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

• 3 state schools involved
• 51-100 state school pupils involved
• 10 staff hours given

Impact Statement

Our senior pupils spend one lunchtime a week mentoring Years 3, 4 & 5 children at our local state primary school. These children come from a very low socio-economic background and live on the local housing estate, many are refugees and have poor English and/or are single parent families on benefits. Our students mentor them to help improve their behaviour, teamwork and social skills such as taking turns, sharing, playing fair, thinking about others, listening and learning to lose without getting angry. They use the medium of football and playground games to do this. The programme is supervised by teachers at the primary school who say that the behaviour of these children is greatly improved by the influence of our pupils who act as positive role models. Cumulatively in a year, approx 120 man hours of mentoring impacts 200 children. The programme runs on from year to year, with our Year 11s training up the Year 10s for the following year.

Each year we invite Year 6 children from local primary schools to the matinee performance of our annual musical production which is directed by a professional musical theatre performer and held at a nearby theatre, The Grand, hired for the occasion. No charge is made to the schools for the tickets. Recently we have performed Calamity Jane, Hairspray and Smokey Joe’s Cafe. In 2018 200 children came from two local state primary schools. Teachers from the visiting schools have commented that some of these children would never get the opportunity to go to the theatre or see a production like this and that it inspires their own pupils in relation to their own school shows.