Interview help : private sector supporting state schools?

[Piggywaspushed]

I have an interview net week (no teaching post : woohoo!) for an education development advisor role . The role sees a successful partnership of private schools supporting local sate schools in less thriving circumstances. I need to do a presentation on how to encourage support and ideas for how to progress the role.

Does anyone work in a similar kind of role, perhaps in a MAT or academy trust who ahs already brought schools together? My current role is kind of similar but I am not in a private school.

I did have ideas like staff running holiday revision sessions, enrichment, supporting uni, especially medicine and Oxbridge applications and joint CPD...not sure about the 'hows' which is always what I fall down on..

It's a part time job and a pay cut so hmmmmm.... but if it was Full Time it would be the job of my dreams!

[Piggywaspushed]

Excuse typos!

[noblegiraffe]

Oh you're leaving teaching! :(

I guess what the schools can achieve depends a lot on proximity. In my MAT (I know, not quite the same deal) the schools are fairly close and so kids can be bussed around easily from one to the other. This means at sixth form, we coordinate timetables so that kids from other MAT schools can get to my school for Further Maths lessons. Maybe something similar could be done for the private school so that bright state school kids would get the benefit of a Further maths/Classics teacher? I understand that private schools aren't generally happy to ship their teachers off to other schools but they could probably fit a few extra kids into their lessons.

Access to better facilities would be a priority. Sports, music, swimming. Joint sports days, concerts? I know a state school that sometimes goes to a private school for joint lectures from guest speakers.

What would be great would be joint fundraisers. Give the more disadvantaged kids access to parents with perhaps deeper pockets. That might meet resistance though!

Anyway, good luck!

[Piggywaspushed]

Only if I can noble. I do want to stay in education though.

I am not sure how far my remit extends but I like the joint lectures thing and I also thought about some funding for numeracy/ literacy drives and maybe some ideas re some sort of reading project for older students to support reading in the primary schools as part of work experience/ enrichment. Would be great fro their UCAS after all...

[bookgirl1982]

The schools together website has loads of examples of partnerships between state and private schools.

Good luck, sounds like a great role.

[Fekko]

Holiday clubs? Our school does these where the older students get involved with children who are disadvantaged or disabled and take them on day trips, so activities etc.

Music days - have a big jamboree session for children of all experience and levels to learn how to work together.

Maths, English, homework clubs? Cook and eat classes in the canteen?

Careers days, talks from parents or local politicians/councellors etc on local politics, debating clubs and mock elections.

Cross over too - so sharing facilities (football pitch or library). So that state school not seen as the ‘poor cousin’.

Joint charity drives - so ththey kids work together in teams or organise a tea dance or summer fair for a local charity.

[noblegiraffe]

Wasn't it in the grammar school green paper that private schools would lose their charitable status if they didn't do far more than they were already doing to support state schools? What happened to that?

[Piggywaspushed]

I think that's what this schools are a powerful local charitable trust.

All these ideas are great and I will consider them al. Annoyingly, the schools are not especially close to each other so the sharing of fields etc may be a bit impracticable but the holiday clubs thing might be a good plan since they already monopolise those.

The state schools are in one of the most disadvantaged areas in the region. One of those action zone thingies : can't recall what the government calls them now?

The website sounds great : thanks bookgirl

[noblegiraffe]

Opportunity areas. Better gen up on your government-speak before the big interview!

[Piggywaspushed]

That's it! Ta!

[noblegiraffe]

Been thinking more about this. It's really important to develop oracy in PP pupils, so some way of the private schools helping the deprived schools with this would be good. If the private schools have a debating club, they could support the other schools to set them up? What other things develop oracy?

[Fekko]

Recitals - our old school had poetry competitions and these were really popular.

[Piggywaspushed]

I am thinking it isn't actually going to be my job to set these things up (I hope anyway!) but to maybe work with the heads for English and maths/ SLT at the schools to encourage them to work together. The focus will be on numeracy and literacy, no doubt.

I have this 'what's in it for the private school staff?' thought in my head... why would they want to work harder?

Interestingly, I had thought of competitions : there is a Rotary debating competition locally.

[thereinmadnesslies]

DH is a private school teacher and they are being encouraged to do all this stuff. The problem is that it is on top of their already substantial workload either after the school day or in the holidays. DH teaches science - the local state school wanted to borrow expensive practical equipment but weren’t able to cover it on their insurance and it required hours of staff time to box up the equipment and transport it. Some teachers are keen to do extra work, eg if they are pushing for promotion, but many aren’t especially if they have childcare issues. Could you suggest ways that the private school could enable staff to get involved, but not to the detriment of their work life balance.

[noblegiraffe]

what's in it for the private school staff?' thought in my head

They have to, because they're charities.

[thereinmadnesslies]

Nobelgiraffe - the schools are charities, individual staff members are not.

[noblegiraffe]

But the school tells the staff what to do!

[thereinmadnesslies]

Absolutely. But when DH is already working 60hr weeks, he’s physically unable to give another 5hrs a week to run revision classes for another school. He would be open to doing it instead of running and activity or having a tutor group, or would do it in the school holidays if the school paid for childcare for our DC. Thankfully at present his school doesn’t make it compulsory.

[Piggywaspushed]

My DH works in a private school , too : maths (he hates it but his work life balance is amazing compared to mine, which actually is not too bad either). He hasn't ever been asked but it could be the future. At my present school actually many staff are willing to use holiday time to support other schools :and they are paid. So that is the way forward perhaps. But I am at a state school. I did wonder whether most private teachers would want to expose themselves (not meant to be rude!!) to the very different demands of teaching less able and less motivated students, even if paid...

[Piggywaspushed]

I should have said even harder so apologies if it sounded dismissive!

[thereinmadnesslies]

Piggy - I don’t think it’s about the ability of the pupils. DH would see that as an investment in some ways because a number of different pupils transfer from the local school to the private school for 6th form and are often weaker in some aspects eg they’ve not done practicals because the state school has less resources.
I think there is a problem of syllabus- private school does a different exam board and syllabus to the state school, and also offers triple science not double. So it’s not like DH can just walk into a state school and run a revision class for a syllabus he’s not familiar with. Yes he could read up on the syllabus, but does he have time?

[BertrandRussell]

“bright state school kids would get the benefit of a Further maths/Classics teacher?”

Or maybe think of something that would help the kids who really need it?

[noblegiraffe]

This isn't, Bertrand, as far as I can see, an either or situation. Both could be done.

[BertrandRussell]

My hackles are always raised by this sort of thing. Private schools ticking the charity status box by letting some “bright” (usually a euphemism for middle class/presentable) state school kids in to do Further Maths or Latin. Or let a few use the swimming pool every second Thursday when there’s an R in the month. Or help with Oxbridge Entrance. Or bus a few private school year 10s to the local primary school to hear reading and tick the Duke of Edinburgh volunteering box, thereby killin two birds with one stone......
Or maybe that’s just round here........

[Fozzleyplum]

At DS's (independent, academically selective) school, 6th formers are expected to give up some of their free lesson time to mentor younger pupils. For example, a 6th former doing language A levels will give catch-up lessons to a new pupil who has joined the school without having studied the language before. If suitable safeguarding could be put in place it might be possible to extend this type of scheme to allow them to mentor pupils in other schools.

They do it for all areas of the curriculum-sciences, sports, classical languages.