Manchester High School for Girls case studies (4)

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

• 10 state schools involved
• 1001-2000 state school pupils involved
• 250 staff hours given

Impact Statement

The St James partnership gives Year 5 pupils from a local state primary school the opportunity to visit our school for a series of early evening sessions across the curriculum, including sport, music and science. They are accompanied and coached by sixth formers from our school as well as the supervising teachers who run the activities. We provide all facilities without charge. The scheme gives opportunities to gifted and talented state school pupils to develop their academic interests that they otherwise would not be offered and is highly valued by the primary school.
Following the resignation of the current organiser of this activity, to take up a post at another school, we have advertised internally for a Primary School Outreach Leader who will deliver this programme and also develop our offering to local primary schools.

The Physics Partners Scheme is a partnership of five local state schools plus MHSG, aimed at developing the skills and expertise of non-physics specialists to teach Physics to GCSE level. Each partner school runs an INSET session in which ideas for teaching a particular topic are presented, discussed and evaluated. MHSG has led in the provision of senior management time and administration to get the scheme started. Research by the IOP and others has identified the lack of specialist Physics teachers in many state schools as a significant hindrance for many students, and this scheme is expected to have a positive impact on the teaching of GCSE Physics in five local schools.

We have been involved in the Young Enterprise scheme for many years. This year, we have organised and hosted for the first time the training conference for participating schools and students in the Manchester area. Sixth formers and staff from twelve local state schools attended the meeting, supporting their introduction of the Young Enterprise Programme.

The MUN scheme introduces students to issues around international relations and development. The centrepiece of our involvement is the organisation of a weekend MUN conference hosted at our school each year for 300 students (including 100 from the state sector) from 27 schools across the UK and beyond. This gives gifted and talented students from across the country the opportunity to meet and develop their interests in the areas of politics, economics and modern history. They, and their teachers, get the opportunity to develop their networks. The last conference was held in January 2019; a record number of state schools have gained places at this conference.

We run a series of careers talks for local schools making use of our alumnae and parents networks. These have ranged across both the sciences and arts. Recent talks have focused on PR, Architecture and Finance. This programme has allowed students at partner schools to explore career options in an informal and welcoming environment, with the opportunity for discussion and questioning not available at larger, more formal conferences. Typically up to five local state schools have sent students and teachers.

We are always looking to develop our sporting partnerships. Our PE staff organise the Manchester and District Netball League for 32 teams in 7 schools, most of which are in the state sector. We are getting increasingly involved in the Greater Manchester YOC, where a group of Year 10 pupils have been involved in organising and running a Year 4 community project for local state schools, under the supervision of one of our PE staff. We also continue to offer our facilities, hosting matches for local schools on our AstroTurf. We also provided umpires for four tournaments involving local state schools.A member of the PE staff is working closely with the Winnie Mbaso Foundation in South Africa to support their work developing the provision. In impact terms, our aim is always to ensure that students from state and independent schools have the opportunity to learn new skills and compete with each other at a high level.

We are keen to act as a local hub for language teacher skill development. We have recently hosted a MFL Edexcel training event attended by teachers from several local state schools, We also host twice a year the Association of Language Learning. All facilities are provided free of charge for these sessions. MFL uptake is at a low level in state schools, and by providing an opportunity for language teachers to meet and exchange ideas we believe that we will continue to encourage state school students to take foreign languages, especially at A-level.
Our Head of Drama continues to run sessions for local heads of drama exploring a range of teaching approaches and sharing best practice.

Our Head of English hosted the heats of the ESU Public Speaking Competition in December 2018.
The Prep School hosted EYFS music moderations at MHSG– up to 10 different state schools attended each session.

We host a range of community sports and drama groups focused on local state pupils. These included some fixtures for Didsbury Northern Hockey Club and Urban Stage Drama Club. All are hosted at significantly below market rates.

We hosted a Law Aspire day in June for school students across the North West of England (The Lawyer Portal) aimed at educating students about routes into the legal profession. Around 50 students from 6 state schools attended free of charge.