Building a strong relationship with E-ACT Badock’s Wood Academy
Redmaids’ High School is thrilled to be developing a strong and meaningful bond with local primary school Badock’s Wood E-ACT Academy.
In recent months, Redmaids’ High students have donated books to increase the range of reading choices for peers at Badock’s Wood, held 3D printing workshops and invited the students to an author talk. The relationship between the two schools extends to the wider community too. In May, Food Technology sessions were available for the Academy's students and parents to help them learn more about nutrition and cooking healthily.
Redmaids’ High also provides Badock’s Wood with PGCE Secondary training support, helping teachers in training to acquire skills, and staff also support their hugely influential Curriculum Careers Days, which seek to introduce a broad range of career ideas to students.
Aims
Community spirit is strong at Redmaids’ High. While our students and staff actively look after each other, their sense of community extends well beyond the school gates. Sharing resources, ideas, and expertise is a highly valued part of school life, and Redmaids’ High is thrilled to be developing a strong and meaningful bond with local primary school E-ACT Badock’s Wood Academy. Redmaids’ High hopes to continue growing this impactful relationship long into the future, as it brings joy and fulfilment to our students and staff alike.
Impact
Badock’s Wood Academy confirmed “Our partnership with Redmaids’ High School has immensely benefitted the pupils at our school and our school community. Our younger pupils have thoroughly enjoyed their reading sessions with the sixth form volunteers and we were able to send pupils home with a book from the generous book donations. Our older pupils loved visiting for the recent author event with Robin Stevens.”
Pupil and parent testimonials from E-ACT Badock’s Wood Academy confirmed the positive impact of their experiences. A pupil who visited Redmaids’ High for the 3D printing workshop offered “It was a great opportunity to use the laptops for designing and the 3D printing equipment. I would like to be an engineer when I’m older so it was awesome to use equipment like that.”
One of the pupils who visited for the author event said, “It was inspiring to listen to Robin Stevens speaking about her life and books.”
The parent cooking sessions were also well received, with one parent going on to say, “The cooking event was amazing. All the staff made us feel incredibly welcome and had so much patience with the children. My daughter and I were able to cook a delicious dinner together.” A Y2 pupil who came for the session was also impressed with the session, “We made vegetable fajitas, and I loved cooking with my Mummy. We had the fajitas for our tea.”
Pupil Involvement
This relationship is being developed in many different ways and across many different functions of both schools. Our Junior School recently provided a significant donation of books following World Book Day to increase the range of reading choices for peers at Badock’s Wood. Our Sixth Formers, who visit the school as part of their community volunteering programme, actively encourage a love of books and reading.
Expertise and resources have also been shared in creative ways. Year 5’s from the primary have visited Redmaids’ High to access our 3D printing resources to try out the equipment and create items to take away. In Music, our Director of Music has provided support to young singers to help Badock’s Wood develop their Youth Choir and, more widely in the Arts, we have encouraged participation in the Bristol Schools 48Hour Film Challenge with a visit from the team to spark ideas.
Supporting the school community also extends to E-ACT Badock’s Wood Academy families. This May saw a Food Technology session aimed at Year 6 students to learn more about nutrition and cooking healthily with a further session offered for the students alongside their parents.