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What was planned?

The primary aim of the project was to help pupils develop key skills in oral and written communication, information and communication technology, editorial management and team  building by designing and publishing a newspaper supplement and web site under the headline 'School's Out for Summer'.   A secondary aim of the project was to "open minds  to lifelong learning" by involving university  and FE  students.  Planning started in September 2000 for an October half-term start.  Good quality materials from the Education Business  Partnership Link advertising the project were circulated to the schools for display, and teaching staff followed these up in school assemblies.

What was done and when?

Fifty young people from Years 9 and 10 started the project with an even distribution of boys and girls.  The schools were mixed comprehensive schools for 11 to 16 year olds in Blackpool and both served communities with areas of significant social disadvantage.  The group consisted of a wide range of attainment, but did include some who were identified as being in danger of underachieving or who lacked self-confidence.

Introductory courses lasting two days were held at each of the participating schools during the October half-term break.  The workshops of the programme were designed to develop team building,  communication and  editorial skills.  Young people were invited to apply for editorial jobs, were formally interviewed and the successful applicants were appointed.  Following this foundation work, participants chose an area of research to gather information for the newspaper.

Support in developing this research was given in weekly meetings in school and Saturday sessions from November to March.  The final production day took place on 31st March 2001 with drafts going to the  Blackpool Gazette for printing.  There was a limited amount of drop out from the membership, chiefly due to domestic reasons preventing  attendance on the Saturdays rather than a waning of interest.  The Blackpool Gazette published the supplement 'Schools Out for the Summer' with a circulation to over 40,000 homes.  A website was also developed.

What has the impact been?

The results of an internal evaluation post-project questionnaire worked through with a sample of young people from both schools indicated that the main aims of the project – to develop key skills in oral and written communication, information and communications technology, editorial/time  management and team working – had been amply fulfilled.  The mostly positive comments of the young people in response to the evaluation questionnaire focused on:

• Research skills: "Information will not just come to you, you have to go and get it".  "I will be able to find out more for projects and essays etc."
• Communication and ICT skills: "I improved most in ICT and confidence talking to people".  "IT and business skills".  "Computer skills and talking to others". "Myphone confidence has improved".  "I learned to talk and intervene in a job interview".
• Time management:  "I learned how to type/write things quickly in a short space of time". "I learnt a whole host of things like time management, preparing for interviews and writing stories".  "Doing as much as possible in as little time as possible helps a lot".
• Team work: "I improved most in working in groups.  Before this project I preferred working on my own".  "It will help me in my school work to work and understand in big or small groups".

Teaching staff responses identified improvements in communication skills, ICT and leadership skills as gains for many of the young people.  Several of them had noticeably gained in self-confidence.  All the teaching staff consulted felt that the project fully met the published aims as listed in the project development plan.

What was learnt and what were the next steps?

The experience gained from this project was felt to be valuable in promoting it as an exemplar model to sustain future longer term partnership projects with schools in other EBP areas.  Particular lessons learned were:

• To be tighter in terms of pace and spacing of sessions over the length of the project.  The focus of sessions on Saturday mornings led to some drop out because of competing pressures as did some gaps in time between meetings.
• To audit levels of attainment in ICT skills within partner schools before commencing a project to determine whether or not some students would require extra coaching.

Funding has been obtained through The Children’s Fund for the development of similar work with other Blackpool schools in partnership with the Blackpool Gazette and  to extend the web site.  The partnership also opened the way for the original schools involved to do future work with the Blackpool Gazette and the colleges.