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and have a greater sense of global citizenry. All schools have a wonderful opportunity to harness this sense of connectedness and nurture cultural capital in a way that is measurable, quantifiable and of benefit to all involved; partnering up may just provide the capacity.


(to misquote Ken Robinson’s 2016 TED talk), students are being educated to have bodies that move heads to meetings.


Cultural capital is very much desired and recognised as important for all educational settings and much can be provided by efficiently run School Partnership Alliances. Such partnerships can certainly focus on curriculum and learning but by creating partnerships that are in the business of cultural and co-curricular learning only, the focus can be on sharing facilities and meeting a range of people from different walks of life. State schools are likely to have more varied expertise to share from the realms of access arrangements to co-curricular, while the independent sector may have facilities and generous teacher ratios to offer. Mutual benefits must be clear.


How can you harness that sense of connectedness with school partnerships? Cross school partnerships are not about the private sector propping up the state sector in a way that abdicates governmental responsibility for financial crisis, although some headteachers do cite “moral obligation” as a chief motivator. Equally, they are not a vague gesturing towards charitable status for independent schools. It is also more than simply sharing good practice; this is an opportunity to team up with schools that share the same values and approach to enriching pupils with cultural experiences.


There is always a danger that the benefit of collaborative work on teacher development can be limited to early adopters, so buy- in from staff is crucial to gain as much as possible from partnerships. Further, the DofE (Department of Education) suggests that sustainability is key to success as well creating a measurable effect on pupils and being mutually beneficial for all. Partnerships need short-, medium- and long-term plans. They need clear commitment from headteachers and a process to appraise, manage and develop, with clear lines of responsibility. It sounds obvious but heads will need to be


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happy releasing staff, supporting financially and in some partnerships, working closely with other headteachers.


How can schools move forward with developing partnerships?


To move forward with any such partnership a school should consider starting small with the sharing of facilities, inviting other students to hear workshops or speakers, creating shared choirs, drama performances, mentoring programmes from senior to junior schools, clearing out and swapping class set library books etc. Also, becoming an expert school in a type of dance for example, a charity initiative or an art form and then inviting other schools in for workshops and sessions or inviting staff in for CPD (Continued Professional Development).


Unicef’s Changing Childhood Project found that rather than being insular, 40% of young people aged 15-24 who use the internet every day, feel more connected to the world


What partnership-related work has St Margaret’s been involved in recently? We recently hosted a local STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) learning festival designed to inspire and challenge primary aged pupils across the Herts region. As well as St Margaret’s Year 5 and 6 pupils, the school also extended the invitation to a number of children from Little Reddings Primary and Ashfield Junior School in Bushey. The children participated in the half-day workshop of activities, which took place last week on 2 November, offering exposure to an array of enriching activities. The sessions were delivered by TA Education (supported by Adobe and Sky) and included a Lego coding challenge, where children were required to programme a robot to collect a Lego block and deliver it to a designated drop zone, using the latest version of the Mico:Bit. The children also took part in several other activities including using sophisticated VR headsets to create their own 3D space before exploring their virtual worlds through the lens of the headset. Using video editing software, pupils were also able to edit and create a short movie clip.


Events like these are super important because they encourage pupils to work together in partnership in a focused way and to come up with thoughtful solutions to real-word problems. It is also wonderful to welcome more children into school from inside the local community. This particular event was an opportunity for St Margaret’s and the local schools in our community to really stretch and challenge their most able pupils, and it is something that many would find hard to replicate in school.


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