Our new Head of Outreach, Dr Kate Hibbs, has had a busy six months getting to know all of our designated local primary schools after joining us at the start of the year. By organising educational activities and enrichment opportunities for pupils across Newport and the wider Telford & Wrekin community, the Outreach Programme aims to increase awareness of all Haberdashers’ Adams has to offer and thus inspire more local pupils to consider applying, whilst helping disadvantaged Pupil Premium children realise that applying is within their reach. Our admissions policy does give a fair chance to children who are in receipt of Pupil or Service Premium, allowing a 5% lower qualifying score to level the playing field and providing them with familiarisation material to help them prepare for the test.

Orienteering

In September, 80 pupils from Old Park Primary School came to Longford for a morning of orienteering led by Mr Sedman-Smith. Pupils began the day by learning essential skills such as orienting a map, identifying features such as trees, paths and fences, and being able to track position while moving around. They practiced around a simple course made up of different coloured cones and then competed in pairs to navigate an orienteering course around the grounds of Longford.

Creative Writing

The English Department hosted a creative writing workshop for local children in November. 25 pupils from Newport Junior School, Muxton Primary School, Lilleshall Primary School, Haberdashers’ Castle House School and Tibberton Primary School came in to work with Miss Edwards. The focus was on “How can I create a chilling and gripping opening to a narrative?”. Pupils began by describing a spooky setting based on a picture, created their own character, and then learnt how to use a writing formula to gradually build up their writing skills to create a chilling and gripping opening.

Art

In December Mrs Markopoulos visited Lawley Primary School to lead an art workshop for a talented group of young artists. They delved into the world of monochrome printing, crafted unique designs with polystyrene tiles and turned them into personalised greetings cards.

Spelling Bee

The first ever Haberdashers’ Adams Spelling Bee was held in January. Over 50 pupils from 10 local primary schools competed against each other. Rounds included Speed Spelling, Guess the Word and the Crossword Race. We ended with an escape room challenge where pupils had to crack 10 SPAG-related clues to reveal the winning code. Lilleshall Primary School were overall winners, followed by Newport Juniors in second place and Donnington Wood Juniors coming third.

As well as organising events, Dr Hibbs has been visiting schools across Telford to deliver maths enrichment sessions, with fun games and challenges to stretch pupils’ mathematical thinking. She has also set up access to an online portal to help disadvantaged local pupils prepare for the 11+ Entrance Test. Dr Hibbs also organises the Sixth Form mentoring programme. On Wednesday afternoons, over 30 of our Sixth Formers volunteer their time in local primary schools, a care home and charity shop.

Upcoming events planned for the next few months include a primary school cricket tournament, sports festival and a STEM competition.