A new award has been launched aimed at shining a light on schools that celebrate the achievements and successes of a wide range of their pupils, not just those who get the highest marks or grades.
Called the Success Looks Different award, it has been developed by Children in Scotland and Scotland’s national Inclusion Ambassadors Network, a group of secondary school-aged pupils with a range of additional support needs (ASN), whose experiences of education are fed back to the government.
The award follows the call for the achievement and successes of children with ASN to be “celebrated publicly, in equivalence to attainment and exam results”.
In Angela Morgan’s review of additional support for learning - published in 2020 - she said a “narrow view of learning” and “the dominant focus on qualifications” was contributing to “the lack of visibility of children and young people in the public and political debate on education”.
Schools can self-nominate for the award by sharing how they are promoting, supporting and celebrating success that does not take the form of exam results. This could include any school-wide celebrations of non-academic successes or how individual pupils are recognised.
Lucy Johnson is the children’s rights and communications officer with Enquire, the Scottish advice service for additional support for learning, which is managing the award. She said: “We know, for many children and young people - particularly those with additional support needs - exam results do not represent the successes achieved in someone’s educational journey.
“This award provides a platform for schools to share some of the innovative work we know that is going on to support and celebrate the success of their pupils, where success and achievement does not necessarily come in the form of test scores.
“We look forward to hearing some of the wonderful work that is going on across the country and announcing our very first Success Looks Different award winner.”
The award is open to all publicly funded schools in Scotland, including primary, secondary, nurseries and special schools.
To enter, follow this link. Entries will close on Friday 10 June at 5pm.
