Our Accredited Awards

AQA  & RED ROSE CERTIFICATES (RRC)

We use the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) Unit Award Scheme and Entry Level Certificates as a recognised national modular certification route for our pupils aged 13 and over. We are an AQA Examinations Centre. Experience shows that many students with Sp.L.D. receive a low grade in G.C.S.E. This scheme gives students who may not otherwise receive external recognition of their achievements the opportunity to receive formal, external certification of their successful completion of units. This leads to more highly motivated students and provides a stepping stone to Further Education. Generally, our 16 year olds have college placements long before their counterparts taking GCSEs.

For some of our pupils aged below 13 the AQA syllabi is used but we award our own Red Rose Certificates.

UNIT AWARD SCHEME

Whole courses of study or key areas of a course of study are presented to students as a series of individual units of work. Each unit clearly sets out what the student is to learn, the outcomes which must be demonstrated in successfully completing the unit, the evidence the student must produce to demonstrate the outcomes, and how assessment will be made and recorded. Each unit is a valid educational study in itself, and can be linked to other units of work, either in the same subject area or across the curriculum or in extra-curricular areas.

Units are usually written by individual teachers and must be validated by AQA before they are taught.

When a student successfully completes a unit, he or she is issued with a Unit Award Statement. The Unit Award Statement, in addition to the student’s personal details and the title of the unit, specifically states the outcomes the student has demonstrated in successfully completing the unit. Thus, anyone reading the Unit Award Statement — whether a parent, training provider, prospective employer or college admissions tutor — can see exactly what skills and abilities the student has demonstrated.

In addition to the Unit Award Statement issued for each unit successfully completed, when a student leaves the Unit Award Scheme a Letter of Credit is issued by the AQA listing the titles of all the units achieved by the student.

Both the Unit Award Statement and the Letter of Credit can be included in a student’s Record of Achievement and are totally compatible with the National Record of Achievement (NRA)/Progress File. Indeed, the flexible approach of the Scheme and the feedback it provides to students makes it an ideal vehicle for fulfilling the aim of supporting lifelong learning.

Quality Assurance is a key element in the working of the Scheme and begins with the requirement that before joining the Scheme centres must undertake training. This training is provided by the AQA. Secondly, every unit, before it can be taught or assessed, must go through a validation process to ensure that it meets the criteria laid down by AQA.  Our Centre Assessor & Examinations Officer, ensures:

ü      We have followed the requirements of the Scheme with regard to the collection and retention of evidence;

ü      the evidence demonstrates that the outcomes of the unit have been achieved;

ü      the assessment and recording procedures set out in the unit have been properly followed;

ü      the centre’s recommendations for the award of units are acceptable.

BENEFITS TO OUR PUPILS

The Unit Award Scheme approach offers a number of benefits to students:

ü      the outcomes of the unit provide them with clear, short term targets;

ü      through the Unit Award Statement they receive regular feedback on their progress;

ü      units can be written to meet the specific needs and interests of particular groups of pupils or even individual students, thus widening the scope for accreditation of achievement beyond what is normally available;

ü      pupils who may not otherwise receive external recognition of their achievements have the opportunity to receive formal, external certification of their successful completion of units.

Overall, the Unit Award Scheme leads to more highly motivated pupils and this is reflected in their level of achievement.

BENEFITS TO TEACHERS

For our teachers, the Unit Award Scheme:

ü      offers a simple and effective means to plan and structure programmes of work for pupils, offering clear objectives, processes and outcomes,

ü      is a means of indicating pupil progression between any formal testing,

ü      provides external certification of a wide range of activities and areas of experience not covered by more traditional methods of certification.

"Target setting" and "target getting"

As a result of these benefits, the Unit Award Scheme can play a vital part both in "target setting" and in "target getting" by:

ü      encouraging both teachers and pupils to set and reach targets in relation to the achievement of individual outcomes and units of work,

ü      helping pupils learn more effectively through sharing in the objectives and targets of the learning process,

ü      focusing targets on individual achievement so no pupil need be excluded from a centre’s improvement policy,

ü      raising achievement and through this ultimately raising attainment.