Working together Education
primary schools for the past 20 years. “We were founded as a charity in 1567 and we have fostered close links with our local community for over 400 years,” says Dr Jonathan Smith, Director of Communications. “T is is something we can off er which is of great benefi t to local people.” Rugby also hosts several major sports’ tournaments including a netball tournament involving 30 schools and a rugby tournament with 180 boys participating from all over the UK. Since 1998, the Government has
experience and off er opportunities they might not have had
to ensure pupils have an enriching
2008 review of charitable status conferred on fee-paying schools. Schools claiming this status need to demonstrate they fulfi ll a public benefi t requirement. “T is has made some schools sit up and take more interest in reaching out to state schools. In most cases, however, schools have been keen to exploit the synergy between the independent and state sector for a considerable time – and long before the review,” says Dick Davison. T is academic year, for the fi rst time,
supported this symbiosis with the establishment of the Independent/State Schools Partnership. In Oxfordshire, 56 schools are signed up, representing most state and all the independent secondary schools in the county. T e Partnership oversees multiple projects designed to bring together children from a wide variety of backgrounds and academic traditions. A science partnership, called Securing Our Future, was developed to encourage pupils to take up Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM subjects), which are under-subscribed and, subsequently, threaten a skills’ shortage. T e Partnership aims to improve student uptake of science subjects and raise standards across the board in all of the county’s secondary schools, whether state or independent. T is year, Oxford High hosted the Schools Sustainability Conference, which was attended by fi ve schools. Together, more than 100 pupils looked into ways that they could help their schools reduce carbon emissions and save energy. “When it comes to energy saving, local authority schools tend to do things on a broader scale, refl ecting the fact that there may be a single policy that applies to all of them,” says project director, Tom Kempton, “Children from the independent sector can benefi t from sharing in this ‘big picture’. Children from state schools leave with greater aspirations, with perhaps more focus on academic attainment.” Further impetus for independent/ state collaboration was provided by the
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Oundle School in Northamptonshire welcomed pupils as full-time boarders who had come from partner schools in the state sector. “T e idea is to off er an opportunity to children who may not have ever considered boarding school as an option, but who will benefi t from the kind of seven-day-a-week environment we have here,” explains Undermaster, Roger Page. “It’s not so much about academic achievement but about whether a child can gain from what we have to off er and to give something back to our school community.” T e scheme, known as the
Oundle Opportunities Fund, is run in collaboration with two partner state schools, although Page hopes that more schools will come on board. It’s hoped that there will be more link- ups between schools to encourage pupils to share experiences. T e scheme is
What
understated and participants are anonymous to assist them in fi tting into the school. “It’s up to them how they want to introduce themselves,” says Page. “It’s up to us to ensure that they have an experience which enriches their lives and off ers new opportunities they might not have had otherwise.” An exchange of knowledge and
children learn is that no matter what the diff erences seem to be, there’s a lot of common ground
to primary schoolchildren, or Maths to a group of gifted children in a comprehensive. “T ere’s an excellent quid pro quo. Our pupils enjoy helping to teach others and come back with a more mature outlook. T ey realise that they are privileged, but can give as well as receive, with all the rewards that brings,” says Dr Jonathan Smith. In March, T e Manchester Grammar School invited the BBC and children’s TV presenter Sonali Shah to deliver their annual Bexwyke lecture. Boys from Years 4, 5 and 6 were joined by hundreds of pupils from other independent and state schools across Greater Manchester and Cheshire for the third year running. Shah’s appearance was the highlight of a day that included workshops on the theme of code breaking, political advertisements as well as team-building exercises. “Our boys benefi t from contact with children from state schools and other independent schools in the area, just as much as their pupils benefi t from attending our event, says Deputy High Master, Stuart Leeming.” For the past three years, pupils from a state school, Barrs Court School, Hereford, and its junior division, Blackmarston have taken their Design Technology classes at T e Elms School, a prep school in the Malvern foothills, with 180 children aged from 4 – 13. Pupils from both schools thrive on T e Elms’ farm, where they help to care for its award-winning herd
of Hereford cattle as well as looking after the farm’s horses and pigs. “T e farm is one of many
understanding of children from diff erent backgrounds is part of a child’s education. Pupils from Rugby help to teach subjects
areas that we use to promote children’s social, moral and cultural development and it plays a big part in school life,” explains Headmaster Alastair T omas. T e younger children share several visits with the state school. “T ey are not concerned by any diff erences,” says T omas. But what they learn is that no matter what the diff erences seem to be, there is an awful lot of common ground.”
Summer 2011 FirstEleven 27
up to us
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