St Faith's School case studies (4)

Impact of partnership work done in 2025 (ISC annual Census 2026)

• 40 state schools involved
• 501-1000 state school pupils involved
• 50 staff hours given

Impact Statement

Last academic year, we selected 15 pupils to collaborate with pupils form Castle and Granta Special Schools on an Integrated Arts Project. Kaye Allen (Head of Drama) took charge of organising and running the event with Fiona Davies (English/Drama teacher) and Phil Graves (Teaching Assistant) working with the children. The project, now in its fourteenth year, aims to promote creativity and to foster understanding and integration between people with and without a disability. We have found that this opportunity can build bridges on many levels, not simply in terms of ability/disability but also across the state/independent sector. Our pupils work in partnership with children with behavioural, physical or learning difficulties, in a carefully supervised environment. The workshop enables shy children to shine and requires confident children to share. One of our Year 7 pupils wrote,

‘I think the best part of this project was when all of the children danced together, as then it didn’t matter if you were disabled or not because dance can be in all kinds of different forms. I think this project made me realise that we are all more similar than we are different.’

Our partnership with Milton Road Primary school is now into its third year. Children from Milton Road come to St Faith’s for ninety minute Masterclasses, designed and led by our Heads of academic Departments. The sessions covered include English, Maths, Science, Languages (modern and classical), Humanities, Engineering and Computing. For each session, a different group of Year 6 takes part, and St Faith’s provides transport as well as tuition. The sessions have been very well received and the children and accompanying staff are always very positive. Our staff have enjoyed the experience of sharing their own enthusiasm with different groups of pupils.

We launched a new partnership last year with Babraham Primary School in Cambridge, a small school with fewer than a hundred children. The partnership started with Year 3 children from Babraham, visiting St Faith’s, to see our production of Madagascar. We put on a coach to collect the children and they also stayed for lunch. It was fair to say that they were blown away by the choice and quality of food as well as the dazzling performance of our children on stage. Year 6 children then visited St Faith’s for a Science lesson and to experience learning in a fully equipped Science lab, something the children from Babraham had not encountered before. We will continue with these Science lessons once a term, next year and look to add other subjects, such as Computing and Engineering, in the future.

In February, we were delighted to host a mental health conference for teachers and nurses from Cambridge Schools in February. The speakers ranged from Consultant Dermatologists to Clinical Psychologists and Paediatric Neuropsychologists. The highlight was certainly the two students from BEAT (UK’s leading charity supporting those affected by eating disorders), who gave an emotional talk and really helped to raise awareness of the mental health issues facing school children. The conference, organised by St Faith’s School Nurses, was a huge success and gave colleagues from schools in our surrounding area, more confidence when confronting these issues. Over a hundred delegates attended.