Case Study
The Manor School, Mansfield Woodhouse
Animal Care Course delivered by Access Training
September 2008 to May 2010
The Level One Animal course at The Manor School
finished in May 2010 with all 9 pupils gaining their NVQ
Level 1 in Animal Care.
The idea for the partnership came about as a result of one
of the Nottinghamshire 14-19 Network meetings when Judith
Wright, Schools Development Manager, heard Angela Child of
Beech Hill Special School give a talk about the varied
curriculum on offer at Beech Hill. Recognising that Access
Training could offer a Level 1 course in Animal Care that
was both achievable and vocational, she broached this with
Beech Hill realising that if a course was to run, it would
need a venue with animals.
Since networking is what the 14-19 meetings are about, it
was not long before the name of Ian Saunders, Deputy Head at
The Manor, was put forward. Not only did the school have
some animals, but a barn, fields and even ran an annual show
in the summer term. As the school already ran a successful
GCSE course in Land and Environment, Ian was concerned that
there would be insufficient numbers to make any course
viable but he pledged to support us if we could drum up
enough learners. The school’s ethos is to develop young
people so that they fulfil their potential and they are
happy to consider ways to enhance their curriculum offer and
find out more about vocational qualifications and so with
this commitment we felt it was worth pursuing.
Back to networking. Angela then invited Judith to talk to a
group of delegates from special schools in Nottinghamshire
who meet regularly to share good practice. There was much
enthusiasm expressed at this meeting so a visit was arranged
to The Manor School to view their facilities. As you can see
from the photographs, they could not fail to be impressed
and following a taster session held in May, 11 pupils from 4
different schools started the course in September 2008.
The course ran on a Tuesday morning starting at 10am and
finishing at 1pm. The timing was problematic as it does not
neatly fit in to The Manor School timetable but was the
earliest one of the schools, Ash Lea from Cotgrave, could
get there. Initially 3 pupils were from The Manor, 4 from
Ash Lea, 3 from Beech Hill and 1 from Brunts. It was agreed
at the outset that the course would run for 2 years to fit
in with KS4 and would include lots of simple enrichment
activities to reinforce literacy and numeracy linked to
animal care and employability skills. The resulting
qualification is the NPTC Level 1 NVQ in Animal Care which
is the equivalent of 5 GCSEs at grades D-G and is assessed
through work based practical activities.
One pupil, Chance Oduba of The Manor, was already in Year 11
when he started the course, so the challenge was for him to
complete the qualification within the year. This he did,
gaining his certificate in July 2009. He is one of our Success
Stories and was nominated for the School Achiever
Nottinghamshire Training Network award this year. Ian
Saunders was delighted with what the course had offered
Chance commenting that it was “spot on”. Unfortunately the
other 2 Manor pupils, both of them girls, have not continued
into the second year. When one of them lost interest, the
other followed. The timing of the course, meaning that they
were out of synch with their peers at the beginning of the
day and at lunch time, did not help either.
One Beech Hill pupil was not continued into the second year
as the course clashed with other college provision but we
were able to fast track him so
that he gained the qualification.
All of the 9 successful students were
invited to attend our annual Celebration Event held at Notts
County Ground and have their certificates presented by
Antony May.
Feedback from the schools talks of the
benefit of their learners coming out of their comfort of
their special schools and mixing with
pupils from other schools, of new friendships forged, of
their learners increased confidence. Pupils on the course
planned a trip to White Post Farm in order to enhance their
experience of different animals. Tutor, Sally Small, built
the trip into her scheme of work maximising opportunities
for learners to research and map the facilities, plan a
route, identify health & safety issues as well as
encouraging the pupils to socialise with each other. The
pupils were also involved in the planning and promotion of
The Manor School’s annual show held at the end of the summer
term. This event is for pupils of the school and people in
the local neighbourhood to enter their animals in
competitions. It was a lovely, fun day and we were delighted
that Jackie Loftus and Sally Small from our Animal Team were
both asked to be judges.
Pictures below show learners working in the classroom and in
the barn but perhaps the following comment adds most weight
to the value of the course:
“You learn how to do body checks and feed charts so you know
how much they should have. I know how to clean out animals
and how to dispose of waste. The best thing is being with
the animals and learning how to take care of them. You know
what you are letting yourself in for when you sign on the
course – because you’ve had the taster session.” Jake of
Beech Hill School
Stephanie Carnaby (Ash Lea School) with
Elaine Haslam (TA from Brunts) making a poster of key
features in advance of the White Post Farm trip.
