Nothing succeeds like success. And success does not come much more spectacularly than at an after-school ICT club at Falmer High School, near Brighton. It is an ICT club with a difference, its members on a mission:

“To achieve the intermediate level GNVQ in ICT.”

“We were in a situation where we needed to raise achievement,” explains Chris Sweeney, the school’s head of ICT. They felt they had nothing to lose when the offer came to set up the club at Varndean, a local technology college to which Falmer is the secondary link school. Nothing to lose, and plenty to gain, it transpires; the club’s first year saw a pass rate of 98 per cent.

The club was born two years ago when headteacher Antony Edkins addressed the school and set each student the challenge of attaining five A*-C GCSEs. GNVQ is a way of doing it because an Intermediate GNVQ in ICT is the equivalent of 4 GCSEs, something the students were quick to pick up on, says Chris.

Funded by a charitable donation from Education Extra, the club’s 25 members meet for two hours each week after school. The teaching atmosphere, says Chris, is more relaxed. “You can have a reasoned discussion with students on a one-to-one basis where they’re not in a hothouse of academic achievement.” He acknowledges that it extends the teaching day but then points out that sometimes it is possible to achieve much more in a single, two-hour hit than normal one-hour lessons.

Barry Marcantonio was one of the successful students from the club’s first year. With a full timetable there was, he reflects, barely sufficient time for ICT during school hours, so the opportunity to study for a GNVQ after school was ideal. “It was very challenging, but I enjoyed it,” he says, adding that he is now studying ICT to AS-level. “It was a good course to do. It boosted people’s passes as well, which is good.”

Initially, the scheme was available only to Year 11, but when this year it was extended to Year 10, they were queuing at the head of year’s door to enrol. “That’s how much it has taken off,” says Chris. “They want to get these GCSEs as well.”

“It really has motivated students,” says Antony Edkins, adding that there have been extra benefits such as aptitude in other subjects and willingness to succeed. “It couldn’t have happened without the support of Education Extra.”

It was Irving Berlin who wrote that the toughest thing about success is that you have to keep on being a success. But, in terms of student interest, the club’s popularity has become almost self-propagating now that the ball is rolling. Even so, successful GNVQ candidates have returned to the school to talk to potential new members. Chris says they can sell it far more easily than he can as a teacher. Not that it appears to require any sort of hard-sell. He recently canvassed Year 9 students to gauge future uptake: “We are looking at probably 140 wanting to take the GNVQ,” he tells me. In terms of logistics and resources that could pose some interesting challenges for the future.

Would it work at your school?

Chris Sweeney’s suggestions: canvass Year 9. How many are interested? Talk to them in small groups. Explain how GNVQ works, how it is achieved. Do not cherry-pick the best candidates. Consider particularly those at risk of not attaining five A*-C GCSEs. “It is very important to be very open about what the work is, but also how much more fun it is.”

Email: Office@falmer.brighton-hove.sch.uk

www.educationextra.org.uk