QE has again expanded its outreach work with Barnet primary schools, adding a day focussed on Art to its programme this year.
Now in its ninth year, the primary schools initiative gives girls and boys in Year 5 an early taste of what it is like to be at secondary school, providing a range of activities designed to be both stimulating and fun.
As well as the youngsters coming to Queen’s Road, the programme also involves sixth-formers visiting primary schools as volunteers. They are now delivering activities to Years 4–6 in areas ranging from coding and chess to creative writing and public speaking.
Headmaster Neil Enright said: “QE is very much a Barnet school, and we see this outreach to our friends in local primary schools as an important element of our community partnership work. Furthermore, although we have pupils at QE from a wide area, we certainly welcome applications from families living more locally. We therefore naturally hope that some of the boys who came along to these primary school outreach events may be inspired to apply next year.”
Earlier in the summer, QE announced a partnership with education technology specialists Atom Learning to support primary school children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Through the partnership, children aged 7–11 who are eligible for Pupil Premium are being given free access to online learning resources and to preparation for grammar school entrance tests.
For QE’s 2024 primary schools outreach work, as well as the Art day, there were days focussed on Science, on Humanities (first introduced in 2022) and with a double focus on Mathematics and English.
The departments involved include: English; Mathematics; Art; Music; Science; Economics; Geography; and History, as well as The Queen’s Library, which hosts literacy workshops as part of the programme.
Head of Art Craig Wheatley said: “At the Art day, our young visitors really enjoyed spending time exploring the creative process, and that involved working on activities such as doodling and creating collages without necessarily having a fixed plan.” The children used magazines and newspapers, building up a collage on top of text, and adding colour with pencils. They also designed a personal logo.
Activities on the programme’s other days ranged from a forensic crime exercise aimed at tracking down a (fictional!) murderer to designing and marketing a new product.
The young visitors often worked in teams, with a competitive element adding excitement to their day away from their normal classrooms.
QE’s partner primary schools are: Christ Church; Foulds; Monken Hadley; Northside; St Catherine’s; Underhill; and Whitings Hill.
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