partnership working
As a school we work closely with a range of partners to ensure that we are the most effective school possible for our children, families and staff. Obviously our most important partners in the education of our children are our families.
Parents and the Community
We welcome the involvement of parents and carers in the education of their own children and are fortunate to have many parents and carers who practically support our children and staff across school. As well as this on-going relationship we also have the wonderful Friends of King Edward (FOKE) team who help fundraise to enhance what we offer our children. For more information please click here or visit the FOKE Facebook page: ‘Friends of King Edward Primary School - FOKE’.
There are opportunities across the year to work in closer partnership with parents and carers, for example through our Raising Achievement Day and Careers week. It is this partnership which makes a significant difference to our children and is something we are very proud of. We are a paperless school so to support this effective partnership working we use online tools, these include Facebook, Twitter, our website and School Gateway app. Our website is so effective and successful that it has more ‘hits’ than any other North Tyneside school including Secondary schools!
In addition we work closely with the community, particularly at key times in the year. For example St Augustin's Church support us throughout the year with assemblies and host our Annual Christmas Carol concert. We visit a local senior person's care home and a Peary House to entertain residents at Christmas time. In December each year we are also invited to share our singing talents at the local Christmas Market in North Shields.
North Tyneside Learning Trust (NTLT)
King Edward Primary School is a member of NTLT. As a trust school, we remain part of the North Tyneside Local Authority family of schools. We are a local authority maintained school which is supported by a charitable trust. The role of NTLT is to support collaboration across schools to improve education and life chances for children and young people. The trust also appoint some of our school governors.
South East Collaborative
We work closely with a a number of nearby schools as part of our membership of the South East Collaborative of schools. Amongst this group of schools is John Spence High School where most of our children transfer to at the end of Year 6.
North Shields Collaborative Teaching School Alliance (TSA)
We are an active part of the TSA led by New York Primary School. The TSA provides a range of school to school support to help other schools to develop their practice. As part of this TSA our Headteacher has delivered a network programme to support Assistant Headteachers and Deputy Headteachers across North Tyneside.
School-Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT)
We are a founder school of both the North Tyneside SCITT and Whitley Bay TSA SCITT programmes as well as having strong links with Sunderland University. As a result we support each provider with placements for trainee teachers. Supporting this vital part of developing teachers of the future provides continuous school improvement and reflection of our own staff, as well as providing a wonderful opportunity for our skilled staff to share their good practice. For more information about SCITT in our school, please click here.
Supporting Learning in School
We work with a range of partners and organisations to directly support learning. These include:
- Peripatetic music tutors through North Tyneside Council who provide lessons in school on a variety of different instruments including guitar, violin and trumpet.
- External club providers offering a number of different extra-curricular clubs held at the end of the school day including football, multi-skills, outdoor learning, dance and language tuition.
- Education support teams through North Tyneside Council such as Bikability, pedestrian training and democracy training.
Supporting Health and Well-Being in School
A number of health and well-being partners work closely to support our school as a whole, for example during our Healthy Living week. But they also provide individual children and families with individual support. These partners sometimes provide one off support but this support can also be longer term. These include:
- School health team - school nurse, health visiting and dental team
- Speech and Language Team (SALT)
- Language and Communication Team (LCT)
- Dyslexia (and dyscalculia) Referral Team (DRT)
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS)
- Educational psychology service (EP)
- Supporting Families Team
- Social Services