Harvey Road School Partnerships
School partnerships and cooperation between different educational settings have become an increasingly important part of the new national education agenda as well as individual self-improvement for schools.
At Harvey Road School we believe that such collaboration has great potential to continue our successful legacy of driving school improvement. This will directly benefit the experiences and enjoyment of our own children and we are very clear that successful school collaboration will also offer significant benefits to all of the schools involved.
In this section of the school website you will be able to see how we are making the most of this opportunity for working in partnership with other schools in a wide range of different contexts.
Partnership between Harvey Road Primary School and
Roko 20 Academy
The Roko 20 Academy (Roko meaning district) opened in January 2014. Its purpose was to educate children in the rural area outside Muranga in Kenya.
The idea for the school came about after Tracey Neale Ferreira spent 11 months in Kenya as a volunteer at a school for orphans. She decided to return to Kenya and use her life savings to set up a school educating orphans and disadvantaged children for free.
Since then it has continued to grow and now has over 70 pupils who attend the school regularly. Recent improvements to the school include proper toilets, and a fully functioning kitchen and electricity has been connected.
Children from both schools write to each other in the traditional ‘pen-pal’ way and in so doing gain a unique insight into how children live their lives, appreciating the similarities and differences between them.
We have been supporting Roko 20 for several years. In this time we have had a number of sponsored events that have raised money for them. This has ranged from mufti days where children make a financial contribution for not wearing school uniform to selling hand woven baskets made by the parents and grandparents of the children who attend Roko 20.
Roko 20 Academy is a primary school and community project operating in rural central Kenya. It aims to provide a free, quality, and full-time education accessible to all children within the community and to sustain less fortunate families to improve their livelihoods.
Roko 20 Academy opened in 2014. Situated in Kambirwa, rural Kenya, the school provides orphans and the most disadvantaged children with a free education, clothes, food and basic healthcare. The idea for the school came about after Tracey Neale Ferreira spent 11 months in Kenya as a volunteer at a school for orphans. She decided to return to Kenya and use her life savings to set up a school educating orphans and disadvantaged children for free.
Tracey states, ‘Since we opened the school has grown and we now have seven classrooms, a library and computer room. There's a big dusty football pitch where the children love to play. A shamba (garden) and a greenhouse provide some of the fruit and vegetables needed daily. We employ a team of Kenyan teachers who follow the new Competency Based Curriculum of education.’
Roko 20 encourages children to become self-sufficient from an early age teaching skills that they can use outside of school. You can find out more information by logging onto: https://roko20academy.weebly.com/ Roko 20 is a UK registered charity (1161826).
We have been supporting Roko 20 for several years. In this time we have had a number of sponsored events that have raised money for them. This has ranged from mufti days where children make a financial contribution for not wearing school uniform, to selling hand woven baskets made by the parents and grandparents of the children who attend Roko 20.
The Roko 20 Academy have produced a wonderful video blog of their school and what life is like for the children. This can be seen at:
https://www.facebook.com/418595034910716/videos/849087161861499/
If you would like to make a donation to the Roko 20 Academy then please contact the school for further details.
The Roko 20 Academy have produced a wonderful video blog of their school and what life is like for the children. This can be seen at:
https://www.facebook.com/418595034910716/videos/849087161861499/
Roko 20 has been given a great opportunity to fundraise through Global Giving’s Accelerator Campaign which kicks off on Monday. If we raise over £4,000 through 40 separate donors we secure a permanent fundraising spot on the GlobalGiving platform. This is good news for us.
We are trying to raise awareness of this campaign to as many people as possible. Would it be possible to add something about this to your webpage or notify the parents somehow?
The project will start accepting donations when it goes live on Monday, March 13, 2017 at 1PM GMT. We will be sending out emails and a facebook post about it on Friday and then send a reminder on Monday morning.
The link to our Global Giving project page is as follows:
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/providing-a-free-primary-education-in-rural-kenya/
Children at Harvey Road are currently putting together our own video blog, showing children playing and learning in a wide variety of different situations and what life is like at Harvey Road School.
If you would like to make a donation to the Roko 20 Academy then please contact the school for further details.
Local School Partnerships
Harvey Road School has very close links with local schools and the University of Hertfordshire with the aim of providing additional learning opportunities for our children. We strongly believe that by supporting schools and professionals we can directly impact on the quality of learning children in Hertfordshire receive.
There is a very close partnership with primary schools in the area. In collaboration we:
- Strategically review current issues and work together in overcoming them
- Offer training opportunities related to the curriculum as well as safeguarding and health and safety areas to support staff professional development
- Attend cross school moderation of teacher assessment judgements to support accuracy and the clarifying of expectations
- Promote a uniform approach to the management and practices around nursery admissions
We also work closely with Rickmansworth Secondary School with the primary focus of supporting our children as they go through the secondary transition process. This initially starts in Year 3 and becomes more pronounced as they move through the school and into their final year. The range of activities that our children are involved with includes:
- Inter-school sporting events held at Rickmansworth Secondary School including dance festivals, athletics, netball, football and rugby tournaments
- Rickmansworth Sports Leaders (pupils in Year 8-10) working with our children during PE lessons
- Rickmansworth language students honing their linguistic skills with our Key Stage 2 children
- Curricular support: Our children use the facilities that are available at Rickmansworth School in such specialist subjects as Food Technology, Science, Design and Technology, Drama and Dance and Swimming
We also have a close partnership with the University of Hertfordshire in a variety of different ways:
- Student teachers from the University of Hertfordshire work with us developing their teaching skills
- Staff attend training organised and run by the University of Hertfordshire
In addition to these partnerships, the leadership at Harvey Road Primary School provides support to other educational establishments in the following ways:
- Deputy Headteacher is a Leading teacher of Literacy and supports the quality of teaching and learning in schools across Hertfordshire
- The Headteacher is:
- Professional Partner, mentoring new headteachers in Hertfordshire
- A consultant headteacher supporting school improvement in schools in Hertfordshire
