Parkside School has been shortlisted as finalists for the Best Independent School of the Year 2021!

We are proud to announce that we have been shortlisted as finalists for the Best Independent School of the Year, 2021 at the Independent School Parent Awards!

We have also been shortlisted for The Development Award for an Outstanding Fundraising Achievement.

The Development Award for an Outstanding Fundraising Achievement.

The Parents of Parkside is a community formed of families of children at Parkside School. They are more than a PTA or membership group and consider themselves to be more fluid and inclusive; creating a community feel for those involved. PoP have succeeded in raising impressive amounts of money to fund some spectacular projects across the School over the years, such as the Food Technology Kitchens and Cricket Pavillion. However, this year, more than ever, the focus was on maintaining the wellbeing of the children attending Parkside.

Together with Parkside School, the PoP community considered the fact that children had spent a whole year ‘locked down’ and wanted to encourage the School community to spend more time in the outdoors. Therefore, it was suggested that an Outdoor Classroom should be built and paid for by this voluntary group.

During a particularly challenging year, when barely any events could be hosted, PoP launched creative and innovative ways to raise funds. They also recognised the importance of supporting local community businesses and partnered up with them to provide events which could be held individually at home during lockdown. For example, PoP sold an outstanding £1700 worth of beautiful Valentines’ roses and raffle tickets where the winner enjoyed a romantic meal delivered to their door. Parents also forfeited their discount on school fees, offered during the pandemic, in order to raise further funds for this project.

However, it was not only the money raised which realised the completion of the Outdoor Classroom, but, more importantly, the generous contribution of people’s time and energy in building it.  Having raised sufficient funds, PoP went about recruiting volunteers to help build the classroom and these consisted of family members, pupils, teachers and support staff from the School.

The work was completed over the weekend of 20th March, and the result is a fantastic new outdoor classroom which has already made an impressive impact on the School life of all the pupils at Parkside.

The passion to create an outdoor multi functioning classroom for pupils at Parkside is truly inspiring. Set in Parkside’s 45 acres grounds, every pupil attending the school will benefit from this area, which provides the children with a natural, organic space to learn. It also provides a quiet space to reflect and for teachers to host potentially tricky conversations outside of the 4 walls. It offers the School community the benefits of the fresh air with a space that will give them peace to focus.

The realisation of this, and all of its projects, is testament to the School’s strong ethos around family and community. We are proud to be part of the Parkside Family and we remain dedicated to improving the lives and education of each of our pupils. Values such as resilience and determination are underpinned by the Head’s mantra of ‘make it happen’ and have never been more relevant than in the last year. They are standards which are practised daily and are clearly demonstrated through projects such as these.