Queen Mary’s High School (Walsall) URN: 136777
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.
The school has set itself a target of 30% of the intake being eligible for the pupil premium by September 2020.
After the admission of looked after and previously looked after children, children eligible for the pupil premium will be allocated the next 45 places (around 30% of places). This will be an increase from the maximum of 30 places allocated previously. Priority for admission within this criterion will be given to those pupil premium pupils attending a named Walsall primary school.
The qualifying threshold for entry into the sixth form will be adapted to enable a greater number of pupil premium students to access post 16 provision. Currently students must achieve at least 7 GCSEs at grade 6 or above which include English and Maths to stay on or enter the 6th form. From 2020 this will change to at least 6 GCSEs at grade 6 or above for pupils eligible for the pupil premium.
Sixth form applicants are normally expected to achieve at least grade 7 in the subjects they wish to study at A Level (or, for non-GCSE subjects, attain an average GCSE points score of at least 6.8) for pupil premium children this will change to an average GCSE points score of 6.2 for pupils eligible for the pupil premium.
Outreach
The school already partners Lower Farm Primary School, a school in a postcode area of high deprivation (WS3) which has a significant proportion of pupils eligible for pupil premium on roll. Within the first year of the plan and in collaboration with Queen Mary’s Grammar School, outreach will extend to over 10 primary schools through the local cluster groups that already exist including:
- Lower Farm
- Walsall Wood
- Woodlands
- Meadow View
- Rushall
- Blue Coat Junior
- Pinfold Street
- Birchills
These schools will become link ‘hubs’ for outreach and partnership activities in their local communities making a difference to hundreds of children and families.
The clusters selected are chosen according to the areas they serve, particularly focusing on schools with significant numbers of pupil premium pupils on roll and those where children do not normally gain paces at the school focus clusters are:
- Alumwell and Birchills
- Bentley
- Blakenhall and Bloxwich
- Broadway
- Brownhills
- South Walsall
- William
The Trust’s School Improvement Director will work with heads and link teachers from partner primaries to plan appropriate intervention and support for pupil premium pupils with the potential to benefit from a selective school education.
Mentor support (sixth form buddies for pupils in years 4 to 6 in a long-term programme). Students from the school would act as support in the primary classroom for appropriate children as well as providing support for reading and other activities as identified by the primary staff. The Sixth Formers will be monitored and supported by the Trust Pupil Premium Champion (Assistant Head).
Through the Old Girls’ Club, the school will also use former pupils to go back in to their own primary schools to underline the compelling narrative of social mobility and help convince disadvantaged families to consider a grammar education as an option and to dispel myths about selective schools.
Clubs, masterclasses and seminars at the partner schools. These would include art, science and technology, Mandarin and other modern foreign languages and humanities. These activities would expand the cultural capital of the children and also promote aspiration to gain a place at the school.
Test familiarisation events in the High School, Grammar School and partner primary schools which will enable disadvantaged pupils to participate in familiarisation activities near their home or in their school. These activities would be free of charge and would be open to pupil premium and non-pupil premium children.
Selection test to be taken in partner schools to increase access for disadvantaged pupils.
Provide transport to the test for pupil premium pupils. This would be free for pupil premium children and at a small cost for other children.
Raising aspiration (through access to prestigious Careers events and resources, sponsored by Business in the Community). This would enable local primary children to gain a greater understanding of potential career paths that they might aspire to and gain access to through a grammar school education.
Support from the Mercian Trust Pupil Premium Champion. This would include the signposting of sources of financial support and other resources to enable children to gain full benefit from the curriculum offered at the school. In addition, there would be the opportunity to discuss the support provided by the school for pupil premium children and the range of opportunities open to them as well as enabling more immediate barriers to be overcome.
The school will also encourage aspiration by inviting primary school staff to trust careers events organised in collaboration with Business in the Community (BITC). BITC has recently agreed a project to provide aspirational Talking Head videos. This would provide the staff with the information needed to return to their schools and to raise the aspirations of their pupil premium pupils.
Providing bursaries for pupil premium pupils on roll to cover the cost of learning a musical instrument, funded via its Old Girls’ Club
Residential weekend, in conjunction with Queen Mary’s Grammar School, for high performing pupil premium pupils at the Grammar School’s field centre in Wales. This would enable pupil premium pupils on roll from both schools to develop a range of skills such as teamwork and tenacity whilst in an environment that they might otherwise not experience.
Partnership
Continuous Professional Development (including Leadership courses and access to a market place of one-off events under the auspices of the Trust) to teachers in primary partners. The Trust has an established leadership development programme for both middle and senior leaders. This would be made available to primary colleagues and, where required, specifically tailored to their phase. A particular area might be ways in which high prior attaining students can be stretched and challenged through a bridging programme for the school’s year 7 curriculum. In addition, where needs are highlighted by the primary partners, bespoke training courses would be established.
Maths Mastery at key stage 3, with current schools that engage in a Maths Hub at Queen Mary’s High School (including Barcroft, Birchills, Reedswood, Pheasey Park Farm), taking lessons learnt from this process to extend the offer to more of the above partner primary schools. The Maths Mastery Programme is a national initiative which promotes the effective delivery of the mathematics curriculum mainly in the primary phase but with some application in secondary education. This programme would aim to strengthen the link between the two phases with a particular focus on pupil premium children moving between the schools.
Primary curriculum days (in core subjects, languages and performance) at the High School these will include curricular support in Literacy, Maths, Science, Humanities, European Languages and Mandarin Clubs (lessons in language and culture through the Mandarin Excellence Programme). These activities would provide a valuable link between the outreach work in the primary schools and the experience of coming in to the school to experience the facilities and teaching it has to offer. This would have the aim of further encouraging children and their parents to view a grammar school as a place they would be comfortable and where they would enjoy their education.