SERIOUS FUN ON SATURDAYS @ HIGHGATE SCHOOL
The grant recipient
Dating from 1565, Highgate School currently educates around 900 11-18 year old students. The latest Independent Schools Inspectorate report judged it to be "outstandingly successful in providing an all-round education". Over the last few years Highgate has set up several educational programmes to support local state school students.
The programme
- 10 Saturday sessions each year aimed at improving literacy skills
- a combination of one-to-one reading support with learning through sport, drama, debating and presentation
- teachers are assisted by older students from Highgate acting as buddies/coaches
- for 30 11-13 year old students from Crest Boys' and Girls' Academies in Brent (where 72% of students have English as an Additional Language and 45% are eligible for Free School Meals)
- aims to raise students' reading and writing levels (so that they are able to access work at the middle/top end of their year), as well as their attitudes to learning and literacy.
Click here to read a profile of this project in the Independent.
The funding
SHINE has made a grant for development and running costs. Highgate School is also providing in-kind and financial support for the programme.
Funding: £17,770 to Highgate School, over three years (2010-13)
Visit Highgate School’s website: http://www.highgateschool.org.uk/
By the age of 5, disadvantaged children have a vocabulary almost one year behind that of children from middle income families|The Sutton Trust, 2010||Every year, well over 1 in 3 children receiving free school meals leave primary school with substandard maths and English - around twice as many as children not on free school meals|National Statistics, 2010||Last year, only 27% of students eligible for free school meals achieved five or more A*-C GCSEs (including English and maths) - around half the national average|National Statistics, 2010||Disadvantaged students that do perform well at GCSE are still less likely to go onto higher education at all, let alone to a Russell Group university|The Sutton Trust, 2010||Since August 2000, we have invested £14.5 million in projects in London and Manchester||This money is now helping more than 49,000 children from almost 2,000 schools