Harrow School case studies (45)

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

• 100 state schools involved
• 2001+ state school pupils involved
• 10000 staff hours given

Academies or free schools sponsored

• London Academy of Excellence

Impact Statement

MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR OF SHAFTESBURY ENTERPRISE

Shaftesbury Enterprise encompasses all of Harrow School’s charitable and partnership work in the local community and beyond. Through this initiative, the School engages purposefully with educational projects designed in collaboration with partner schools and charitable organisations to make a significant impact, both for our boys and the local population.

The vision for Shaftesbury Enterprise is that it should be the mechanism by which Harrow School will contribute to improving significantly the educational and life outcomes for thousands of young people – particularly in Harrow but also elsewhere in north-west London and further afield – through a combination of significant partnership projects. Harrow School receives a great deal through these projects: many Harrovians feel that their commitment to them is one of the most valuable they make. Developing partnerships is at the heart of our future work.

This report sets out the work done last year, a significant part of which has been the response to the coronavirus crisis: the London Borough of Harrow appears to have been one of the regions worst affected by coronavirus in the UK. Our support for the wider community during the pandemic has shown the potential for the School to make a substantial impact locally and deliver an ongoing comprehensive programme of support for young people. The capacity for Harrow School to be at the forefront of positive educational outcomes for thousands of young people, particularly the most vulnerable in our society, has never been more needed nor more important.

Tim Dalton

 

SHAFTESBURY ENTERPRISE PROJECTS

Harrovians – boys and staff – volunteer for many and varied projects to support the local and wider community.

This may be helping support education in school by teaching or coaching primary-age pupils, partnering with secondary students, or offering enrichment activities; it may be providing companionship for elderly people, or working with groups facing significant barriers to progress; or it could be taking part in a range of ambitious fundraising activities.

 

EDUCATION

Supporting learning for schools and colleges

·         Well-established regular reading support sessions at local primary schools

Between September 2019 and March 2020, over 700 hours were dedicated to our primary school reading partnerships.

·         Maths masterclasses for primary and secondary schools

Around 35 boys took part in mathematics projects with primary pupils.

·         Supporting science learning for primary-school children by providing practical sessions in Harrow’s chemistry labs; visits to the Rayleigh Observatory and talks on space; visits to the Harrow School Farm and St Mary’s churchyard to learn about conservation; and a workshop on sound

·         Pigou-Shaftesbury Investor Club: students from Harrow and Whitmore learn about different types of financial markets and learn research techniques on how to value companies and stocks. They get the opportunity to pitch a range of financial assets such as stocks and FX to the group and expert input will be received from professionals from major financial institutions. This was for Sixth Form students studying Business/Economics that have an interest in finance or banking.

·         Filming of Harrow chemistry lessons to help students at an alternative provision school gather data to support their work

·         Providing computers for a primary school’s computer suite

·         Giving a talk on Sir Winston Churchill and a tour of the Old Speech Room Gallery for primary schools to support the history curriculum

·         Eton fives lessons for primary-school children

Over 30 Harrovians introduced Eton fives to over 150 Year 6 children.

·         Backstage tours of the Ryan Theatre for primary schools

“Our kids absolutely loved the trip and all the gadgets and special effects they got to see, as well as getting a better idea about the jobs within a theatre and what they entail. They learnt so much and loved being able to access different parts of the theatre.” (Teacher, St George’s Primary School)

·         A Business Entrepreneurship morning for Year 6 pupils

·         Pupils from secondary schools joined lessons in Classics, Modern Languages, Economics, Maths and Physics at Harrow

"Ahead of the Oxbridge results being released this week, I'm writing to express my appreciation for the experience I have had with the Economics Department and the students at Harrow School. Whatever the outcome of my application, the process has been made much easier with the guidance I have received here.” (Year 13 student, St Dominic’s Sixth Form College)

·         Help from Harrow teachers for Year 11 pupils at the Jubilee Academy, an alternative provision secondary school in Harrow, with their spoken Spanish and French

·         GCSE and A level support from Harrow teachers for pupils who wished to gain a formal qualification in their native language at schools where teaching in these languages was not available.

·         45 pupils from Harrow High School and 15 from the Harrow Club attended a Play 60 event with American football team the Carolina Panthers, who were based at Harrow for practice sessions

"Can I just say a massive thanks for yesterday. The kids were absolutely buzzing afterwards and had a great day at your school." (Teacher, Harrow High School)

·         30 schools joined a Classics for All CPD session open to teachers in state primary and secondary schools and colleges who are interested in introducing Latin or Ancient Greek into their school or college or who would like to consolidate their own linguistic understanding to support their current teaching

·         An under-17 football team from the OSCAR Foundation, a charity based in Mumbai that uses football as the tool to encourage underprivileged girls and boys to go to school, played a match against a Harrow School team and enjoyed other activities at the School

·         Helping with activities at Woodlands Special School for children with disabilities

“The boys treated the children with the respect they deserve…They were so helpful in developing the children’s independence.” (Teacher, Woodlands School)

·         25 army cadets from Harrow High School attended weekly training sessions with the Harrow Rifle Corps.

·         9 Harrovians helped students from Shaftesbury High School for children with a range of special educational needs and disabilities use Harrow’s sports facilities

·         The School of Hard Knocks (SOHK) is a long-term intervention programme that helps the most at-risk students to complete mainstream education in schools in East London and Hertfordshire, through weekly mentoring and rugby sessions. Harrow works with SOHK and to facilitate and fund work in the borough.

Partnership project

Harrow School Study and Enrichment Club

Harrow Virtual School (HVS) ensures that all children and young people in care and care leavers have the opportunity to fulfil their education potential. Part of HVS’ remit is to ensure its young people have access to the best possible education and every chance to progress and realise their individual potential, to improve outcomes and life chances. To do this, they off support with studies, future pathways and work experience opportunities for looked-after children.

A project was set up by which Sixth Form Harrow School pupils would tutor Harrow Virtual School young people of secondary-school age. The aim was not only to support the young people’s learning directly but also to bring them into a prestigious environment and to raise their aspirations through use of Harrow School’s state-of-the-art resources. Young carers, nominated by Harrow Carers, also joined these sessions.

The young people spent two hours at Harrow School. For the first hour, they were given support in a in the subject of their choice. Those taking A levels were offered an hour’s one-to-one tuition from a Harrow teacher. In the second hour, a variety of activities was offered: Eton fives; rackets; astronomy in the Rayleigh Observatory; a drama workshop on the Ryan Theatre stage; judo; yoga; art; philosophy; history; and business and enterprise; and talks by visiting lecturers.

One of the key aspects of this project was its sustainability; it took place every week and the young people automatically made their way there after school. When the coronavirus lockdown made this impossible, around thirty Harrow School teachers gave online tuition to the young people each week using Microsoft Teams. The move online meant that it was also possible to include pupils living outside the borough.

‘The tuition went really well, we identified areas that I needed to revisit and do some more practice and overall, I found it very helpful.’ (Student)

 ‘The tutor has been very supportive and helpful. He spoke to the young person and her carer prior to commencing tuition and was very flexible with regards to time slots to ensure that the tuition would fit around her schoolwork. I also receive updates and progress reports which I find very beneficial. The student is finding the tuition very helpful.’ (HVS member)

‘The session was brilliant. T is making good progress and her confidence is building as well.’ (Carer)

 ‘The lessons they have had so far have gone very well and have been extremely helpful.’ (Carer)

‘When I wake up on a Thursday morning, I think, oh, it’s Harrow today and I feel excited.’ (Young carer)

 ‘Our students, all of whom attend mainstream schools and colleges, have had their ideas broadened and their aspirations raised. Their cultural capital and social skills have increased through interaction with students from very different backgrounds in a very different environment.’ (Headteacher)

Supporting aspirations for the future

·         Harrow teachers provided mock interview practice for students from local schools applying to Oxford and Cambridge Universities. "Just wanted to say a massive thank you for all your help this year. (The three students) all got offers. All of them and their parents have said how much help the Harrow interview prep was.” (Head of Sixth Form/Assistant Headteacher, Lord Williams's School)

·         Students from local schools in Years 10–13 were invited to participate in the annual Careers Fair held at Harrow and arranged jointly by the School and the Harrow Association (alumni association).

SUPPORTING THE COMMUNITY

Supporting people facing significant barriers to progress

FORMAL PARTNERSHIPS

Harrow has established a number or formal partnerships with organisations that support young people and those in need of help in Harrow and more widely. These partnerships allow meaningful and targeted support to reach more of those who need it.

 

 

Young Harrow Foundation

Young Harrow Foundation is a membership organisation supporting the local voluntary sector to build capacity, increase fundraising opportunities, and to facilitate partnership working in the community. It focuses on the five key areas of mental health, physical health, inequality, youth violence and employment. Their work in Harrow has proved crucial over the last few years, particularly during the coronavirus crisis, we are proud to work alongside them. The partnership between YHF and SE is developing significantly with large scale collaboration through Spirit of Speech Day and the summer programme and much more planned for next year.

Harrow Club

Founded as the Harrow Mission 130 years ago, the Harrow Club is a youth club working with some of the most marginalised young people in West London to provide accessible and high-quality opportunities, enabling them to maximise their life chances and to enhance their personal development.  It was awarded a Gold Quality Mark by London Youth as an example of an effective and well-run youth and community centre.

Throughout its history the club has relied on the Harrow School community for support. 25% of funds raised from Long Ducker every year go to the Harrow Club and the School provides further support through governance, the offer of use of School facilities and events with the boys.

Harrow Carers

Harrow Carers provides services to carers in the borough of Harrow and other parts of London including outreach services including befriending, benefits advice, shopping services, food parcel delivery, home care visits, counselling and emotional support. Harrow School partners Harrow Carers in particular with support for young carers.

Spear Harrow

Developed by the social justice charity Resurgo, Spear is a six-week programme that helps unemployed young people aged between 16 and 24 to develop the necessary skills and mindset to secure and remain in work.

The partnership between Harrow School and Spear Harrow began in 2013 with the establishment of a Spear Centre in West Harrow. Harrovians volunteer their time in a variety of supportive roles each year. Harrow has also undertaken significant annual fundraising (£50,000 a year) for the programme through the Harrow Development Trust.

75% percent of the young people who attend Spear course are still in education or employment one year later.

‘Thank you so much to this amazing group of Sixth Formers for their support of the Spear Programme. Your dedicated volunteering makes such a difference!’

School of Hard Knocks

School of Hard Knocks (SOHK) is a long-term intervention programme that helps the most at-risk students to complete mainstream education in schools in East London and Hertfordshire, through weekly mentoring and rugby sessions. Harrow School works SOHK to facilitate and fund work in the borough.

London Academy of Excellence Tottenham (LAET)

LAET is an academically selective free school for students aged 16 to 19, which was opened as part of the White Hart Lane redevelopment in 2017. LAET and Harrow’s English and History departments are linked and work together on the curriculum. LAET students have taken part in lessons at Harrow. Harrow teachers also help with interviewing prospective pupils.

Speaking Out Forum

A project to help empower young people with disabilities and learning difficulties to have a voice and to express themselves positively, to be heard by the wider community and have a greater option of employment. Speaking Out Forum and Harrow School have been working closely together for two years and the School hosted a tea in 2018 and 2019 for participants, mentors, and an increasing number of people who are now connected to the project.

Other projects:

·         Helping out at the FirmFoundation shelter for homeless people in Harrow

“Thank you for allowing the boys to come to the homeless shelter this evening. They were amazing and the clients at the shelter were happy for their company.”

·         Holding social events for elderly people and visiting them in their homes

·         Helping with gardening and odd jobs at The Bridge centre, a safe place for people experiencing mental illness

·         Cooking and serving lunch for 30 guests from Harrow Carers at a Cooking with Compassion event

·         Giving regular help at charity shops

·         Helping with activities for young people with learning disabilities in partnership with Harrow Mencap

·         Volunteering at New Chapters, which employs its members, who have learning disabilities, to sell second-hand books online, offering them chance to learn important skills for the workplace

·         Weekly visits to a Certitude residential house for people with learning disabilities, autism and mental health needs

·         Working with service users at Wiseworks, a pre-vocational work centre for people recovering from mental health problems

‘There are many valuable outcomes from this partnership, primarily around breaking down barriers for people recovering from mental health problems, and to have young people gaining understanding of our service users’ lives was really valuable.’ (Simon Potter, Wiseworks Unit Manager).

 

Cultural and sports opportunities

·         Free, five-week practical art courses for local people over the age of 50 are offered in the Autumn and Spring terms.

·         Talks about the School’s collections are available to local societies in the Old Speech Room Gallery (OSRG). The OSRG also opens for Heritage Open Day events in the autumn, on Saturdays when the Spire Café at St Mary’s Church is open and on London Open House days. Local residents are invited to the private view of new exhibitions at the gallery.

·         Regular tours of the School are offered to local residents and other visitors.

·         Harrow Athletics Club uses the School’s athletics track for training sessions for its young athletes.

·         The 17th Harrow Scout group held their annual night hike across the School grounds.

COMMUNITY WORK DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Educational support

As well as providing online tutoring for looked-after children through Harrow Virtual School, Harrow supported children’s learning in a variety of other ways.

·         The offer of use of our classrooms, the Sports Centre and sports facilities for the educational provision for pupils with special educational, health or social care needs as well as the children of key workers formed a key part of the Council’s contingency planning and, although not taken up, the site remained available for the Council to use.

·         Our teachers have run live subject-specific tutorial sessions for looked after children. Around 30 teachers are now involved with a one-on-one learning programme of tuition for children in care, this is meeting a significant need for a group of young people whose challenges to learning will have been exacerbated by the closure to schools – we are looking at extending this programme with the Department of Education and partner schools.

·         We offered use of the School site and donated £31,000 to the Young Harrow Foundation to support programmes helping disadvantaged young people deal with effects of the coronavirus pandemic. See separate report.

·         We shared our reading lists and parts of our Super-curriculum while sharing and facilitating online lectures with partner schools. Biology and Entrepreneurship societies were set up with local schools, this involved online debates, talks from international experts and a course covering business and leadership.

·         We worked with BT to enable six months free wifi access for 50 families where the children need the internet to access schoolwork.

Health support

·         We offered emergency accommodation on site as well as use of the Sports Centre for medical facilities and other parts of the School.

·         We made and distributed hundreds of protective visors in Design & Technology (these went to local GPs via Northwick Park, Harrow Carers, St Luke’s Hospice, St Joseph’s Care Home and the Cygnet Hospital)

·         Through the generosity of our parent community we have distributed hundreds of thousands of face masks and a large volume of hand sanitiser, goggles, gloves, protective suits and aprons were delivered locally. All available PPE on the School site was passed on and parents sent in more equipment to support our local services including 7,500 surgical gowns for Northwick Park.

·         We donated a significant volume of gloves, cleaning material and hand sanitiser to allow a local partner primary school to open for Reception, Year 1 and Year 6.

·         We printed hundreds of flyers for Harrow Carers and our fleet of minibuses was offered to the local Council, NHS, carers and charities for unlimited use.

‘The School has assisted with making 3-D printed visors for our care staff and our volunteers. The School has donated essential facemasks, aprons, hand sanitisers, gloves, food and donated £4,000 to help with our emergency response for our carers, their loved ones, vulnerable community members and our care support staff. The School is a massive inspirational motivator for all of our staff at this unprecedented time.’ (Harrow Carers)

Food support

·         A large volume of food and supplies were regularly delivered to local charities for dispersal among the most in need, mostly via Harrow Carers.

·         We set up a food bank distribution centre at the Shepherd Churchill Dining Hall. With the funds the School donated, we were able to feed 18 families for seven days with essential supplies; this provision was in place for at least 20 weeks.

·         We arranged for food distribution to two other food bank hubs in the local area using our suppliers and with the same discounts that we receive. This represented an initial, minimum £20,000 commitment to fighting food poverty. In terms of benefit to other food hubs, and combined with other donations, this value is significantly higher.

·         We facilitated the delivery of hot meals to junior doctors at Northwick Park, working with the Love Your Neighbour Campaign and local charity My Yard.

FUNDRAISING

Harrow School raises significant amounts of money for Shaftesbury Enterprise Projects through annual fundraising events.

Long Ducker

The 2019 Long Ducker sports festival – running, swimming, cycling and rowing – raised over £150,000. Half of the funds went to our partners at Spear Harrow, 25% to the Harrow Club and 25% to other Shaftesbury Enterprise projects.

Long Ducker Bike Ride

The newly established Long Ducker Bike Ride followed two routes: either 62 miles to Highclere Castle in Berkshire or 120 miles to the Shaftesbury Estate in Dorset. Around forty riders, including current Harrow pupils, parents and family members, friends and members of staff, took part in the first-ever ride in 2019. Funds raised go into the Long Ducker Fund, the ride raised around £25,000 in 2019.

Spirit of Speech Day Charity Challenge

As the coronavirus restrictions meant that Harrow School’s traditional Speech Day in May 2020 had to be cancelled, instead Harrovians and their families were encouraged to take on a fundraising challenge on Speech Day weekend. Challenges included creating an artwork on the theme of rainbows, climbing a virtual mountain, or creating their own challenge. Over £75,000 of donations to these events and to the School’s dedicated Covid-19 Response Fund went to programmes helping the local community deal with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Long Ducker and the Long Ducker Bike Ride 2020 will be raising money for organisations at the forefront of the response to the crisis. 

THE HARROVIAN PERSPECTIVE

‘The most important lesson I have gained from my involvement in Shaftesbury Enterprise projects has been that you can learn just as much from the people you are interacting with as they learn from you. If you are teaching a child from a local primary school how to play fives, they can show you how to forget about conventional approaches and how to have fun without worrying about stressful aspects of your life; if you are helping to renovate a home for the elderly, the residents can tell you about their lives and what they would like to pass on.

In both cases, you forget about the barriers of age or background, and you are just people connecting and learning from each other.’ (Year 13)

 

‘Although I participated in the reading project at Grange Primary School last year, I only went a few times. This year, I decided to become a regular, and it was a fantastic decision. At first, seeing around ten unfamiliar faces was perhaps a bit nerve-racking for some of the children. However, as I gradually got to know the student I was mentoring, and our conversations became more natural, it felt like the barrier of awkwardness and unfamiliarity between us was lifted.

The teaching was challenging at the start, as I had to keep reminding myself to explain concepts in the simplest manner. Inevitably, there were a few hiccups with some of the concepts, but the effort was worth it, and I truly felt that the pupil I was mentoring had improved in maths. It brings me great joy to know that I had done something meaningful for the community.’ (Year 12)

‘I took part in coaching debating and presentational skills to over 200 Year 6 students. The children came to the Hill for two sessions, where they learnt the basics of body language and projection before learning about how to structure an effective speech.

The sessions gave them a safe space to express their views in front of small groups of their peers, focusing on issues that were close to home such as school rules, hobbies and culture. Throughout the project, we could see them growing more confident and skilful in expressing themselves, and it was particularly impressive to see how engaged all the children were.’ (Year 11)