What people are saying about Ranworth.
I've just had such a terrific morning at Ranworth Square today and wanted to let you know.
Miss Ward has been a fantastic mentor to the 3 PG Primary and 1 PG EYs trainees in your school and the staff team have created such an environment through their support, good humour and building of confidence that the trainees can't help but thrive.
I've copied in members of the EH team as I wanted to celebrate what a terrific experience your school provides for our trainees.
I look forward to working with you again next year.
Have a restful break.
Kind regards
Neil (Tutor) June 2019
UPPSALA UNIVERSITY
Centre for Professional Development
and Internationalisation
Dear Sue Padgett & Alma Mason & teachers and pupils at Ranworth Square Primary School,
Greetings from Uppsala, Sweden. I hope you are well at this time when we are getting near the end of the term.
My apologies for taking far too long time before writing this message. Unfortunately I fell ill on my return from England, and had to stay at home from work for a whole week, which created some chaos and a terrible backlog, and I have been struggling to catch up since my return. I am so sorry for the delay, but here is my belated - but huge and very sincere THANK YOU for welcoming our group of teachers at Ranworth Square Primary School on 5th May! The Swedish group are extremely grateful to Alma for contacting Sue – and to you both for making the school visit possible. It was a perfect visit, where we had the opportunity to take part in assembly, tour of the school and playgrounds, visit lessons around the school, talk to pupils, teachers and also student teachers. It was very interesting and rewarding in so many ways. A special Thank You of course to you Sue, for kindly taking time during your busy day to meet with our group and discuss various issues in primary education, educational success and challenges in an area where many children have a background with poverty and difficult home situations. It is really inspiring and heart-warming to see the great work you are doing!
The teachers from Fridaskolan have written evaluations, and their reflections about the visit to Ranworth School include comments like;
“It was an intense visit, I wish we could have stayed longer. The Head Teacher was warm and wise, and it was lovely to see her relationship to her pupils. I am sure she must be very proud of what they have achieved. The classroom displays were very inspiring, and so were the teachers.”
“Very interesting! I appreciated the time I could go around and observe classes by myself. Although it would have been great to have some more time there, we got to see a lot; tour around the school, assembly, lessons… And I really enjoyed the meeting with the Head Teacher Sue.”
“ Meeting Sue Padgett was very inspiring and heart-warming. Both to listen to how she and her teacher colleagues work with their children, many of them struggling with difficult family situations. It was also a surprise to see so many similarities with our school; social interaction between teacher-pupil, pupils collaborating in groups, working with presentations on computers… etc.”
“A very rewarding visit, where we had the opportunity to visit classes and reflect on similarities and differences in our ways of teaching. Both children and teachers were cheerful and welcoming towards us. The conversation with Sue Padgett gave us even more knowledge and understanding of the English school system, and how to work with children in a socially challenged area. It was fantastic!”
The whole week in Liverpool was a great learning experience for everyone, and also a very enjoyable time. I will keep in touch with Fridaskolan and they will be invited to activities in Uppsala in the future. Maybe there will be an opportunity to welcome you Sue to Sweden sometime in the future...? I have reported about the week to my colleagues at Uppsala University, and they found it very interesting. Our department: The Centre for Professional Development and Internationalisation are currently coordinating an EU project (within the Erasmus+ Programme) together with partners in Liverpool (The AVCT) and Berlin (Bildungswerk in Kreutzberg). One possibility would be to invite you to participate on a seminar day or training event within this project, which is about social, cultural and linguistic inclusion, and education for equity, and finding guidelines to prevent drop-outs and NEET. I am sure you would be able to contribute in many ways, and my colleagues here would be positive to this suggestion. There will also be other possibilities for welcoming you to Sweden… Please let me know if you would be interested in this. It would be fantastic to welcome you to Uppsala University. Alma will of course return here regularly. : - ))
Again – Thank You for 5th May! I wish you all the best for the remaining school term & soon a relaxing summer break!
Kindest regards & please pass greetings from the Fridaskolan group and myself to your teachers and pupils at Ranworth,
All best wishes, and hope to keep in touch,
Maria
Maria Allstrom
UPPSALA UNIVERSITY
Centre for Professional Development
and Internationalisation
Box 2136
750 02 UPPSALA
SWEDEN
May 2018