At Hope Community School, community is central to who we are.
For us this means our school community and the wider community that we are part of.
We organise termly community events, such as Harvest Teas, Christmas performances, Mother's Day afternoon teas which are open to everyone. Often our local neighbours join us and take part in these activities. Local residents are involved in our pre-school reading project and support the school as regular volunteers.
Our case studies have proved that these opportunities have resulted in:
- Progress evident in all key stages
- Increased pupil confidence
- Improved emotional, physical and social wellbeing
We pursue funding opportunities to support these initiatives and activities which has resulted in us being able to run the pre-school reading project, after school reading club, breakfast for all families, and recently new artificial grass for the lower playground.
Partnerships are a key part of community development. At Hope we have developed some relationships which we are really proud of, for example:
- Links with other local primary schools by sharing resources and support
- Collaborating with other schools for staff training, peer observations, teacher coaching and standardising assessment judgements
- Established networks with umbrella and peer organisations
- Strong partnerships with local churches, organisations and businesses
- Involvement with community events such as Lark in The Park
As our children move through the school, we have developed links with local Secondary schools to support their transition, including Cleeve Park school. We have benefited from building relationships with Blackfen School for Girls, Chislehurst School for Girls, St Olave's School, Orpington and Kemnal Technology College, through work experience programmes.