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Education Business Partnership
Spring/Summer 2014
Families First Builds on Success and Partners More Community Groups
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amilies First is now into its second year following a successful pilot. Funded by the Big Lottery, this is a consortiumbased programme led by Hackney Council for Voluntary Services, with Inspire!, African Community School, Daymer and Claudia Jones Organisation as the delivery partners. Inspire!’s remit is to support around 25 pupils, per year, from five local primary schools to make a smooth transition to secondary school. This involves matching the pupils with 6th form mentors from Clapton Girls’ Academy or BSix Sixth Form College and delivering a series of workshops and trips that build selfconfidence and encourage the children to make new friends, a number of whom will transfer to the same secondary school. The project also involves the children’s parents and siblings, some of whom will be working with the other partner organisations, to ensure a holistic approach to supporting the whole family. We launched this year’s programme at Hackney Museum with a workshop attended by nine families and some of the Clapton Girls’ Academy mentors. Guests delved into real suitcases to discover the fascinating, yet often familiar stories of Hackney migrants over the years. Workshops that followed included a handson art session exploring the work of Tian Wei at the October Gallery in Bloomsbury; a money-themed trip to the British Museum coinciding with Global Money Week; two days of gymnastics and juggling at the National Centre for Circus Arts and an introductory workshop at the Hackney Empire. National Centre for Circus Arts The Hackney Empire event was a taster experience during the week-long summer holiday workshops. The session for the upcoming summer project children will create the entire content and this year, we hope to delivered in partnership with Hackney Village, incorporate the magical world of puppetry in conjunction with a ‘Hackney Empire, Next Generation’ project Sarah Blissett from Project Boondock. As with last year’s roaring supported by The Monument Trust and part of Connecting success, parents and Families First partners will be invited to Young Hackney. The Families First pupils became gremlins, watch the final performance which will take place at Empire 2 on witches and giants, sang songs and created rhythms with 1st August. l Yamin Choudhury and Renell Shaw. They will build on this
Inspired words David Blagbrough Director, Inspire!
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uring the last three to four months there have been secondary school. Our reputation in these areas has led to a number of exciting new developments which will additional funding from the Greater London Authority (GLA) and significantly impact on the future direction of Inspire!. the Corporation of the City of London for work with NEET young In December, our programme of alternative provision, called people and from Hackney Council, through its Community Grants Inspired Directions, was formally inspected by a Quality Programme, for apprenticeships and transition support. Monitoring and Evaluation Team (QMET) from new Regent’s Our standing in the wider voluntary sector community is also College, Hackney Council and Camden Council. Operating evident in the extraordinary quality of those who come to work within the inspection framework used by OFSTED we achieved at Inspire! Our two newest colleagues, Harriet Carlton and Fiona an overall grade of ‘good’ with ‘outstanding’ for safeguarding, Hamilton, bring to the organisation a wealth of experience leadership and management and admissions guidance support from television and teaching and will greatly contribute to our in planning for progression. The feedback from the inspectors continued success. We welcome was extremely positive: Inspire! them to Inspire! and very much hope being regarded as a star that they enjoy their time with us. provider. To comply with new Under the chairmanship of Andy I have also been very heartened by the government regulations and Wilson, the principal of Westminster praise we have received for our work ensure that we can continue Kingsway College, a project board has with young people not in education offering alternative provision been established to oversee our work employment or training (NEET), for young people with complex in Camden particularly with respect in supporting apprenticeships and needs, we have decided to to the funding we receive from the assisting with transition from primary register the Inspired Directions Camden Partnership for Educational to secondary school. Programme as an ‘independent Excellence. With the support and advice school’ which, unsurprisingly, we of the board we have begun working have called Inspired Directions on a long-term strategy for education School. business links in the borough. In February, we had a very One particularly exciting development, positive and encouraging which means a lot to me personally, is the agreement to deliver preliminary visit from an OFSTED inspector which has our flagship programme, Work Week, at Brecknock Primary resulted in the development of an action plan for completion School in Camden – the first time it has been delivered in the by the end of August. We anticipate that a formal OFSTED borough. As a former student from Brecknock – a school with inspection will take place soon thereafter. Although the Inspired which my family has been associated for Directions School is unlikely to result in any material changes in more than 70 years, including my mother the manner and quality of our alternative provision, it will open who worked there as a ‘dinner lady’ - the up the possibility of expanding the offer and receiving referrals prospect of participating in the Dragons’ directly from schools both in Hackney and elsewhere. Den on the final day is especially appealing I have also been very heartened by the praise we have and one to which I greatly look forward! received for our work with young people not in education I hope that this will lead to interest from employment or training (NEET), both in supporting other primary schools in the borough. l apprenticeships and assisting with transition from primary to
Taking the Next Step with Inspired Transitions
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e have been successful in a bid to widen the support for pupils who are making the move from primary to secondary school. Our Mind the Gap and Families First programmes have highlighted that children make a more successful transition when they have sustained support either side of their move and have a personalised introduction to their new school as soon as they secure a place. With this in mind, we created Inspired Transitions.
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Funded by Hackney Council, this project supports young people in their final year at primary school but on location in each child’s new school. Work continues through the summer holiday period and into their first two terms at secondary school. During the final term of Year 6 and over the holidays, our cohort of Families First pupils will also join the scheme, thereby increasing the benefits to all children involved. l
Our Lady’s and Millfields Pupils Step It Up For Sport Relief
The Our Lady’s students lead Year 3 through the dance routine
I enjoyed working with the children, getting to know them and the whole project itself. I think that team work and communication was very vital in this project and I feel like we all put effort into it.
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ixth form students from Our Lady’s Convent High School put Year 3 pupils from Millfields Community School through their paces by teaching them the ‘Step It Up’ Sport Relief song and dance routine. The girls, all studying Health & Social Care, undertook the task as part of the annual Stepping Up project organised by Inspire!. This initiative challenges students to devise and deliver a project of benefit to their local community. Michelle Takyi, who took on the role of press officer for the group, takes up the story: “A successful programme? Far more than I imagined it would be! “This spectacular project set out to educate young children about being healthy and keeping fit which we also tied to Sport Relief. The school that we went to was Millfields Primary and we were working with the Year 3s. There were 8 of us partaking in the project so we decided to split ourselves up into twos and threes for each class as there were three year 3 classes. We all had a timetable of how the day was going to be scheduled within our groups and aimed to follow it. By having a timetable it meant that we wouldn’t have to worry about not knowing what we were going to do next or what to say. “For the first session, we decided to play an ice-breaker game to get to know the children a bit better regardless of them wearing name tags. We asked them to go around in a circle, say their name and act out their favourite sport. After that, we began to introduce the topic and spoke about the ‘good and bad’ food
to eat and the types of food the children like to eat. “We discussed the reasons why we exercise and why it’s important. We then taught the children the chorus of the song [dance]. Surprisingly they learnt it pretty fast and as a reward for them doing it so well we rewarded them with a game of ‘fruit salad’. “During break time, we prepared the next activity. Making sure that none of the children were allergic to the fruits we provided, we distributed them equally in bowls for them to try out, and spoke about the different fruits that they enjoy eating and made them aware of the importance of fruits. After that, we taught the children the whole song making sure we were perfect for the final dance with the rest of the Year 3s. At 12:30 the Year 3s all went down to the playground to perform the dance that we had taught them. They were brilliant and I could tell they all enjoyed themselves. “I enjoyed working with the children, getting to know them and the whole project itself. I think that team work and communication was very vital in this project and I feel like we all put effort into it. We all worked well into making this project worthwhile and I am grateful for having the opportunity to be a part of something so great.” l Inspire! Spring/Summer 2014
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Our Camden Work Is Expanding Our Camden Work Is Expanding
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n 2011, Inspire! was approached by Parliament Hill School in Camden to assist with work experience placements. Since then the extent and scope of our work has increased, thanks to funding through Camden Council’s CPEE (Camden Partnership for Educational Inspire!’s delivery of work Excellence) initiative, experience has been supported by the particularly well received Camden Business Board and several and we were recently able to schools in the celebrate this success. borough. We followed up our initial support for Parliament Hill with more work-related learning, enrichment activities and a cross-Camden mentoring programme for Year 12 students. A second round of funding resulted in a two-year contract allowing us to expand our work experience and workrelated learning programmes in the borough. We are also running a mentoring programme for NEET young people in partnership
Parliament Hill student Jade Sghaier (left) undertook her work experience at MCM Architecture. with Fitzrovia Youth in Action. New opportunities continue to flow from this partnership. We have been invited to work with two of Camden’s Pupil Referral Units, now being handled by our Engagement team. Inspire!’s delivery of work experience has been particularly well received and we were recently able to celebrate this success. l See our separate story opposite.
Italian Delegation Shares Common Ground
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e recently welcomed a delegation of education personnel from ENAIP, the vocational training foundation for the Lombardy region of Northern Italy. Headquartered in Milan, the organisation has a network of more than 30 centres across the region. Led by the Director of the ENAIP Foundation, Enzo Garofoli, the purpose of the visit was to share the experiences and challenges of preparing young people for the world of work in Hackney and Italy.
The delegation listened to presentations about Inspire!’s key areas of work; primary, secondary and engagement (working with young people who are not in education employment or training (NEET) or at risk of becoming so). There were a number of similarities in the type of work carried out by the two organisations, but also some clear differences. ENAIP, for example, receives funding from regional government but has limited links with business. Inspire! however, receives no core funding from government but businesses and their employees play a key role in helping the charity deliver its programmes, all of which are geared to raising aspirations about and developing skills for the world of work. David Blagbrough, Director of Inspire! said: “It was fascinating to hear about the work of ENAIP and that they are now experiencing challenges, associated with deprivation, that we have faced for a long time but which are new to Italy’s culture. We are both in the business of preparing young people for jobs in an ever-changing labour market in which the only constant will be its unpredictability. In such circumstances, the focus must be on transferable skills. The European Union runs a funding programme for youth education and Assistant Director Robin Childs gives an overview of I am keen to explore opportunities where Inspire!, ENAIP and UBS the Engagement team’s work might harness this to work together in future.” Enzo Garofoli of ENAIP Lombardy said: “Our visit has allowed us The visit was arranged by UBS, which supports both ENAIP to compare ideas on training and vocational education and it has and Inspire!. Patsy Francis, Director, Corporate Responsibility been particularly stimulating to see the role that Inspire! has on the and Corporate Affairs at UBS, who accompanied the group, labour market.” He further stated that of all the places visited by the is a member of the Inspire! board of trustees. delegation, Inspire! was the most interesting and relevant. l
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Inspire! Leads the Way with Work Week
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ork Week, our pioneering week-long initiative to improve children’s awareness of careers and the world of work, has now been introduced to three additional London boroughs. We have been working with Newham Education Business Partnership to share our primary workrelated learning model with four Newham schools this year. We also delivered our first Camden and Waltham Forest Work Weeks. The project remains as popular as ever with Hackney primary schools. This academic year we are delivering the programme to 19 schools, including two new recruits, and we have engaged 17 new chain and independent employers including John Lewis, Morrisons, Sweet Thursday restaurant, Ardmore Construction, the British Museum and four new Hackney libraries.
Keir Hardie pupils with Crossrail’s James Gray Keir Hardie Primary School led the way in Newham. It is thanks to the Deputy Head, who used to work at a Hackney primary school, that the project is now inspiring pupils in a new borough. Particular highlights of this scheme were visits to Tate & Lyle, Clifford Chance and, for 30 Year 1 pupils, a morning at Crossrail’s headquarters on the 28th floor of a Canary Wharf skyscraper. Here, they were given a tour and shown the panoramic views, met staff and volunteers with a wide variety of jobs and were challenged to design their own train station. Primary Programmes Manager, Alice Kestell, explained: “Word about Work Week is spreading fast! George Mitchell Primary School in Waltham Forest found us through our website and approached us to run Year 5 activities during their Enterprise Drop Down Day. The students were enthralled by the Google volunteer we organised to visit the class and were very excited to be presented with an inflatable android robot at the end !” l
Inspire! Hits the Spot For Camden
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amden businesses, local schools, Camden Council and Inspire! came together to celebrate the success of our joint initiative to provide work experience and work-related learning to some of the borough’s schools and Westminster Kingsway College. At a reception, kindly hosted by the Grange Holborn Hotel, guests heard how the initiative between Camden Council, the Camden Business Board and Inspire! has, to date, delivered 500 work placements and a range of work-related learning opportunities. The programme is funded through Camden Council’s CPEE (Camden Partnership for Educational Excellence) initiative. Cllr Angela Mason explained how the initiative came out of a review of education undertaken by the council. “One of the key challenges was that there weren’t enough clear pathways between the world of school and the world of work,” she said. “Inspire! absolutely hit the spot, otherwise hundreds of students would be ringing employers for work placements and schools Cllr Mason addresses the audience would have a lot more admin while Cllr Ali and David Blagbrough to do.” look on Cllr Nasim (Nash) Ali told guests that Camden’s 14-19 strategy would ensure that “every young person has the best opportunity in life. Our aim is that no-one should be NEET (not in education, employment or training) by 2020. But we need to match the skills of young people in the market,” he added. Alistair Subba Row, from Farebrother, who leads the Camden Business Board, reported on the magnificent response from Camden businesses. He encouraged other businesses to get involved, saying: “It’s easy to do nothing but it’s just as easy to do something for the next generation. If everybody does their bit, we’ll go a long way to help inspire them as well as improving their future employment prospects.” The final word went to Tony Matharu, Managing Director of Grange Hotels, who had laid on the reception on a ‘pro bono’ basis, but has also hosted work placements and apprenticeships. Mr Matharu highlighted that there are fewer barriers to entering the hospitality industry than other sectors and that “enthusiasm, commitment and passion for the job are key.” He cited how many of his senior managers had started as juniors and that, because of the shift patterns of work in this industry, many employees are drawn from the local community. He urged employers to do more to spread the word about work placements and apprenticeships both within their own organisations and their supplier chains. l Employers who are able to offer a work placement to a Camden student, or are interested in finding out more, can contact the Inspire! Employer Engagement team on 020 7275 6060 or visit the website at www.inspire-ebp.org.uk
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ID Students Prove That Film’s Cool
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oung people on Inspire!’s Inspired Directions (ID) programme had a major hand in producing a 30-minute documentary about our work and how we have helped them. Our six ID students have undertaken their full time, bespoke learning with Inspire!’s Engagement Team. The film project, entitled ‘Change One Thing’, was delivered in association with Film’s Cool, a mentoring initiative that brings film industry experts into schools, and The Peabody Trust. Over a 10-week period, the students learned film-making skills, including interviews for documentaries, and were able to reflect on their own journeys through the medium of film. The documentary was screened at Camden’s Cob studios in February. Script writer, Jesse O’Mahoney, one of the mentors on the project said: “I have a very high regard for the young people’s honesty that came through the work, humour and most importantly, their understanding of what documentary is and their place within the community.” Members of the group spoke openly and frankly about some of the challenges they faced at mainstream school, their past behaviour, how they relate to Inspire! staff and their hopes for the future. “I used to fight but that’s all in the past now,” says one student. Now, he wants to study art at college and perhaps go on to become an architect.
“They help you. They never let you down,” said another, who also admits to being excluded from his previous school because of fighting. “I feel really positive, really proud and feel really good about myself,” he added. A third member of the team, who has recently secured a college place to study construction, said: “I feel I’m really getting somewhere.” The film makers also interviewed Inspire! staff in other departments about the work they do. l You can view ‘Change One Thing’ at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0dVNBKzgN4
New Project Prepares Young People for Apprenticeships
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unding from Hackney Council enabled us to set up Apprenticeship Clubs in three Hackney secondary schools – the Bridge Academy, Cardinal Pole and Haggerston School. The clubs ran between January and March and set out to give students more information about apprenticeships to help them decide whether this might be the best route for them in the future.
Linklaters’ apprentices welcome their guests A key element was the chance to meet and talk to real apprentices. Members of the Cardinal Pole Apprenticeship Club spent an afternoon at Linklaters with the whole agenda arranged and hosted by four apprentices at the firm, Charly Allen, Jodie Rahman-Stokes, Lina Hailu and Joanne Butler.
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The women described their jobs in the marketing, corporate responsibility, learning and development (training) and finance departments. They had very mixed academic achievements which took the visiting students by surprise as they had not expected that poor exam results would permit access to an apprenticeship. The quartet was keen to stress, however, that although qualifications were not the ‘be all and end all’, good exam results were preferable and that there were ample opportunities to re-sit exams or work towards other qualifications during an apprenticeship. After quizzing the team about their jobs and life at Linklaters, the group explored some of the apprenticeships available in the wider world. The afternoon concluded with a tour of the building taking in the staff restaurant, gym and the sleep pods used when employees are working late into the night. Kyle Chapman, one of the Cardinal Pole Apprenticeship Club members, said: “Staying on for 6th form is not really for me. I prefer doing something more practical. We’ve done a few sessions [at the Club] and set up an apprenticeship account, so now I can go online, even at home, and start applying for things I’m interested in.” As well as visits to employers, the Apprenticeship Clubs covered behaviour in the workplace, interview skills and CV writing. Additional funding from Hackney Council will allow us to build on our apprenticeship work through a new programme called ‘Inspired Apprentices’. This will prepare young people and link them to a potential employer so that they develop the appropriate skills and understanding of the workplace. l
A great asset. It’s a shame she’s not here longer. Fola Mark did well at Woburn House Conference Centre
BTEC Business at Cardinal Pole
T Manor Gardens Pre-School would have liked Kalekedane Samson to have stayed longer
he Engagement Team has been busy delivering a BTEC Business course for a small group of Year 11 students with special educational needs at Cardinal Pole School. As well as looking at the key concepts of running a business, the students had the opportunity to take part in extended work experience. Paula Whyte, Deputy Head, was extremely pleased that they all completed a placement and that the group had made such good progress on the programme. All are set to gain their Level 2 qualification, a significant achievement for them all. The young people’s host employers were also pleased with the efforts the young people made on their placements. “No problem at all. Everything we asked, he picked up and did”, reported one. “A great asset. It’s a shame she’s not here longer”, wrote another. l
European NEET Project Draws Praise and Exceeds Targets
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he ESF NEET Programme, managed by Inspire! and funded One aspect of the project that particularly interested by the European Social Fund (ESF) and Skills Funding Agency the delegation was the requirement that 40% of all (SFA,) has been singled out as an exemplar of outstanding beneficiaries should be young women. “This posed a project management and has consistently exceeded its targets. number of challenges for us,” Project Manager, Dorothy Inspire! leads a consortium of seven agencies, across six Hodgson told them. “For example, boroughs, to tackle the problem of youth young women worry about what unemployment amongst 16-19 year-olds. people think about the jobs Delivery started in March 2012 and 426 they do, so they can be pushed Your project is seen as an young people have since taken part, 232 towards careers that they are not exemplar and the positive of whom have already moved into EET really interested in or, in certain performance (including for the communities, there is pressure for (Education, Employment or Training). progression deliverables) has The project was singled out for a young women not to work. We have visit last Autumn by 40 European Union had to put our heads together and been noted and highlighted. officials and a briefing for them was held share best practice to come up with Well done! at YOH!, one of our partner agencies on the solutions and strategies for getting initiative. Delegates heard about our sixround these obstacles.” phase approach that starts with a support After the presentation, the visitors worker assessing each candidate on their had a chance to network with those involved in personal circumstances, skills, learning style and the programme. interests so that, together, they can draw up a personalised action Deepak Sharma from the SFA wrote: ‘Your project plan. A series of workshops and skills development sessions follow. is seen as an exemplar and the positive performance These are tailored to individual need but employability skills are (including for the progression deliverables) has been a focal point. The young person may undertake work experience, noted and highlighted. Well done!’ attend a CV or interview workshop or brush up on their maths and Our success has led to additional funding that will see English. Thereafter, they are supported into sustained education, us work with more young people between now and the employment or training with milestones at six, 13 and 26 weeks. end of this calendar year. l Inspire! Spring/Summer 2014
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Work Skills at Clapton Girls’ Academy
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ur Engagement team has been working with students with special educational needs at Clapton Girls’ Academy. The main thrust of our work has been on work-related learning and enterprise, encouraging and supporting the students to develop their communication skills, financial literacy and preparing them for working life through meeting employers, classroom projects and work experience. During the Spring term, the girls designed 39 mugs to order and charged £3.50 each, making £136. They were able to keep the profit for their efforts and were encouraged to donate their money to a charitable cause as well as buy themselves a small treat as a reward for their hard work! l
Inspire! would like to thank the following funders for their support Bank of America Charitable Foundation
Hackney Council
Successful Bids Extend Our Engagement Work
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nspire! has recently been successful with a bid to the Greater London Authority (GLA) to further our work with NEET young people. This new initiative will again see Inspire! lead a consortium of agencies, working across Hackney, Waltham Forest, Camden, Barnet and Enfield. Our target group will be 16-24 year-olds who will be encouraged back into EET through volunteering. 80% of those moving on will be expected to enter employment. Other new funding streams are facilitating two additional programmes. We will shortly begin working with young people at Stormont House Special School while ‘Inspired Apprentices’ will focus on students ‘at risk’ of becoming NEET. We will help prepare them for an apprenticeship, link them with an employer and support them through a training and employability skills programme that leads to a real apprenticeship. l
Big Lottery Fund
The Hackney Learning Trust
Cadbury Foundation
KPMG
Camden Council
Linklaters
Camden Primary Careers Conference
City of London Corporation
Man Group
‘Steps I Take; Marks I Make’ was the slogan for the first
CMS Cameron McKenna
Nominet
East Hackney Schools Consortium EiC Action Zone
Paul Hamlyn Foundation
ever Primary Careers Conference organised by Camden Council in conjunction with the Goldsmiths’ Company, Torriano Junior and Netley Primary School. The aim of the event was to enthuse a cohort of 9–11 year olds to become Career Champions back in their schools and raise the aspirations of their peers. Over 200 Year 5 students met Jordan Casey, a 14-year-old gaming entrepreneur, Maggie O’Kane, a Guardian journalist and film editor, and Darran Garnham from Moshi Monsters’ company Mind Candy, who proved extremely popular. The children then broke into groups to take part in interactive workshops such as building a hydrogen car, making and launching a rocket and playing career Top Trumps. Inspire! hosted a popular stall where pupils matched the celebrity to their first job and then identified unusual props to discover unconventional jobs they could do in the future. l
European Social Fund and Skills Funding Agency European Social Fund and Greater London Authority Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
St. Katharine and Shadwell Trust Skills Funding Agency Slaughter and May UBS YOH
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Inspire!, 57 Dalston Lane, E8 2NG 020 7275 6060 • info@inspire-ebp.org.uk Published by Inspire! Registered Charity no.1111037 Inspire! is the working name of the Hackney Education Business Partnership Ltd. Company limited by guarantee No. 5157521. Registered in England.