Chester Schools Together

Chester Schools Together is an award-winning Independent State School Partnership (ISSP) between The King’s School, The Bishops’ Blue Coat Church of England High School, Blacon High School, Catholic High School Chester. Upton-by-Chester High School and Queen’s Park High School.

Vision

Working in equal partnership to provide a range of educational and cultural opportunities for pupils across the Chester community and to facilitate the professional and personal development of staff.

Aims

Partners in the Chester Schools Together work together to:
•    Provide a diverse programme of opportunities for interested and committed young people, regardless of their social or economic background
•    Widen the educational and cultural horizons of all participants
•    Engender a spirit of commitment, collaboration and confidence amongst pupils
•    Provide stimulating professional development for staff and promote mutual respect across the different schools
•    Foster a sense of belonging and pride in the city of Chester
•    Encourage links with other city institutions for the education and benefit of all

Objectives

•    An annual programme of ambitious projects and events for secondary-age students from partner schools
•    All projects to have the widest possible impact
•    To measure success and regularly review progress
•    To secure funding from appropriate sources

The Importance of Mutual Need

Every project and initiative undertaken by Chester Schools Together must be based on the mutual need of the partnership schools and benefit as many young people or staff as possible.

These mutual needs are based on the collaborative conclusions of the Strategy Group and on input from the School Representatives, as well as from the staff and pupil body of each school Our Story

Chester Schools Together was founded in 2018 and originally involved King’s, The Bishops’ Blue Coat Church of England High School and Blacon High School.

The project heralded a move away from outreach work to a collaborative partnership model, based on a shared ambition; to develop an annual programme of innovative projects and events for secondary-age students across the city of Chester.

Our People

The Headteachers of each partnership school sit on the Strategy Group for Chester Schools Together, in addition to the Director of Marketing, Communications and Partnerships from The King’s School.

Each partnership school has a dedicated Chester Schools Together Representative and the project has a Central Coordinator

How we are funded

In December 2021, we secured £444,216 of funding over five years from The Westminster Foundation.

This funding has allowed the project to grow in scale and ambition and has now been extended until the end of 2027.

The King’s School does not claim any of the external funding.

Partners

• Bishops’ Blue Coat School
• Blacon High School
• Upton-by-Chester High School
• Queen's Park High School
• The Catholic High School, Chester
• The King’s School, Chester

Case studies

• Q&A session with the Children's Laureate
• Chester schools together Saturday masterclasses
• Oxbridge presentation evening
• Chester schools together diversity and inclusion conference

View the Chester Schools Together website here.