At FHS, we hugely value the wide range of meaningful partnerships we hold with other schools, locally and globally, and are so excited to celebrate these during the Independent Schools Council Partnerships Week this week.
We have held a special partnership for many years with St Barnabas’ CE Primary School 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 set in 56 acres of woodlands, meadows, ponds and fields in Surrey, each year. St Barnabas have been hugely appreciative of this, commenting: “The children talk enthusiastically about the contrasting learning experiences they participate in and the new skills they develop.” St Barnabas also join our Junior School pupils for the plethora of events we hold for World Book Week at FHS, while FHS Sixth Form volunteers regularly visit the school to read with the Key Stage 1 children.
We also host Coram Beanstalk’s BookFest, which has taken place at FHS since 2016. Over 300 children from St Barnabas and 9 other local primary schools come to Francis Holland for interactive reading sessions with authors and personal book signings of beloved children’s books, all orchestrated and assisted by FHS Sixth Form volunteers. Sixth Formers also volunteer at Katherine Low Settlement, a Battersea based charity with which we have had a partnership since 1924, inspiring an enthusiasm for learning for children who may otherwise lack support and opportunity.
Two of our other long-standing partnerships are with local secondary schools Chelsea Academy and Pimlico Academy, with whom we run joint workshops, presentations and a diverse range of co-curricular activities. Our pupils and staff really enjoy working collaboratively with their counterparts at these schools, sharing different ideas and perspectives.
As well as local partnerships, the reach of our programme is now increasingly global, with a special interest in supporting female education in Africa. Our Parents’ Association Burns Night in January raised £8,250 to support female education in Kenya and we have raised £44,000 to build an ablution block for the children at Mvumi School, Tanzania. Year 8 FHS pupil Kayla visited Mvumi in Summer 2022, taking letters handwritten by her year group to the children there. She had an amazing experience which you can read more about here, and see photos of her trip below.
All of these partnerships and initiatives are fuelled by shared values of respect, collaboration, sustainability and kindness, and the support shown by FHS to the local and global community has been matched by the enriching and gratifying effect on FHS students. We are also looking to further enrich our school makeup via our Promise Bursary Campaign. 25 girls are already benefitting from transformational bursary places and we are committed to widening access to the School and to supporting social mobility by doubling this number by 2032.
#schoolstogether #powerofpartnerships
