Media Release

Issued: 13/03/09

Darton High School wishes to respond to the recent article in the Daily Express (12th March 2009) concerning Barnsley Primary Care Trust's work to help young people quit smoking and (in an un-connected matter), Darton High School's innovative "Twilight Programme" - a formal teaching programme that aims to quickly re-integrate a very small number of students back into their normal lesson timetable.

The school's twilight education initiative currently targets less than 1% of the total student population; the initiative is used as part of an individual pastoral support program.

Students are moved onto the twilight initiative by the Senior Leadership Team through discussion with parents. This decision to move a student onto the twilight sessions is only made if they are displaying persistent anti-social behaviour in school and are at risk of exclusion, the decision is made after all internal intervention strategies have been tried and have been proven to be unsuccessful.

Reintegrating each student back into full time mainstream education is the main purpose of this programme. Students who have low attendance through illness can also use twilight sessions in addition to the normal school day to reclaim some of their lost learning. This gives those students the opportunity to catch-up with the rest of their class.

Headteacher at Darton High School, Mr Simon Hill, comments, "A student's progress is monitored weekly and we look to reward positive changes in behaviour by reintegrating students back into full time education as soon as possible, this is often after 1-2 weeks but can be longer if behaviour remains poor.

The students in the twilight education sessions are subject to the same disciplinary sanctions as any other students in school; they are expected to be on time, in uniform and under no circumstances are they allowed to leave the classroom for any reason. This includes smoking, which is against school rules anywhere on site and is never tolerated under any circumstances."

Work undertaken in the twilight programme is planned in advance by the school's teaching staff and is relevant to their current studies, be that Key Stage 3 or GCSE preparation.

Ends.

Notes to Editor: Darton High School's vision is to provide a high quality education for all our students. We are committed to continuously improving all aspects of that education for young people. What we offer at Darton High School will, within the context of our humanities ethos, support the development of successful, moral, adaptable, autonomous, life-long learners. When this vision is fully realised we will be the first choice for secondary education within our community.