King Edward VI School case studies (24)

Impact of partnership work done in 2023 (ISC annual Census 2024)

• 10 state schools involved
• 201-500 state school pupils involved
• 50 staff hours given

Impact Statement

• Endeavour is a two-day project involving around 75 of our 4th year students. Students plan and prepare resources for a day of workshops to be delivered to local primary schools on the Thursday and deliver them on the Friday. Year 4 students have a day of sports activities at the KES Sports ground, Year 5 have a day of workshops including Drama, Science, Maths, Classics, Art, Public Speaking. Last year 3 local Primary Schools participated and 270 Primary pupils were involved.

• Science Festival: this event took place in June 2018 over three days and included opportunities for Primary students from 5 local schools to attend a Magic Science show and Presentations on the Solar System and the science of sound. A local deputy Head-teacher whose school attended wrote:

‘We wanted to offer our great thanks for the Science Festival activities that were enjoyed by our year 6 children last Monday. We were made to feel very welcome and the children were thoroughly engaged in what was presented to them.’

• ICT Club: Workshops were led by the Head of ICT at KES during the Summer Term of 2018 for a local primary school and children were taught how to code over the course of a six week block. This event has been very positively received by the school and contributes to their provision for students who are particularly gifted in this area, helping to inspire them to pursue their interests further. The students are supported by members of the Digital Leaders scheme at KES.

• Art Club: Workshops for 3 local Primary schools were held throughout 2018, each in 6 week blocks. The sessions were organised and led by an experienced Art teacher at KES. This activity gives the able artists from these schools an opportunity to use equipment and techniques they do not have access to in their own school as well as benefiting from an expert Art teacher. These students are supported by able artists from KES. The most recent activity was evaluated via student interviews and the following were key findings:


The key strengths of this partnership activity are:
? The teacher’s subject knowledge and enthusiasm
? Using the primary school’s cross-curricular topic
? The use of different resources and techniques that the KS2 students weren’t familiar with
? The engagement and support of older students from KES
? The commitment of the Partner School’s Headteacher in supporting and attending the sessions

• Literacy: In 2018 we offered 3 local primary schools and approximately 60 KS1 and 2 students support with reading through 1-1 reading with our students from 4th and 5th Year and 6th Form. The reading schemes were led by three specialist English teachers. Our students help to provided targeted one-to-one literacy support to struggling readers, aiming to achieve objectives set by the schools. During an analysis of reading ages at one of the local schools, the target group had made significant progress relative to their peers during the course of the reading scheme.

• Philosophy: During the Spring term of 2018 the School offered an Introduction to Philosophy for students from Y6 at a local Primary School. The activity was led by an experienced practitioner in alliance with a team of 20 KES Student Volunteers. This activity forms part of the primary school’s provision for Gifted and Talented students.


• Maths Enrichment: For six weeks during the summer term of 2018 the Deputy Head of Maths at KES led an enrichment workshop with a group of 5 Year 5 students from a local Primary School who had been identified as being Gifted and Talented. The objective of the workshops was to increase their breadth of knowledge of Mathematics and to focus on more challenging problem solving activities in accordance with the demands of the new Key Stage 2 curriculum.

• Science Club: This activity is offered to two local Primary Schools and approximately 45 Year 6 students were involved during the course of 2018. The activity is aimed at able students and allows them to use new equipment and practise a range of practical experiments whilst benefitting from the use of our specialised Science facilities. The overall aim of the activity is to inspire them towards the further study of science. In a survey carried out during the Autumn term using the Likert Scale 77% of students said that they had learnt a great deal during the sessions and enjoyed them a great deal. The remaining 23% said that they had learnt quite a lot. 100% of students said that they had enjoyed and benefitted from the sessions.


• French: A French club was offered to a group of 13 Year 4 students at a local Primary School run by three specialist Languages teachers and a team of Sixth-form volunteers who helped to deliver the sessions. The objective of the club is aimed at increasing engagement with foreign languages and provision for lessons in a primary curriculum which only has limited space for this activity. In a Likert Scale survey carried out during the Autumn term 85% of the cohort said that they found the subject of languages to be ‘fascinating’ following the sessions at KES. 23% of the cohort found Languages to be fascinating prior to the start of the club.

• Football Tournament: Students from two local Primary Schools participated in an inter-schools Football Tournament which is held at the KES Sports Ground. Approximately 20 students were involved in the activity.

• Classics Conference: In November 2018 75 Year 5 students from two local primary schools attended a conference which aimed to develop their awareness of Roman history and culture. One of the teachers who attended subsequently wrote ‘The day was really well organised. The author was really inspiring and we have based some Reading sessions on her text since the visit - which our whole cohort have really enjoyed and responded well to. The children loved the hands-on activities, especially the food tasting. They returned to school inspired and keen to share what they had learned.’


• The Sholing Partnership: Lower VI students and three members of staff from KES accompanied a group of students from a local Junior School to the school’s outdoor learning centre at Lovaton for a four day residential visit. The children embarked upon a programme of team building and adventure activities. The activity is aimed towards engaging Year 5 and Year 6 students in a positive and supportive environment and providing them with opportunities such as horse-riding and hiking that they wouldn’t normally access. After the visit the Deputy Headteacher from the Junior School said the following: ‘the children at KES really are quite something. The way they engage the children is simply wonderful.’