Rainbow Theme Craft Project

RNIB Loughborough have developed a Rainbow Themed Craft Project that engages learners in a variety of ways.

Download the individual components of the pack:

Or

Download the entire Rainbow Craft Project (zip format)

You can also download some Personal Effective Targets Examples and some Targets for ICT Basic Rainbow theme

Introduce the approach or activity

The College wanted to find a coherent plan for students working at home. Staff put into place a two weekly college theme which provides a structure for activities in different subject areas. Key delivery format for students is a craft pack with a wide range of resources and additional activities/resources to provide learning opportunities for other areas e.g. English, maths, ICT, and media.

Resource developed for the following learner cohorts

Wide range of learners from pre entry to Level 2, however would not be appropriate for higher level students unless they had an interest in craft.

Top tips and key considerations

Top tips:

  • Developing bespoke learning materials/activities is a time consuming and expensive process so it is important to get the most out of them– by linking in as many different learning opportunities. For example in the Rainbow pack, there were links to a wide range of subject areas: craft, English, Maths, ICT, sport
  • Clear messaging to parents to make sure activities are used for learning and not activities just to keep busy. Packs are produced fortnightly and are designed to provide activities for two weeks, recognising the fact that young people are unlikely to be as focussed and disciplined at home as they would be if they were at college
  • Whole team approach is needed to ensure packs and activities are targeted appropriately

Key considerations:

  • Ensuring that the content and activities are appropriate for all the levels of students – this was achieved by having three different levels of packs with different level of instructions and activities in the packs. Additional tasks were added in for individual students to ensure they were of interest and met need.
  • Appropriate ways of communicating instructions to students – As the packs have developed staff have expanded delivery methods, starting with written instructions and moving up to streamed videos at appropriate levels.
  • Ensuring clear focus for planned learning not random activities – activities were planned with linked targets in English, maths, ICT and subject targets e.g. craft. Subject leads provide feedback about the appropriate level. Activities were also themed to current events. To support students with different levels of abilities different levels of packs/activities for English, maths and ICT which can be used with the different levels of craft packs so students with high levels of craft skills can develop lower level functional skills.
  • Gathering feedback without overloading parents –targets were provided with tips identifying the best way of collecting evidence. These were provided as part of the packs with SAE to enable posting back of written evidence.
  • Ensuring evidence is robust – key consideration is level of support, need to provide guidance on what support levels look like for the area of work e.g. this is likely to be different for practical tasks than English or maths
  • Developing and monitoring softer targets – working with parents to identify an appropriate target for home working and communicating with parents and collecting evidence.

What resources are required?

  • Wide range of craft resources
  • Media and IT facilities to make and streaming videos
  • Facilities for Email and phone contact with parents and students

How will you capture evidence of learning?

Parents will be asked (where possible) to complete specific target evidence. Evidence will also be gained by telephone calls from the student’s tutor.