Schools across County Durham are working closely with Durham County Council to determine when they feel it is safe to conduct a phased programme of return for pupils. Updates for parents will be issued using this school’s usual communication methods.

Seaham High School

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Travel & Tourism

Intent:

Seaham High School Travel and Tourism department will develop and deliver a curriculum at KS4 that is highly engaging and designed to give all learners the knowledge and skills required to pursue further education within this subject area or follow a career path within the industry if they so desire.

Learners of the BTEC Travel and Tourism Tech award will study the full curriculum. Thus allowing them to have a ‘deeper’ knowledge in preparation for both internal and external assessment components. Students will feel confident to debate and discuss their knowledge and respond to feedback to ensure that they are making progress. They will develop an ability to investigate and reflect upon real world, current issues relating to the subject area that can be applied within in their learning and broaden their understanding of the subject.

Impact of the Travel and Tourism Curriculum:

Learners of BTEC Travel and Tourism will develop detailed knowledge and skills across the curriculum and, as a result, achieve well. Where applicable, this is relevant in results from both formal internal and external assessments along with informal assignments and examinations.

Learners are ready to move to the next stage in education, employment or training. Where applicable, they gain a BTEC tech award level 2 qualification that allow them to go on to destinations that meet their interests and aspirations.

  • Assessment in KS4
      • Assessment throughout KS4 qualifications – As detailed in the assessment plan for formal assessments both internally and externally.
      • Full Mock papers completed in preparation for the external examination.
      • Assessment briefs internally verified and student work marked and verified following Pearson’s guidelines for BTECs.
  • Outcomes at KS3 & KS4
      • Comparisons made nationally and locally.
      • Break down of components within each qualification – QLA.
      • Break down of vulnerable groups.
      • SISRA data scrutinised termly by teachers and leaders.
      • Participation rate in extra-curricular activities and interventions.
  • Feedback / Marking
    • Students make changes to informal and externally assessed preparation work confidently and correctly.
    • School marking policy applied by all teachers.
    • Whole Class Feedback slides used to generate feedback and DIRT.
    • Unit 2 external exam ‘mock’ marked, moderated and standardised during formal department meetings
    • Unit 1 and Unit 3 internal components marked and standardised in line with Pearson’s guidelines for BTECs
  • Student Voice groups
      • Students are asked to rate the quality of teaching experienced via student voice.
      • Students asked to evaluate the curriculum and extra-curricular opportunities offered.
      • Student voice results shared with staff and results used to inform future planning.
  • Staff Well-being
      • Confident staff within the Travel and Tourism department.
      • Creative and innovative staff, who take ownership for individual classes, but contribute to cohorts.
      • Professional dialogues for teaching and learning, work scrutiny, appraisal and lesson observation.
      • Workload is manageable and sustainable.

 

Implementation of the Travel and Tourism Curriculum:

Teachers of Travel and Tourism have a good knowledge of the subject and courses they teach. For any non-specialist teaching support and CPD is provided.

Teachers will present subject content clearly, promoting appropriate discussion. Teachers check learning and understanding, identify misconceptions accurately and provide clear, direct feedback. Teachers will respond and adapt their teaching as necessary.

Teachers and leaders must use assessment well, for example to help learners embed and knowledge fluently, or check understanding and inform teaching.

Internal assessments must be prepared for well with practise assignments to ensure the skills set required for achievement have been developed. External examinations will be delivered in a way that promotes long-term memory as well as the appropriate exam technique required to respond effectively to questioning. Students need to develop a culture for ‘revision’ and the required skills to revise effectively.

  • Schemes of work
      • 2019/20 revised curriculum for teaching of both a 2 year and 3 year KS4 curriculum
      • Literacy and numeracy activities incorporated into lessons wherever possible – literacy based task also within all assessments and numeracy where appropriate; particularly graphs and data.
      • Extra-curricular opportunities provided/educational trips linked to the Travel and Tourism industry.
      • The curriculum is appropriate and engaging to students. Content is relevant to all learners and diverse.
      • Revision for the external examination is embedded into SOL to ensure content is retained in the long-term.
      • Assessments are reviewed and amended where necessary to support outcomes and to ensure the ‘deeper learning’ approach.
      • KS4 tracking sheets to track and inform progress and to address any issues and will be used by both staff and students.
  • Quality of marking and feedback
      • Creative ways of feedback and monitoring across qualifications (written, verbal, whole class)
      • Clear expectations and routines for student response to feedback.
      • Standardisation activities and departmental work scrutiny to be completed.
  • Extra-curricular and intervention
      • Targeted intervention at planned stages of course delivery to ensure students are challenged to at least achieve their target grade.
      • Planned revision in preparation for the unit 2 external examination.
      • Educational visitors linked to internal assessments to support learning.
      • Guest speakers from the Travel and Tourism industry to support course content and enable learning to be more applied.
      • Support from local colleges through speakers and visits to encourage further study beyond Ks4.
  • Use of social media
      • Use of school website and social media pages to promote the subject and its successes.
      • Photos to promote trips, extra-curricular and success lessons.
      • School Text messages to communicate with parents regarding planned intervention or important information.
      • Google classroom to communicate revision materials.
  • Communication with parents and carers
      • Positive phone calls made termly re: progress/attitude/commitment
      • Concerns communicated via phone calls, letters and through meetings.
      • Progress letters to be sent to parents following formal mock exams.