3 minute read
Regional partnership groups
“We had a fantastic day at Caterham School, we tackled problem solving tasks and team building activities and enjoyed every second. ”
Rachael Nicholls, deputy head of Audley
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Primary School
Increasingly, schools are building bridges across larger areas to create city or region-wide partnerships. These groups, which bring together many different schools, share knowledge and experience to enhance educational opportunities for all pupils and staff involved.
This year, Caterham School created the East Surrey Learning Partnership – a network with four primary schools and one other secondary school, all in the maintained sector. The schools meet regularly to shape collaboration and have already developed a number of innovative partnership projects. An online INSET programme was created, intended to help tackle the digital divide by increasing the knowledge and confidence of classroom practitioners to incorporate coding into their lessons. Caterham also delivered a twopart whole school INSET on cognitive load to Warlingham School, along with a session on memory and feedback to its primary partners. To compensate for Year 6 residential trips missed due to COVID, Caterham collaborated with its primary partners to deliver a programme of outdoor education for 280 pupils. Those involved took part in a programme of structured sport along with ‘Wildcats ’ courses involving confidence building, teamwork and problem solving in the woods at Caterham School.
St Peter’s School, York works with several schools and organisations across the city as part of the York Independent State School Partnership (ISSP). Staff at St Peter ’ s moved their teaching online last summer, ensuring that their GCSE courses could continue for pupils across York. Pupils in years 7 and 8 also had the opportunity to engage with a number of online events, covering a range of topics including science and religion, archaeology and criminology. The ISSP’ s popular Masterclasses programme, which takes places every year, continued virtually in March 2021, welcoming pupils in years 7 to 10 to a variety of classes over the course of three weeks. Each half term, pupils in years 8 and 9 came together for the ISSP’ s Maths Excellence Club.
“East Kent Schools Together makes me happier and gives me things to look forward to.
Sheree, a Year 10 student at Herne Bay High School
The Cheltenham Education Partnership is a partnership of secondary schools – from both the maintained and independent sectors – local organisations and charities. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the organisation has continued to grow, building upon various projects and outreach initiatives. Over the course of the past year, a number of staff networks have been established, and several exhibitions, competitions, virtual concerts and webinars have been shared with industry experts. In collaboration with supporting partners and local businesses, the #LaptopsForLearning scheme was launched, which aims to provide children in Cheltenham with laptops, tablets or iPads to support their home learning. Though COVID restrictions prevented in-person events from taking place for much of the year, a number of cross-school activities and workshops were allowed to continue. The summer term marked the launch of #SpillTheTea, a pupil-led podcast series. East Kent Schools Together (EKST) brings together 10 schools and one university to explore shared aims of raising aspirations and widening horizons. This year, the group ’ s primary focus was to combat isolation and boost pupil wellbeing through a series of connecting and enriching activities. Pupils had the opportunity to attend virtual Student Voice meetings, careers talks, yoga sessions, a Big Sing Club, and an art collaboration, among other events. Staff members have also benefitted from subject specific cluster meetings, wellbeing sessions and pastoral training sessions. "A professional community like this, especially in education, is an invaluable resource for teachers and professionals in this field. "
