Healthy Schools

I am delighted to report that Beaufort Community School has recently achieved the Healthy Schools Plus Award (Phase 1).

In order to receive this award we had to demonstrate that the school was providing services and activities that support healthy living. The areas that we focussed on and will continue to work on are raising fitness levels in Year 7. Mr Webb has taken a lead on this by measuring fitness levels before and after an intensive period of training. The PE department also continue to work hard on raising participation levels in sport. One successful area has been the development of the “Before School Sport” sessions on a Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 7.30am to 8.15am. These sessions are open to all students in Years 7 to 11 and are an opportunity to have fun as well as playing football or playing racquet sports. You do not have to get changed, just bring your trainers!

One of our main areas of work in order to receive the award has been continuing to support students who are being bullied, perceive they are being bullied or experiencing some conflict in school. This is a particularly important area as we believe that in order for students to be happy and lead a healthy lifestyle they must feel safe and secure in school.

Finally a small group of students have worked intensively with our school counsellor regarding their mental health to help them understand why they self harm, and allow them to come up with strategies to reduce the self harming behaviour.

As we move into Phase 2 we will continue to work on our key areas to support all our students and achieve the second part of the award.

Mrs Hankey, Assistant Headteacher (Care, Guidance and Support)

Find More Information at Healthy Schools

Artsmark Gold

Awarded in May 2008

Artsmark Gold is the highest level of achievement a school can attain by completing all compulsory sections of the application form and the optional requirements for Gold.

Artsmark provides a benchmark for arts provision that encourages schools to consider the opportunities they offer in art, dance, drama and music. The application form for Artsmark acts as an auditing tool, through which schools may gain an overall picture of their arts education provision.

Applying for Artsmark has a strong impact on the range of curriculum activities and experiences available for pupils. The application process is able to trigger changes in provision through a combination of a sound evidence base, heightened awareness and capacity for change.

Find More Information at Arts Council

Investors in People

In 1991 when investors in People was launched, Michael Howard said "Investors in People is a standard designed by business, which will be met by business, because it is in the interests of business. This is why it will survive."

Formed in 1993, Investors in People UK is a non-departmental public body, which receives funding from the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. We are responsible for business planning, policy development and promotion of the Investors in People framework. In 2009, responsibility for The Investors in People Standard will be passed from Government to the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES).

Mission Statement: The UK’s leading people management standard, Investors in People provides a simple and flexible framework helping thousands organisations of all sizes and sectors to improve their business performance.

Vision: Our vision is to increase the productivity of the UK economy by improving the way in which organisations manage and develop their people, leading to business improvement and better public services.

Find More Information at Investors in People

Investors in Careers

Investor in Careers is based on the Investor in People model and includes in its structure the key features of the quality assurance cycle.

The Award is structured around four key elements relating to the management of CEG:

Commitment
Organisation
Delivery
Evaluation

Each outcome is broken down into a series of performance indicators. Some people prefer to call these 'success criteria'. Schools have to provide evidence that they meet each of these performance indicators.

Evidence may be provided in a variety of ways, for example minutes, reports and newsletters. It does not have to be paper-based. Much of the evidence that a school/college is meeting the standard comes from observations, presentations and discussions with their staff and students.

The written evidence that a school/college collects to show that they meet the Investor in Careers standard is held in a portfolio.

An independent, external assessor will visit each school/college working towards the Award twice. The first visit, sometimes referred to as 'the interim assessment' is for a half day and the final assessment is a full day visit. During these visits the assessor will talk to various people within the school/college. This will include the headteacher, careers coordinator and students and may also include tutors, governors and the careers adviser. A full written report of each assessment visit is sent under confidential cover to the headteacher and careers co-ordinator.

Find More Information at Investor in Careers

Sport England

Sport England is focused on the creation of a world-leading community sport system.

We invest National Lottery and Exchequer funding in organisations and projects that will grow and sustain participation in grassroots sport and create opportunities for people to excel at their chosen sport. Our structure reflects this focus

Formerly known as the English Sports Council, we work in partnership with UK Sport, which has responsibility for elite success, and the Youth Sport Trust, which is focused on PE and school sport.

Accountable to Parliament through the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, we also have a role protecting sports provision as a statutory consultee on planning applications that affect playing fields.

Find More Information at Sport England