Local

Wokingham

We offer a placement for one adult from the Wokingham Resource and Opportunities Centre to work in school one day a week.  We also welcome two other non-typical young people for one day a week.

We are always pleased to offer work experience placements for young people attending local Secondary schools. In the last year, we have welcomed pupils from the Holt, Forest, Embrook and Ranelagh Schools.

The staff regularly attend conferences and courses for professional development.

Teacher's Visits

We are always delighted to welcome fellow professionals from other schools. We share our working practices and learn what others are doing. In 2000 we began a participation in the LIAT programme - Literacy in Action, under the umbrella of Wokingham District Council's Education department. Teachers from our Education Authority come into school to see how we teach literacy. For more information about this programme contact the Coombes or Education and Cultural Services at Wokingham District Council www.wokingham.gov.uk

Reading University Department of Education

Susan Rowe and Carole Davies are on the steering committee of the BAEd (Bachelor of Arts Education) course and have links with the PGCE (Post Graduate Teaching Certificate of Education) Course at Bulmershe Campus, Reading University. We regularly offer teaching practice placements to students. We regularly liaise with the Education Department, particularly on the teaching of Art, IT and mathematics.

National

Our school Population

Approximately one third of our children come from families at Arborfield Garrison. Arborfield is a training facility and, therefore, has a fluctuating population. This brings its own challenges to the school but these are far outweighed by the significant advantages offered by having a varied make up in the school community, bringing together children and families from all over the United Kingdom and Eire - Irish, Scottish, Welsh and English. A visitor walking around the playground or listening to children participating in classes, will hear a wide variety of accents and regional expressions. This is invaluable in helping us to understand and value our differences and celebrate what we have in common. Our local setting is a rural one with local farming families and those working in related industries and professions. This region of South East England also has a highly mobile workforce, many in the high tech industries, attracting families from European States and the rest of the world. At the time of writing, we have families from France, Germany, Finland, Croatia, Spain, Israel, Brunei, America, Australia and more. Our own school community has so much to offer as a resource for teaching us about the world we live in.

The Open University

We have a long association with the Open University, and welcome visitors and researchers. We have contributed a chapter to the newly published OU book on Creativity in Education. Bob Jeffrey, a researcher for the Open University Centre for Curriculum and Teaching Studies, Faculty of Education and Language Studies, has been researching the methods of the Coombes over the past few years. He is working on an ongoing project on Creative Teaching and Learning.

A film made by the Open University on the teaching methods at the Coombes is shown on BBC television periodically in the Learning Zone. It is called A School for our Time. For more about the Open University visit www.open.ac.uk

Learning through Landscapes

Learning through Landscapes is an independent body initiating and supporting projects nationwide to promote the learning opportunities offered by the environment. The Coombes is proud to be included in their list of best examples of good practice and we welcome visitors to see what school environments can be with planning, vision and a lot of hard work. Susan Humphries is a trustee of Learning through Landscapes. The group works in partnership with commercial sponsors to promote annual ideas such as the Learning Through Landscapes School Grounds Toolkit and the annual National School Grounds week. More about Learning Through Landscapes on www.ltl.org.uk

Common Purpose

We supported a member of our Governing body on the 2000 Common Purpose Programme to encourage her professional development and to build upon links with the local community. Common Purpose is an educational Charity that sets out to bring together emerging leaders from different sectors of the community - the private and the voluntary sector, from high tech industry to working artists, educators, administrators and professionals in all fields. It offers unprecedented access to people and places and the opportunity to work to share the best of ideas to solve problems that affect us in the region. For more information on Common Purpose UK visit www.commonpurpose.org.uk

We have a number of additional professional links not listed here, reflecting the individual interests of our teaching staff and the interest shown in our work.