Outwood Grange Academies Trust offers BTEC in Performing Arts across many of its schools. This cohesive approach enables Senior Leaders to manage their curriculum in a consistent way and allows teachers to apply their knowledge and expertise as well as share best practice and resources. Students also benefit hugely from a skills-based, integrated curriculum to help them fulfil their potential.

Erin Braithwaite, Director of Performing Arts for the trust, emphasises the importance of arts as well as the need for a multi-academy trust to adopt the same qualifications across the board: “Our teachers can share resources and best practice across the trust, making the teaching more effective and freeing up time to focus on giving students the best education and opportunities for their future.”

The trust has found that BTECs work for them because of their adaptability, meaning that students of all capabilities are able to develop throughout the qualification. Beverly Clarke, BTEC Dance Teacher at Outwood Academy Adwick, recognises that the nature of BTEC helps students prepare for their careers: “It gives the students the opportunity to reflect on their work on a regular basis which is something they’re going to need to do in the future, constantly reflecting on what they’ve done and how they need to improve it.”

With learners who are preparing for careers in an ever-evolving workforce, the need for key transferable skills such as creativity, critical thinking, complex problem-solving and communication is becoming more and more apparent – and essential. The Outwood Grange Academies Trust understands these needs and their teachers put them at the fore, with a focus on developing workplace-ready skills for a variety of roles: “Let’s face it, we’re teaching students for jobs that we don’t even know are going to exist yet. It also allows them to be full people.”

We spoke to a BTEC student at one of the academies in the trust, who shared the positive things he had learned since beginning his BTEC in Performing Arts. He spoke of both his improved technical performing skills and his new-found confidence in himself and his abilities – stating that his BTEC has inspired him to pursue a teaching career in the performing arts sector.