Red Kite Alliance Secures Prestigious Partnership with Ogden Trust to Enhance Physics Provision

Red Kite Alliance is always looking for ways to support teaching and learning in our schools, so when the invitation to bid for a partnership with Ogden Trust came up, we leapt at the chance! The news of our successful bid came through in May and we are very proud to announce the start of this fantastic opportunity to commence in September 2024.

Established by Sir Peter Ogden in 1999, Ogden Trust is a charitable trust that exists to promote the teaching and learning of physics. They provide a portfolio of free physics professional development programmes to support teachers from early years through to KS5, as well as supporting schools to work in partnerships so they can enhance their physics provision and opportunities for all learners.

Here at Red Kite Alliance, our new partnership will be coordinated by Helen Haigh who is based at Austhorpe Primary School in Leeds and who will also lead one of our mini-clusters of schools in this partnership. She will be guided along the way by our Red Kite Alliance Director - Sue Lewis. Being a large Alliance, the partnership has been organized to form 4 mini-clusters of schools so that, where appropriate, events and professional development can be planned to meet geographical and Key Stage needs. There will be 3 primary and 1 secondary school mini-clusters. These will be led by Carla Reddish from Rossett Acre Primary; Julie Lawson & Katie Hurst co-leads from Bramhope Primary; Richard Sykes from Harrogate Grammar School.

Benefits of this amazing 5-year funded partnership include:

• free professional development for teachers from Early Years Foundation Stage through to Key Stage 5 to help improve the teaching of physics; empowering teachers to inspire their students to take physics further.
• enhancing the wider learning environment, including support for technicians and teaching assistants, and investment in physics learning spaces and resources.
• enrichment activities, both directly with students and through family and community group engagement, and networking with local employers to provide a range of broader physics experiences for pupils.
• raising awareness and understanding of career pathways and opportunities in physics for students.

We are very much looking forward to collaborating with Ogden Trust and working to ensure this partnership is a huge success for our whole learning community.