Secondary Award Winners

Edufunduk are proud to have helped to fund a small group of children to undertake an excellent programme which resulted in them talking to ministers and having a V.I.P. tour of Parliament.

A group of about 15 students organised a "Send my Friend" to School campaign to help them understand the value of literacy. The students researched and prepared campaign materials, presented to each other, spoke in assemblies and met with their local MP before presenting their campaign to a minister and officials in London.

The course drew on many excellent Effective Learning techniques such as:

• Thinking Skills - broadening thinking, ideas generation, focussing attention, organising thinking, assessing evidence, debating, creativity methods, dealing effectively with information and emotion/values 
• Debating/Public Speaking - learning to organise information, prepare an interesting and informative talk, getting to the point, impromptu speaking, control voice/posture and give constructive evaluation 
• Educational Coaching/Self-Belief /Confidence/Mind-Set/Motivation - developing attentive listening skills, effective questioning techniques and understanding/applying what motivates others and bolsters confidence. 
• Collaborative Learning - using learning in pairs or larger groups to accelerate and deepen learning as well as increase motivation and enjoyment. 

The students' confidence has grown incredibly, and they are increasingly articulate. They seem to have grown in stature, and not only does the school community look upon them quite differently, but they see themselves differently too. 

There are big expansion plans afoot at The Herts and Essex High School and we are proud to help out a little by providing two netball posts for their new sports hall. 

We struggled a little with this application as we shy away from part-funding a project that has not yet been fully funded (as the money might be sitting in a bank account for years doing no one any good).  However, when Hayley Jones, Head of PE, explained that the sports hall part of the expansion was completely financed, we were very keen to help furnish it with equipment.

The bid was made all the stronger by the fact the new hall is going to be open for community use outside of school hours/clubs, including providing a home for a top-flight, local Judo club.

We wish Herts and Essex the best of luck securing funding for the rest of their expansion plans including outside tennis/netball courts and an astro-turf pitch.

We were very pleased to be able to fund a new gymnastics vaulting box for Parmiter's PE department.  As Brad Hughes, Director of Sport, explained in his bid, the box is essential for their GCSE students who have opted for gymnastics but it will also be used heavily in KS3 lessons.  Extra-curricular clubs and targeted opportunities to bring reluctant students into sport are also earmarked for the equipment but the benefits don't stop there - The Three Rivers School Sports Partnership members (including primary schools) and the Y6 summer school will also be flying high in the gym hall this season.

Presdales put in strong Minor Award applications for PE and Effective Learning and we were delighted to award them both.  Together with their earlier STEM award, this brings their minor tally to the maximum of 3* - well done to their applications teams headed by Nikki Albone, Presdales' Revenue Generation Coordinator!

The Effective Learning bid was for a wide variety of learning support resources such as, sand timers, counters, clipboards, die and buzzers and other motivational and memory skill enhancement tools.**  As well as benefitting all levels of learners across all key stages, Presdales' bid had another great selling point.  They take in 11/12 PGCE students each year and these tools can be used in their research-based teaching assignments which will help share best practise not only across the school but also in all the students' future teaching positions.  (HINT: We're suckers for longevity and breadth of benefit!)

In PE, we were happy to award funds to purchase a trampette and a powerful Bluetooth speaker with headset system.  The equipment will not only benefit gymnastics and dance lessons throughout the school but also be used in clubs, G+T and sports leader programmes, dance shows and primary school festivals.  The application was further strengthened by explaining the increased pupil motivation and stamina when the music is playing.

* (In each academic year, schools are allowed to apply for 1 minor award in each of the three focus areas of PE, STEM and Effective Learning.  They are also allowed to apply for 1 major award in each area as well.  Gaining a minor award does not affect a school's chances of winning the year's major award - the two judgement processes are entirely separate.)

** We are currently researching a "shopping list" of Effective Learning resources, courses, speakers etc. to give schools ideas of what might be useful to them in this wide focus area - keep an eye on the website.

EdufundUK are very happy to award the Bushey Academy funding for their first set of pole vaulting equipment.  They are currently obliged to borrow poles when they compete at county level athletics but now they will be able to practice with, and use, their own pole.  This should hopefully encourage more pupils into the sport. 

By coincidence, we handed over the cheque on the first day of their OFSTED inspection – we hope it all went really well!

In November 2019, as part of our follow up procedure, Natalie told us.....

We annual enter the Watford District athletics league and every year previously have not been able to enter any athletes in the pole vault events - but this year we could. The money enabled us to purchase a new pole vault so we could take it to each event and 4 students each time were able to experience and take part in pole vault competitions for the first time.