At the heart of our partnerships programme is a determination to enact positive change; for the remarkable organisations we work with and in our boys. Measuring change cannot be done through statistics alone. For our Voices: Partnerships Impact Report 22/23 we used a framework of data capture based on the Most Significant Change Technique. We asked our partnership community and our boys about their experiences. These conversations were transcribed and shared without editing, capturing true voices.
Ruth Akrigg, Headteacher at Pegasus Primary School, shares her partnership story.
The partnership between Radley and Pegasus has gone from strength to strength. This year is our second year and our children and staff have now developed a real understanding of what enrichment is, and why it is important. Our enrichment sessions are treated as any other part of our curriculum offer for our children. They are well planned, considered and with quality teaching and learning beyond the normal school offer at the heart of the sessions. To come off timetable for an afternoon and produce enriching sessions that all the children could participate in was a brave decision to make, but one that has been hugely beneficial to our school community as a whole. The genuine partnership between our Radley and Pegasus families only enhances the effectiveness of our programme.
Having our Radley family help support the sessions allows the children to have a more focused experience and the Radley leaders get to know the children every week. Our recent Ofsted inspection graded our personal development programme as Outstanding and our enrichment and aspirations programme played a huge role in this. The inspectors were able to understand the impact our unique enrichment offer has and why it is held in such high regard by both our staff and children at the school. In their report (under personal development) it talks specifically about staff going over and above for the children and that our enrichment opportunities are an exemplary offer. They believed that it should be something that we should share with others, something that we should promote. It shows that what we are doing is making a positive difference with a significant impact on our children and we should be proud and talk about it.
I know, from talking to your boys each week, they also benefit from the partnership. They are always so confident to support or lead parts of the session and I think that is what amazes me. The children are always so thrilled to see them and they have really become part of our school family. Through our enrichment programme our children have an opportunity to work with a wide range of adults across the school beyond their class teacher. This change of adult, and the Radley leader in their group, has helped develop their communication skills in many ways. I want our children to have a voice. I want them to be able to appropriately challenge when they think something is not right, but also stand up for what they believe in. I want them to be able to hold discussions and listen to each other, have debates and also work as part of a team and our enrichment programme offers them the chance to learn and hone the skills to do this. I think if we can continue to develop our children’s communication skills through enrichment, the other soft skills will develop – empathy, respect, tolerance – values that we live by each day. This is really important to me.
For your boys to have the opportunity to lead in an environment that they probably would not have experienced before and advocate for our children shows the character of them. You can’t ask for more – it’s huge – and our children know that and appreciate it. I think that is why they save them seats next to them in their groups – they see them come through the door and we see our children’s faces light up because they know they are here for them, they turn up every week without fail.
There are opportunities that you can offer that we don’t have, but then there are opportunities we can offer that are unique to us. That is why, I think, our partnership works. It has grown through hard work and sharing a vision to create something special. I think there is definitely more we can do with the partnership to support all of the Pegasus children and Radley boys. I am proud to be part of this partnership and we will continue to learn from each other.
