Guroo Supporting GCSEs in Secondary Education

Click here to download a PDF copy of this functional skills case study.

Broadway School

Broadway School is a comprehensive school with 1200 pupils, situated in the middle of Birmingham.
The school is undertaking a pilot with year 10 pupils with the aim of completing Level 1 and Level 2 Functional Skills within one academic year.
Nearly 60 pupils are involved in the trial and all are using Guroo every week, both online and on paper according to the availability of ICT facilities

Objectives

Broadway is determined to support learners in developing Functional Skills in all three subjects, with particular initial focus on English.
The pilot group of pupils would have been expected to achieve an A*-C result at GCSE but the school knows that they now have to demonstrate functionality to achieve those grades in the new criteria.
As well as improving their GCSE prospects, the school sees Functional Skills as an important part of preparing their pupils for future employment and their role in the “real world”.

The Teacher View

“I requested a starter pack from Guroo and immediately knew it was for us”
“Guroo really has helped me get my head around teaching FS and I am so much happier knowing there is a safety net of great resources to help us”
“the site is easy to use and even staff who are technically ‘less able’ are having a go and the feedback has been great”
“it has taken a lot of pressure off me in terms of planning and I can concentrate on hitting all the skills needed for the exams”

Guroo in Action

With a relatively short time available to cover Levels 1 and 2, teachers use all the different Guroo resources to immerse learners in the scenario used by each Challenge.
Whole lessons are based around the context of a Guroo Challenge, which the school uses to demonstrate how the functional aspects of their subjects apply to real life situations – and to inspire other work around the core theme.
Level 1 Challenges are used to bridge into Level 2 work and videos and podcasts are used to open lessons in an engaging – and often amusing – way.
Vicki Jackson, AST in English says “Classes generally like being able to see all the skills they are using on the front page of the Challenge, and they enjoy a feeling of accomplishment after each Challenge.
There is a clear structure to each Challenge, and learners enjoy seeing a clear route of progression.
As the lead teacher for English Functional Skills I get to tick off which skills they have practised and to what extent.”

What Learners Like

“learners say it is a great way to learn new skills”
“the practical nature … helps engage the boys who struggle with the basic elements”
“they find the activities both fun and rewarding”

The Future

Guroo’s new cross-curriculum resources are going to form the basis of “Functional Days” that will be held several times during Year 9.

Guroo and You

Guroo Functional Skills resources are already used in hundreds of schools and colleges … and in a wide variety of private training, work based learning, and alternative provision organisations.
A unique mix of online and offline resources cover every level, subject and cross-curriculum vocational areas to support the development of Functional Skills in a wide variety of teaching and learning styles.
My Functional Skills ™ tracks your learners’ progress and provides essential diagnostic reports to guide activity.