At Loxford we recognise the need to work collaboratively with other schools and organisations. We are stronger when we work in partnership, whether it be acting as a critical friend or gaining advice from other outstanding schools.
We are the flagship school within the Loxford multi-academy trust and we work closely with our partner schools in the trust. We are an ‘Outstanding’ all through school that is really going places. At Loxford we believe our pioneering and rigorous learning environment, and commitment to innovation provides our students with the opportunity to realise their full potential. We innovate, we challenge and we ensure success. Currently, we are working with a number of partner organisations some of whom are shown below.
The British Council – International School Status
International School Status has opened a window in Loxford to other cultures and brought the world into our classrooms. We currently hold the British Council’s International School Award. Through this, we aim to access a world of learning, collaboration and culture. The ISS provides an internationally recognised accreditation for our school’s international work. We have formed partnerships with schools around the world to teach our students about life in other countries and develop them as global citizens.
SSAT
We are a High Performing (LEPP) school which builds on our previous specialist status as a Technology College, Training School and Language College. We were the first London comprehensive school to be awarded Technology College status in 1996. As a HPSS we were offered the opportunity to take up a second specialism in 2006. Shortly after we became a Training School and have used these initiatives to build a strong learning culture across the whole of the school. We continue to work closely with the SSAT through their leadership programmes and as an International Host school.
Leading Edge Partnership Programme
Leading Edge is a national network for high-performing schools that are committed to working in partnership to raise achievement; innovation; sharing practice both within and beyond the network. The programme is intended to provide high performing schools with a national network and support appropriate to their needs.
We were judged to qualify for the program following our Ofsted 1 ‘Outstanding’ and our excellent rates of student progress from key stage 2 to key stage 4 (FFT Upper quartile) and beyond. This is the difference between the levels with which a student enters Loxford with and those they gain in year 11 and 13. We were able to present a range of data to evidence that we are a high performing school. The LEPP gives us access to a national network of high performing schools for support and guidance. We can draw on the work of others and offer support to schools who would like to see the outstanding work of our students and staff.
Leading Edge Partnership Programme
University of Westminster- Westminster Distinctiveness award
Loxford is proud of our links with HE institutions and through these our students continue their learning journey making a positive change to their life chances and their family around them. We have a close link with The University of Westminster with many students joining every year. In Sept 2018 107 applications were made gaining 93 offers (Westminster Business School 46 / College of Design, creative and digital industries 17 / College of liberal arts and sciences 30) 22 students enrolled (Westminster Business School 12 / College of Design, creative and digital industries 5 / College of liberal arts and sciences 5)
Loxford has offered voluntary placement to undergraduates from University of Westminster since 2016, hosting 7 placements last year and being awarded University of Westminster School of the Year 2018.
At the University of Westminster, we organise a small, high-quality scheme from our central London base, recruiting and training 100 volunteers per year. The scheme places carefully selected and trained undergraduates and postgraduates in schools for a period of 15 days in a similar role to a teaching assistant. The volunteers are usually investigating teaching careers and wish to assist with lessons whilst gaining an introduction to teaching.
Volunteers hope to take as active a part in school life as possible, using their subject knowledge to support small groups of pupils under teacher supervision, bringing their enthusiasm and professionalism, and possibly teaching a session. This partnership supports both the teaching profession and the life chances of Loxford students.
For more information please visit: Teaching Placements
Trees for Cities
We are proud to be challenging this issue and proud to announce that we now have an Edible Playground. The Edible Playground was built by the charity Edible Playgrounds, which is part of Trees for Cities which transform areas in school grounds into vibrant outdoor spaces that excite and teach children about growing and eating healthy food. By instilling healthy eating habits at an early age, Edible Playgrounds help tackle obesity, food poverty and lack of access to nature head-on, and provide a platform for fun and engaging lessons that support the school curriculum.
Increasingly exposed to unhealthy food choices and with limited opportunities to grow and eat good food, one in three children leaving primary school are overweight or obese.
Edible Playgrounds offer a lively, engaging, multi-sensory way to teach children about growing and eating healthy food. Aside from the physical health benefits that eating well brings, learning in an outdoor environment combats Nature Deficit Disorder and has been shown to increase mental health by boosting mood, confidence and self-esteem. Furthermore, allowing the children to connect with nature develops attentiveness and self-reliance in the pupils, leading to more sustainable behaviours in the long term.
We are acutely aware that our modern world can have a negative effect on our overall wellbeing and so right at the very first point in the design for this area we wanted to have a mindfulness area. This would provide a calm place where staff and students could come and relax, eat their lunch or simply find a place to unwind. Our partners at Trees for Cities really understood this concept and through a series of designs, we have the beginnings of a very special area. We say beginning as this will be a place which evolves over time. The mindfulness area is flanked along the edge of our Edible Playground by flowers and plants.
