Portobello High School Case Study
SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT
PORTOBELLO HIGH school
In Edinburgh, Portobello High School are utilising the Gen+ programme across not only their Wellbeing lessons, but their Wider Curriculum to facilitate rich discussions and more thorough learning around Meta-Skills.
Overview of programme delivery
In their first year of delivering Gen+, the team at Portobello High School have utilised the programme to support their S1 and S2 learners in support of their school improvement planning aim of creating inclusion for all.
Rather than adding the Gen+ content into PSE lessons where integration can often be difficult due to the volume of existing content, Portobello have provided more time within their timetable to allow young people space to reflect on their abilities, their learning and give learners an opportunity to identify their own areas for growth.
This format has seen learners begin to make more connections in a cross-curricular manner, with young people more able to articulate the skills they’re developing, and understand how they can be utilised in their future learning, life and work.
Student journey spotlight
Student Spotlight
Learners shared some of the learning they’d experienced through the Communication module; from understanding how others interpret written communication, to how their body language and tone can affect others responses.
Testimonials
Capacity-building
Jenny Henderson, Teacher
“We are stretched and busy, and trying to come up with a whole bank of resources for anything is beyond most people’s capabilities and time pressures.
So being handed a bank of resources that fits so easily into what we’re already doing, but also allows us to explore different things outwith specific subject areas that neatly kind of cross over between loads of different subjects has been fantastic.”
Testimonials
Focus on reflection
Greg McDowall, Headteacher
“We felt that Gen+ was going to actually draw out their understanding more about themselves as well and develop that skill of reflection, which is really something difficult for young people to understand what that is.”
Impacts and metrics
All S1&2s experience Gen+ as they participate in an eight-week wellbeing and wider achievement curriculum; this means that all learners experience the range of skills on offer.
Jenny has identified growth not only in learners, but within her colleagues, seeing one thriving during her probationary year having built her confidence through delivering the Gen+ programme, and utilising the skills she’s developed in her everyday teaching.
315 Gen+ sessions
36staff members developing their own Meta-Skills in supporting learners
Lessons learned & advice
The use of Gen+ is still fairly new to Portobello, and the team have used it to explore skills with their younger learners – and create a base understanding of what skills are and develop that learning without forcing frameworks on them with Headteacher, Greg McDowall explaining:
“They’re not there yet; they’re still developing their understanding of what this curriculum is all about.”
“When you’re looking at your school curriculum, you can talk to young people about skills but I’m not always assured that they fully understand what that is.
“What we’re trying to do as a school is provide opportunities for young people – and if you look at things like our outdoor education provision, our young people are experiencing a range of subjects across the curriculum where they’ve had some element of choice to make, and those experiences they’ve had through transition as well.
“It’s thinking about things like project-based learning opportunities, what they’ve learned through those experiences, but also connecting with various other organisations to look at more project-based work – which again helps to promote that skills agenda.”
WHY IT WORKS
The content of the Gen+ course – particularly the links made to real-life scenarios – along with the format have been credited as supporting the aims of equity through it’s accessibility. Jenny highlights that for some more disengaged learners, these real case studies and examples allow young people to contextualise and understand the concepts as they can relate to the applications within their own lives.
“When we saw that it was real focus on meta skills, on getting young people to work together, to collaborate, to reflect, it was a package that was really going to fit with what we wanted to achieve with our young people as well.
Before we began to ask the real harder questions about reflecting on potential career pathways, whatever it might be, we felt this would give us a good foundation for that as well.”
Students are now far more able to define the skills and explore what using them means in the real world, and crucially are realising that meta-skills aren’t just for use within the school building – but whatever they choose to do in the future.
Future plans & what’s next
This is the first year that Portobello High School have used the Gen+ resources with learners and the staff have endeavoured to ensure that all young people have the opportunity to experience the skills covered; with the outcome showing that having undertaken the resources, students are incorporating their learning into other aspects of the curriculum.
The next step within the school’s improvement planning is looking at Profiling for learning through My World of Work’s Learner Digital Profile tool and
In addition to this, Jenny is keen to implement a reflective element at the end of the course in order to support the profiling being undertaken, and really strengthen the connections made with these skills. The use of Gen+ complements to school’s drive for inclusion for all – ensuring that all young people are served, and access equity across learning.
Interested in learning more about how Portobello High School implemented Gen+?
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