EDUCATION CORNER PODCAST
EDUCATION CORNER PODCAST INTERVIEW WITH DEPUTY HEAD
Ms. Rosie Lockyear FROM CITY OF LONDON SCHOOL FOR GIRLS Ms. Rosie Lockyear speaks about the partnership work taking place at City of London School for Girls with other schools in the local community. Can you introduce yourself and tell us a little about City of London School for Girls?
My name is Rosie, I am the Deputy Head (Co-curricular and Partnerships). I’ve been at the school for sixteen years now, and prior to taking on this role a couple of years ago, I was Head of Sixth Form and Head of Politics at the school. My job encompasses all of the partnership work that we do as well as the co-curricular life of the school: clubs, societies, trips and everything that takes place outside of the classroom. We’re an independent girls’ school for pupils aged eleven to eighteen, situated in the heart of the Barbican in London. We opened in 1894, and the school provides an outstanding education to able students from all backgrounds, cultures and faiths. Can you outline the Partnership Programme at CLSG, giving a few examples of partnerships and how much of the student body is involved?
As a school, we’re really committed to fostering a concern for, and engagement with, the wider world, both through our charity work and through our partnership programme. We feel it is so important that our pupils develop a strong sense of social responsibility and social conscience. We 3 4 | EDUCATION CHOICES MAGAZINE | S P R I N G 2 02 3
want them to be outward-looking and aware of the wider world when they leave the school. In terms of the work we do, perhaps our closest partnerships are through our relationship with the City of London’s family schools. This consists of one primary school, ten academies (primary and secondary) and four independent schools. We’ve worked closely with them over a number of years, but in recent years some examples would include an online reading mentors’ scheme that we hold with our Year 9, 10 and 11 pupils with some primary school pupils; EAL support for some Afghan refugees; and oracy and maths professional development workshops. Last year, we hosted our first inaugural primary summer school, and we also offer a wide range of support around university admissions, interview support and development of leadership skills. The students participate as volunteers in some cases, for example supporting the primary schools in after-school clubs, through reading schemes. They also take part in the charity and fundraising work that we do, as well as some of the industry work, along with a collection of students from the other schools. So, for example, this year we’ve co-hosted an event with Schroders, who are very close to our school geographically, and we have organised a programme for Year 9 pupils around how to build a sustainable business where they work together in mixed school groups with those other children in Year 9 from the other family of schools.
