ASiP Newsletter Spring 2020

2 Abingdon School in Partnership www.abingdon.org.uk Introduction As we enter our second year of the Abingdon School in Partnership programme (ASiP) there is much to report and much to look forward to. Having had the opportunity to visit several of our fantastic partner schools across the town such as Fitzharrys, Larkmead and John Mason, as well as seeing fruitful learning partnerships flourish in other parts of the country such as Canterbury, Norwich and York, I remain convinced that while we as a school have much to offer, we also have much to learn. Which is why Abingdon has placed partnerships at the very heart of its foundation, and has developed a strategic vision based on three key elements allowing us to focus effort and attention on developing meaningful and collaborative relationships across the town. The three elements of Abingdon School in Partnership (ASiP) include: Community - For Abingdon School to build on the positive role it plays within the local community Collaboration - For Abingdon students and staff to collaborate effectively and positively with members of the local community Challenge - For Abingdon students and staff to stretch and challenge themselves via collaboration With almost 70% of Abingdon staff having had experience of working in partnerships before, and 85% being keen to remain, or indeed become involved, it is clear there is an appetite to collaborate with colleagues and students from across the town. The benefits of such partnerships can be broad and meaningful; from teacher professional development to leadership opportunities for students. To get a sense of the scale of partnerships, here are a few statistics to reflect on for the academic year 2018–19: l Abingdon School hosted almost 150 events l ASiP partnered with more than 50 primary and secondary schools and other organisations l Abingdon academic staff volunteered more than 1,300 hours to partnership events l Abingdon support staff volunteered more than 1,500 hours to partnership events l Over 300 Abingdon students were involved in partnership events l More than 6,500 partner school student experiences (a student experience is a student from a partner school taking part in an ASiP event) This year we aim to broaden the scope and variety of our partnership programme expanding into visual arts, sports and music, while sustaining and hopefully expanding our science partnership, academic mentoring, performing arts and extra- curricular links. So read on and hear about the ASiP programmes that staff and students have been involved in over the last year.