Lawrence Sheriff School (Warwickshire) URN: 141277
Updated 14 February 2020
Applies to England
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Fair access and partnership plan summary
The above school has made a commitment to deliver the following fair access and partnership plan by 2020 (and in subsequent years) as part of its successful Selective Schools Expansion Fund bid.
Admissions
The school intends to increase its year 7 published admission number (PAN) by 30 places to 150 for September 2020.
After the admission of looked after and previously looked after children, children eligible for the pupil premium will be allocated the next 20 places.
The school will also lower the test pass mark for pupil premium children. The pass mark for such children will be 20 marks lower than for children who are not eligible for the pupil premium.
Outreach
With the approval of local primary schools, the school will attend year 5 parent and carer meetings to raise awareness of the reduced entry criteria for pupil premium pupils. The school will extend this to include year 4 children.
The school will organise information half hours in venues where the community regularly gathers, community centres, libraries and pubs, to dispel any myths in the local community that the school is not for their child.
The school will publish a frequently asked questions document on its website. This will focus on removing potential or perceived barriers for parents. It will provide parents with information on how the school can support pupil premium children.
As part of a wider initiative, the school is exploring working with the Sutton Trust to extend access to free familiarisation materials to every Warwickshire child.
The school currently funds the Duke of Edinburgh Award, music tuition, school trips, transport and uniform for pupil premium children. This will continue.
A successful pilot was run in 2018 with Abbots Farm Junior School to increase grammar school applications for pupil premium students from their parents. This programme was scaled up in November 2018 with the introduction of a ‘familiarisation day’ and the inclusion of further schools who were all invited to send up to five pupil premium pupils to be involved. This will continue. In addition to the familiarisation day and going forward, the programme consists in:
- Lawrence Sheriff 6th form students giving weekly mentoring in literacy and numeracy to disadvantaged students
- a one-day business challenge for year 5 pupils where the pupils engage in competitive activities within teams
- a parents’ forum to communicate key messages about the grammar school to parents of disadvantaged pupils
- fun literacy and numeracy activities to engage pupil premium children with the grammar school, so they consider it as an option
Schools involved in the above activity thus far are:
- Bilton Junior School
- Boughton Leigh Junior
- Clifton Primary
- Dunchurch and Boughton Junior
- Long Lawford Primary
- Northlands Primary
- Oakfield Primary
- Rokeby
- St Andrews Benn
- St Maries
- The Revel
All primary schools in Rugby and the surrounding area have been invited to send disadvantaged students who would benefit from taster sessions that will introduce pupils to the school, remove any misconceptions and include an extensive programme of 11+ familiarisation as well as personalised visits to the school - as above.
An annual science fair is held in partnership with a local employer (GTC) – pupils compete in teams to solve STEM-based questions,
Schools that have taken part include:
- Harris School
- Rugby High
- Avon Valley School
- Rugby Free School
- Ashlawn School
- King Edwards Stratford School
- Bilton School
- Kenilworth High School
Most schools involved have relatively high pupil premium levels within the locality. This initiative will continue.
The school also has a continuing programme of arts outreach work which will encourage those pupil premium children (and their parents) participating to consider Lawrence Sheriff as an option.
For example
Music workshops with primary/junior school children, the schools that have been involved so far are:
- Abbots Farm
- Clifton
- English Martyrs
- Northlands
Concerts involving primary schools, including so far:
- Brooke
- Northlands
- Oakfield
- St Andrews Benn
- Northlands
- Abbotts Farm
- Paddox
- Boughton Leigh
- Rokeby
Invitations to see theatre productions at the school, the ‘Into the Woods’ production, was viewed by:
- Northlands
- St Andrews Benn
- Brooke
A pupil premium champion works closely with pupil premium children once admitted, monitoring their academic progress and welfare. Pupil premium children will continue to be provided with additional, focused, tuition and after school support.
Partnership
As the lead school in the Griffin Teaching School Alliance the school will continue to deliver a programme of Continuous Professional Development (‘CPD’) to its primary and secondary school partners including national accredited teaching qualifications (NPQH, NPQSL, NPQM). The school has recently worked directly with primary schools on closing the gap strategies in conjunction with the local authority to coordinate CPD in this area. The school is also frequently asked if it can provide a subject specialist to help other schools to improve their performance. A recent example was a request from Lutterworth High School to support Art and Design Technology provision.
Lawrence Sheriff has designed a sequence of music lessons through the above-mentioned workshops with year 12s, for local schools these have included:
- Brooke
- Northlands
- Oakfield
The school also provides facilities for an outside organisation, ‘onside coaching’ a sport, dance and activity group, that provide 50% off lesson costs to free school meals children. This will continue.
Sixth form students provide sports and academic coaching to local primary schools through sixth form volunteering. Presently Sixth form students are working as mentors to pupils at Boughton Leigh Junior School to encourage their future aspirations. When the school hosts a primary school day event physical exercise breaks are integrated into the programme run by sixth form students and PE staff. This will continue.