We have delivered 10 events and 6 Pop-Up lessons since January to December 2018 – as part of our Partnership and Outreach programme, Reach Out. A total of 802 children from 49 partner schools have engaged in a STEM-focused year, featuring workshops on STEM with Computing, STEM with The Space, and STEM with extra Maths. The new academic year also introduced some more gifted and talented days as well as Key Skills events, enabling our work to work with high and low achievers.
STEM with The Space: We welcomed 42 children from 7 local primary schools to our new Performing Arts Centre, The Space. Children were introduced to the building’s specialist architectural design and state-of-the-art facilities. The event aimed to introduce and inspire architecture and engineering and give opportunity to explore and play with behind the scenes of a theatre. Feedback from our participating schools include: “Many of our students have never been to the theatre before, it’s fantastic for them to come and learn about the theatre from behind the scenes”. Partner school staff commented on how observing their pupils enabled them to feedback positive results to their head of school.

Gifted and Talented Computing and Robotics: 55 children from 14 local primaries worked with specialist Lego MindStorm resources and iPads to build and code a robot. The workshop aimed to introduce sophisticated coding and programming; engineering inspired activities; team work; inspire strategic thinking and problem solving - all with the use of multiple technologies. All schools ‘agreed’ that the event met the outlined aims and that children left with some better understanding of coding and programming. Feedback from participating pupils include: “A sense of pride at completing a complex task”, “Using coding for a purpose” and “Team work and learning to use new resources”. Staff commented that they felt more confident supporting children in this aspect of learning, and that our NGHS student volunteers where excellent ambassadors for women in engineering and robotics.

Key Skills English and Maths: 61 children from 10 local primaries invited for a morning of Maths and English activities and an afternoon at a matinée pantomime performance. The aims for this event were to develop communication and application of number; reduce stress and anxiety around difficult subjects; improve moral; encourage team work; make learning fun, as well as give children who might normally miss out on experiences, the opportunity to see live theatre. 100% of feedback strongly agreed the aims of the event were met teachers claiming to benefit from “understanding how to make learning fun and creative”, and “observing good quality provision” as being a benefit. This event also allows the school to reward NGHS staff and student volunteers for their time and commitment to the outreach and partnership programme.

Science Pop-Ups: We worked with one partner school on a series of 3 Pop-Ups – Living Things, Push and Pull and Sound. Workshops were 1 hour long in duration and repeated with 2 separate Year 5 classes. The aim for these Pop-Ups were to make learning fun by introducing new and exciting resources to the classroom. We brought our NGHS Pet Club, which included giant African snails, stick insects, and cacti. Different textiles were used for Push and Pull when looking at friction at work, as well as musical instruments for Sound. Partner school staff have commented on how children have benefitted from external exercises and activities. It also gives staff the opportunity to see how well children have absorbed information from earlier lessons, and any pupils that need extra support.

There is bursary information on our website here.

Academic scholarships
Drama scholarships
Music scholarships
Sixth Form scholarships
Sibling discounts
Bursaries for new entrants
Hardship awards for existing pupils

Visit our website for more information