Merton School Wins National School & Student Awards

Bishopsford School & Year 8 Student Make a Connection with Citizenship Skills

Bishopsford Community School in Merton and Year 8 student, Tess Hill (13), were today honoured in the first annual Make a Connection School & Student Awards. The prizes, awarded by The Children & Youth Partnership Foundation (NCB) and supported by Nokia, rewarded Tess for her leadership and volunteering roles and her school for its outstanding achievements in teaching life skills and citizenship.

The programme behind the awards, Make a Connection, provides teacher training and a life skills classroom resource for citizenship and personal development for 11 to 14 year olds. It is focused on three areas of development: connecting with yourself; with others and with the community. It teaches young people to become active, positive participants in their community.

The introduction of Make a Connection was one of the key factors that contributed to Bishopsford Community School's OFSTED accreditation earlier this year. The programme has helped to improve the overall teaching standard and student academic performance. Today's prize-giving is evidence that this has been successfully achieved.

A key achievement has been changing the student and teaching staff's attitudes towards learning and the community. Paul Harwood, commented: "Since introducing Make a Connection, we've noticed a difference in the way students like Tess take on leadership roles, volunteer and engage in activities."

Eva Halper from NCB, which designs and manages Make a Connection, states: "Purely academic achievement does not guarantee success in the modern world. Make a Connection goes beyond the traditional curriculum, providing essential skills, helping young people to become competent, confident, responsible and caring adults."