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Rachel Owens, headmistress at St George’s College, Weybridge, has authored a post on the Independent Schools Council blog, reflecting on St George's 40-year partnership with local primary schools. The partnership sees every member of the Upper Sixth take on a teaching role, whatever their personal faith background, at a number of Catholic primaries in the area. 40 years in, it's a partnership that continues to grow and develop.

The partnership between St George’s College, Weybridge (SGC) and local Catholic primary schools was established in the 1980s by Fr Martin Ashcroft, the college chaplain. The Religious Studies (RS) outreach programme sees every member of the Upper Sixth take on a teaching role, whatever their personal faith background, at a number of Catholic primaries in the area. Students spend the Christmas term of Upper Sixth preparing their lessons under the expert guidance of RS teachers at the college, then put their plans into action the following term. They travel straight to their allocated school every Thursday morning and spend the next two hours working alongside the class teachers to deliver fun and interactive lessons. Though the classroom teacher remains in the room, the lessons are very much led by the sixth formers, so the students are trained in behaviour management as well as the curriculum. This often makes them more sympathetic to their own teachers!

The programme is a major organisational undertaking; the entire RS department, as well as other teaching colleagues – 10 staff and 140 students – take part each year.

Daisy, a participant in the collaboration, said:

“It has been an amazing experience, the teaching as much as the fun activities that we do with the students. It has been great getting to know each of them and what they’re interested in outside the classroom, and honestly, I was so surprised at how eager they all were to learn regardless of whether they like the subject.”

To read the full blog post, click on the button below.

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Sources: St George's, Weybridge and the Independent Schools Council