learning experiences.

All children from P4 and upwards had the opportunity to stand for the Middleton council and election campaigns, similar to real life, were conducted in the school. Mrs Simpson took the councillors for training which proved invaluable. P7 pupils were afforded the opportunity to apply for the post of playground buddies as a trial initiative and Mrs Simpson trained the successful candidates for the posts. P6 pupils studied a topic where they learned about government and visited Parliament Buildings at Stormont and had a clearer understanding of the process following work undertaken on the school council. On their return, they designed web pages about the buildings. All pupils shortlisted street names for their Middleton community, so that each business could have an address. They also designed a logo for the Middleton community and elements from several pupils’ designs were included in the final logo. Key Stage Two classes researched local businesses in the Ballymena area and either visited or had a talk from a representative. The topics discussed proved pivotal in starting their own class businesses. Following the groundwork, each class made products to sell on the Middleton market day. Children were able to choose jobs which best suited their skills, bought materials that were needed, looked at, costing, advertising and marketing. On market day, all pupils were able to purchase products. P5 pupils helped to pilot the use of digital imagery by putting together a short film which documented their whole journey making their product. Middleton community held a Healthy Lifestyle Week which included activities and visits from health-orientated groups. All pupils had the opportunity to look at an element of the Heartstart programme, in order to equip them with some knowledge should they come across a first-aid situation.

4. Evaluation of Professional Development Activity.

Each child involved in the class businesses completed a personal evaluation which allowed teachers to judge certain aspects of the project. Comments from pupil evaluations included:

“I learned that you have to be ready and find out how many products to make before you make them.”

“I learned that it is harder than I thought to run a business. I enjoyed doing everything.”

“When you start your own business, make sure that you plan what you are going to be selling and what price the products will be.”

“I think the project will prepare me for life because it showed me what working was like. I thought you just made money, but you have to work for it!”

“When we started our business, we used the idea of zones just as our visit had shown us. It was a very effective idea because it made us very organised.”

The comments above and others demonstrated that the children have acquired skills and knowledge that they will be able to apply in a range of situations.

In addition, teachers completed an evaluation of the whole project which allowed us to judge its success and suggest ways to take the concept forward. P6 pupils had the opportunity to apply for jobs in the Middleton community for next year and the high number of applicants for the various posts demonstrates the success of the initial project.

5. How experiences, skills and knowledge gained have been/will be shared with other teachers.

Ballymena Primary School has always been keen to share examples of good practice in many initiatives over the years and this project was no different. The school website www.ballymenaprimary.org includes details of many events happening in school and this project will be documented in order to make other schools and the wider educational community aware of the project. On the market day itself, visitors from local businesses, the Board of Governors and a representative from CCEA were invited to see the impressive breadth of work that had been undertaken. An extensive article also appeared along with photographs in some of the local newspapers. Participation in the working group to develop a framework for careers education, information and guidance and the link with the Democra conference further ensured that the knowledge was disseminated. There is also a plan to submit a report to NEELB for a possible publication in the NEELB news. Mr McCullough and Miss Coils also have been part of an ICT focus group with CCEA where examples relating to the project were shown to other teachers and these may be used as examples for new ICT assessment tasks to be produced by CCEA. Mrs Lee detailed examples of ICT-based activities relating to the project at the Dissemination of Good Practice feedback session in the Antrim NEELB Board Centre, since aspects of the work that she had undertaken with classes and teachers fell under the micro-community umbrella.

6. Reflection on the value and effectiveness of the activity.

The chance to evaluate the effectiveness of another school’s micro-community concept was useful and complemented existing research that the school had undertaken. All of the experiences enabled the staff to tailor the needs of the school to the project and make it unique to Ballymena Primary School. Teachers were also afforded the time to familiarise themselves with aspects of enterprise education and citizenship which were threaded together under the Middleton umbrella. Since the ground work has been fully embedded this year, there is now a firm understanding of the concepts to allow the work to continue in the new academic year. Teachers and pupils learned how to make use of skills and expertise that they had in certain areas and how they could link with certain jobs. The participation in the working group was of particular relevance since it enabled a member of staff to have direct input and firsthand experience of how enterprise progresses from the early years of education and to beyond primary school. As a staff, we could benchmark elements of our own enterprise programme to relevant key stages. Lunchtime supervisors also were also briefed to give them an awareness of what the school was trying to achieve and how the playground buddies would complement their work.

7. Future plans and suggestions for further development.

There is a feeling that the Middleton micro-community is now a central part of Ballymena Primary School and that many elements have been joined together in a meaningful context. The enterprise aspect will continue this year, as will the Middleton council and work undertaken as part of the Rights Respecting School Award. In order to develop the concept further, pupils going into P7 this September will be given jobs in the Middleton community that they have had to apply for, similar to a real life application procedure. These jobs include TV presenters for the television studio, playground buddies, librarians and ECO Team helpers. Ballymena Primary School has a long history of environmental success and the ECO Team employees will possibly look at how to develop things further, using existing skills and knowledge. Personal Development will also be at the forefront this year, since Mrs McCarroll will be released from class teaching to assist teachers to develop this curriculum area further and conduct more of the Heartstart programme during class time. On the whole, the project and grant from the gtcni has enabled the school to develop a firm, coherent base from which to progress further.

Michael McCullough Group co-ordinator

Louise Coils Group member

Kerry Simpson Group member

Charmaine McCarroll Group member

Jackie McWilliams Group member

Harold Brownlow Principal

September 2007