| home
/Ooshl: local perspective |
print
version
Out of School Hours Learning (Study Support)
The Local Picture
London Borough of Tower Hamlets: Strategic Vision for OoSHL The OoSHL (Study Support) Service is located within the Tower Hamlets Education Directorate and sits within the Access and Inclusion Service It's work is referenced within the LBTH Council Strategic Plan 2005- 2006, Development Area 4.1.6 - Increase Young People's Participation in OoSHL and in the LBTH Strategic Plan for Education 2004 – 2005, Development Area 2 - Learning in Schools, Priority Area 5 - Raising Attainment by Improving Access and Inclusion. It's key objective is to maximise the impact of Study Support in raising achievement. Tower Hamlets is currently developing a LEA LEA OoSHL Strategy April for 2005 - March 2009, and is seeking to extend the consultation process as widely as possible. For further information, please contact the OoSHL (Study Support) Service on 020 7364 6346.
London Borough of Tower Hamlets: OoSHL (Study Support) Service The OoSHL (Study Support) Service is comprised of 2 advisers who are also joint heads of the service, Claire Hatton and Lorraine Hachou; a senior administrative and finance assistant, Simla Hussain, and an administrative assistant, Rukshana Begum. The service provides support to all primary and secondary schools in the LEA and to 24 community providers of Out of School Hours Learning. The service offers help and guidance with the planning, delivery and management of OoSHL programmes and seeks to secure additional funding for schools. The service operates two quality assurance schemes in relation to OoSHL (Study Support): the national Quality in Study Support (QiSS) Recognition scheme and the LBTH OoSHL Quality Assurance Award (QAA). More information on this can be found on the Quality Assurance pages of this web site.
London Borough of Tower Hamlets: History of OoSHL Provision
Tower Hamlets has a long history of Out of School Hours Learning (Study Support) and, consequently, a national profile as a pioneer in this field.
In 1991, the local authority, in partnership with community organisations, bid successfully for Section 11 funding to establish the Supplementary Schools Project. When Section 11 funding ceased in 1995 , a successful bid for an expanded project was made to the Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) and the Tower Hamlets Study Support Project, now known as Out of School Hours Learning (Study Support) Service, replaced the Supplementary Schools Project in the summer of 1995.
Six secondary schools and twelve community groups were involved at the beginning of the SRB project. By 1999 , there were fourteen secondary schools and twenty community groups offering study support activities under the scheme. It was estimated that over 3000 pupils of secondary school age attended Study Support per week and by the academic year 1998-1999 there were over 200 different types of Study Support activities operating for secondary age students.
The SRB project worked closely with the Tower Hamlets Education Business Partnership (THEBP) and the Tower Hamlets Summer University (THSU) in developing an extensive programme of Out of School Hours Learning (OoSHL). Through the co-ordination of the THEBP, 25 primary centres were also established.
In 1999 , Tower Hamlets received £1.96 million from the New Opportunities Fund (NOF), to extend and develop study support provision over five years (with each school receiving funding for 3 years). NOF funding ceased with the end of academic year 2004/2005 but 22 secondary and secondary special schools are able to benefit from OoSHL funding from the Jack Petchey Foundation which has totalled £790,000 over the academic years 2003/2004 and 2004/2005. More information on this funding can be found on the JPF pages of this web site.
As of 2004 – 2005 all Tower Hamlets' schools have a nominated OoSHL co-ordinator and offer some degree of after–school provision, details of which can be found via the drop down menu on the home page. Twelve of our schools have gained national QiSS Recognition for quality of the provision, one at Advanced level (George Green's) while a further thirty- three have achieved the LEA Quality Assurance Award or QAA. Further details of these awards can be found on the Quality Assurance pages of this web site.
.
Impact of Study Support on Year 9 Pupil Attainment in Tower Hamlets Secondary Schools
A statistical analysis of the participation of year 9 pupils in Study Support activities throughout the academic year 2003/4 confirmed what local and national research had previously indicated: study support makes a difference to pupil attainment.
As part of the DFES national Quality Development Programme for Study Support, the LEA's Out of School Hours Learning (OoSHL) Service asked secondary schools to provide data on the level of OoSHL participation amongst their year 9 cohort for the acadmic year 2003/2004. Eight schools responded with a simple categorisation of each year 9 student as follows: no attendance at all (group A), regular attendance in one activity (group B) and regular attendance in two or more activities (group C). A detailed analysis of the data is shown inside this leaflet.
The LEA's Research & Statistics team analysed the OoSHL participation data against the progress of the same students between key stages 2 and 3. The analysis shows that students who participated regularly in one or more OoSHL activities during year 9, achieved almost one point (0. 88) in their Maths SATs more than students who had no record of attendance. In other words, those who participated regularly in one or more OoSHL activities had an advantage of almost a term's work.
With the continued support of the eight schools involved, the OoSHL (Study Support) Service will track the Study Support participation of the same student cohort, now the current year 10, through KS4. The focus of the follow up will be the impact on attainment of different types of study support activity. |
