Case Study

Introduction

The Polish Community School was established in the late 1950's by Polish refugees who stayed behind in the UK after the Second World War. The school has 240 students, most of who have recently arrived from Poland. About 15% of the pupils are born in the UK.

The partnership

The partnership with Cardinal Newman Catholic School was established in 2007.
It was set up because the Polish Community School wanted to optimise their pupils’ opportunities to learn Polish and achieve success in their GCSE (and ultimately their AS and A2) examinations. This would be achieved by sharing resources such as teachers, class time, professional support as well as premises for GCSE/AS and A2 level examinations with Cardinal Newman School. The Polish Community School also wanted to facilitate a link between their school and their pupils’ day-to-day mainstream school, to foster greater integration and cohesion. It is important to stress that both schools are working together for the good of their joint pupils. Another benefit would be help and support from Cardinal Newman School in developing their own school with regard to policy, training and organisational development.

The initial part of the collaborative work included a start-up meeting with representatives from Cardinal Newman School to discuss and agree the scope and details of joint working. Consultative meetings were set up with parents at Cardinal Newman School to outline proposals and to listen to comments and/or concerns. A Scheme of Work for GCSE in Polish was also prepared.

Impact

The partnership has only been running for four months at the date of writing this case study, so it is too early to assess the impact the collaborative work has had on students. However, the take up of Polish at GCSE level at the Polish Community School has increased since September, mostly as a result of the collaborative work between the two schools.

Both schools are currently developing a means of evaluating their collaboration, and it may be that outcome measures need to be further developed. The initial suggestions for success criteria are:

• Numbers of pupils wishing to take GSCE Polish
• Regular and consistent attendance at Polish School
• Examination success
• Numbers of pupils who wish to stay on for AS and A2 levels in Polish
• Satisfaction levels amongst pupils, teachers and partners.

Successes

Since the very start, there has been a mutual understanding of the key principles underpinning the partnership, which is based on clarity about what each partner wants from the partnership. The good communication is based on shared members of staff and promotion of the initiative has led to increased interest in taking Polish as a GCSE examination, especially from pupils newly arrived in the UK.

What could have been done differently?

The joint collaborative work would have benefited from an earlier start, possibly towards the end the academic year of 2007, as this would have allowed better planning. A written set of shared principles, a clear vision and statement of how the schools intended to work together could have been prepared. However, in this case, it has not proved necessary as the partnership has developed organically and areas of concern have been addressed in a spirit of cooperation. Nevertheless, both partners will need to consider developing this formal framework in the future as the project develops.

Future plans

Both schools are now developing a set of evaluation criteria to include measurement of outcomes as well a set of shared principles, shared vision and statement of how they intend to work together. They are looking to expand the collaborative work to cover other mainstream schools in the Luton area as well. Moreover, consideration will also be given to how joint working can be extended to include preparation for AS and A2 examinations. They are also planning to introduce regular monitoring meetings at senior management level in both schools.

About the Schools