Endeavour: Community Project

The Endeavour Community Project is a two day event where Year 10 students from KES give something back to the local community and develop their leadership and communication skills through the planning, preparation and delivery of workshops to students from local schools in Year 4 and 5. The Year 10 students work with members of staff in a range of subject areas, including Classics, Mathematics, Science, Art, English, Drama, and Sport to develop a workshop for primary school students to be delivered the following day.  The primary school students benefit from the facilities on offer at KES, including our Wellington Sports Ground, Art and Drama studios.  They are offered workshops in a range of subject areas which are intended to inspire them and encourage them to broaden their interest.

Aims

The aim of the project was two-fold; first to enable our students to develop their leadership and communication skills and be involved in a project within the local community.  Our Y10 students would develop their communication and teaching skills through advice given by our own teaching staff on how to deliver the sessions.  The project was also intended to enable students at local schools to make use of our school facilities and expert staff while participating in a range of new activities with the hope that they would be inspired to achieve and aim high. The critical success factors were that all students involved enjoyed participating in the project and learned something from it.

Background

Our Endeavour programme was brought in in 2014 after several focus groups and having listened to student voice. We knew there was a huge amount going on for pupils but we wanted to minimise disruption at the end of the Summer Term and make sure all pupils had the opportunity to take advantage of what was on offer. We collapsed 'Activities Day' which was a series of day trips, took the whole school off timetable for two days, and gave each year group a theme. Year by year the theme goes from independence to confidence to collaboration to community. The community theme is for our Fourth Year (year 10) and hence the partnership model, with the idea of giving back, was born.

Resources

A range of resources are critical to the success of the project, most importantly the staff who get involved in helping our Year 10 students to plan and prepare the workshops, helping them to better understand how to share their knowledge with others.  The project involves around 20 staff for two days.  Also critical is the school’s sports facility at the Wellington Sports Ground alongside on-site facilities such as our Drama Studio and Art Department.  The school makes a significant financial contribution to the project, with the budget last year standing at around £2750.

Impact

Qualitative assessment is collected through the lead teachers in each primary school. They provide feedback on the efficacy of the project in their schools upon conclusion of the project. Informal feedback is also received through conversations with parents at local schools.

Pupil Involvement

Students from Year 10 at KES deliver the workshops to the primary school children. They spend a day planning the workshops and learning how to deliver them to the students before delivering the workshops the next day.  Last year, this involved 81 of our students; 40 girls and 41 boys. Last year, the project involved 91 students in Year 5 and 125 students from Year 4 from the three local primary schools. It also involved 67 students from the local preparatory schools making 297 students in total. There were approximately equal numbers of girls and boys.

Frequency

This activity is an annual event which is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.