All posts by Mrs Kerr

Health and Wellbeing, Skills

Investing in Children

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Investing in Children

Over the past year as part of my Health and Wellbeing role in the school I have been working closely with Investing in Children, a community interest group who have been liaising with different schools across the local authority. The main aim of this project has been to promote the rights and voices of young people by identifying areas to develop within the community to improve health and wellbeing, and encourage Inveralmond pupils to take an active lead in discussing, report writing and making effective, sustainable decisions that impact on them being part of the local community.

A group of around 15 pupils met recently to take part in an Agenda Day at Inveralmond which was designed and led by them and in partnership with a representative from Investing in Children and the Health and Wellbeing co-ordinator for West Lothian. The pupils took part in discussions on community safety around Livingston, the use of pedestrian paths, road safety, as well as having a say in decision making at Inveralmond, how to combat issues of bullying, and how to liaise with learner voice reps for your House.

I am hoping that the impact of this work will continue over the year ahead enabling more young people to have a say in what is happening in their own community as well as in the school community in order to further improve Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC, 2009) making sure our young people feel included, responsible and nurtured at all times.

Sarah Kerr

Health and Wellbeing, Professional Development Workshop, Professional Learning, RMPS, Skills

Youth and Philanthropy Initiative

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YPI

I recently attended the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) Showcase Event at Perth Concert Hall which brought together over 1000 pupils, teachers and charity representatives to share the experiences of being involved in YPI over the past year. YPI involves young people researching local charities in their community which they will raise awareness of and if successful in their winning presentation, can go on to secure £3000 for their chosen charity. This is a fantastic way for pupils to achieve in wider areas of school life and dedicate their time to issues of social concern. The pupils showcasing work from other schools highlighted their improved confidence, communication, team working and presentation skills and overall sense of enthusiasm from taking part in YPI which shows how well it connects to the skills for learning, life and work in Building the Curriculum 4 as well as across the four contexts for learning in Building the Curriculum 3.

I am hoping this will have a significant impact on Inveralmond over the coming year as part of senior phase wider opportunities. Hopefully this time next year we will have our own pupils showcasing their winning work at the event!

Sarah Kerr

RMPS

National 5 RMPS Team Leader Question Paper Standardisation event

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This was a three day event to set the standard for marking the National 5 RMPS question paper and to prepare support materials, script commentaries and training for markers using the RM Assessor e-marking system. Part of the standardisation process involved marking and selecting practice, qualification and seeded scripts for markers, and setting the national standard based on discussion and marking between team leaders, the senior team leader and principal assessor.

This event has provided me for the past two years with further insight into the expected national standard for National 5 level and allows me to update courses each year and feedback to my department and how best to implement National 5 RMPS units. It has also helped me to rigorously apply the national SQA standard and assist other markers and colleagues with how to apply mark schemes, monitor progress and assess explanation, description and evaluation answers.