Learning and Development at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

The Learning and Development Division of the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust commissioned a DVD presentation capturing, through video interviews and other material, the huge portfolio of learning and development activities they support at the numerous sites across Sheffield. As part of this work, Research Toolkit associates worked closely with the divisions within Learning and Development to construct a narrative of their work and its impact.

Reach for Excellence

The Reach for Excellence Programme (RfE) aims to help able young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in Yorkshire gain a place at one of the country’s leading research universities, as well as ensuring they enter higher education in general. It is run by the University of Leeds, and funded by the HBOS Foundation, with support from the Sutton Trust. Research Toolkit have developed, and manage, the online learning space for this programme.

The Seismic Schools Programme

The Independent/State School Partnerships Grant Scheme, or Building Bridges as it has come to be known, was set up to encourage collaborative working between independent and maintained schools, to widen educational opportunities and share best practice and expertise.

Research Toolkit Limited has developed a successful relationship with the School of Earth & Environment, University of Leeds to support an Independent State School Partnership Project at Leeds. The support offered by Research Toolkit has been to develop an online learning resource for use by the partner schools (teachers and students) and staff at the University of Leeds.

The Campus Calderdale Enterprise Programme

This five-week programme was tailored to the specific needs of gifted and talented youngsters in the Calderdale area of West Yorkshire. The programme comprised three Workshop Days and a series of related online activities, using Research Toolkit Limited’s own online learning space. The online learning environment developed and managed by Research Toolkit Limited enabled learners to: Uutilise a range of idea generation and creative problem solving techniques; Develop a greater understanding of what it means to be enterprising and entrepreneurial; Become more effective networkers and negotiators of time and other resources; Work in teams to produce a solution to a real-life business issue; Develop skills in marketing and marketing planning; and Improve their presentation technique and skills.

'How Science Works'

This project helped sixth form students to develop skills relevant to the ‘How Science Works’ content of A-Level science subjects. It has been supported via funding from Yorkshire Forward (the Regional Development Agency), The Independent/State School Partnership and the Excellence Hub (for Gifted and Talented Youth) and Aimhigher. There were 100 places for Year 12 students in Calderdale who were engaged in Science A Levels. Skills developed as part of the project activity included: communication (e.g. contribute to debates about scientific claims, present orally and in written form), ICT (use of different sources to extract/retrieve/select appropriate information), working with others (e.g. understanding collaborative skills), improving own learning (e.g. critical thinking, reflection and independent learning skills); and problem solving (working issues through, with others, and developing solutions).