Flying Start

Heather Pollitt

195^+VATInteractive978 1 84070 214 9

• Develop personal, thinking and learning skills
• Support independent learning
• Boost retention rates

Ready for new challenges

As students progress through their educational career, they constantly encounter new challenges, requiring greater independence and depth of understanding. Particularly when making the transition to post-16 education, some students may struggle to cope – sometimes even those who have been top achievers.

Focus on thinking skills

Flying Start is an exciting, involving set of materials, covering the key academic, personal and social issues that students must address if they are to progress successfully. By developing a range of personal, learning and thinking skills, it sets out to ensure that students can meet new challenges confidently.

The secondary curriculum identifies personal, learning and thinking skills as the main way of ensuring that students learn to be:

• independent enquirers
• creative thinkers
• reflective learners
• team workers
• self-managers
• effective participators.

Flying Start enables you to develop these skills in your students, through dedicated material and guidance on:

• researching information
• making convincing arguments
• extended writing
• speaking and presenting
• time management
• coping with stress.

At sixth form level

Flying Start is ideal as the basis for an intensive induction course, a tutorial programme or a series of study skills sessions. Practical and engaging throughout, the material is provided as a series of assignments, each of which is well supported by explanation, activities and sample answers.

For Years 10 and 11

Flying Start can also form an effective element within your school’s Gifted and Talented programme, helping able KS4 students to develop their study skills and prepare to meet the challenges that await them.

Inherent flexibility

Flying Start can be teacher-led, but focusing on supported self-study, contact time can be as low as 15%. The detailed teacher’s material is ideal for use by tutors, learning mentors and specialist staff. It is flexible enough to suit a wide variety of timescales and approaches. By selecting material carefully and varying the delivery model, Flying Start can be used for:

• learning mentors creating IEPs
• gifted and talented cohorts
• sixth form induction
• tutorial and enrichment programmes, helping students to progress from GCSE to AS, or from AS to A-level
• FE colleges working with students to increase engagement, retention and achievement
• refresher courses for adult learners returning to formal education.

The support you need

The invaluable tutor guidance section helps you to consider a variety of topics, including:

• Your delivery model
• Involving colleagues
• Approaches to assessment
• Supporting students.

Flying Start is modular and is designed for maximum flexibility, with each part student-centred and activity-led.

Delivered online

Flying Start is accessed online, meaning that students and tutors can access the material anywhere they have an Internet connection, and making it easy for parents to get involved as well.

The resource is supplied as an annual subscription running from September to September, priced at £195^+VAT for the first year and £95^+VAT to renew in subsequent years. All the material can be copied and shared freely within the school while your subscription is active.

Please call 01223 350555 if you require more information.

Contents

Section 1: Getting started

• Introduction
• Assess your strengths
• Your learning style
• Using ICT

Section 2: Essential skills - A series of supported activities on fundamental skills:

• Note-taking
• Skimming
• Scanning
• Plagiarism and referencing
• Analyse vs describe
• ICT and information handling
• Understanding statistics
• Presenting your work well
• Presenting data
• Convincing arguments
• Speaking and presenting

Section 3: Extended writing - A selection of subject/discipline-specific tasks, all based around the multi-stage process:

• Making a start
• Analysing assignment briefs
• Gathering information
• Organising materials
• Ordering information
• Writing your response
• Checking and editing

Section 4: Personal development

• Time management
• Being organised
• Assertiveness
• Coping with stress
• Looking ahead

Section 5: Test your knowledge