Celebrating the independent school sector’s Partnership Week from 10th to 14th November, gave a us chance to reflect on the wide variety of partnership initiatives that we are proud to deliver all year-round. Rooted in the Quaker values of service, respect and equality, we aim to foster meaningful partnerships that enrich our students’ education and support our local community. By collaborating with state schools, local organisations and charities our students and staff engage with nearby schools, community organisations, and charities, throughout the year, working together on projects that reflect our values-led approach to learning.
Our teachers and students bring sport, music, literacy, maths, computer science and drama into local primary schools, enriching their KS2 curricula and inspiring many young learners. This week our Year 10s delivered music at Katesgrove Primary and drama at Ridgeway, volunteering as part of their Duke of Edinburgh Award through their timetabled Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS) sessions.
Ali Crooks, Co-Head Teacher, New Christ Church CE Primary School commented, “We love having our Leighton Park Reading Buddies into school. It gives our children, especially our most vulnerable, a chance to read with someone on a regular basis. It helps inspire our children to have a love of reading and our children really love spending time with their buddies each week reading and talking with them. We love working in partnership with Leighton Park to help our children gain experiences like cookery and sports that they would otherwise not have in such a small school with a high level of deprivation and need.”
Norah Edgar, Head, The Ridgeway Primary School, agreed saying: “We are thrilled to work alongside the amazing team at Leighton Park and of accept all offers from the team to enhance the enrichment for our children at The Ridgeway. The Sports Leaders have been amazing at building the confidence of the children in the swimming lessons and progressing their ability to swim further than they previously could. For some of our children this is their first time in a swimming pool! Our children also love a sporting tournament especially if there is the added perk of food afterwards. Most recently the children came up to play football and they couldn’t wait to tell me they had hotdogs afterwards! Not all of our children are given the opportunity to play for a team out of school so for them this is just brilliant. The Leighton Park team who come to The Ridgeway each week to run a Drama Club have just been amazing and the children love coming along and getting lots of attention from the older students while they improve their drama skills. For some of our children this is an experience that they wouldn’t have out of school so once again fabulous for their confidence and enrichment. We see the impact of the club when our children volunteer more for performing roles in school and they are more confident speaking up in lessons. Myself and the Deputy Headteacher really enjoyed the inspirational Leadership conference in the summer term and came away with really helpful strategies that we have since implemented here. Having the time and space to focus on this was much appreciated.”
This week our educational partnership activities have included a KS2 Rugby Festival for five primary schools, the delivery of Royal Institute masterclasses in Maths and Computer Science, a Music Tech workshop, a Chemistry workshop, and reading sessions to develop literacy.
Our charitable partnerships are embedded in the extensive co-curricular programme and this week we saw The Female Lead Society welcome speaker, Christina Calderwood, for a journaling workshop, the Rotary Club of Maiden Erlegh join our Rotary Interact Club for the launch of the Children in Need Fundraiser, and Amicus, our Senior charity group, introduce the Toys and Teens Appeal with Laura Windisch from Reading Family Aid, a partnership we have been nurturing since 2018.
This week, our own Female Lead Society welcomed Christina Calderwood to their meeting, who led an inspiring Journaling and Mindset. The session focused on building self-confidence from the inside out, encouraging students to develop healthier internal conversations and kinder relationships with themselves.Head Girl, Cali (Upper Sixth) reflected on our partnerhsip with the Female lead and Christina’s workshop: “The importance of having our partnership with The Female Lead in London is that it gives us girls access to amazing opportunities. Through this partnership I have been able to attend a talk at Amazon HQ, where I met Edwina Dunn who invented the Tesco Clubcard, and take part in a LeadHERship day where I got to hear a talk from Laura Bates. The importance of our Female Lead partnerships with other secondary schools in Reading is that we can connect with our local community, forging bonds with people from different backgrounds, to come together in alliance of a common goal of equality and changemaking. Our partnership with The Female Lead makes me future ready as it embeds empowerment, ensuring wherever life takes me I have the confidence to be myself and pursue my goals. I really enjoyed the session with Christina, as I’ve never done journaling before and it was so valuable to learn about the benefits of how I could use journalling to help me throughout my A levels to manage any worries.“
Children in Need landed timely on the Friday of Partnerships Week and LP’s Rotary Interact Club organised a lunchtime sale of merchandise to raise over £300 for the cause. Ryan (Upper Sixth) who heads up the school’s Rotary Interact Club commented: “I am extremely glad for the connection the school have with the Rotary community. The support of the Rotary club has provided Leighton Park students with new opportunities to support both local causes as well as international causes such as Mercy Ships and the International Polio Eradication Initiative. Members of the Maiden Erlegh club have also shared valuable insights with the Interact students on how to plan, prepare and run charity events. Their guidance has contributed to some significant developments in students’ leadership, teamwork, as well as project management skills, making students in the club better collaborators and problem solvers.
Throughout the week we also celebrated our collaboration with Universities and with Astra supporting trainee teachers in subjects ranging from Science and Art to Modern Languages and DT. Not only do trainees gain invaluable classroom experience, but our students benefit from innovative teaching practices and fresh perspectives.
The week concluded with the LP Choir at The Giving Tree Launch in Reading’s shopping centre, The Oracle. In partnership with Connect Reading, our choir performed at the launch of this award-winning charity’s Giving Tree Campaign, aligning perfectly with our Quaker values of community, care, and equality.
See some of the photos from the week’s activities here: https://tinyurl.com/LPPartnershipsWeek2025
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