Partnering with Schools

The Woodcote High School & Riddlestone Collegiate Badges

UCA is working to become one of the members of a Shared Trust that is to be created to support two successful schools in Croydon.

The two schools are Riddlesdown Collegiate (the curriculum includes art, drama, design technology and media studies) and Woodcote High (includes art and drama). Both schools are just under 10 miles from the Epsom campus.

A trust school is a state-funded foundation school supported by a charitable trust made up of external partners working together for the benefit of the school. The aim of trust schools is to use the experience, energy, networks and expertise from a range of partners as a lever to raise standards in schools.

A Shared Trust is where a group of schools all become trust schools and work with the same partners in one trust.  The specific focus of the Shared Trust is for:

  1. All pupils from early years to 19 to learn in a high quality institution with commonly held principles and consistently high standards. The Trust to be synonymous with high expectations and outcomes.
  2. All pupils to achieve successful transitions between key stages and schools and to further and higher education, to work, to apprenticeships, and to further and higher education

UCA hopes to contribute to the Shared Trust in a variery of ways, possibly for example by:

  • Providing training & development in leadership and management to the Schools' senior staff
  • Identifying and facilitating progression routes from the Schools into UCA courses
  • Reciprocal visits for school staff to develop their understanding of the university sector and for university staff to develop their understanding of the schools sector 
  • Facilitating volunteering activities by university staff, students and alumni