Westfield Sports College!

I visited Westfield Sports College in Sheffield today

Westfield Sports College is a large secondary school in the south east area of Sheffield. In addition to its sports status, the College also has business and enterprise accreditation. I was there to see Siobhan Kent, the deputy head teacher, whose vision, passion and energy has driven the development of their Challenge Curriculum. The Challenge Curriculum occupies a day a week of the Year 7 curriculum with a carousel of challenges; the charity challenge, the Westfield olympic challenge, the Sheffield 2099 challenge, the fashion challenge and the 'seven wonders' challenge. Siobhan had organized a great programme for me which included opportunities to talk to her and Andy Ireland, the interim headteacher, about their vision for the curriculum. I then met a small group of articulate Year 8 students who, as well as being a great advert for the school, had experienced the programme last year and were now acting as peer tutors on the programme for the current Year 7 groups.  I also had lunch with some of the challenge team, who are now a faculty within the school structure, as well as watching some of the challenge lessons to give me flavor of what the team are doing to develop learning and skills. The school has a strong coaching culture and the Challenge Curriculum clearly adds a really powerful element to the offer to young people.
Chris