Impact of partnership work done in 2024 (ISC annual Census 2025)

• 11 state schools involved
• 101-200 state school pupils involved
• 11 staff hours given

Impact Statement

Academic Partnerships
1. Share Knowledge, skills, expertise and experience with state schools
2. Work together with state schools on projects to improve the quality of teaching and learning for pupils

A number of our staff are developing community links with local state schools, by running a project which sees their pupils invited into our school for a number of topically based sessions. The project aims to enrich the teaching of local children in a way which might otherwise not be accessible to them, and sessions planned so far include a Maths based escape room, a STEM day and a Music workshop. Through these sessions pupils will have access to our facilities, as well as the skills and expertise of our staff and any external specialist providers we decide to use to enhance the session.

As a member of United Learning, which oversees both Independent and Academy Schools, we also enjoy sharing best practice through cluster meetings and educational forums, on a range of topics and at varying levels with colleagues and friends in the state sector. In addition, we have this year instigated a pledge system for our staff, encouraging them to visit other schools within our group to specifically look at how we can work together to improve teaching and learning. All of our teaching staff are taking part and the crossover of seeing how colleagues within the state sector handle certain topics, and vice versa, is proving incredibly powerful so far. A recent example of this would be members from our Reception team visiting the Reception team at a local group Academy School, helping them to enhance their Early Years setting to be more advantageous to the pupils, allowing them to access the relevant curriculum in a clearer fashion. In return, our team picked up various skills on behaviour management and communication with EAL pupils and they continue to look at further ways in which best practice may be shared.

Drama Partnerships
1. Invite pupils from state schools to attend drama classes or performances

For a number of years we have invited two local state schools to attend our annual Nativity performance. Both of the schools are for children with a range of learning difficulties and disabilities and it is a joy to see them enjoy our Reception to Y2 pupils perform. In return, the children’s visit acts as a way for our girls to learn of the differing needs of others around them and they gain confidence and an enjoyment in performing in front of an ‘unknown’ audience.

Sport Partnerships
1. Play sporting fixtures with/against state schools

Our PE team is continually developing already established links with a number of local state schools, many of whom we now regular hold fixtures against. In order to bolster this further, we also help to facilitate both training sessions and matches, by collecting pupils from local schools enroute to our sports grounds and then dropping them back off again afterwards. An example of this would be with football, which until recently wasn’t played by our girls. By creating links as previously described with a state school on our road who loved football but were unable to regularly play, we now have successful football teams across the year groups and play matches/tournaments against most of the local schools in our borough.

Other Partnerships
1. Have members of your staff serving as Governors for state schools
2. Participate in teacher training events with local state school teachers

Our Head currently holds the post of Vice Chair of Governors for a group Academy School, offering her oversight on both matters pertaining to teaching and learning and safeguarding. Through this role, she is able to forge close links with this school and ours, and to share best practice at leadership level and through to the classroom curriculum.

We are also keen to participate in any local teacher training events and often send our staff to various training sessions run by our local authority and their child services handler, Achieving for Children. This allows us to meet with colleagues in the state sector, comparing experiences and sharing skills, and ultimately forge closer links. We have also recently hosted training for the Read, Write, Inc programme at our school, inviting staff from all the local state schools to attend should they wish, with eight agreeing to take up the offer.