CHS Impact Report 2022

Annual Report of The Directors

The Directors of Cheadle Hulme School present their Annual Report for the year ended 31 August 2022 under the Charities Act 2011, including the Directors’ and Strategic Reports under the Companies Act 2006, together with the audited Financial Statements.

Section A: School Performance

Admissions activity for 2022/23 indicates very high numbers of applications, attendance at open days and registration for entrance exams;

Acceptance rates at 51% exceed recent norms (47%)

522 children sat the senior entrance exam; 401 were invited to interview with their parents aiming for a Year 7 group of between 160-170. Acceptance rates at 51% exceed recent norms (47%) The Sixth-form saw 47 applications (up 10 on the previous year). 35 expressions of interest were received for Years 8-10 and the Junior School assessed 67 children and offered 42 places resulting in full year groups. Pre-School and Reception applications for following years were also up.

Staff Numbers

While the number of staff has increased notably over the twelve month period, the full-time equivalent remains the same, driven by an increase in the number of employees who work part time and flexibly.

Academic Results

Public examinations took place in the Summer of 2022 for the first time since 2019; this was the first exposure of Year 11 and Year 13 to public exams. CHS pupils, like those across the country, were awarded results that were broadly lower than those awarded during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, but broadly higher than a ‘normal’ year. The high standards our pupils performed at in their studies was reflected in the final results.

Our wide-ranging curriculum at Sixth Form has also equipped pupils with the skills to succeed in a range of environments, with students also being successful in progressing both to degree apprenticeships and directly into the workplace.

Section B: School Activity

Junior School

Academic: A new English scheme of work (with additional resource) and a restructure to place emphasis on speech and language Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and English in Key Stages (KS) 1 and 2 is looking to address the national shortfalls witnessed as a result of Covid; this adds to a stable mathematics programme which maintained successful age-related outcomes. All pupils engaged in external educational visits from the School.

A 2022 revised EYFS framework has been welcomed, with new facilities and equipment introduced as an upgrade to capabilities for the next academic year.

Active: A focus on outdoor learning has seen coordination across the School to present improved opportunities for Forest School-style development, which is continuing and growing. This sees a broader curriculum support for social, physical and emotional development as well as contributing to speech and language development in a practical environment.

Drama and Music productions saw many deliver a first ‘live’ performance and engaged the whole Junior School. Alua Nasciemento from STOMP delivered body percussion workshops, and a Spring Concert was held for the first time in 3 years, while 11 pupils from Year 5 and 6 sang with the Barnby Choir at the Alderley Edge Festival Hall. Junior engagement in a MiniMUNCH (Model United Nations Cheadle Hulme) debating and democracy club, linked to the Senior School, resulted in a Year 5 child being able to discuss politics with the MP for Tatton, Esther McVey.

Every child in KS2 represented CHS competitively

An increase in sports fixtures across the year included hosting the Association of Junior Independent Schools (AJIS) football finals cup and plate competition for 24 teams. Year 5/6 won the boys tournament, Year 4 won a Manchester City football tournament and Years 4/5/6 girls won a Stockport Schools tournament.

Every child in KS2 represented CHS competitively. In addition, a Year 5 girl was featured in the Women’s Euro Football adverts and another Year 5 girl, dancing with the Royal Ballet, has been selected to represent England Women at the Dance World Cup. A Year 6 pupil has attended Aintree for specialist adult training for her horse-riding abilities. 2 boys are playing football at academy level and one girl led her local netball club to the national finals. A Year 6 boy gained national media attention for taking part in a summer referee’s review at Twickenham, despite having a congenital heart condition.

A variety of community football events were held, generating enormous engagement and support: Y6 saw 300+ players & spectators, Y4 had 250+ players & spectators, Y2 garnered 120+ players & spectators and Y1 also managed 100+ players & spectators.

The AJIS Athletics Championships resulted in 6 medals, including a Gold and Silver in field events.

Altruistic:

• The Junior School conducted litter picking twice a week in the local area, for the year, as part of understanding the environment and waste. Older children contributed ideas to the Green Path and engaged in planting and design.

• An Eco vegetable garden delivered produce into the kitchen for the contract caterers to use in school lunches for the children, with support from the grounds team.

• A number of pupils were invited by Stockport Council’s Climate Action Now team to address the council about the environment and sustainability ideas.

• The Green Flag Eco Status of the Junior School is being renewed and the Big Battery Hunt contributed to a national recycling campaign.

• Yoga, mindfulness and a library ‘chill’ have been introduced as part of measures to address children’s wellbeing.

• The Junior School raised £2040 for:

• Seashell - based in Cheadle Hulme, which supports children and young people with complex learning difficulties, disabilities, and additional communication needs from across the UK.

• Guide Dogs for the Blind - providing mobility for the blind and partially sighted as well as research, raising awareness and campaigning for the visually impaired.

• The Bumblebee Conservation Trust - to create a world where bumblebees are thriving and valued.

• The Junior School also contributed to the whole school Prevent Breast Cancer campaign which raised £8500.

Senior School

Academic: Pupils in Year 7 were the first cohort to be part of our reformed Lower School School curriculum. This featured two key changes:

• Each department identified the key competencies pupils would be developing in each subject, and pupil progress was assessed against these key criteria. This enabled pupils and teachers to understand their strengths and areas for development more clearly.

• Pupils explored two interdisciplinary Big Questions, designed to enable them to tackle crucial contemporary issues and understand how each academic subject contributes to answering them. These were ‘How do we know what is true?’ and ‘What shapes my identity?’. Pupils completed a portfolio of their ideas during Enrichment Week, with prizes awarded to the strongest entries.

Sixth Form students continued to develop their independence and collaborative skills outside their 3 A-level subjects with a range of other qualifications, including the Extended Project, Core Maths and the Arts Award. All Y12 students also benefited from the Pathways programme in the Arts, Elite Sport, Enterprise & Finance, Medical Sciences, Modern Languages, Social Sciences & Humanities and STEM.

As noted in Academic Results, Year 11 and Year 13 students sat public examinations for the first time, with much success at the highest grades - over half of all grades at A-level being A*-A, and 47.7% of grades being 8-9 at GCSE. A record number (142) students in Year 11 secured 56 points, our standard entry for study in the Sixth Form.

The Waconian Diploma: The aim of the Waconian Diploma, introduced in September 2021, is to recognise, incentivise and reward our Lower School pupils in all the activities that they undertake, both in School and at home. The Diploma has evolved for our new Year 7 with increased emphasis on linking activities to the school values and skills for life.

A revised Lower School curriculum has been implemented this year, with closer links to the Waconian Programme, heading towards a more ‘baccalaureate’ approach, which aims to build up a more holistic approach to developing and assessing skills beyond those assessed through existing reporting structures in the curriculum. The School is also working as part of a group called Rethinking Assessment, and participating in discussions with an international group of schools ‘The Coalition for All Learning’ to design an online learner profile that would more closely reflect the entire pupil experience rather than purely focusing on performance in individual subjects. As part of the Waconian Diploma, all pupils in the Lower School are required to carry out some form of voluntary or charitable activity.

Academic competitions are popular at CHS. This year approximately 440 students took part in the national Maths Challenge. In Modern Languages, students in the Lower School competed in the Mother Tongue, Other Tongue competition for poetry. In the Upper School and Sixth Form, many students enter the UK Linguistics Olympiad, the Stephen Spender Prize and the Independent Schools Modern Languages Association (ISMLA) Creative Writing Competition. Many strong entries were also received from pupils in Years 5-13 for the annual Head’s Essay Competition. The 2022 question invited pupils to submit essays addressing the theme of climate change through an area of particular interest to them.

Each year CHS hosts the Modern Languages Debating Competition for Sixth Form linguists. Pupils also had the opportunity to be part of the editorial teams for the school magazine, “The Waconian”, the biannual Modern Languages magazine, “The Cultured Linguist”, “Expressions”, the Humanities magazine and “Sciclopedia”, the Science magazine.

Active:

Drama

Three contrasting and extraordinary performances were put on this year: Rona Munro’s ‘Scuttlers’ with it’s physical energy, dramatic storyline and an insight into life on the streets of Manchester in 1885; Matilda, the musical, with a cast of 80 who performed 7 times to audiences that included over 500 pupils from our state primary partner schools, afghan refugees and the CHS community; and, a 60-s inspired Midsummer Night’s Dream, a collaboration of the arts with live music played by our Year 8 and Sixth Form Bands, acting from students from Year 7 - 13 and costumes designed and created by our Arts Pathway students. Programme design and marketing was also done by the students.

Music

Matilda, the musical, with a cast of 80 who performed 7 times to audiences that included over 500 pupils from our state primary partner schools, Afghan Refugees and the CHS community.

Over 200 entries from Senior School pupils to the CHS Music Competition were split into Classical and Contemporary sections, with heats adjudicated by members of the Halle Orchestra and tutors from the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) and Chetham’s School of Music.

Christmas and Spring Concerts were held at Stockport Town Hall; the Concert Band and Big Band performed a Community Concert for feeder primary schools, taking 300 pupils on a journey “Around the World” with music. Peter Twist, a previous pupil of the school and professional composer working with film composers, delivered a composition workshop and talks to Music Scholars and the whole school in May.

At the end of the Spring term 55 CHS pupils took an instrumental/vocal grade through ABRSM or the Trinity exam boards. 100% passed and 36% of these pupils achieved distinction. 61 pupils are taking instrumental/vocal grades through ABRSM or Trinity exam boards in the Summer Term.

At the start of the Summer Term, Andy Stott (Head of Popular Music at the RNCM) and a band of his students performed a programme of popular music to all of Year 7. A Year 10 and 12 concert took place in May giving GCSE and A level Music pupils the opportunity to perform a programme of their choice in preparation for their performing exams.

The Prima Voce (Y7/8 choir) gained 2nd place in the Alderley Edge Music Festival and performed in a joint concert at the end of May with the Barnby Choir.

An outdoor, live-microphone ‘gig’, was held on World Music Day with music from a number of student bands and solo performers. Musicians put on a concert involving the Concert Band, Studio Band, String Orchestra, Prima Voce, Percussion Ensemble and two of our DJs for the incoming Year 7s on their transition day.

A number of pupils continue to be involved with the Hallé Youth Orchestra and Hallé Youth Choirs, including a massed performance of a Vaughan Williams’ Symphony with Sir Mark Elder conducting at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester.

55 CHS pupils took an instrumental/ vocal grade through ABRSM or the Trinity exam boards. 100% passed

Art

CHS has an outstanding, multi-disciplinary art department. Artwork produced by Year 11 and 13 pupils was, once again, displayed at the Manchester Art Fair, held at the Manchester Convention Centre. CHS is the only school whose artwork is exhibited, and sold, at the Fair. Ceramics, design, photography and textiles feature alongside ‘traditional’ arts, with creative use of a broad range of materials. A revised, bespoke, 6th form art portfolio area was opened at the start of this year.

Sport continues to be a strength of the school. Participation has recovered to pre-covid levels, with significant national success resulting from the relaunch of a full competitive fixture list, while maintaining a focus on ‘sport for all’. CHS challenges all local independent and state schools in five core disciplines of football, netball, rugby, hockey and cricket, with notable success in athletics this year in Stockport. Girls’ football and cricket are the fastest growing sports.

Duke of Edinburgh Awards: 75 Year 11 students completed their Bronze expeditions this year, as well as a selection of Silver and Gold expeditions to the Peak District and the Yorkshire Dales enabling catch up from previous years. Over 100 Year 10 students successfully completed their Bronze expeditions in the Peak District, 40 Year 11 students completed SIlver expeditions in the Yorkshire Dales and, in the final week of the Summer Term, there were Gold expeditions to the Lake District and Knoydart peninsula in the Scottish Highlands. Between April 2021 and March 2022 participants spent 2639 hours volunteering with a social value of £12192.18. A total of 201 Awards were achieved which comprised 21 Gold, 35 Silver and 145 Bronze Awards.

A School record of 137 of last year’s Year 9 pupils started their Bronze Award and have already completed the three non expedition sections of their awards.

F1 in Schools is a global multi-disciplinary STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) challenge, in which teams of school students deploy Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing software to collaborate, design, analyse, manufacture, test, and then race miniature compressed air powered cars made from lightweight materials.

Teams of 6 students must raise sponsorship and manage budgets to fund research, travel and accommodation. Any excess funds raised by the teams through sponsorship are invested back into the competition to help develop and expand the challenge. They learn about IT, physics, aerodynamics, design, manufacture, branding, graphics, sponsorship, marketing, leadership/ teamwork, media skills and financial strategy.

Focused on year 10 and year 12, CHS had one team this year, CH Lightning, who are looking forward to competing in the delayed regional heats in October and ran STEM activity sessions in the Junior School. In future, this will be broadened to a simplified internal competition for years 7, 8 and 9. CHS has six alumni studying F1 related subjects at university as a result of starting this programme in 2020.

Netball: U16 National Schools Winners

A remarkable achievement given it is the first time that CHS have ever reached the National Finals, an event which includes every school in the country.

Independent Schools National U15 Netball Cup Winners and U15 Stockport Schools Netball Winners

In addition to an U17 England international and 15 students selected to play for super-league teams at various age groups, over 66 players in Year 7 and 30 players in year 8 and 9 represented the school regularly throughout the season.

Football: U15 boys won the Independent Schools FA National Championship (the first co-education day school to win this ISFA tournament)

U13 girls are ISFA North champions, and reached the National Finals played at St Georges’ Park. They narrowly missed out on a place in the National semi-final by a goal difference of 1.

Girls’ teams have represented the school at Yr7, 8, 9, 10 and Seniors.

U14 boys won the Stockport School’s Cup 11 pupils play at professional football academies, 5 represent Stockport School’s and the ISFA U15 national squad.

Cricket: U15 boys’ cricket team were runners up in the National T20 championship after becoming the North Champions. They were the first team from Cheshire ever to reach this stage of the competition. U15 girls’ cricket team became Cheshire champions for the first time.

Model United Nations Cheadle Hulme (MUNCH): Involvement in the Model United Nations ‘club’ teaches a range of skills: Communication, organisation, forming and articulating an argument, the ability to appreciate differing cultural perspectives and exposure to an array of global issues beyond the normal curriculum. Two weekly lunchtime debating sessions were held for both beginners and more advanced students, plus a MUNCH online, with a weekly attendance of around 30, leading to four after school MiniMUNCH events for over a hundred students each time. A termly MUN newsletter was also introduced this year for students, parents and staff.

CHS took part in numerous online and live conferences at other schools; groups of 20-30 students were taken to conferences across the country, both as delegates and guest chairs, attending, for example, Tudor Hall School in Banbury, Shrewsbury School, Manchester Grammar School, Altrincham Grammar School for Girls, Manchester High School for Girls, Royal Hospital School in Ipswich and Moreton Hall School in Oswestry. Our students won a large number of awards at every conference attended, the highlight being the top award of Distinguished Delegation at the Royal Russell School in Croydon.

CHS hosted more than 20 schools for a Summer Conference weekend in July with more than 150 students from Years 6 to Upper Sixth helping to organize and run the conference, including roles as the event managers, secretariat, press team and technical team, as well as chairing and debating. 10 ex-MUN students returned to support the event.

MUN at CHS also raises money for Small Steps, a charity supporting special needs nursery age children in Uganda. Founded by Cat Dunlop, a former pupil, over £20,000 has been raised to date, with a further £1000 donated this year.

3 students were selected as winners of the Mother Tongue, Other Tongue Poetry Competiton

Chess: The School reached the regional semi-final of the National Schools Chess Championship and the final of the National Schools Chess Problem Solving competition.

Go: A team of 5 pupils from CHS won the annual British Youth Go Championship in November 2021. This completes a consecutive hat-trick, having been the top UK school in 2019 and 2020. A pupil in Year 9 came runner up in the U16 and third in the U20 categories.

Language Competitions: In languages CHS participates in, and runs, a range of competitions. Junior School and Lower School students are encouraged to enter the Mother Tongue, Other Tongue Poetry Competition. From over 50 internal entries, 5 went forward to regional rounds in which 3 students were selected as winners and had their poems published in the 2022 Anthology.

As members of ISMLA (Independent Schools Modern Languages Association), we enter the ISMLA Creative Writing Competition and include our teacher training partner schools in our internal competition. A student’s piece from our partner school Macclesfield Academy was one of the winners for the Year 10/11 category. We also had success in the Lancaster University Modern Languages in Schools Prize, with a Year 10 student winning with an essay in French about “To what extent do languages facilitate inclusivity in the modern world?”. The same student had their entry to the Prismatic Jane Eyre competition, run by the University of Oxford, selected to be included in their online and print anthologies.

Finally, CHS hosted the North Schools Modern Languages Debating competition in November, where sixth-form students from 16 schools and colleges from across the region debated in French, German, Spanish and Russian.

Altruistic and Charitable Activity

Each year CHS supports a whole school charity, 4 local charities through the House System, the CHS Gambia Trust and takes part in national fund-raising events and response to emerging humanitarian crises.

Co-curricular:

Prevent Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer, the most common cancer in the UK, affects 1 in 9 women and 1 in 1000 men; the CHS community has been significantly affected by breast cancer over the last couple of years. Working closely with Prevent Breast Cancer, there was a ‘Turning Cheadle Hulme Pink’ campaign in May.

Assemblies were delivered to all students to raise awareness, ‘Boob/Chest’ Cakes were made and sold, students ‘pinked’ their uniform and a series of sporting and funfair style activities raised funds. The highlight was a CHS Sustainable Fashion Show organised by the Sixth Form Gold Arts Award students; this show combined powerful messages on sustainability and cancer awareness, organised by four young ladies in the 6th form.

The final fundraiser was an inaugural Cheadle Channel Challenge! Pupils and staff took to the pool to swim the Channel in teams, a continuous 12 hour activity.

£8000 was raised for Prevent Breast Cancer and £500 for Coppafeel

National Events

The School also supported the annual MacMillan coffee morning (raising £2275), national Men’s Health Awareness, Children in Need, Sport Relief, Red Nose Day, the Save the Children christmas jumper appeal, a clothing collection for Ukraine, the Poppy Appeal for the British Legion and Show Racism the Red Card (£1000).

House Events

The entire Senior School (pupils and staff) are allocated to one of 4 ‘houses’: Allen, Clarke, Marsh and Whitehead. A huge variety of events and competitions contribute to a competitive scoring system for year-end awards.

Academic: A maths challenge, geography Kahoot, digital detox and Response to Prejudice presentations were undertaken. In an artistic category, a ‘Cheadle’s Got Talent’ show was held at Christmas (along with a Christmas Bake Off, Red Nose Character Cartoon design, a portrait competition and a food and music pun competition).

Active: 10 sports mornings were conducted: Dodgeball, Netball, Football, Cricket, Badminton, Cross-country, Orienteering, Swimming, Tennis and a Sports Day for Years 7 & 8. The cross-country run was held in fancy dress to support the national Children in Need campaign. In addition, a charity hike saw mass participation by pupils and staff.

Wider Contribution

£11,300 was raised and shared between the house charities and the

CHS Gambia Trust

Altruistic: Four local charities, 1 per house, are chosen by the students for 3 academic years (2021-24). £11,300 was raised and shared between the house charities and the School’s long-term association with the CHS Gambia Trust, an education facility in the Gambia.

‘Coffee4Craig’, a homelessness provision that is open every single evening to provide a homecooked meal, access to a medic, a shower, advice & sign posting, a barbering service and a team of compassionate faces to support their guests.

The ‘Manchester Refugee Support Network’, a grass-roots organisation directly managed by refugee communities in Manchester for over 24 years, providing practical support to those fleeing persecution, conflict, and various forms of injustice and abuse.

‘Headway’, promotes understanding of all aspects of brain injury and provides information, support and services to survivors, their families and carers as well as campaigning to reduce the incidence of brain injury.

The ‘Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity’, is about making a difference to thousands of children every year, supporting projects that research illnesses and provide stateof-the-art and specialised equipment to improve the diagnosis and treatment of children.

Lord Dubs, an Old Waconian, fled Czechoslovakia on the Kindertransport in 1939 and has dedicated his life to making a positive change to the lives of refugees, campaigning tirelessly and promoting the ideals of democracy, social justice and good governance. In light of a number of current refugee crises and to support the legacy of Lord Dub’s life work, CHS held multiple collections and ran several projects this year to support local charities working with refugees.

Clothing, bedding, toiletries, nappies and other essential items were sent to Ukraine and to locally accommodated asylum seekers from Afghanistan. Staff attended the Afghan accommodation in support of local agencies to deliver wellbeing sessions and teach English; establishing further need, CHS created a weekly wellbeing programme through liaison with the local authority and brought children and adults on to the school site for 12 weeks to take part in a variety of sport and art activities: knitting, zumba and a cooking for wellbeing programme.

CHS hosted 175 Afghan guests for a celebration of Nowruz, the Afghan New Year, in March, transforming the School Dining Hall to enable the celebrations and customs.

The School holds an Enrichment Week at the end of the Summer Term to promote Waconian values; all Year 7 and 8 students took part in community altruistic activities that ranged from litter picking, to running activities in local primary schools to caring for the school site.

CHS hosted 175 Afghan guests for a celebration of Nowrutz, the Afghan New Year

The Parents’ Association

The Parent’s Association recovered the majority of its fund-raising events and activities to pre-Covid levels. Largely based around the Junior School and its parent cohort, though available to all, an array of events were held, such as, film nights, ‘bags to school’ donations, a traditional fair, discos, donut sales, a CHS Christmas bauble and class tea-towels. Making £9200, an increase on the previous year’s £4890, enabled, amongst other things, new notice boards for the PA display, £1000 to the Junior School Eco garden, mobile goal posts, £4300 for sports cameras and £2200 for new gym equipment, all of which were welcomed and well-used.

Our Waconian Values

The Waconian Programme

The Waconian Programme is bespoke to Cheadle Hulme School and was introduced to pupils in Years 7 to 11 in September 2019. The programme covers five main topic areas: health (physical and mental), study skills, citizenship, relationships and future self. This reflects issues usually addressed in PSHE/PHE lessons in other schools.

These are, in turn, related back to the Waconian Values (Resilience, Endeavour, Compassion, Integrity and Contribution) and how they can help with positive decision-making in life.

Junior School pupils have a similar programme called Learning for Life which is being aligned to The Waconian Programme for future connectivity.

The programme has included:

• The ‘Kooth’ organization presented to all pupils from Years 7-12 to inform them about the online counselling they offer and their self-help forum.

• Sharon Girling OBE, who initiated the prospect of policing child abuse on the internet in the United Kingdom and developed the concept for the national Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), spoke about online safety to the Lower School. A live-stream session was also held for parents in both Senior and Junior schools, as well as a well attended evening meeting with Sharon.

• DC Claire Leonard, who is the Cyber Choices (Prevent) Officer for Greater Manchester Police, spoke to the Year 9 and CHS parents about Cyber Crime and Online Safety.

• Matt Leigh from Greater Manchester Learning Provider Network (GMLPN) held a workshop on Apprenticeships for the Year 13 students.

• Timothy Cho spoke to the Year 12 students in ‘Beyond CHS’ lessons about his time in captivity in North Korea and the work that he does to raise awareness about North Korea.

• “It Happens” spoke to the Year 12 students about intimate relationships and where to access support.

• BioGrad came into school and spoke to all Year groups in a lunchtime session about Scientific careers and the variety of roles that are available in this field.

• A first International University Evening was held for the Sixth Form and ten schools in the local area; this was chaired by David Hawkins from the University Guys, the leading international university recruitment provider in the UK.

• Just before the Summer Exams all parents were invited into school to attend a Mental Health Awareness Evening, where there were speakers on healthy routines, signposting where to get help, child bereavement and also Kooth.

• There have also been numerous speakers to help pupils with career choices, not least of which was the highly successful Future Self Convention, with over 70 speakers, to which all Senior School and Sixth Form pupils (and parents) were invited to attend.

Section C: Public Benefit

The Directors have carefully considered the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit, and in particular the supplementary public benefit guidance on advancing education and on fee charging. The Directors are confident the School is meeting its public benefit requirement.

The School’s commitment to fulfilling its public benefit obligations is reflected within the School’s articles, values, and Strategic Plan.

Examples of the School’s commitment are its Financial Assistance Scheme, to widen access, its expanding partnership and community activities, its leadership of SCITT training (covered in Part 2 of the Director’s Report), its charity and fundraising activities and its consideration and action on environmental impact. There is also both an inevitable and by-design crossover into some its co-curricular activities, highlighted above.

Financial Assistance

The School has provided financial assistance through bursaries for many years. The School’s main Financial Assistance Scheme is derived from current fee income and is supplemented by income from the 150th Anniversary Bursary Trust Fund and other generous donors, including the Zochonis Charitable Trust and the Oglesby Charitable Trust.

Financial assistance is awarded to pupils on application and following an assessment of parental means, with awards ranging from 5% to 100% remission of fees. Financial assistance is also provided to help with the costs of educational School trips, transport, uniform and equipment, where a substantial fee award has already been made. This year the value of all bursaries, scholarships, other awards totalled £1.669m (2020-21: £1.786m) and represented 9.0% of gross fees (202021: 10.4%). The reduced amounts vs. the prior year are because no Covid fee rebate was given in 2021/22. Within this total, the value of means-tested bursaries totalled £1.068m (2020-21: £1.069m) and represented 5.8% of gross fees (2020-21: 6.2%). This provided support to 100 pupils (2020-21: 99) of which 33 (202021: 37) benefitted from a full remission of fees.

No Hardship funds were awarded in 2021/22 (6 awards in 2020/21). The School will continue to review requests to this fund.

Provided support to 100 pupils of which 33 benefitted from a full remission of fees

In addition, the School’s Foundation Scheme provides financial support to existing pupils who experience the death of a parent and whose families find themselves in extreme financial difficulty. This year the School has 2 Foundation pupils.

Further, and throughout the pandemic, the School offered deferred payment terms and payment holidays to families who had been severely affected by the crisis and who were struggling to continue to pay fees. These measures have led to no pupils needing to leave the school because of Covid-related financial hardship.

Bursary Fundraising

1203

Gifts were received for the Bursary Fund

Was raised from the Old Waconian appeal £13,000

£9000

A parent appeal raised over £9000 for the Bursary Fund; the School gained 6 new regular donors and one regular gift increase.

There were 309 donors (Old Waconians, parents and trusts)

309

CHS employs professional fundraisers to carry out activities for fundraising purposes, bound by the regulations set out by the Fundraising Regulator, of which the School is a member. Information about how the School uses personal data for fundraising purposes is explained within the External Relations Privacy Policy.

Partnerships and the Community

Community Partnerships

The Stockport State-Independent School partnership resumed work this year; CHS provides support in Music, Maths, Science and Modern Foreign Languages to partner schools.

Primary School Partnerships have been formalised with a Memorandum of Understanding with 4 key partner schools; Adswood, Cale Green, Cheadle Heath and Lumhead. The two areas of focus for this year were curriculum support and development in Science and Languages and promoting recovery from Covid through the Arts with a focus on raising cultural capital, developing self esteem and increasing participation opportunities.

The ‘World of Languages and Languages of the World’ (WolloW) programme was successfully piloted in partnership with 4 local primary schools during the year (Ludworth, Cheadle Heath, Lumhead and Cale Green).

Our science programme benefits 10 Primary School teachers and 240 pupils between ages 9-11

Science: CHS delivers workshops in Space, Forces, Materials and Living Habitats to 10 KS2 classes across our four primary partner schools. The curriculum content has been created with the primary schools to support their science curriculum delivery. This programme benefits 10 Primary School teachers and 240 pupils between the ages of 9 and 11. Each class receives three workshops across three full mornings. In addition to the workshops the teachers are provided with additional resources and extension materials to deliver at their schools.

A Partnership STEAM Competition was piloted with Adswood Primary School this year to develop and create a model using creativity and electrical components. 14 groups of 3 pupils from two year 5 classes took part. The CHS Art and DT department supplied wood and craft materials from waste and the electrical components were purchased through a grant from the Oglesby Trust.

Arts: A first arts festival was held in July 2022, with all four partner primary schools contributing. Extracts from Shakespeare were performed, along with singing, dancing, a steel band and an art exhibition, themed by the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Over 100 performers, aged 5 to 11 and 200 guests supported the event.

Partnerships and the Community (cont.)

Secondary schools

A pilot programme commenced with the Cooperative Academy North Manchester for mentoring of younger pupils by our senior students, working in coordination with Sheffield University’s GROW mentoring programme. This also supported a secondary school located in Blackley, Manchester.

20 Sixth Form female students mentored Year 10 girls from the Academy in the lead up to their GCSE examinations. One-toone mentoring provided a listening ear and a variety of practical strategies around preparing for examinations, tailored to each individual to give them the personal support they need to achieve their potential. The programme, which continues, involved monthly online mentoring sessions and termly face-to-face enrichment activities.

The External Relations Team and Head of Chemistry created an open access series of videos demonstrating key practicals suitable for GCSE pupils for use in surrounding schools.

The Schools Crossing Borders project, established in 2020 by the Head of Modern Languages, saw a resumption of a relationship with Kantonsschule Zürcher Unterland (KZU), Bülach in Zurich, with Year 12 students arriving in the Summer Term for an immersive education experience. Two CHS students will make the reciprocal visit in October 2022.

Roots. CHS is partnering in a collaborative project organised by the Roots Programme, looking at social mobility, socio-demographic experience and youth opportunities to share common concerns, values and joint action on a social project; a group of Year 9 pupils have been engaging with fellow pupils from St Peter’s School in Gorton, with a second pilot engaging the Dean Trust Ardwick.

The Roots exchange programme includes six online workshops, two school swap days and a weekend residential. The students from both schools will be invited to individually design and implement their own responses to real-life divisions and challenges they witness in their own school/community.

2 Ukrainian students arrived at CHS in the Summer Term, hosted by a Waconian family and supported by the 150th Anniversary Bursary Trust Fund, to acclimatise in preparation for academic year 2022/23.

The School joined the Royal National Foundation Children’s Springboard as an accredited school, participating in a DfE pilot programme. The Broadening Educational Pathways Programme supports careexperienced children and children on the ‘edge of care’ into boarding and independent day schools.

The School provided formal extended support to a local state school in how to train staff in delivering, supervising and assessing the Extended Project Qualification.

Weekly activity sessions were provided for Afghan refugee families, who were being housed in hotels in the area. These sessions were run and supervised by staff and pupil volunteers and included a range of sporting, creative and wellbeing activities.

CHS staff supporting the wider community

Many of the School’s staff share their educational and/or business expertise more widely. Examples are provided below, highlighting the variety and breadth of local, regional and national contribution involving both teaching and professional services staff:

• Providing governors and committee members at, amongst others, Banks Lane Junior School, Hursthead Infant School, Ladybridge Primary School, Parkroyal School Macclesfield, Moss Park Infant School (SEND Governor) and Windlehurst School.

• PTA membership of, for example, Lane End Primary School and Alderley Edge Community Primary School

• Running StateTalking, a community interest company which connects state schools across Manchester with relatable role models, finding speakers to support careers and pastoral programmes and helping them establish their own alumni networks.

• Delivering talks to state schools and colleges about business.

• ‘Childline’ counselling.

• Children’s Society support in the North West with children and young adults in care.

• Collecting and delivering for the homeless for Framework in Nottingham.

• Supporting Pure Insight, a Stockport charity helping young people leaving care.

• Leading cub and scout packs in Alderley Edge

• Supporting girls rugby teams at Manchester Rugby Club.

• Running a mental health support running group, runtalkrun.com, and volunteering at Run Knutsford.

• Volunteering at St Ann’s Hospice.

• Co-founding, and being a trustee of www.theworldoflanguages.co.uk, a free programme to celebrate language diversity for the world.

• Co-founding, director of education and trustee at www.cricketbeyondboundaries.com.

• Founding committee member of Alderley History group.

• ECB Cricket Coaching for the all-stars programme for a local Cricket Club.

• Volunteering at Stepping Hill hospital, providing pet therapy, at Zaricova, an animal dogs home in Dubrovnik and fund-raising for the Soi Dog Foundation based in Phuket.

• Trustee of the Blackden Trust.

• Lecturing for senior leaders on the Windsor Leadership Trust and military service leavers at the Alliance Manchester Business School.

• Board advising for a London HR body.

• A member of the Expert Advisory Board for the Royal National Children’s Springboard Foundation.

• Coaching and mentoring across a variety of sectors and organisations.

Section D: Pastoral Care

The School places considerable emphasis on its pastoral provision and endeavours to provide a safe and welcoming environment, free from any form of discrimination, where everyone is valued and treated with mutual respect and equal worth. Pastoral care is designed to support the progress and development of each pupil and to build resilience in pupils to deal positively with the considerable and unprecedented challenges they and their parents/carers currently face.

The Deputy Head (Pupil Welfare) is the Designated Safeguarding Lead. All staff, governors and those working directly with pupils are trained to the appropriate level in safeguarding and child protection issues to ensure that all children receive effective support and protection. All staff have undertaken Prevent Training to raise awareness around early intervention around radicalisation. Staff also received regular update training regarding the School’s policies, which are based on DfE guidance. This year, staff have undertaken additional, scenario based training around Child on Child Abuse, with a focus on protected characteristics.

The School updated its policies and statements on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) adding a specific racial inclusion policy as a result of a working party and wide consultation in the previous year. StopHateUK, the RAP Project and Diversity Role Models provided a very positive start to the year, talking to all staff at the January INSET, with StopHateUK delivering online presentations for parents during the year. The Equality Society supported a ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ day in November, tied in with assemblies and raising awareness about how to tackle racism and islamophobia in schools and amongst peer groups. The School has joined the Schools Inclusion Alliance to ‘share best practice, work together and strive for inclusion at the heart of ethos, practice and values’.

All Lower School pupils have a 6th Form Peer Mentor, who supports them once a week during afternoon Form time

The Lower School, building on training from the Diversity Role Models, established an LGBT+ Rainbow Alliance, with the intention of providing a safe space for LGBT+ pupils and allies and to learn about and educate others on LGBT+ history. The School visibly changed some of its imagery and infrastructure to support broad spectrum inclusion. Examples include the introduction of non-gendered toilets, a rainbow crossing and aligning PE and Games kit to allow all pupils to wear shorts.

Tracking pupils’ physical and mental health and wellbeing continues to evolve, supported by Student Mentoring Plans. Our Looked After Children and Bursary Pupil’s progress is overseen by a designated member of the Safeguarding Team. To support this process, pupils in Years 8 and 10 participated in the first ever #Beewell wellbeing survey, a pilot wellbeing survey across Greater Manchester. The School data contributed to an analysis of wellbeing across the conurbation, whilst receiving a breakdown of the data for our own pupils.

Following Covid lockdown, CHS has seen, in line with the national picture, an increase in mental health, attendance and behavioural concerns. Pupils have been provided with additional one-to-one and group support through increased staffing and specifically an additional day of counselling, plus the appointment of an additional Student Manager for the Upper School. Supported by the School Nurse, ‘The Meet’ (in consultation with local authority eating disorder teams in Manchester and Stockport) was introduced, offering lunch supervision to pupils with diagnosed eating disorders. In addition, the School appointed an Attendance Officer and an Assistant Head for Behaviour, Values and Culture to provide further strategic support from next year. Nominated leads from each section of the School, The First Aid Team as well as Learning and Support undertook the Senior Mental Health Lead Training to support pupils, parents/carers and teaching staff.

First Aid and Counselling Service

The School Nurse offers a drop-in service and support for pupils with health conditions such as eating disorders and mental health. First Aid also supported growing numbers of pupils in managing their medical conditions and encouraging confidence to live normal lives on their own terms. The School counsellor provision was increased to allow more pupils to access one-to-one support. In addition, the team supported pupils by producing additional resources to combat anxiety and increase resilience.

The pastoral programme in the Upper School complemented the Waconian Programme and helped embed the Waconian Values

Peer Mentoring

All Lower School pupils have a 6th Form Peer Mentor, who supports them once a week during afternoon Form time. They support the work of the pastoral team by discussing topical issues and looking at the Waconian values.

The Peer Mentor Coordinator (PMC) has also developed an individual peer mentoring scheme, to support pupils who are struggling with friendship issues and low-level mental health concerns. The PMC has qualified as a Well Being Champion (through Worth-it) and is now able to deliver this training to Lead Peer Mentors; it is the Lead Peer Mentors who carry out one-to-one mentoring. In addition, all the Year 12 pupils took part in a ‘Worth-it’ course to become ‘well-being ambassadors’, focussing on mental health and youth support strategies.

Communication between mentor and mentee is facilitated and monitored by the PMC. We had six Year 8 pupils engaging with the mentoring, three of whom have chosen to carry on with their mentor from Year 7. Tutors are also engaging in catch ups with pupils on a termly basis.

Lower School

The Lower School pastoral provision was mapped across Year 7 and Year 8 to complement The Waconian Programme, to incorporate Spiritual, Moral, Social & Cultural (SMSC) strands and embed Waconian Values. The pastoral programme also links with key national events, such as Black History Month in October, Anti-Bullying Week (November), Remembrance Day (November), Holocaust Memorial Day (January) and LGBTQ+ History Month (February); assembly follow-up sessions allow for topical discussion.

Pupils responded positively to hearing from externally sourced speakers each term. For example, ‘International Women’s Day’ was an opportunity for an Old Waconian to explain opportunities for women in the tech industry.

Upper School

The pastoral programme in the Upper School complemented the Waconian Programme and helped embed the Waconian Values. Key national and international events, as in the Lower School, were incorporated into the programme to champion and celebrate equality, diversity and inclusion. Where appropriate, topics relevant to a particular year group were addressed e.g., revision skills (prior to trial or end of year exams), the Learning to Learn programme in Year 10 and stress management (Year 11). Regular sessions on emotional, physical and mental wellbeing, with advice and strategies for selfcare, have continued in the post-covid era. Resources were provided to enable follow-up in individual forms to encourage inquiry, discussion and debate.

Termly staff ‘learning walks’ (also held for the Lower School and Sixth Form staff) ensure consistency of pastoral care across the Upper School, identifying and sharing better practice. An external trainer provided support for Form Tutors on how to challenge inappropriate views, behaviours or attitudes.

Sixth Form

The pastoral programme in the Sixth Form sees both Year 12 and 13 explore the same issues each week, except for anything UCAS related. The range of topics included ‘Show Racism the Red Card’, Islamophobia and Black Lives Matters. All three were championed by the senior leadership of pupils on the Sixth Form Council (Equalities Society), who ran a Wear Red Day in October to raise awareness, and delivered assemblies to all year groups to provide relevant and accessible context. Tutors conducted Racial Literacy discussions, looking at scenarios and how to respond to them.

National Bullying Week (November) provided an opportunity to view issues through the prism of the ‘bystander effect’, using resources produced by our AntiBullying Ambassadors. The Eco Society ran sessions on Environmental Awareness (November) and Drink Spiking (December). Misogyny and Every Day Sexism, International Women’s Day (February), the War in Ukraine (March) as well as Gap Year and Apprenticeship Opportunities utilised a mix of internal and external speakers. Year 12 focus on Work Experience and UCAS Personal Statements inbetween their end-of-year exams.

An ongoing ‘Beyond CHS’ pastoral session was also held each week with Year 12, exploring issues in more depth. Vaping, Spiking and Misogyny featured alongside academic matters, with guest speakers covering life at university, driver safety, first aid skills and study abroad.

Section E: Environmental

The School launched a first Green Plan this year, en route to a full Estate Decarbonisation Plan (EDP) and revised Estates Master Plan to fit with its revised Strategy (available in Part 2, Annex B of this report). The Green Plan provided initial targets and actions to connect staff and pupils in a new combined environmental committee around sustainability and waste. The narrative and activities were also extended to parents and shared with a number of stakeholders and partners, as well as School contractors.

Through its actions and ambitions, the School hopes to influence the behaviour and expectations of its entire community as future global citizens and leaders and help them make a positive impact on society.

The Junior School built on their Eco-School Green Flag status: they developed a vegetable garden that provided food into the contract dining facility, introduced wormeries, learned about bees, planted wildflowers, helped plant 70 trees for the Queen’s Green Canopy (Platinum Jubilee - in coordination with the Manchester Lieutenancy and Woodland Trust) and influenced the construction of a forest school for their use. They also took part in debates with other Junior Schools, hosted by Stockport Council’ Climate Action Now team, in the council chambers.

The Senior School through an active 6th form eco committee (also members of the School committee), ran an effective campaign to reduce waste and litter, delivered a sustainable fashion show and planted a small fruit orchard as a leaving gift to enable future use of home-grown products.

A physical Green Path was commenced to create an outdoor space for all pupils and staff to use to aid wellbeing and health; the School won support and minor funding from Stockport Council towards its Green Plan and Path developments, with Junior School children helping plant and craft a living willow arch tunnel as an entrance to the path.

The school invested in a whole-site conversion of its lighting to the latest generation of LED, which will save 20% plus of electric utility consumption per year and reduce carbon waste by 60 tonnes a year, equating to planting 3000 trees.

A physical Green Path was commenced to create an outdoor space for all pupils and staff to use to aid wellbeing and health

2022-2023 commitments

• To formalise the Green Strategy and Decarbonisation Plan

• Launch a Forest School, lay a Green Path extension and roof garden

• Initiate behavioural change initiatives for energy savings

• Measure more of our performance and report through ESOS

• Run the first CHS Eco-Con / Eco Fair

• Plan for solar power / carbon offset and sustainable solutions

Head: Mr Neil Smith

Claremont Road, Cheadle Hulme, Cheadle, Cheshire, SK8 6EF

Tel: 0161 488 3330

Email: head@chschool.co.uk cheadlehulmeschool.co.uk