Pupils Celebrate Success at Saturday School

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Gifted and Talented pupils learn drama and circus skills

Drama and circus skills were among the activities at an event to celebrate the success of a Saturday school for local primary school pupils, which is run with the help of two independent schools.

The celebration event on Monday (2 July) followed a ten-week programme for pupils from 16 state primary schools in Hammersmith & Fulham.

The Saturday school classes, called Serious Fun on Saturdays, are run in partnership with two independent schools - Latymer Upper School, in Hammersmith, and St Paul's School, across Hammersmith Bridge, in Barnes. The project is funded by the educational charity SHINE: Support and Help in Education.

The programme is funded by the educational charity SHINE: Support and Help in Education, the two independent schools and H&F Council.

The Saturday school classes are fun, practical and give children the chance to explore subjects in more depth, helping to prepare them for the move to secondary school. The sessions are led by teachers from Latymer Upper School and St Paul's School, with the support of student mentors from those two schools.

Serious Fun on Saturdays is run by H&F Council's attitudes to learning Project Co-ordinator Michelle Burke. The programme, now in its fourth year, gives pupils five weeks at Latymer Upper School and five weeks at St Paul's School, allowing children to take advantage of the high quality facilities at both schools.

On Monday (2 July) St Paul's School hosted a day of activities for 90 pupils who have successfully completed the ten-week programme. The children all received their certificates of achievement at a presentation ceremony and barbecue, attended by parents and representatives from the council and participating schools. The next Serious Fun on Saturdays programme begins in January.

Michelle Burke, Project Co-ordinator for Serious Fun on Saturdays, said: "The Saturday school has been going amazingly well since it started in 2004. The pupil turnout has been brilliant and they have done some really incredible work, which has raised achievement levels and given year six primary school children some excellent additional preparation for the move up to secondary school."

Cllr Antony Lillis, cabinet member for children's services, visited the sessions at Latymer Upper School earlier this year. He said: "This challenging and imaginative programme stretches our most able pupils and gives extra support to children who need to raise their levels of achievement. The independent school teachers who lead these wonderfully engaging classes, with the help of student mentors, have shown fantastic commitment to the programme, which has given local children some really exciting educational experiences to help prepare them for the move to secondary school. The SHINE charity, the two local independent schools and the council are working together to raise the aspirations of local primary pupils."

Stephen Shields, SHINE chief executive, said, "We are absolutely delighted with the continued success of this programme, now in its fourth year, and we are grateful to the project and school staff, as well as the student mentors, for their hard work and commitment to this success. We are also pleased to report that SHINE is now supporting a number of Serious Fun on Saturdays independent-state school programmes, which followed on from this first one at St Paul's and Latymer Upper."

July 7, 2007