We have to say a sad farewell to our coordinator. After seven fantastic years of work, in which the difference she has made has grown year by year and almost exponentially, we are saying goodbye to our SSLP coordinator Katie Barretta. All we can say by way of silver lining is that we probably kept Katie longer than we ever believed we would and that she is more than ready for the challenge of taking on the position of CEO of the charity Beyond Words. We hope Katie will continue to take an interest in SSLP beyond her time with us. She knows she’ll be a welcome and special guest when we celebrate SSLP at 21, for she’s had a major part in making us a model for independent state school partnerships around the country.

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Basketball Tournament

Six schools entered teams into the SSLP KS3 Basketball Tournament on Wednesday of this week at Harris Boys Academy East Dulwich. Each school entered two teams of four students who took part in an fast-paced Olympic style 3v3 Street Basketball tournament with two leagues. The winners and runners-up of each league made it to the semi-finals, before the final. Congratulations to Kingsdale Foundation School for being crowned the winners.

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Introducing Apprenticeships

A new event to the SSLP calendar was the SSLP Apprenticeship Fair. Staff from The Charter School North Dulwich, Dulwich College and JAGS started planning this event last year. They pooled their extensive contacts to invite an impressive array of companies who offer apprenticeships at either 16+ or 18+, and invited a selection of recent apprentices and some current employers to form panels to answer questions. Over 500 students, staff and parents registered to attend the event.

“As a parent, I hoped to learn more about apprenticeships and see if they might be suitable for my son.”

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Celebrating Neurodiversity

The SSLP launched our 21st year of activities on Tuesday 19th September (we were founded in October 2003) with a special event at Kingsdale Foundation School. Eighty members of staff from across our schools gathered to make new contacts, meet old friends, hear about forthcoming opportunities and to learn from Simon Tanner, National Director of SEND for E-ACT, and Anne Sheppee, Neurodiversity Consultant and Dyslexia Specialist.

Photography Workshop

Our first activity bringing together students was a Photography workshop at Bell House. Led by a former student who attended SSLP events in past, this activity brought together 20 students from four schools. Working in two groups they explored digital photography; using both natural light and in a studio setting; and pin-hole photography using tin cans.

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We are actively recruiting for an SSLP Co-ordinator to start as soon as possible.

Southwark Schools’ Learning Partnership (SSLP) is a unique collaboration between local maintained and independent senior schools supporting students from the London Borough of Southwark. SSLP and its constituent schools are committed to diversity, inclusion and anti-racism throughout its community.

The SSLP Co-ordinator is the only role dedicated to supporting the partnership and is employed through Dulwich College. This role is presently a part-time role (2 days a week during state school term-times). There may be the opportunity to do additional partnerships work for Dulwich College.

To apply complete the application form and write a supporting statement explaining how your skills, knowledge and experience will enable you to deliver the role as set-out in the job description.  Please send the application form and supporting statement to the HR department at Dulwich College (recruitment@dulwich.org.uk) before the deadline of 12 noon on Monday 9th October – early applications are encouraged. 

2023 Photography Competition

The 2023 SSLP Photography Competition ran for 5 months from January to May. We received a total of 321 entries, with the most popular month being February when we had 107 submissions to round 2. Our five rounds were supported by five excellent guest judges.

Our five rounds were

• The Extraordinary Ordinary judged by Lillie Eiger (101 entries)
• Natural Worlds judged by Alice Cazenave (107 entries)
• Motion and Distortion judged by Mel Bles (55 entries)
• Forgotten Objects judged by Sophie Bullen (30 entries)
• Reflections and Perspectives judged by Karl Simms (28 entries)

All 321 entries were considered for the final award of Best Picture, and all entrants who had submitted a picture in each of the five rounds were considered for the prize of Best Portfolio.

For the final we invited SSLP Co-Directors to be the judges. Dr Joe Spence, Master of Dulwich College, has picked a winner and runner-up from the student entries; and Marcus Huntley, Principal of The Charter School Bermondsey chose his favourites from the staff entries.

Both judges then selected their choice for Best Portfolio. Everyone will receive prizes.

Find out who the winners are and see their stunning pictures here