The Perfect Project

The following checklist is based partly on the Business Excellence Model which underpins the evaluation processes of Barclays New Futures. It was applied to all five BNF award winning schools featured in The Salisbury Project.

Additional material arises from the direct experience of participants.

Students may be able to help with or carry out many of these tasks. Every possible opportunity should be made to allow them to have a go. Staff across the entire range of 700 BNF projects are amazed by the level of responsibility students can handle, including those in special schools.

Leadership

1. Establish details of need being addressed.
2. Ensure everyone affected by the project knows about it and understands the objectives for student led work within active citizenship.
3. The senior management team fully supports the project.
4. Teachers create links between course work and the project.
5. All staff recognise and commend the efforts of students to be responsible and caring or simply involved, according to ability.
   Teachers refer to the value of active citizenship when talking to parents and the public.
6. Partners are recruited and intentions communicated.
7. Logistics are investigated and arrangements made.
8. Health and safety and insurance implications are checked.

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Policy and Strategy

1. The school citizenship curriculum encompasses active citizenship and social responsibility.
2. The project features in the School Development Plan.
3. Teachers are aware of the opportunities to create curriculum links with the project.
4. The school uses the project for evidence of community links, inclusion and standards.

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People Management

1. Recruitment and induction plans are made.
2. The principles of student management, responsibility and involvement are established.
3. Roles and tasks for all concerned are agreed and regularly clarified.
4. An action plan is drawn up and regularly updated with all participants. Include "Desired outcomes" and "Progress/Result".
5. Communication channels are agreed and set in place.
6. Students and staff understand the high value placed on active citizenship.
7. Specialist advice and training is provided where this will improve delivery of the project.

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Resources

1. The expenditure and use of resources reflects the aims and objectives of the project.
2. The real costs of the project, including time and resources supplied by the school, external agencies and the community, are identified. (Vital information for planning for sustainability and of interest to potential funders and the media).
3. Project participants understand what is needed to sustain it in time, money and equipment.
4. Sources of cash and support are being sought throughout the life of the project. (By linking with other agencies and community projects a far wider band of funding streams becomes available. Many other groups are now expected to work with young people and hard to reach groups).
5. The action plan looks ahead to funding opportunities well beyond the present activity.

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Processes

1. Research into need and attitude is carried out before initial plans are made.
2. Plans are checked with all affected before implementation.
3. All key decisions are taken by the full team.
4. The team agrees how and what to measure as success criteria.
5. Everyone affected understands project intentions and any new ideas.
6. Open forms of communication are established eg assemblies, notice boards or web page with message facility.
7. Everyone is kept informed and regularly updated throughout the project.
8. Communication channels between team members, partners, suppliers and others are understood, used and reviewed.
9. Administrative support is sought. Meetings are noted, the notes are posted for all to see, phone calls are made and reported on, records are kept safely, the project portfolio is kept up to date and available to view, as is the action plan.
10. The action plan includes sustainability tasks.
11. Teachers embed project tasks and learning in the curriculum.
12. Monitoring and recording plans are made and reviewed.
13. Time is allocated for team and personal reflection and whole project review.
14. Media involvement is planned.
15. Learning and achievements are celebrated.

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Outcomes

Outcomes can be broken down into impact on individuals, the school and the community.

Individuals

Through both structured and informal opportunities for reflection, a successful project would have collected evidence of:

1. Individual learning outcomes for students.
2. The impact on raising achievement through academic and other progress indicators such as attendance and social responsibility.
3. Learning outcomes for other participants – staff, parents, partners, suppliers, advisers, helpers and beneficiaries.
4. How target groups are thinking and feeling about plans, developments and outcomes as they occur.
5. Revised perceptions of the value of the work.

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School

A successful project would have:

1. Fed information into all aspects of school life concerned with community links eg applications for special status, OfSTED, requirements for other accreditation routes such as course work, extra curricular programmes and the NRA as well as school brochures, newsletters and media contact.
2. Shown impact on several areas of the curriculum.
3. Involved AOTs such as Connexions PAs, LSAs, and other regular visitors. This indicates whole school awareness and potential help with accreditation routes and processes and even alternative sources of funding.
4. Encouraged a culture where constructive feedback between all stakeholders becomes a feature of school life.
5. Acted to provide for the ongoing training needs of all participants, including the professional development of teachers.

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Wider Community

A successful project would have:

1. Demonstrated positive and measurable impacts on the community including the formation of new partnerships.
2. Collected evidence to show that people in the community, including parents, understand and value active citizenship as part of the education process.
3. Continued to keep the community informed, including evaluation feedback and reports.

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Results

Could designated funding be generated by all the stakeholders - ie including those agencies concerned with youth employment, regeneration etc? AND, could society decide that some of this work is more relevant to society`s needs than some of the tasks currently undertaken by senior staff?

Partners

A successful project:

1. Has been well recorded and measurements made.
2. Has clarified and celebrated all new learning with the stakeholder.
3. Can show clearly how the original intentions have been met or transformed.
4. Understands how the results justify the effort, energy, creativity, initiative and resources used.

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