South Yorkshire hosts a variety of specialist hubs which focus on providing excellence in their chosen field. They support schools to develop their leadership, staff and curriculum, so they can improve their results and performance. They are part of the wider development of school-led system leadership in England.
English Hub schools promote a love of reading and support schools across the country to provide excellent phonics and early language teaching. Literacy specialists within each hub provide tailored support to schools.
Learners First lead one of only 32 English Hubs in the country in partnership with Whiston Worrygoose J&I, the accredited lead school. Whiston Worrygoose J&I is an outstanding school near the centre of Rotherham and is one of the founding schools in the White Woods Primary Academy Trust. The core values of the school are captured in the words: explore, learn, be inspired. Every decision is driven by a desire to ensure a world class education for every child and foster a lifelong love of learning. These core values underpin the English Hub approach as we continue to work with a huge range of schools from across the region to share practice and offer bespoke and tailored support to further improve the teaching of phonics, early language and reading.
As a partnership, we are excited by the opportunities the English Hub initiative creates for local schools and are keen to share more information about the support and resources available and how schools can access and contribute to the work of the English Hub.
St Wilfrid’s Primary School is an outstanding school in the South of Sheffield with a track record of high performance. The school places a high profile on early reading through a strong commitment to systematic, synthetic phonics. From the moment the children start at St Wilfrid’s, our mantra is that ‘reading is the core purpose’ because reading opens up the world to our children.
Ultimately, if a child can read, they can access the curriculum, develop a strong vocabulary and a love of reading. The school is part of Learning Unlimited Teaching School Alliance and is outward-facing with a track record of school to school support.
The core purpose of Maths Hubs is to help schools and colleges lead improvement in mathematics education in England. They seek to harness all the maths leadership and expertise within an area, to develop and spread excellent practice, for the benefit of all pupils and students.
The South Yorkshire Maths Hub is one of a national network of 40 Maths Hubs in England. Maths Hub programme is funded by the Department for Education (DfE) and coordinated by the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM). The pillars of Maths Hub activity are the Teaching for Mastery programme and teacher-led workgroups. There is no cost to participate in Maths Hub activity.
The Maths Hub is led by Hallam Teaching School Alliance and Notre Dame High School.
Science Learning Partnerships combine local expertise in teaching and learning in science, facilitating CPD, and providing school-to-school support.
The Science Learning Partnership for South and East Yorkshire is part of the STEM Learning -funded national network of Science hubs. The Science Learning Partnership provides CPD and support to science teachers and leaders of all phases. This support is provided through networks, face-face and remote training, and bespoke support.
The South & East Yorkshire Science Learning Partnership is led by Hallam Teaching School Alliance and Notre Dame High School
The Research Schools Network is a collaboration to create a network of schools that support the use of evidence to improve teaching practice.
Sheffield Associate Research School
The Sheffield Associate Research School acts as an ‘arm’ of Huntington Research School in York and is part of the Education Endowment Foundation-funded national Research Schools Network. The Sheffield Associate Research School provides CPD to support leaders and teachers to develop evidence-informed policy and practice.
SEND is a key focus for all our colleagues nationally and locally and therefore it is important to link with our specialist providers and colleagues across the region.
Since becoming Sheffield’s first specialist school for Cognition and Learning in 2008, Talbot Specialist School has continued to thrive as a Centre of Excellence, becoming a Leadership and Innovation Hub in 2011 and a Teaching School in 2013. The school has a strong “outward face” and historically has developed and promoted partnerships to improve outcomes.
EdTechSheffEd Tech Demonstrator Schools are a Department for Education programme to transform technology in education. EdTechSheff is Sheffield’s demonstrator school jointly run by King Ecgbert School from Mercia Learning Alliance and Notre Dame High School from Hallam TSA. The project initially provides support with remote learning and Covid recovery but through 2021 is increasingly moving more towards long term strategic school improvement through the implementation of technology in all aspects of school life.