Across the South West Education Improvement Collaborative secondary schools are working together to provide a virtual learning campus, with the purpose of providing a more equitable curriculum for young people in the senior phase.

As well as extending the offer at SCQF level 7 – particularly Advanced Highers across the 4 Local Authority areas, some Higher and National 5 subjects are offered.  This innovative learning approach will help prepare young people with key skills for learning, life and work and build student capability to successfully enter university, college, or work with the confidence of having acquired the skills and attributes that each environment requires – especially as working practices evolve post COVID.

Courses delivered through @South-West Connect will, in the main, be delivered digitally although where there is a need for face-to-face time or a requirement for lab time this will be built into the course plans. This will give young people a high-quality learning and teaching experience but will afford a greater degree of flexibility in terms of place and time.  Crucially the model will avoid the need to rely on transport solutions between schools.

@South-West Connect 2021/22 Evaluation Report

Updated 2021/22 Attainment Report to reflect appeals outcomes:

@South-West Connects Year 2 Evaluation Report

Enhancing Opportunities

The Enhancing Opportunities programme was designed to meet the needs of a very specific group of pupils in S1 – S3 of secondary who, post Covid, had not been able to re-engage with their learning in school – a group sometimes referred to as “interrupted learners”.

The vision for the pilot was to see if working with a dedicated teacher using an online delivery platform across the four SWEIC local authorities could work in helping to kickstart a recovery for these young people. The ultimate aim was to help transition pupils back to school. Read our evaluation below.