Independent state of mind

Leaders of state and independent schools are discovering that they have a lot to learn from each other. Lucie Carrington reports.

For more than a decade, hundreds of state and independent schools have been quietly working together for the benefit of their pupils helped by government funding, plenty of goodwill and the realisation that both sectors have much to gain from each other.

The Independent-State School Partnership (ISSP) scheme was set up in 1998 and over the past 10 years has supported more than 330 partnerships with £10 million of funds. The aim of the scheme has been to break down barriers between the two sectors, share expertise and good practice, widen opportunities and raise standards. It has proved hugely popular and each round of funding has been oversubscribed.

Partnerships are aimed at gifted and talented pupils although schools have also been encouraged to work with less able and vulnerable students. The result has been a range of activities across all aspects of the curriculum – science, maths, music, drama, sport, languages – often involving dozens of schools.

Funding has come from government to support these partnerships, but the real challenge will come as public sector spending shrinks and schools have to decide whether or not it is worth maintaining the partnership without external funding.

"When we started people felt uncertain of each other but the trust has developed and we are very supportive as heads"

Dr Yvonne Burne, who coordinates an ISSP between Eton and state schools in Windsor and Slough, believes ISSPs can work without state support. “Some of what we have done here at Eton now has its own momentum,” she says.

This is not the first partnership Dr Burne has been involved with. As headteacher of City of London School for Girls, she founded the East London Consortium in 2004 – a group of independent and maintained girls’ schools who work together to raise the aspirations of their pupils. Having retired from City of London School for Girls, Dr Burne was asked to help set up the Windsor and Slough ISSP. “Initially, some of the state school heads were sceptical about the idea of partnership with Eton and I had some very open conversations with each of them about what might be in it for them, as well as what they might get out of it,’’ Dr Burne says.

The learning has been mutual, she insists. “As independent schools we’ve learned so much from state schools about, for example, pupil voice and monitoring and assessment. And at least one state school head thought the Eton house system could be a way of dealing with the challenges she faced.”

The purpose of the Windsor Slough ISSP is to raise achievement at both ends of the academic spectrum, says Paul McAteer, headteacher at Slough and Eton Business and Enterprise College. Projects have included a Saturday school at Eton for gifted and talented pupils, called Stars on Saturday, and a debating society run at Paul’s school.

Meanwhile, boys from Eton have been acting as mentors to help less able pupils in the state system with their literacy and numeracy. “We’ve found the Eton boys to be fantastic, always ready to get stuck in and help. And it’s given them a perspective that they might not otherwise have had,” Paul says.

The partnership has also had an impact on staff development, in particular giving Paul an insight into how high achieving schools like Eton move able pupils from A to A*. He believes that partnership events will feed into improved results this year.

"…at least one state school head thought the Eton house system could be a way of dealing with the challenges she faced"

He maintains that the initial success of the scheme has been down to the commitment of headteachers and the work that Dr Burne has done bringing people together. “When we started, people felt uncertain of each other but the trust has developed and we are very supportive as heads,” he says. Moving forward, each school has appointed a partnership champion to do the nitty gritty and make sure it still happens. Nonetheless, future success will largely be down to goodwill between schools.

The ISSP in Nailsea, North Somerset is a very different beast having been spearheaded by the local authority’s gifted and talented manager. “Although there was collaboration between state schools there was no existing partnership with independent schools in the area,” says Mark Nelson, ISSP project officer.

The result is an informal partnership aimed mainly at gifted and talented pupils and involving all secondary schools in the authority and two independent schools – Sidcot School in Winscombe and Red Maids in Bristol. Teachers from partnership schools meet regularly to thrash out ideas and possibilities. The result has been a range of projects that schools can access including science workshops for girls, a moving onto college day for less able pupils and their parents, and a Cambridge trip for would-be Oxbridge entrants.

“Schools can sign up to what they think will benefit their students and staff. We don’t have all schools involved in every event,” Nelson says. Projects were 100 per cent funded in the first year but by 2011 the partnership will have to be self-funding.

Pauline Trott, assistant head and gifted and talented coordinator at Churchill Community School is enthusiastic about the partnership. “It gives us many more opportunities to take up than we could organise for ourselves. And students benefit from the quality of contacts the partnership can offer them.”

It has made Trott’s job more fun too. “I’ve had this role for quite a while and have tended to work in my own box. But I’ve enjoyed this year so much more. It’s been great to have the support of others in the partnership and people to share things with.”