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Jefferys Education Partnership

The Jefferys Education Partnership is part of Hamwic Education Trust.  Please use the link on the right-hand side for further information about Hamwic Education Trust.

Who are we?

The Jefferys Education Partnership (JEP) comprises a cluster of seven schools around the Upper Shirley area of Southampton and is part of the wider Hamwic Multi Academy Trust group of thirty schools. Our group of schools has been working together for eight years and comprises Upper Shirley High School, Southampton Hospital School, Hollybrook Infant School, Hollybrook Junior School, Shirley Infant School, Shirley Junior School and Wordsworth Primary School

What are our aims?

We aim to provide high quality inclusive ‘through education’ from 4 to 16 for all the children of our local community and through adopting common and agreed policies and working practices to provide a harmonious educational journey for our children. We work collaboratively across the group of schools at all levels to promote a self-sustaining model of school development and improvement to ensure high expectations, standards and outcomes academically, socially and culturally. By working with other community groups and partners we aim to contribute to the building of a strong, diverse and vibrant community in Upper Shirley. We have high levels of professional and personal trust between schools and promote partnership working as the default position.

What are some of our current collaborative projects and what impact have they had?

Academic:

We have a JEP Leader of Learning appointed annually, who works across all schools with individual teachers, groups of teachers in individual schools and by running networks of teachers across the schools such as for Literacy, maths and moderation. The impact is visible in the improvement of teaching quality and academic standards in all schools as teachers get together to share work, projects and to plan together. This self-sustaining improvement model allows for continuity year on year.

We have established transition projects between Infant and Junior Schools and more recently a literacy transition project between Yr 6 and Yr 7 involving a book study project that the children start in Summer 2 and continue at USH. This has given the children a ‘learning bridge’ to help them adapt to the changes they face at secondary school and the continuity has given the Yr7 teachers a detailed understanding of the children’s reading and writing abilities.

Cultural:

Every year we hold a JEP Concert in the Central Hall. This is a celebration event that brings together all the school choirs and orchestras and is led by our specialist music teachers who work across all the schools. This is in addition to all the school based choir, orchestra and theatrical events put on across all the individual schools throughout the year.

The schools contribute periodically to other community events such as Friends of St James or through the local church communities.

Sporting:

The primary phase schools have a year-long program of sporting collaboration for all children in Year 2 and 6, organised by our partners Team Spirit, which involves groups of children from different schools coming together for a variety of sports such as Tag Rugby, Football and Dodgeball. In addition, there are more competitive fixtures in Year 6 and all the schools participate in the wider Southampton based events such as Cross Country and Football. The Upper Shirley High sports leaders help run the Sports Days in the Primary Phase.

Our PE Leaders get together regularly to plan and discuss current initiatives to enhance in-school provision and by utilising external partners such as Team Spirit and the Saints Foundation.

Research:

The schools have been working collaboratively together and with Southampton University on an EU Erasmus funded Research Project. The children are trained as researchers into their own learning in their classes and through using a lesson study approach and establishing an open dialogue between the children and teachers modifications are then made to the lesson structures or the classroom environment. The aim is to improve learning outcomes for all the children but particularly those that may find certain subjects difficult. Teachers from across the schools have reported significantly changed attitudes of many of the children who have felt more confident, engaged, motivated and better supported. Building trust through building relationships.

Mental Health:

As a group, but led by the Southampton Hospital School, we have started working collaboratively on mental health and with a particular focus on children who suffer from anxiety issues. A network of key professionals from all schools now get together to research and share best practise for helping individual children but also to develop the wider PSHE curriculums in all our schools form EYFS through to Yr 11. Shared experiences have already led to improving outcomes for some children.

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