Partnerships

We firmly believe that collaborative working brings many benefits to those in our and other school communities.


Our school works in tandem with a range of education services, providers and organisations.  By sharing knowledge and expertise with other educational establishments, we can improve the educational provision for our children and those in other schools. The ways we do this are many and varied, but recent examples include: schools visiting for an insight into our approach to verbal feedback; supporting the development of the next generation of teachers through our involvement in Initial Teacher Education; and working in collaboration with other local schools to enhance one another’s provision. 

While we have and will continue to work with other people, schools and organisations involved in education on an informal and ad hoc basis, we have long-established partnerships with the following:

South Croydon Learning Alliance

We are proud to be a member of the South Croydon Learning Alliance, a collection of around 25 local primary and special schools who all work in support of one another to ensure the best possible outcomes for the all the children in our schools. We collaborate in a number of ways, from sharing knowledge and expertise, to developing teaching and learning practice, as well as sharing policies and documents. 

 

University of Roehampton

We continue to work in close partnership with the University of Roehampton and have been selected as one of their 'Platinum Partner Schools' because of our contributions to their Initial Teacher Education programmes. This is a two-way initiative from which school are offered opportunities such as subject-specific CPD and mentor training in school. In return, school offers the university placements for student teachers and a member of the Ridgeway Headship Team is a member of the School of Education's Strategic Management Board, which gives us an insight into future changes of education policy and enables us to help shape the Initial Teacher Training programme being offered by Roehampton. Other partnership contributions by the school include:

  • Our staff providing lectures and seminars to their trainee teacher cohorts;
  • Filming example lessons or group activities, as a model of excellence, to advance the trainee teachers’ expertise;
  • A number of staff joining subject steering panels set up to help guide the university's provision on their Initial Teacher Education courses;
  • Acting as a hub school for the university’s delivery of The Resilience Project, which supported Newly Qualified Teachers;
  • Supporting the university’s interview process to help select suitable candidates for PGCE and BA Initial Teacher Education courses.
     

Our involvement in the various initiatives above is at the university’s request and reflects the value they place on the relationship they have developed with our school, as well as the quality of our provision and our pedagogic approach.

Feedback from these partners is always that they are impressed by the way our school culture fully supports children (from strategic decisions to everyday teaching and the way our staff build strong relationships with children). Everything, from our flexible daily timetable and lesson structures, to our inclusive approach, centre on the best interests of our children. These educational partners recognise the value we place on ensuring success for each child. 

We are very proud of the many partnerships we have established and look forward to establishing new partnerships in the future. 

nrich

We have joined forces with nrich, an organisation based in the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, who believe that successful mathematicians understand curriculum concepts and are fluent in mathematical skills and procedures, and can also solve problems, explain and justify their thinking, and have a positive attitude towards mathematics and to themselves as learners of mathematics.  They offer rich mathematical activities which aim to nurture curious, resourceful and confident learners of mathematics.  We have become an nrich Problem Solving School, which is an exciting initiative to help schools raise the profile of mathematical problem-solving and nurture better problem-solvers.  At the heart of the initiative is their Charter, which offers a framework to help schools reflect on our current practice and to agree on areas for development. The Charter highlights five key areas: Vision and ethos; Leadership and Professional Development; Curriculum, pedagogy and assessment; Classroom culture; and Problem-solving beyond the classroom.