The New Line Academies are two concept schools present in South

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It consisted of two secondary schools (

Cornwallis Academy Cornwallis Academy (formerly The Cornwallis School) is a mixed-sex secondary school and sixth form located in Linton (near Maidstone) in the English county of Kent. History The school converted to academy status on 3 September 2007 and wa ...

and

New Line Learning Academy New Line Learning Academy is a coeducational secondary school with academy status under The Future Schools Trust banner, which includes the nearby Cornwallis Academy, Tiger Primary School, and Tiger Cubs Day Nursery. It is located in Loose ( ...

) in South Maidstone who were governed under one body to improve standards for children and create greater consistency in the quality of provision through a collective approach to education.

Overview

The system of

education in England Education in England is overseen by the United Kingdom's Department for Education. Local government in England, Local government authorities are responsible for implementing policy for public education and State-funded schools (England), state ...

is mainly provided through individual self-managing schools within the context of the

National Curriculum A national curriculum is a common programme of study in schools that is designed to ensure nationwide uniformity of content and standards in education. It is usually legislated by the national government, possibly in consultation with state or other ...

, influence from

Local Authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

and national regulation through OFSTED. Despite this regulation, education standards vary markedly according to the success or otherwise of individual schools and even departments within schools. The schools had re-branded themselves as ‘New Line Learning’ to reflect a novel approach to secondary education characterised by a set of values that are founded in the new Academies programme and research evidence about how children learn and what sets appropriate conditions for learning. As a start, the schools' new logo had been designed in consultation with the students and reflects the new direction in their education. Replacing the old logo with the new one is a first sign of change. Other changes will be the GCSE results. The purpose of the UK Government's Academies programme is to raise standards in education in England and it is not confined to schools with low attainment although many new Academies have been in that category. Successful schools are expected to innovate and provide leadership through the Academies programme because they are often in the best position to do so. The majority of CTCs have become Academies. because they are expected to innovate particularly in the fields of ICT, enterprise and work related learning. In 2014 the Cornwallis Academy achieved 47% in the 5 A*-C performance indicator including English and Mathematics GCSEs which is below both Kent and National figures, and in 2013 only 3% of students achieved the English baccalaureate. Its performance including Mathematics and English is at about the Kent and national averages and similar to performance in previous years before it became an Academy. The New Line Learning initiative is therefore in keeping with its Academy status but it is too early to tell whether the new approach will further raise standards or enable the success to continue at the New Line Learning Schools. The purpose of the Academies programme is in part to try new things and see what works. In order to find the best education practice, New Line Learning's Executive Headteacher Dr Chris Gerry regularly travels abroad taking part in education research in some of the top universities and getting research evidence on which to base New Line Learning development.

Approach

The approach is based on a simple rationale. Children who enjoy school do better than those who don't. Increasing the proportion of children who enjoy school will support raised standards. The research basis for the changes includes work on

emotional intelligence Emotional intelligence (EI) is most often defined as the ability to perceive, use, understand, manage, and handle emotions. People with high emotional intelligence can recognize their own emotions and those of others, use emotional information ...

and

change management Change management (sometimes abbreviated as CM) is a collective term for all approaches to prepare, support, and help individuals, teams, and organizations in making organizational change. It includes methods that redirect or redefine the use o ...

. Enjoyment comes from success and the project is designed to enable all young people to be successful and fulfilled through sharing resources and talents across the three schools. This requires an expectation of growing maturity from the students and co-operation from members of the local community. In line with the Academies remit, all three schools share a common curriculum that is extensively supported by information and communication technology. The research evidence on the benefits of ICT to schools is generally positive but the rapid changes in technology and how it is employed in the classroom make up to date data with robust conclusions more difficult than in other fields. Given that resources such as Wikipedia are becoming increasingly sophisticated sources of information but with the downside of many more possibilities for misinformation, it seems inevitable that technology will become an increasing part of general education not least because children have to learn to deal with access to massively increasing quantities of information. This is no different from the printing press enabling books to become mainstream parts of learning. New Line Learning is collecting evidence about how high investment in ICT affects learning as part of its core provision. Some of the approaches and innovations are: *An integrated Humanities course in years 7 and 8 aimed at teaching pupils how to learn and study independently *

Key Stage 3 Key Stage 3 (commonly abbreviated as KS3) is the legal term for the three years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9, when pupils are aged between 11 and 14. In Northern Ireland th ...

completed in two years instead of the normal 3, with

National Curriculum assessment The National Curriculum assessment usually refers to the statutory assessments carried out in primary schools in England, colloquially known as standard attainment tests (SATs). The assessments are made up of a combination of testing and teacher ...

tests (SATs) being taken in Year 8 instead of Year 9 *

Key Stage 4 Key Stage 4 (KS4) is the legal term for the two years of school education which incorporate GCSEs, and other examinations, in maintained schools in England normally known as Year 10 and Year 11, when pupils are aged between 14 and 16 by August 31 ...

commencing in Year 9 with

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private s ...

examinations taken in Year 10 *Early entry into the

Sixth Form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

in Year 11 *Encouraging pupils to have a voice, which contributes to the direction of the schools with students even having a say in the new name and look of the new schools *Modern

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; plural, : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to ...

with an emphasis on project-based learning, IT-enabled learning and

vocational A vocation () is an occupation to which a person is especially drawn or for which they are suited, trained or qualified. People can be given information about a new occupation through student orientation. Though now often used in non-religious ...

courses. *Students are sometimes allowed to listen to music in lessons, which can be chosen by the teacher.

Governance

The New Line Learning federation has one governing body for

and

Key characteristics

The principles of

are at the heart of the education programme. This is based on the belief that the traditional academic development that is characteristic of most education institutions is only one of the

multiple intelligences The theory of multiple intelligences proposes the differentiation of human intelligence into specific modalities of intelligence, rather than defining intelligence as a single, general ability. The theory has been criticized by mainstream psycho ...

that need developing in a school. There are common pastoral programmes and procedures plus a common set of values across the federation to support this. New Line Learning is working with

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

and

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

to develop pupils’ emotional maturity through its

programmes. Another key characteristic is the development of information technology as a support for learning. Internet based methods are used to poll student perceptions of lessons so that planning can be based on direct feedback from these clients. There is a specific priority for using empirical research evidence as a basis for planning the provision.

References

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External links