PUPILS at Underhill Junior School on Portland were the tutors at workshops organised to pass on their skipping rope skills to the younger children at Brackenbury Infant School and Community Nursery.

On a one-to-one basis, the juniors showed great patience and taught the younger children how to skip as individuals or with partners along with how to perform ‘rope tricks’ and no one wanted the lesson to end.

Skipping is great fun but there was more to the event as the ‘togetherness’ was seen to represent a launch for the Chesil Cove Federation between the two schools which officially came into existence last September.

Junior school head, Alan Mckechan and Brackenbury head Zoe Green agreed that the skipping was just an example of the partnership being developed by the federation for three to 11-year-olds.

Other examples of the partnerships are joint staff training days, a federation choir with children from both schools ages six to 11, a joint Chesil Cove Federation website, a single governing body and a joint projecton developing Rights Respecting Schools.

Children and staff have already benefited from a music project to help smooth transfer for those who will be moving from the infant school to the junior school next September and, as part of this, Brackenbury children have been learning the names of teachers.