The Wallsend Partnership of Schools is a soft federation of all of the schools serving the Wallsend area. The Head teachers of the 15 schools (2 secondary/13 primary/1 special school) meet regularly to discuss common aims. Each school is also represented by a governor on the federation governance group which meets each term.
By pooling financial resources and accessing Extended Services funding the partnership has been able to employ staff to work across the schools.
4 of these staff are part of an ‘Intervention Team‘ of Higher Level Teaching Assistants. They provide intervention support for Maths and English at KS2 and KS3 currently based on termly attainment data provided by each school.
2 of the staff are ‘Transition Learning Mentors‘ supporting the transition of students from KS2 to KS3. In the spring and summer terms they work in the primary schools and in the autumn term follow the Y6 students who they then support to settle into secondary education.
The work of the partnership is coordinated by a management team comprising all of the Headteachers supported by the director of Extended Services for Wallsend.
From April 2017 the funding support for Extended Services will go direct to schools. This has meant a change to the way the service will be delivered. All the schools have continued to buy into the programme but at different levels depending upon their need and budget.
At Ā Gold Level Ā schools will get 1/2 day of Transition Mentor + Full intervention support (max 2 days/ week) + booster support
At Ā Silver Level Ā 1/2 day of Transition Mentor + limited intervention support (max 1 day /week)
At Ā Bronze level Ā schools will get 1/2 day of Transition Mentor + 10days booster support.
As a result of its pioneering work the partnership has recently been approached by Save the Children to explore the possibility of becoming one of their pilot ‘Children’s Zones‘ starting in September 2013.
The partnership has a charity arm Ā Wallsend Action for Youth Ā (WAfY) which raises funds for activities for young people in the area.
If you would like more information on the work of the partnership or are interested in becoming a trustee of WAfY please contact Alan Strachan at alan.strachan@northtyneside.gov.uk
