Junior Award Scheme for Schools

About JASS

The Junior Award Scheme for Schools (JASS) is a holistic accredited learning programme for children and young people in Primary, Secondary and Special schools, with increasing commitment, learning and challenge.

The programme is endorsed by, and very similar to, the Duke of Edinburgh Award. The key differences are that it is suitable for a wider age range (KS1-KS4), it is flexible to meet the needs of the students and can therefore be accessed by all.

Benefits & Links to the National Curriculum

The National Curriculum states that schools must promote mental and physical development of pupils and prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.

JASS is an ideal way of meeting these criteria because it develops interpersonal skills, communication, problem solving and team work, and builds self-confidence and a sense of self-wellbeing. JASS can produce successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens.

How JASS Works: The 4 Sections

My Interests

Developing an interest or learning a new skill

Example Activities

  • Music
  • Cookery
  • Art
  • Drama
  • First Aid
  • Umpiring/ refereeing
  • Animal Welfare
  • Learning a language
  • Photography
  • Reading
  • Writing

Get Active, Stay Active

Taking part in sport and physical activity

Example Activities

  • Extra-curricular activity or club including lunchtime or after-school
  • Sports and adventure activities e.g. sailing, kayaking, rock-climbing
  • Orienteering
  • Swimming
  • Life-savers courses
  • Self-organised activity e.g. cycling, walking, swimming

Me And My World

Contributing to the local community and environment

Example Activities

  • First aid
  • Developing school grounds
  • Forest Schools
  • Playground Leaders
  • Allotments
  • Wildlife Trust
  • Fundraising
  • Litter picking
  • Charity Work
  • Conservation work

Adventure

Outdoor activities & learning, problem-solving and teamwork

Example Activities

  • Residentials through school
  • Adventure days (JASS Days)
  • Team building exercises
  • Adventurous activities e.g. sailing, canoeing, high ropes
  • Den building
  • Orienteering
  • Forest Schools

JASS is structured into four sections, designed to stretch different aspects of developing confident individuals.

The JASS award is progressive, with increasing commitment, learning and challenge. Each JASS award takes the following timescales to complete but is flexible and adaptable should changes to the timescale need to be made:

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Edsential Support

We are here to support you and your school throughout the programme.

We offer:

  • Drop-in sessions to discuss JASS in more detail
  • Help with registering your school
  • Support in the set-up of eJASS, the online monitoring system
  • Advice on what activities to do for each section
  • Provision of a wide range of activities for each section of the award
  • NEW – for a small additional cost, Edsential can be your school’s JASS mentor, meaning that we deal with the signing off of activities, not you!

Booking & Pricing

From £8.50 (plus VAT) per pupil

  • Fees include online registration/personal book, badge, certificate and JASS Annual Presentation Evening.
  • This does not include any additional activities provided by Edsential.

FAQ’s

Can we use what is already happening in school?

Of course! Start building a list of all the existing activities that are planned for the year, e.g. school trips, eco work, sports events etc., is a good starting point. Once this is completed it is recommended that these are allocated to the most appropriate JASS sections. This can be done as a team to work out who has an interest in the different activities and is willing to lead on this activity. The question can then be asked, ‘should we bring in Edsential?’

What about the pupils who are not engaged in regular physical activity or interest clubs?

It is always hard to inspire people of any age to take up regular sporting activities! For pupils who have fallen behind their peers in terms of their level of fitness, this can be doubly daunting.

Edsential can tailor some excellent programmes full of engaging exercises that can be delivered as part of a fun lunchtime club should one not be already available. Walking to school is something which could be promoted in school too which could be done as part of the Get Active Stay Active and ties in with developing healthier long-term lifestyle choices.

What about the kids that spend their lives gaming?

Playing of the games in themselves cannot be counted for JASS, but this hobby can be extended to fit within the My Interests section. Some ideas might be:

  • A questionnaire of peers to work out who plays what game and for how long. Recording additional information such as the type of game can be interesting to add.
  • Working on a design for a game world of your own.
  • Game graphics – Who is the best? Examples of their work, who/what are they influenced by?
  • A review of Educational Games – a small team could be formed that sets out to review the latest educational games. This might run as a lunch time Gaming Club.

How is evidence recorded?

As JASS is a very flexible programme there are many ways to present evidence of having done activities for JASS sections. Edsential have Activity Log templates available to make recording easy.

eJASS: All evidence for eJASS must be submitted onto the participants online profile. This can be as photos, videos, documents etc. If a participant has written evidence (such as the Activity Log), then this can be photographed or scanned and added onto their eJASS profile

How do you know that a student has actually done what they are supposed to have done?

Trust plays a big part in completing the JASS programme. We would encourage mentors to ensure that the personal objective pages, as well as the activity planner for each activity is completed for each activity and at least one piece of evidence – certificate, photograph, report – is produced for each activity.

Is there any flexibility around the age range for JASS?

Although JASS is targeted at the age range 10-14 to cover Bronze, Silver and Gold, there are circumstances where a school may want to start earlier or to extend beyond this. The flexibility of the JASS award allows for variation. This is often seen in Special Educational Needs and Disability settings.

How do you support a child when you know that the support from home is limited?

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How much should be done in a student’s own time?

This can depend on the chosen activity as well as the JASS section. All sections can be completed without the school curriculum and this will assist in increasing the participants self-reliance and self-confidence. However, there are benefits to completing the JASS award as part of the school curriculum also, for example through building teamwork and communication skills.

How do you support a child when you know that the support from home is limited?

This is not a problem unique to JASS and many schools will already have mentoring or other support arrangements in place. For JASS activities it is also possible to consider involving interested parents or other mentors, as well as utilising peer support from older pupils/participants – for example pupils looking for volunteering opportunities as part of their own JASS programme.

What is the timescale for completing a JASS level?

JASS is a flexible award and schools or youth groups can decide how best it fits in with their other activities. A typical model is for one theme to be completed each term with the Adventure met by a class activity in the 3rd term but it is also possible to work on two or more sections concurrently. The Gold JASS level can be completed during one academic year however, due to the greater time commitment, this can also be distributed over two years.

Can you start JASS at any level or do you have to begin at Bronze?

JASS has been designed as a progressive award but there is no dependency on completion of the preceding stage and it can be started at Silver or Gold level if that is the appropriate level for the participant.

Have a question?

If you didn’t find the answer for your question here, then please contact Claire Annakin – PE Specialist and JASS Lead