Ribston Hall High School (Gloucestershire) URN: 136767
Updated 10 December 2020
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2020
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/selective-schools-expansion-fund-successful-applications-2019-to-2020/ribston-hall-high-school-gloucestershire-urn-136767
Fair access and partnership plan summary
Ribston Hall High School has made a commitment to deliver the following fair access and partnership plan by the school year 2021 to 2022 (and in subsequent years) as part of its successful Selective Schools Expansion Fund bid.
Admissions
The school increased its year 7 published admission number (PAN) by 30 places for September 2020 and 2021 to 150 pupils.
Ribston Hall High School has set itself a target to increase the number of pupil premium pupils admitted to 20% of the year 7 cohort by the school year 2025 to 2026.
All children seeking admission to year 7 will be required to meet the same qualifying standard in the selection test in order to be eligible for admission.
After the admission of looked after and previously looked after children meeting the qualifying standard, 30 children eligible for the pupil premium will be prioritised for admission. Children eligible for the pupil premium living within the city of Gloucester will be prioritised above other children eligible for the pupil premium.
Children not eligible for the pupil premium will be ranked solely by their score in the test and offered places in order – highest-scoring first.
These changes will make it easier for pupil premium children to access a place with a lower test score than they might otherwise have needed.
In year 12, students who were eligible for the pupil premium during year 11 will be given 2nd priority for admission after looked after and previously looked after students.
Outreach
The school will initially be partnering the following Gloucester schools in its outreach work:
- Calton Primary School
- Finlay Community School
- Linden Primary School
- Moat Primary Academy
- Robinswood Primary Academy
- St James’ CE Primary School (Gloucester)
- St Paul’s CE Primary School (Gloucester)
- Tredworth Junior School
- Tuffley Primary School
- Widden Primary School
The rationale for partnering these schools is that they are within 2 miles of the grammar school (reducing transport costs for disadvantaged families) and have above-average percentages of children eligible for the pupil premium on roll.
New activities to support the admission of disadvantaged pupils
Ten hours of free test familiarisation for children eligible for the pupil premium including 8 hours of online familiarisation training. Activities will cover revision, exam technique and time management.
Sixth formers will be trained to go into primary schools and deliver an additional 2 hours of familiarisation activities aimed at helping improve students’ understanding of mathematics and English and confidence in preparing for the selection tests. This will support literacy and numeracy development and will help motivate students with word and number games and puzzles in order to familiarise them with the kind of questions they will face in the entrance test.
A frequently asked questions document will be published on the Ribston Hall High School website setting out how the school will support pupil premium children in preparing for the test as well as what type of work will be carried out with these children once they are on roll at the school to support them in achieving good academic outcomes.
An admissions information morning will target parents and children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The sessions will enable parents and pupil premium students to become familiar with the school’s facilities, expectations, and how best to prepare for the tests. This will help to mitigate barriers and address negative perceptions that might be preventing parents from considering applying. This information will also be provided to parents at the partner primaries.
A film will be developed to be shown in primary schools promoting Ribston Hall High School as an inclusive, warm, environment open to children from all backgrounds.
Ribston Hall High School proposes establishing a helpdesk in each partner primary school to help register children for the test and to assuage any concerns parents might have.
Current and continuing activities
Mitigating the need for candidates to travel to sit the selection test by candidates being able to sit the selection test at any of the 7 Gloucestershire grammar schools.
The provision of free test familiarisation materials on the Ribston Hall High School website.
The school funding uniform, school trips and learning a musical instrument for its own pupils who are eligible for the pupil premium.
Partnership
Partnership activity will focus on the schools in the outreach section as well as the Gloucestershire International Independent (secondary) School.
New activities
Ribston Hall High School’s sixth formers will support key skills in lessons for children in year 5 and year 6 in:
- English
- mathematics
- modern foreign languages
- art and drama
Dialogue with each primary school within the partnership will establish where support is needed in key stage 2. These, for instance, might address knowledge gaps for children or issues with reading, comprehension or mathematics. Guided by key stage 2 teachers, sixth formers will support students in oral and written activities in numeracy and literacy to raise attainment and develop cognitive fluency. Ribston Hall High School’s sixth formers will also offer key skill development support in areas such as art, drama and modern foreign languages, to engage students in new style activities to help build confidence and engage with subjects that they have less opportunity to have contact with in the primary school setting.
Ribston Hall High School’s sixth form students will deliver new computer science lessons for partner primary school pupils. Ribston Hall High School will also offer its facilities and specialist equipment (including robotics) using its computer hub. This raises the profile of this science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subject and career aspirations among students.
Ribston Hall High School will offer partner primary schools support in developing resilience in young women through sharing good practice, including its personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) schemes of work. This activity will include offering group-specific counsellor sessions using Ribston Hall High School’s full-time counsellor with female students that are identified as having low self-esteem or show signs of early mental health problems.
Ribston Hall High School will offer partner primaries’ parents opportunities to attend an annual workshop, run by the Ribston Hall High School’s counsellor and external stakeholders, to support mental health in young people.
Current and continuing activity
Ribston Hall High School is an accredited lead school for a careers hub in Gloucestershire, working with the local enterprise partnership. A key part of the work is to raise the aspirations of young people and engage with younger students. Ribston Hall High School encourages aspiration by inviting primary school staff to careers events. Learning can then be utilised by these staff to enable primary students to gain a greater understanding of career paths that they might aspire to.
Through Ribston Hall High School’s teaching staff with the support from Oxford University chemistry department and educational outreach department, Ribston Hall High School engages high ability children from primary partnership schools in science through delivering a range of challenging key stage 2 science lessons across physics, biology, and chemistry. These lessons are and will be delivered at Ribston Hall High School take place during bi-annual science days, the first having already taken place in November 2019. These activities provide children with laboratory science teaching where they will have access to practicals that can challenge and extend their thinking. During these science days, primary teaching staff are trained in how to teach science in the primary school classroom and will be given follow up experiments to utilise. These will help to embed learning and will be supported by the loan of Ribston Hall High School and Oxford University science packs which will offer equipment and science experimental methods that teaching staff can easily manage within their classrooms. The science activities will include a literacy and numeracy element to support key stage 2 performance.
Support for Gloucestershire International Independent School in key stage 4 and key stage 5 science in providing laboratories, equipment and technician support to enable students to carry out their compulsory practicals. This is offered as they do not have the facilities within the school to carry these compulsory GCSE and A Level practicals on their school site.
Pupils from partner schools will be invited to watch the annual drama production and to participate in the annual dance show. This will extend, over time, to these children participating in Ribston Hall High School bands and choirs. This will widen students’ cultural experiences and offer them opportunities to experience the creative aspects of a secondary school extracurricular programme, aiding transition into secondary school and raising aspirations to attend the local grammar school.
Partner schools will also be given access to Ribston Hall High School music, dance and drama spaces, where required, where they have a lack of purpose-built, creative spaces that have specific equipment to support its teaching. In some partnership schools, lack of access to these spaces can restrict the curriculum on offer and undermine the level at which the primary school would like to provide teaching to its children. Opportunities for partner schools to use these spaces could, therefore, help to increase standards in arts-based subjects.
Ribston Hall High School’s student sports leaders will continue to engage children (45 primary schools and 1000 children) in sport and increase fitness through running events on site as part of the Gloucester Sports School Network. This will develop pupils’ physical fitness, teamwork and communication skills.
As a continuation of an established internal pastoral intervention, Ribston Hall High School will offer the services of the school’s full-time counsellor for ‘supervision’ advice once a half term with primary school staff and their designated safeguarding leads teams, a practice that is successful in supporting staff’s own mental health as well as supporting young people.