“Life is a place for everyone, and I think they’ve really nailed that.” Helen Thomson, West End Schools’ Trust
In 2014, a group of seven primary schools in the West End of Newcastle joined together to form the West End Schools Trust (WEST). They were later joined by two more to create a partnership which, 10 years later, covers a diverse set of communities, representing different languages, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.
A core principle for WEST has always been that the schools could learn from each other and work together with key partners to improve the opportunities available to the nearly 3,000 students they collectively cater for.
Since the outset, one of those key partners has been Life.
Helen Thomson, Trust Officer at WEST, explains how that partnership was one of the first things the Trust did to cement the new relationship between the schools.
“We created a science club, and a few children from each school would go to Life after school for this club,” Helen explains. “It was just so well received.”
The science club allowed pupils with an interest in science to explore it in more depth, and to access equipment which the schools didn’t have. It also helped the young people to build their confidence in visiting a cultural venue like Life.
Helen recalls one of the Life team telling her how when secondary schools come to visit, they can always spot former ‘Westie’ pupils because they already know where everything is and how it all works.
“I thought that was really lovely,” Helen says, “because it showed from an early age that the place was a place for them. That huge, beautiful building in the centre of town was a place for everyone, for them, and they could feel comfortable in it.”
Some of the communities served by WEST schools are among the most deprived areas in the country, so they are keenly aware of the importance of being inclusive, welcoming and understanding where barriers to participation may exist.
In 2018, the partnership developed a broader offer for all Year 6 pupils, known as STEMtastic. This started as a day before expanding to a week where pupils could visit and engage with STEM-focused activities at LIfe and elsewhere, and hear from people working in science.
“Although our schools are very close in proximity, they are all very, very different. You find pockets of different cultures in different schools, and lots of different languages are spoken.
“We also find in the West End of the city that it’s an area where people come and go quite frequently and the population changes.”
WEST works closely with families too, including signposting to sessions run in the school holidays, which are targeted at whole families and providing a chance for caregivers to see the enthusiasm their young people have developed for science.
“We trust Life, and I think that’s really important because families trust schools,” Helen says. “When you put the families in the care of someone else, you want to know that they’re going to be well cared for.”
The visitor experience at Life is an important part of that, and Helen mentions being able to take a packed lunch, rather than use the café, and the comfort of knowing Life is interactive and everything can be touched and explored, “they’re not worried the whole time they’re going to break something really expensive,” she says.
Added to that is the inclusive nature of Life’s offer, with sensory bags for children, good accessibility and simple things like accessible toilet facilities and places to store bags and buggies.
“I feel like we and Life value each other’s relationship, it’s mutual, and that we feel a close connection with each other. And that’s taken time, but we’ve both invested in it.”
The Trust views their relationship with Life as a two-way partnership.
“I think it’s about setting expectations at the beginning,” Helen says, “and being super organised with the plans. That’s something that Life are really good at. They sort of say, ‘this is a timetable, showing what we’re going to be doing. Is everything okay? Do we need to tweak anything?”
WEST knows there are broad benefits for their pupils from engaging with STEM, including increased executive function and better academic performance. Just as important is exposure to opportunities.
“Some of our children just don’t know about the different opportunities out there,” Helen explains. “They have quite a small circle at home. But, if they meet someone at Life and they say, ‘I grew up here and I studied this and now I’m doing this and this is my job now’, it’s aspirational.”
Life is celebrating 25 years! We’ve been reminiscing about some of our favourite memories since we opened and would love to hear yours!
