No . 132
The Trusty Servant
Winchester ’ s New Partnerships
Hannah Fletcher , Head of Educational Partnership , and Tommy Cookson ( I , 55-60 ; Co Ro , 64-65 , 67-72 , 74-90 ; Headmaster , 03-05 ) explain :
In 2019 Winchester College ’ s Physics department joined with a charity , Physics Partners , to provide a day ’ s training for non-specialist Physics teachers in local schools . This was repeated online in both 2020 and 2021 for an audience of local and national schools .
Physics Partners was co-founded by Tommy Cookson and generously supported by Mark Loveday ( H , 57- 62 ), Sir John Kemp-Welch ( E , 49-54 ), Ian Van Every ( A , 89-94 ) and his wife Nadja , and Winston Ginsberg ( I , 80-85 ), who is also a trustee . Other OW trustees are two old Chawkerites , Derek Turner ( 48-53 ) and Arpan Mehta ( 99-04 ). A notable exception to this assembly of Wykehamists is the Patron , Sir Richard Friend , Cavendish Professor Emeritus of Cambridge University , who is a Rugbeian .
With the active support of the Governing Body , the Headmaster and the Head of Science , Chas McCaw ( Co Ro , 98- ), an expanded academic partnership programme has now been set up . It began with the appointment of James Hodgins ( Co Ro , 96- ) as Director of Educational Partnerships , after standing down as Housemaster of Chawker ’ s in July , and has continued with the appointment of Hannah Fletcher as Head of Educational Partnerships .
Hannah and James have got the programme off to a flying start . Winchester College is proud to have partnered with a University Technical College , UTC Portsmouth . This government-funded school , which was recently rated outstanding by Ofsted , is for young people aged 14-19 and specialises in science , technology , engineering and mathematics ( STEM ). We look forward to working with their Physics teachers to develop a programme of CPD for state schools in the region . Jeremy Douglas ( Coll , 88-92 ; Co Ro , 04- ), a Physics don , has been appointed the Wykeham Lecturer and Ambassador in Physical Sciences .
As a first move , he will be expanding the work the College does with Physics Partners in training science teachers and technicians . Physics Partners already has over 250 state schools on its books and so is well placed to lend its assistance to the project - see a previous article in TS 128 . In addition , it has worked with the Girls ’ Schools Association and the Institute of Physics to attract
Jeremy Douglas , Wykeham Lecturer
more girls into A-level Physics . It is therefore in a position to influence the Physics department with its approach to the teaching of both sexes as well as with its own move towards co-education .
There is a severe shortage of Physics teachers and the subject is often taught by non-specialists . The aim of the training is to address this gap by increasing their physics knowledge , demonstrating practical experiments to them and giving them the confidence to use these in their class teaching . Winchester College is fortunate to have highly qualified and experienced Physics teachers and specialist technicians to be able to stretch and challenge our students . To be able to share this expertise with the wider community fits with the College ’ s vision and aim to provide public benefit .
UTC Portsmouth , being a STEM specialist college , has a thriving Physics department . By working in partnership with them to deliver training we can combine our
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