Tonbridge School

Tonbridge School runs a Learning Mentor Programme, working in partnership with nearby Royal Rise Primary School. This sees 60 primary-age children and 60 Tonbridge Mentors meeting each Monday lunchtime in the school’s Smythe Library for one-toone tutoring sessions in maths, literacy and co-curricular studies. Tonbridge School’s annual Giving Day sees performance poetry workshops for visiting primary schools, driven and delivered by the Learning Strategies teaching team, with the support of the Learning Mentors. Local schoolchildren also join in with an inspiring calendar of activities in the science and sports centres, galleries and chapel.

Tonbridge Head of Learning Strategies Hayley McLintock believes this is a win-win situation. Primary school children benefit from the peer-to-peer learning and personal support. Meanwhile Tonbridge’s Mentors build a range of skills, including social interaction, awareness of neurodiversity and emotional intelligence. What’s more, the planning and organisation involved in teaching others improves their own learning skills and their sense of responsibility. There’s a ‘tiered’ approach to prepare boys for taking on these roles, beginning in their First and Second Years as they learn to offer guidance and support to visiting children. As they move up the school, boys become internal Learning Mentors, offering guidance to Lower School boys. By the time they reach Sixth Form they can become subject specialists, passing on their knowledge to younger pupils with the same interest. This is a volunteer scheme (running for more than a decade now), and each year around 80 boys give up their time – this includes training as Learning Mentors in lunchbreaks. As they train, they also build their own numeracy, literacy and communication abilities. Hayley McLintock says the boys see it as a mutually beneficial arrangement where, as well as helping others, they build metacognitive skills. Equally important, the Programme widens understanding of other people’s situations and settings. “This is an opportunity for staff, boys and children in multiple settings to forge networks, share experiences and resources and celebrate each other’s successes as and when they come along,” she adds.

More House

Knightsbridge school More House has formed partnerships with two local Catholic state schools, Oratory Primary School and Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School. With Oratory Primary, the partnership was launched with a collaborative Winter Collection of warm items in support of three charities that work with the homeless and refugee communities. More House’s Careers Coordinator also visits Oratory Primary to speak to pupils and give advice on potential future pathways.

Music has been another enriching partnership, with the Music Departments of More House and Cardinal Vaughan bringing school choirs together for inspiring Easter Choral Concerts, which take place each March. Similarly, the two Modern Foreign Languages departments have liaised to offer reciprocal GCSE and A-level lesson observation and moderation support.

More House has recently installed a new Creative Suite – and there are already exciting plans to open it up to Oratory Primary by facilitating a special Lego building competition.

More House Head Faith Hagerty says the school culture is outward facing, adding that pupils get excited by the idea of reaching out beyond the confines of their

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