We are delighted to be recognising the Independent Schools Council Partnerships Week this week, and to be celebrating the many partnerships we hold with state and independent schools, locally and internationally. Just a few highlights are below:

  • We have held a special partnership for many years with St Barnabas CE Primary in Belgravia. We hold multiple annual fundraising events which enable 20 Year 6 children to go on a week-long residential trip to Sayers Croft, a picturesque Outdoor Learning Centre in Surrey, each year. FHS Sixth Form volunteers regularly visit the school to read with the Key Stage 1 children and recently set up an NFL Basketball League for St Barnabas’ pupils!
  • We host Coram Beanstalk’s BookFest, which has taken place at FHS since 2016. Over 300 children from 10 local primary schools come to Francis Holland for interactive reading sessions with authors and personal book signings of beloved children’s books.
  • Sixth Formers also volunteer at Katherine Low Settlement, a Battersea based charity with which we have had a partnership for 100 years, inspiring an enthusiasm for learning for children who may otherwise lack support and opportunity.
  • In 2023, our School Library team worked with Paxton Primary School to set up, stock, staff, support, and sustain a new library. Our vision is for Paxton to have a self-managed and sustainable library space for use in years to come, and we will be providing support for Paxton to become a hub for library development within the Gypsy Hill Federation.
  • Lower Sixth volunteers help with weekly homework clubs at St Matthew’s Primary School, Westminster.
  • We hold long-standing partnerships with local secondary schools Chelsea Academy and Pimlico Academy, with whom we run joint workshops, presentations and a diverse range of co-curricular activities.
  • We have a special relationship with Mvumi School in Tanzania, who we support via fundraising for 6 sponsored students (with fees fully paid annually), visits, and special fundraising campaigns for new capital projects and facilities (including £40,000 raised to build an ablutions block in 2022).
  • 65 delegates from local state schools, and the LEA attended an ACEN (African Caribbean Education Network) conference hosted at FHS in Summer 2024, aimed at tackling racism in the primary curriculum.

All of these partnerships and initiatives are focussed on sustainable and impactful activities that make use of the expertise, experience, and capacity of our school community. They are fuelled by shared values of respect, collaboration and kindness, and the support shown by FHS to the local and global community has been matched by the enriching impact on our FHS community.

Thank you to all of our partners.

Find out more and view case studies of our Partnerships in our Public and Community Benefit Report.