Functional Skills case study school: Cape Cornwall School

Functional Skills case study school: Cape Cornwall School

Length and format
A4 format. 1,000 words maximum
Ideal length 750 words


This case study focuses on the strategic implementation of Functional Skills in the school.
1. Context of case study
§ Cape Cornwall School is the furthest west school in Cornwall Local Authority and is therefore the ‘first and last’ secondary school on the mainland. It is a small 11-16 comprehensive with 450 students on roll.
§ The subject leader for ICT is Dave Parry.
§ The learners involved in the Functional Skills pilot were 20 specially selected Year 11s.
§ The learners were all taught by Dave Parry throughout KS4 and, in fact, KS3 as well.
§ The group were entered for the AQA ICT Functional Skills qualification; all entries are at the same level but it was anticipated that the learners entered would succeed at level 2.


2. Focus of case study
§ The centre decided to take part in the pilot as the consortium of which they were part was successful in their bid to offer the Creative and Media Diploma from 2009. A Functional Skills entry in 2008 would enable the school to become familiar with the new assessment arrangements with a pilot group in advance of beginning Functional Skills with a new Diploma group the following year ‘for real’.
§ It was also important to the subject leader that there should be value in doing the Functional Skills assessment for the learners too. The group chosen were all academically able and had been successful in gaining at least a C grade in the formally examined part of the AQA short course GCSE the summer before. However, they had not submitted the required coursework element and had therefore not obtained the short course qualification. It was felt that a level 2 qualification in Functional Skills would recognise their ability in ICT. The pilot was undertaken to provide these learners with a valuable qualification where they had failed before under an assessment regime with which they did not engage.
§ This case study could be of interest to schools wishing to try a small group in KS4. Anyone else??

3. Implementation
§ The group were entered for the AQA Functional Skills qualification in January 2008. This assessment was at a single level, with the awarding of level 1 or 2 determined by the learner’s performance. 70% was needed in the written paper in order to get a level 2. A session on the computer to complete a practical task was the second part of the assessment.
§ The group had experienced the full programme of study for ICT when they were in KS3 and they had followed the AQA GCSE short course syllabus when in Year 10. No further lesson time was available in Year 11 for this group. To prepare them more fully for the Functional Skills assessment their teacher arranged some practice sessions in the weeks immediately before the test and task. XXX sessions were offered over XXX afternoons and 2 lunchtimes. 16 of the 20 learners selected took the opportunity to attend the sessions. The teacher also prepared a number of web pages for the students to brush up on areas they felt they had forgotten.
§ The subject leader had attended all four days of the national training for Functional Skills. Since he was the only teacher in this small school entering learners for Functional Skills, there were no further training implications for others at this stage. The teacher also attended a whole day exam board training for the new assessment. Any further exam board support?
§ The subject leader was willing to allow the LA SNS consultant and the RA for ICT to visit to gain an insight in to the assessment arrangements and the view of learners of the nature of the Functional Skills qualification.
§ The school was prepared to fund entries for this small group to enable students who had missed out on achieving their half GCSE to gain a qualification.
§ Parents agreed to it as it was in the interests of their children to gain a qualification.
§ Key resources produced (attach copies if possible) The subject leader created several web pages to support the learners in their preparation for the assessment. The exam board practice test and task were also essential and quite similar to the actual test and task.


4. Challenges and solutions
§ The main challenge was the fact that the pilot group had no further ICT time and therefore the subject leader had to create time by using lunch time sessions. XXX afternoons were also agreed to by SLT in the interests of making the pilot successful for the school and for the learners.
§ A good number of the learners were prepared to use the support available to them through the web pages.
§ The choice of the January window meant that the learners were not already involved in their main GCSEs. It also meant that any who were not successful or who were absent would get a further opportunity to sit the test or task or both in the June window.

5. Outcomes
§ 19 of the group of 20 learners were present for the exam. They completed the written paper in two thirds of the time allowed and emerged confidently from the exam hall. All of them achieved a level 2 on this part of the assessment. The absentee will do the exam in June.
§ 16 learners achieved level 2 in the practical task and thus level 2 overall. Those who achieved level one had attended fewer than half of the 7 revision and practice sessions.
§ Evidence of impact for example on teaching, on learning, on school organisation and leadership
§ Lessons learnt that will support other centres when implementing and delivering functional skills

6. Key factor to support success
§ What was the crucial thing that made a difference?
§ Dave!