Golden Time at St. John’s Primary Rosyth

Development Background

In our school we have developed Golden Time on a Friday afternoon for the pupils in P5-P7. I have invited parents and people from the local community to come in and use their skills to provide activities which interest the children.
It was felt that Golden Time had become rather stale and certainly was no longer working as an incentive towards good behaviour as was the intention set out by Jenny Mosely when this now popular Friday afternoon activity was introduced.
As a class teacher I was aware that often the children spent most of their Golden Time looking for something to do and someone to do it with. The children who had lost Golden Time, especially in the most senior classes, did not find watching the others a particularly difficult thing to do and often tried to interact with them.
I had the idea that if there were actual activities to which the children went then perhaps they would be more motivated to keep the Golden Time they were earning during the week. Some of the activities I had in mind would only be able to be undertaken if the child had acquired their full Golden Time, e.g. Cookery.

Staff Involvement

I approached the staff, some of the parents, (the ones I knew had certain skills and interests) and people connected to the school from the local area. I also enlisted the help of the newly appointed Active Schools Coordinator for our area group.
I managed, from this group of people to provide the following activities: cookery, karaoke, hockey, short tennis, (giving a student valuable coaching experience) gardening, IT, a school web-site group, (also one of the targets in our SDP) cross stitch, board games, art and craft, a library group and construction. My head teacher provided some funds for sports coaching and materials and we were ready to begin.
The most straight forward way to organise the children was to get them to sign up for an activity for a block of time (usually about 6 weeks) giving a period of continuity and time to produce an end result for the appropriate groups. It also meant that if they did not enjoy their chosen activity they were not stuck there forever and could choose a different activity the next time.
In consultation with the staff it was decided that some of the activities would be reserved for the P7s, as they were the group proving most difficult to motivate.
Everyone who came on board was very committed and put a lot of themselves, their time (in advance and on Friday afternoons) and their personal resources into the task they were undertaking. The ladies taking the cross-stitch group, for example, have supplied their own patterns and have used leftover threads and materials from their own projects. And the lady taking the cookery (a retired home economics teacher) buys her ingredients while doing her own shopping on a Friday morning. These are just examples because everyone has given more of themselves than I had expected.
One other point worth making is that once the project was underway, it became dynamic. Adults actually started approaching me and offering new activities.

Measuring Success

New Golden Time has shown its success in several ways. Staff have commented that in the senior wing (our school is open plan) you could hear a pin drop, that it is the quietest time in the whole week. The children, when I gave them a questionnaire about Golden Time, stated in no uncertain terms (and to a man) that Golden Time was now, “a lot more fun”, “great” and “a lot better” among other very positive comments. The parents and helpers have been impressed with the children’s enthusiasm for their chosen task and have not had one single incident of questionable behaviour. The headteacher and depute are pleased with the project and take the children who have not earned all of their Golden Time giving them a chance to reinforce the school message about good behaviour and monitor the children who are consistently not achieving full Golden Time.

The most challenging aspect of the project was remembering to keep people informed if there were any changes. Monitoring some of the children was also quite difficult in that if they had forgotten their PE kit they would often slope off to another activity trying to be un-noticed, so it was difficult to make sure all of the really precious places were actually used. Now I try to go round the classes on a Thursday (in my non-contact time) to check the position of lost Golden Time and remind the children of any kit they need to bring.

Key Points

Three key messages:
• Be enthusiastic yourself and be prepared to take part in whatever you can.
• Parents feel welcomed, included and valued by being approached to bring their particular skills into their child’s school.
• Constantly review what is going on and keep trying to make it better – it may well become dynamic!

Written by Jane Allan, St. John’s Primary, Rosyth in Fife.
Jane can be contacted at school on 01383 313499.