Leading Edge is an award to schools that show an exemplary record of school improvement, staff development and collaboration and enables us to offer considerable opportunities to innovate and share best practice with our partner schools.
The Leading Edge model is successful because:
- It is focused on student achievement
- It is grounded in practice
- It is focused on learning
- It is built on effective collaboration
- It takes the risk out of innovation
- It is energising and empowering
- It is led by practitioners, for practitioners
- It commissions schools to support each other
We are delighted that Baxter College in Kidderminster continues to be our main partner. Together we are constantly developing ideas to enhance the provision for all our students.
The partnerships have been thriving with collaboration in Music, DT, Business Enterprise, Modern Foreign Languages, Continuing Professional Development and Student Voice. Some of our current focuses are:
- Gifted and Talented: In 2009 we were invited by the DCSF/SSAT to become a Lead School for Gifted and Talented students. This is in recognition of the work we have done in this area, in collaboration with our partner school Baxter College.Together with Baxter College, we have piloted a number of exciting and innovative ideas, including training our Year 12 Gifted and Talented students to support Year 10 students through ‘Learning Conversations’. This will continue next year.
- Student Voice and political Literacy: Year 14 students lead 'Student Voice' in the school and liase with the other schools, to develop political literacy and debating opportunities.
- New Technologies: We continue to explore and share innovative strategies for teaching and learning. Both schools have been buzzing with the impact of ‘new technologies’, as staff and students get to grips with pod-casting, vodcasting, making wikis, movies etc.
- Literacy: Both Haybridge and Baxter have adopted the renaissance reading program to enhance Literacy.
We have recently established links with schools in Madrid and China. In the long term we intend to build on these and share opportunities with our partner schools.
Lead Parent Partnership Award
The Leading Parent Partnership Award (LPPA) is an exciting national award, which Worcestershire Extended Services is piloting in 39 schools across the county, and are hoping to achieve in the next 12 months. It provides a framework, which will help to more fully involve parents and carers in every child’s learning experience.
Haybridge High School is committed to achieving the Leading Parent Partnership Award as part of our extended schools and community cohesion programme. Lynne Byford, is the school’s LPPA co-ordinator and is working closely with Rachel Adams, Parent Engagement Adviser for the Local Authority.
As an LPPA school we have been auditing our parent/carer engagement activities and identifying areas for development. We will be reflecting upon a variety of areas, for example the ways in which we involve parents in terms of the range of evenings and activities we provide to support parents in supporting the learning of their children, the transition arrangements for both Year 7 and Sixth Form, communication between home and school and community projects.
Any parents/carers who have anything they would wish to share with us regarding the preparation for this award, please email Mrs Byford on lbyford@haybridge.worcs.sch.uk to share good practice and mentor other schools as part of improving high quality parental engagement in Worcestershire.