First PiXL apprentice at Ridgeway School

A national scheme, taken up by a school in Plympton to develop student’s employability skills, has its first apprentice.
Every student at Ridgeway School has been registered for PiXL Edge and 13 year old Phoebe Lansley in Year 9 is the first to gain the apprentice award.
PiXL Edge is a framework for schools to develop in students those personal attributes essential for employability and life. It is a national scheme that was devised with a number of large employers including Sky Sports and the CBI.
The scheme focuses on five key life attributes: leadership, organisation, initiative, resilience and communication. Students need to complete a series of activities within the programme for each of the key attributes and can qualify at three levels: apprentice, graduate and master.
At apprentice level, students have to complete two activities under each heading. The activity should last between a couple of hours and a term and can include attending an after school club for ten weeks, being part of a sports team and being an ambassador at an open evening.
The graduate level requires students to carry out one activity from each level with an additional three of their choice. Here the activities have to take place for a minimum of twelve weeks, up to twelve months. There are over 1000 activities to choose from including sport, drama, creative arts and cooking.
Those who complete both of these levels can move onto master, where the challenges last for a minimum of twelve months.
Phoebe who started PiXL Edge in June this year helped lead sessions in PE by teaching other students to row and has been a Junior Leadership representative in eight other activities that lasted between a few hours and twelve weeks.
‘I have carried out a range of activities including assisting the school librarian, completed 12 hours of sports leadership, taken part in a school production and have helped out during open evenings for Year 5 and 6 students. I really enjoyed taking part in the activities and think that PiXL Edge is a good way of recording what I do both in and out of school. I’m now working towards my graduate level and hope to complete that before I finish Year 10,” said Phoebe Lansley.
Since September, over 1,839 activities have been started, with 133 being completed and Ridgeway School is hoping to add to the PiXL Edge apprentices and graduates roll of honour very soon.
‘PiXL Edge is a fantastic opportunity for students. We have a lot of students who are already involved in a wide variety of enrichment opportunities including sports leadership; attend after-school clubs that focus on a wide variety of subjects including Art, History and Science or are involved in local community activities, said Ian Hartley, Head of Religious Studies & Personal Development.
“By introducing these award schemes, students can use these to demonstrate their skills in the five main areas that employers are looking for, including leadership, organisation, initiative and resilience.”
Already there is a positive buzz around PiXL Edge from both students and teachers.
“Everyone can see the value of the qualification and teachers are seeing students demonstrate these qualities both in the classroom and around school, “said Lisa Boorman principal designate.