Breakdown of Scholarship Begins...

Scholarship resources for Hornby High School starting here.

Late last year, I overheard a conversation between two teachers about how we 'need' a separate class for scholarship potential students at year 13. According to the vocal one of the two, this class would be about 5 students. The school's Senior Leadership Team needed to prioritise it if they really care about students succeeding here and yes that would mean academic casualties, like the loss of some subjects or pass rates to achieve it. It was seen by one of the two as the only feasible way to break the spell and get those elusive scholarship grades. The other stayed very quiet.

This idea that you have to be in the right class is no different to having to be in the right school, live in the right area, come from the right two-parent family with the right moderate to good income, driving the right car... Nothing of it sits well with me. I rage inside at the thought of it. I want Cinderella to go to the ball, Dorothy to find home and Snow white and Sleeping Beauty to get themselves up out of bed.

We already had our one student sitting her scholarship and we knew she was well on track for the excellence required to be able to be considered for it. Not once did I consider that anyone else had, or should have to miss out on their place in the class because of her. Or, in order for her to get there that they should go. But that was definitely my moment of 'we are going to make this real here'.

So we are paving that yellow brick road, making it real and breaking the spell. The significant things I have found are that the way it is assessed is not terribly similar to the boards or the other standards.

There are three categories that they assess by and the students can achieve three different grades of not achieved. Each category is marked out of 8. 24 marks in total are attainable. It's complexity can be very daunting when resilience is a key component requiring significant scaffolding. The link above is the document for assessment. It is posted on our google site and students are able to find it and comment on it if they wish. I would be encouraging students to use this to seek clarification if they need it.

The resources online are limited in comparison to other standards. Not many schools like sharing! Though one has been very generous in his Teaching Inquiry on scholarship and his resourcing. Tim Thatcher at it has certainly made it all very much clearer in how this could be handled within an average class. I see from his inquiry, that total integration within a classroom is preferable to having separate classes or sessions outside of class devoted to scholarship. That the uptake for those dwindled as the year carried on.

What I have achieved so far:
- We have one certainty for scholarship in both Design and Paint (willingness that is, though exceptional talent too) for 2017
- There are students in our current 2018 year 13 cohort who need to be considering this exam also, but there are also a lot of pressures on high school students. How far do we go in preparing students for this? Or is that no better than the 'right' class, right school scenario?
- Breaking down scholarship to be less complex and visible to the students on the main google site for Art at HHS.

Still working on:
- Having some kind of calendar for the 8 pages (which I would want to say were 12 so that students could edit them down to the best 8)
- Accessing a range of schools resources, including sharing what I have done without feeling like a poor cousin. Walk the talk. Sigh.
- Using Art History standards to better allow for that research component. It is really successful in level one so far this year... I have an unpublished blog post about that come to think of it...
- Using Classroom, Hapara, blogging or something to work the critiques through with the individuals as they go along for the scholarship pages. Will discuss with colleagues.
- Making a 24 hour day into a 30 hour one.