About Coombe

COOMBE ACHIEVE ‘MULTIPLE’ SPECIALISM

Coombe Girls’ School is now one of the first schools in the country to achieve ‘multiple’ specialist status. It has added ‘Training School’ status to its other two specialisms – Modern Foreign Languages and Leading Edge. The awards are given by the DfES for excellence in the specialist area and significant funding is attached.

Training Schools have been set up by the Government to demonstrate excellent practice across the range of teacher training activities, especially in initial teacher training and the continuing training of the whole school workforce. Schools are chosen who show ambition and imagination in these areas and work collaboratively with others for the benefit of staff and pupils beyond their own boundaries. To achieve this specialism Coombe Girls’ School had to demonstrate good practice in teacher training and, with the new status as a Training School, will receive extra funding to carry out extra training activities.

Coombe Girls’ School is already one of only 103 Leading Edge Schools in the country and this programme is all about sharing good practice with other school. Combining the Leading Edge status and the Teaching Training Specialism, Coombe is working in partnership with Coombe Boy’ School and King’s College, Wimbledon to develop good practice. Matthew Robinson is on the Graduate Training Program to become a fully qualified teacher at King’s College, and is currently undertaking a 6 week placement at Coombe Girls’ School ‘I have found the school very welcoming and kind. It is so interesting teaching girls with a diversity of learning.’

Elaine Snelgrove, who is in charge of the Teacher Training programme at Coombe and was awarded this year with the Long-time Service Award for teaching in the borough, was thrilled with the news. ‘This is a great achievement for Coombe Girls’ and we are looking forward to supporting and developing even more Newly Qualified Teachers and Graduate Teachers with our partnership schools for this borough and beyond’.

Coombe Girls’ School were listed in the DfES Secondary Schools Achievement and Attainment Tables and achieved one of the highest Value Added scores in the borough. Value Added scores indicate how a school improves on each pupils education individually. This score shows that Coombe Girls’ School is working hard to get the best out of all their pupils.

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For more information, or to arrange photography contact:

Alice Jenkins (Press Officer)

Tel: 020 89421242

Fax: 020 89426385

Email: ajenki4@rbksch.org