Palmers Green High School case studies (11)

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

• 2 state schools involved
• 21-50 state school pupils involved
• 30 staff hours given

Impact Statement

Collaborative Arts Programme with PGHS Art Department and St. Monica’s School

Year 10 GCSE Art pupils from PGHS visited St Monica’s School to take the lead during an Art afternoon. The project chosen linked directly to St Monica’s School’s History project on Florence Nightingale. Together the pupils constructed a 3D decorative lantern using paper and mixed media. This created a good cross-curricular link between Art and History for the Year 2 pupils.
The project and partnership came about following a desire to link with St Monica’s School and to develop collaborative arts programmes in Enfield. The project also created the opportunity for local teachers to network.
The activity was a positive experience for the Year 10 GCSE Art pupils who enjoyed the whole event immensely and quickly built their confidence by enabling the Year 2 pupils to create a Florence Nightingale inspired lamp. They were able to deepen their engagement with the arts and build creative leadership skills. The Year 2 pupils really enjoyed the opportunity to be engaged in a cross-curricular and cultural activity with older pupils.
Positive letters from Year 2 pupils were sent to Year 10 following the event and the activity was showcased in Newsletters from both schools.

Author Visit with PGHS pupils and St Paul’s Primary School

For World Book Day 2018 a group of ‘Able Writers’ from Year 4 and Year 5 at St Paul’s School were invited to join PGHS pupils at a talk and workshop run by the acclaimed children’s author Julia Golding. Julia talked about her books and research, including the history of Drury Lane and the theatre in the 1700s. Pupils from both schools were encouraged to share story ideas together, inspired by character, plotting quizzes and dressing up. Year 4 and Year 5 pupils from both schools listened to the author talk, asked questions, took part in a quiz and discussed ideas together for writing their own stories. The activity enabled both sets of pupils to work together to inspire new writing opportunities and discover new books to read.
The aim of this partnership was to provide an opportunity for pupils in the partner school to meet an acclaimed children’s author that they might not otherwise have had access to. Additionally, it would provide the opportunity for both sets of pupils to work together creatively, to share ideas and encourage them to widen their reading choices and try different genres. Success was determined by the level of enthusiasm surrounding the author’s talk and books once back in the respective classrooms as well as interest in finishing their story ideas.
PGHS has a long history of inviting children’s authors into school to give talks and run workshops. An opportunity was identified to enable local schools to also benefit from these visits without incurring costs. The cost of booking an author can be prohibitive for many schools so it is hoped that these sorts of joint and collaborative visits will be an exciting and beneficial opportunity for the schools involved.
The impact was very positive: feedback from the partner school commented that on their return to school the pupils were keen to finish the stories they had begun during the talk and that they had been absorbed and fascinated by the author’s description of her characters and storylines. PGHS pupils were equally as enthusiastic with many purchasing the author’s books and borrowing them from the library. It is hoped that future author visits will allow even more collaboration between pupils from both schools so that not only will more interest in reading be generated but also a mix of ideas from pupils from different backgrounds will encourage more imaginative and creative writing.

Poet Visit with PGHS pupils and St Paul’s Primary School

Following a successful visit from our partner school last March for a World Book Day author event, PGHS invited them again to join in an event planned for National Poetry Day 2018.
A group of ten Year 5 children from St Paul’s School attended, with the junior classes from PGHS, an interactive poetry performance by poet, Joshua Seigal. Year 5 pupils from both schools then took part in a poetry workshop. In mixed groups of six, they worked on producing a poem together that used personification and metaphors.
The aim of our partnership with St Paul’s was to provide the opportunity for more children to meet an acclaimed poet or author and additionally for the children from different backgrounds to have the opportunity to work together creatively, sharing ideas and experiences.
PGHS has a long history of inviting poets and authors into School. An opportunity was identified to enable local schools to also benefit from these visits without incurring extra cost.
The event has had a positive impact on both schools involved in the event: the partner school commented on the day about how much their pupils had enjoyed the day and seemed inspired to stand up and read out the poems they had produced in the workshops. The poet encouraged the pupils to not only produce their own ideas during the workshop but to discuss their ideas with each other to produce one overall piece of poetry. The working groups had pupils from both schools in them so there was opportunity to share their ideas with children that they did not know.
This was a single event that built on a previous relationship with the partner school involving an author visit. It is hoped that this project can continue with both schools benefiting from the creative input that a visiting poet can inspire.

Onatti Theatre visit with PGHS pupils and St Monica’s School

Following a successful visit to our partner school for a collaborative Art project earlier in the year, PGHS invited 30 year 4 pupils from St Monica’s to join us when the Onatti Theatre company came to school.
The aim of the partnership with St Monica’s was to provide the opportunity for more children to not only experience live theatre but also to experience an immersion in a modern language.
PGHS has a long history of inviting theatre companies into School. An opportunity was identified to enable local schools to also benefit from these visits without incurring extra cost.
Year 10 pupils from PGHS planned and delivered a preparation lesson for the partnership school that took place directly ahead of the performance. They explained the plot that was to be acted out, taught them some key French vocabulary and created a booklet about the story for children.
The preparation session enabled the Year 10 PGHS pupils to have the opportunity to experience leadership and responsibility that would not otherwise have been available to them.
The visiting children really enjoyed learning and were able to understand another language through the use of interactive theatre. There were many opportunities for audience participation where all of the children sang together, went on stage and were genuinely part of the play. The latter gave pupils from both schools the chance to work together collaboratively.
The event has had a positive impact on both schools involved: the partner school wrote to say how much the children had enjoyed the experience and that it had sparked a real interest in the French language. They would love to be involved in such an event with PGHS next year.
This was a single event that built on a previous relationship with the partner school. It is hoped that this project can continue with both schools benefiting from the inspiring input that a visiting theatre company can deliver.
Letter of thanks from partnership school:
Dear X,

Thank you so much for having us last Friday! The children had a great time, and it has really sparked an interest in the French language. I thought the actors were very good at making the play accessible and the children certainly found it entertaining. I also appreciate the effort you and the lovely Year 10 girls went to in preparing and delivering booklets and activities on the day.

I found this trip to be very beneficial to our class and would happily recommend taking part in any such trip again in the future. Our class has made a small card to say 'thank you’, which will hopefully reach you today.

Warm regards,

4Y Class Teacher
St Monica's Catholic Primary School

Community Link - Science

A spectacular Wonderlab event was organised by the Head of Science by bringing the outreach team from the Science Museum to PGHS in September. Four shows were selected and adapted to suit pupils from Reception to Year 11. The first show was the Bubbles Show, designed for pupils from Reception to Year 4. The second show was the Supercool Show, designed for pupils in Year 9 to 11. The third show was It Takes Guts, designed for pupils in Year 7 and 8. The afternoon session consisted of all of our Year 5 to 6 pupils, as well as all the Year 5 pupils from two local primary schools, St. Pauls School and Walker School. The hall was filled with the screams and delights from nearly 200 pupils.
Some of the comments from the feedback:
“I learnt about the 3 laws from Sir Newton. The show was so funny and very entertaining, and I enjoyed EVERYTHING!!”Year 6 pupil, PGHS.
“I really enjoyed learning about the egg trick, it was brilliant!” Year 5 pupil, Walker School.
“Forces are powerful. I liked all the experiments and the children and adults being involved”, Year 6 pupil, PGHS.
Whilst not a formal Partnership event, this was an excellent community link which enabled PGHS pupils to learn alongside pupils from two local schools.

Other
Maintained school pupils were invited to attend a taster day which incorporated lessons in specialist subjects, for example, Art, Drama, D+T and science. The pupils were engaged in activities in the workshop, studio and the labs. They learnt skills that they could not learn easily in their own schools due to lack of equipment and staff expertise.

Many sporting fixtures are carried out with girls in Y6 and above. Playing against other schools in one off matches and in leagues gives all players the opportunity to improve their game skills. In addition it is very good opportunity for our pupils to meet pupils of the same age from a range of different local schools.

Teachers regularly attend training and moderation events with teachers from the maintained sector in all keystages. The training events ensure that teachers are learning and sharing best practice.