Spurley Hey High School in Manchester was a failing school. “Attendance was poor,” says new head Mary Powell. “We were still split-site and were in the throes of a two-year building programme. We had the lowest ever intake at Year 7. It was a time for forward thinking - we chose key stage 4 curriculum as its focus.”

Some of her colleagues smile at that “we chose”. None, however, challenges the diagnosis. Spurley Hey (11 to 16 mixed, 800 pupils, 50 teachers) is two miles from the centre of the city in an area of decaying industry and housing.

A different curriculum, Mary Powell thought, would raise pupils’ self-esteem and remotivate their learning. “We wanted a curriculum that would rest on real pupil choice rather than the artificial choice of so-called option systems. The Dearing rules gave us an opportunity.”

There were two important preliminary decisions: to switch to a 25 x 60-minute week, which opened up the whole of the curriculum to reconsideration, and to divide the week at key stage 4 into a 12-period core and a 13-period free choice option.

Except for the modern foreign language requirement, the compulsory elements are all in the core: three hours each of English, maths and single-science, two hours of technology, one hour each of PE with games and personal, social and religious education. “This leaves,” the illustrated options booklet says, “12 lessons for you to fill with options of your choice - provided only that one of them is French.”

In curriculum terms the novelty lies in the fact that these offerings come in different sizes. There is a range of free-standing GCSE courses taking three periods each: art, child development, drama, economics, expressive arts, French, geography, history, information systems, information technology (IT) with business studies, media studies, music.

But there is also a menu of short courses which take one or two periods a week. These can be either short GCSEs (art, French), GCSE extensions or structured short courses certified by the Royal Society of Arts, units of accreditation and, it is planned, general national vocational qualifications (GNVQ). These include art, electronic music, French, health and social care, IT, orienteering, travel and tourism. There is also an option called “support”.

Support - available for up to 11 of the optional periods - is central to the thinking. A quarter of the pupils have special needs. Year 10 pupils who think they need extra help with their core or option choices can earmark periods for it during which they work with special needs co-ordinator Kate Connolly on individual programmes agreed between Kate and the appropriate subject teacher.

John Ashcroft, who has special responsibility for liaison with parents and contributory schools, is enthusiastic. “One of its strengths is that for the first time here, most of the parents have really been involved. Another is that it lets us play to the strengths we’ve got.”

Electronic music is a case in point. With an enviable recording studio at their disposal two Year 10 groups are planning the early programmes for Radio Spurley Hey. To begin with they broadcast in the lunch hour to the school, but with business help they could become a real community radio station. Course accreditation is still unresolved, but the quality of the work and the enthusiasm of the pupils is its own reward.

Malcolm Birkett, responsible for Year 10 pastoral and academic progress, says, “All Year 10 option teachers would tell you that pupil motivation has improved, largely because we have been able to meet 96 per cent of their free curriculum choices. The priorities now are to look for firmer accreditation and build up the form tutor system - on the old split site we hardly had one - to handle guidance.”

Mary Powell agrees. GNVQ part 1 accreditation in health and social care and leisure and tourism, she says, would strengthen the programme without any loss of flexibility. It would be her chosen solution, too, for the French short courses. This month’s half GCSE syllabus from the Northern Examination and Assessment Board is“within a whisker of a full GCSE - far too demanding for our weaker children”.

Like her staff, she is realistic about potential snags. In the options, for example, there is no setting by ability - pupil choice determines grouping. On the other hand, there is more flexibility: one teacher can teach the same course to different groups. And as yet, “in spite of every check that’s known to man”, it hasn’t significantly improved attendance. The school has to guard, too, against the expectation that curriculum change alone will bring about the changes it is seeking.

On balance, though, she is convinced the change is working. “In most subjects, ” she says, “there has been a phenomenal increase in motivation. It has to feed through in more attainment.”

It has indeed. Spurley Hey’s position in the league tables is precarious. This year only 10 pupils in the year group chose the full four-subject GCSE option. The 1997 results will be crucially important.

The immediate test, though, will be whether Mary Powell and timetabler Gwyn Arnold can repeat the short course magic next September, and fit both key stage 4 year groups into the free choice pattern.

Michael Duffy was formerly head of King Edward V1 School in Morpeth, Northumberland, and is editor of the Secondary Heads Association’s quarterly magazine, Headlines