CURRICULUM COLLABORATION

The number of Y13 pupils embarking for the first time upon school to school collaborative courses in September 2010 comfortably exceeded 100.  This figure did not include the very significant number which began KS4 and Post 16 courses at the Northern Regional College. The process of collaboration across the four year groups now involves 160 transport movements per week.

With collaborative courses which involved a significant number of pupils, having completed their first two year cycle, quality assurance measures have been put in place to benchmark examination performance in these subjects.  A pupil evaluation questionnaire, which has evolved from the instruments used by BLT in previous years, is also being put in place for administration to those participating in collaborative courses

A staff professional development day held on 15^th November brought more than 450 teachers to the Tullyglass House Hotel for a busy morning of presentations on the community relations and curricular dimensions of BLT.  In the afternoon the teachers were able to select from a menu of 11 workshops hosted in each of the BLT schools and the NRC.  Very valuable feedback extracted from the evaluations of the day’s programme has informed the Principals’ SG: already a date has been earmarked for another professional development day to happen early in the next school year.

The VLE, literacy and CEIAG subgroups have been proactive for some time. Now it is encouraging to note that the SENCos in BLT schools have expressed a desire to meet together in order to share good practice and to seek solutions to issues of common interest.  In this they will be supported by the NEELB CASS.

As we move into the new calendar year, planning has been completed to deliver a community relations and diversity programme to 100 of the Year 9 cohort.  The schools will be organised in clusters of three and the young people will each participate in a workshop and a forum.  Later in the year it is hoped that 18 of these pupils will participate in a residential at the YMCA centre in Newcastle.  While the pupils will each be awarded a certificate of achievement, it is planned that the participation of teachers in the programme will be recognised by their formal accreditation through the NI Open College Network.

The Mid-Antrim Museum Service, in association with the Ballymena Inter Ethnic Forum and the Good Relations Unit of the Borough Council, is to stage a Holocaust Memorial event in the Braid Centre at the end of March.  A theatre production, an exhibition commemorating the life of Anne Frank and a return visit by Zigi Shipper, the Holocaust survivor who made such a favourable impression on us last year, will make up the programme for an audience of 150 of our pupils.

As for the programme intended to replace SCRP, we await publication of guidelines from the DE which will herald the roll-out of Community Relations in Schools (CRED).  With the round of government budget cuts recently announced, it remains to be seen how teacher professional development for and the implementation of CRED will be resourced.

 
During the Common Exceptional Closure Day held in November 2010 some BLT teachers visited the facilities at the NRC.