Opening Minds – RSA Academy Tipton

I spent yesterday morning at the RSA Academy in Tipton. For a range of reasons, some of  which I will explain here, I was blown away by what I saw.

Firstly, my in-laws live in the area, and I know it well. The Black Country area was a once proud and exciting area to live and work. My parents-in-law and their generation paint a picture of a rich and vibrant culture, built around the hi-tech business of the time. The Black Country was a great place to raise a family and work. However, it was detroyed in the 80s, partly through Thatcher’s government policies, and it is now an economy over dependent on the public sector, and with a culture characterised by over consumption and low pay/high unemployment. NEETs, obesity, generational unemployment in a white working class area… well, you know the story. To see it all playing out I urge you to spend time at Merry Hill shopping mall – and then visit the historic Dudley town centre.

In the middle of the Black Country, the RSA took their vision of an education for the future (as opposed to the 19th Century model) and took over a school … and reopened an Academy with a totally new approach to teaching and learning. The Opening Minds framework is based on a set of compentencies designed to prepare kids to solve problems, be 21st century citizens of the world, and builders of a community that values learning.The Competences are Citizenship, Learning, Information, People and Situations; giving the acronym CLIPS.

The mission statement from the Principal, Michael Gernon, starts with the goal “To transform Tipton”. Now, for anyone that knows Tipton (like many areas of the UK that shares its characteristics) can see that this was a huge challenge.

We spent the morning with Lesley James, the Director of Business Development – but also one of the driving forces behind the establishment of the academy, and part of the Opening Minds project since the start. Her insights and honesty about the challenges and way points on the journey to setting both up were as inspiring as the visits to the classrooms. Here was an open mind in action.

I will not re-tell the story, which can be seen in their publication (free) The Journey – but threre were a couple of major points worth sharing. Firstly, Lesley made it perfectly clear that there are no short cuts: “It is a lot of work to do this properly” and that the commitment from staff to a change of culture is hard. “It is a very long day for teachers”.

The rewards for staff and students were clear to see as we toured the school. Not just because of the purpose built site, because they had run the Opening Minds approach in the old school (which was not fit for purpose for the new approach or even more traditional teaching and learning!). It was the sense of aspiration and inspiration. The kids and staff felt special and valued – which was clearly something that they revelled in.

The day starts early, at 8:30, with breakfast with their tutors, followed by 2x 3  hour sessions structured around the competencies; completely for KS3, and partially for KS4. There is subject teaching leading up to GSCE, but the goal is to coordinate both learning and assessment.

The Opening Minds team have developed an Award, accredited by Asdan to value the development in the children during KS3. They are on the verge of accreditation for  a certificate, with points leading to GSCEs, for KS4. Even more exciting, they are in the development stages of a way to value work in KS2 to recognise the core competencies.

When I asked Lesley how the school evaluated, evidenced and moderated the kids development in areas such as ‘Reflection’ – she laughed and admitted that they were still looking for a robust solution. “We want to catch them being good, as well as we seem to be able to catch them being not so great”.

The model of ‘accreditation’, which they were charging an extremely cheap rate to benefit from their resources and experience, seems to be a well supported approach – and one that they are keen to manage to small numbers – so that they can do quality – not quantity. There were some funny stories about schools claiming to do the Opening Minds aproach – but were well off the mark. But Lesley did admit that they were working through this with the partner schools to keep adapting as they learned through experience of what worked best.

There were other areas that needed development. I am not sure that the 5 days a year CPD for the teachers at the school is enough to see the teachers extend and develop to support the learning throughout the school – and one of the lessons we saw showed a lot of closed questioning and opportunities missed. Also, the amazing technology resources in the school were not be utilised enough – though (as it often the case) there were lots of good intentions. This was a very well resourced school – and I was surprised to see the music practice rooms, professional kitchen, recording studio, etc… unused at lunchtime (though perhaps they are better used in the late afternoons?).

Lesley also admitted that there had been issues with kids reporting that they had not done any maths in KS3 – so seemless was the teaching and learning of the competences – and absent the subject categories. A major problem as they sought to make sense of the GSCE maths papers – they have created a reference for kids to ‘tick off’ as they do learn maths through other aspects of their learning and allowed time for discreet maths sessions. This adaptive and transparent approach is smart and admirable – and  to their credit, the school is very aware that they are on a very public voyage of discovery. You cannot reshape education, from a model that has had over a 100 years to settle into a well worn groove, without making mistakes and aspects that need polishing.

So  – I will keep a close eye on what they are doing – and be visiting again soon. They are also hosting TeachMeet Black Country in July – so please sign up, if only to talk to the staff there about what they are up to and to share practice.

The RSA Opening Minds Academy is a beacon from deep within the Black Country, and I’d encourage you to visit yourselves and see how it could Open your Mind.