Whitgift Community Summer School

In conjunction with Croydon Council, 142 Year 5 pupils from the local area were invited to attend a week of face-to-face lessons. The programme was designed to improve academic understanding in the core subjects of Maths, English and Science, increase pupils' academic confidence and offer opportunities for social interaction.  Most of the pupils attended had few or no formal lessons for the previous 5 months, due to the Covid-19 lockdown.  Pupils were recommended by their headteachers as being those who would most benefit from this opportunity.

Aims

To improve academic understanding for pupils who had missed significant time of schooling.

To increase academic confidence.

To offer pupils an opportunity for social interaction.

Background

Due to the cancellation of the Whitgift International Summer School, there were staffing and facilities capacity to put on a different programme with a local focus.  Discussions with Croydon Council and local primary headteachers identified the need for pupils to engage with formal lessons to decrease the achievement gap and improve their academic confidence.

Resources

The programme was fully funded by Whitgift School and donations from those associated with the School community. Pupils did not have to contribute to attend.

While most of the teaching and support staff involved were staff at Whitgift School, a few were from other John Whitgift Foundation schools.

Impact

Impact was measured through baseline and final online questionnaires at the start and end of the week.  

92% of pupils found the lessons interesting.

77% of pupils felt confident about their return to school.

In addition, ImpactEd software was used to measure pupils' metacognition at the start and end of the week. There was an average of a 3% improvement in metacognition due to this programme.

Pupil Involvement

Pupils attending the Summer School were boys and girls, all from Year 5.

Whitgift Sixth Form students acted as volunteer mentors throughout the week, getting to know the pupils, supporting them in lessons and in their free time.

Frequency

The Community Summer School ran for 4 weeks, with a different cohort of pupils each week.