Ascent programme
On Saturday mornings during the Summer term, 30 Year 5 primary school children from our local partner primary schools come to Emanuel to participate in the Ascent programme. The programme is for children from disadvantaged backgrounds who are failing to meet national standards in the core subjects of literacy and maths. Developed in collaboration with staff at our partner schools, Ascent aims to enable pupils to catch up on vital work they have missed through lockdowns and then to solidify their basic knowledge and skills and build their confidence.
Taught by Emanuel staff and supported by an enthusiastic cohort of Sixth form and Year 10 volunteers, each Saturday morning is comprised of booster curriculum-linked sessions in maths and literacy supplemented by interactive, fun hands-on science sessions and co-curricular lessons (Drama, Art and Sport). Science has been particularly popular featuring Bunsen burners, owl pellet dissection and microscopes!
The Ascent programme will run on eight Saturday mornings at Emanuel in the Summer term with an additional two-day session at the end of our term before the state schools break up for the summer holidays.
Aims
The aim of the Ascent programme is to help Year 5 pupils who are failing to meet national standards. The programme is designed to boost confidence and provide opportunities for participants to practice and consolidate key skills in literacy and maths to enable participants to attain and, hopefully, exceed national standards
Background
The Assistant Head Co-curricular and Head of Community Partnerships developed the concept of the programme with partner primary school Headteachers.
Ascent was launched in 2000.
Resources
The programme is taught by Emanuel staff. Without their enthusiasm and commitment, we could not run the programme. Our volunteers also play a critical role - they provide hands-on support during lessons and run the games session.
Our Head of Community Partnerships and Outreach manages partner school, Emanuel staff, volunteer and parent communications.
The programme is run at Emanuel School - we use classrooms, science labs and a small astro pitch.
There is a financial contribution.
Impact
The programme is assessed in partnership with our partner schools across the critical areas of reading and comprehension, GPS, creative writing, speaking and listening, arithmetic and reasoning for each pupil.
Pupil Involvement
The primary school pupils are drawn from ten of our partner schools. They are in Year 5.
We have Sixth form and Year 10 volunteers supporting the academic sessions each week. The sixth form volunteers also design and facilitate the games session each week.
Frequency
Ascent is a weekly programme that runs in the Summer term. We will run it again this year and for the foreseeable future.