We’re very proud of all of the work we do here at NGHS and it’s always wonderful to receive recognition for our efforts. So we are delighted to have heard that our innovative Tots Have Fun initiative has been shortlisted in the Community Outreach category of the Independent School of the Year awards 2022.

This award is for the school which most impresses the judges by the way in which it has made a decisive and positive contribution to its local community during the past, challenging year. The criteria required proof of the following:

  • the positive impact of our community outreach programme within the local community
  • the strength and nature of the partnerships which have been created
  • the school’s recognition of the importance of community engagement for all stakeholders

We were also asked to flag new initiatives and describe signal successes relevant to the subject of the award, and present a picture of life at the school which communicates a sense of the essential values and energy of the school community – we were able to fulfil all of the criteria in this category with our Tots Have Fun and Reach Out programmes.

 

 

As an inner city school our community engagement supports local families and schools to ensure they can have access to our excellent facilities. Tots Have Fun offers preschool aged girls stay-and-play sessions including gymnastics, story time and outdoor learning to name but a few. It also provides fantastic opportunities for our Year 6 girls who act as Tots Ambassadors and are integral to the programme.  

During the pandemic obviously, we could not provide in-person activities but were keen to still support the local community, so our EYFS developed an interactive online learning through play platform called the Tots Play Space – an innovative means of continuing to reach our Tots families. With the support of Early Years teachers, our youngest pupils participated in lots of fun learning through play activities and helped to create interactive content that was uploaded to the Tots Play Space. This resulted in our EYFS pupils becoming our youngest and proudest Tots Ambassadors!

 

 

The student experience also extends to our Sixth Form through our Outreach Prefects. Responsible for supporting the school’s outreach and partnership programmes, Reach Out and Reach Out Resource Room, our Outreach Prefects have created compelling social media content for social media takeovers, created copy content for the website, and even researched and created teaching resources – all as a way of supporting our network of local primary schools during the pandemic.

 

 

From Nursery through to Sixth Form our students have shown their unwavering commitment to their community. Against the odds of the pandemic, our girls continued to step up and flourish in these important and rewarding leadership roles. Their hard work and dedication also ensured that our provision to our valuable local community could continue despite the challenging and restrictive circumstances.

We wait in anticipation to find out if we become finalists in these awards, and even winners! Either way we are proud of being shortlisted and proud of the success of our Tots programme.