Counterpoint: Independent and State Schools Working in Harmony
Introduction from Professor Sonia Blandford CEO and Founder of Achievement for All @AFA_Education
If anyone would have asked the 18-year-old me what my ambitions were, I would have said, ‘to teach and to conduct a band’. I have achieved both and more. However, at the start of my career in music and education the differences between me and the majority of my peers at Bretton Hall College were vast. A gaping hole where social, cultural and educational learning should and could have been. Over the years, the holes have been filled, but those holes remain for many working class children today. What would different look like if we addressed working class questions, if we responded to old questions with new thinking? Social mobility is about changing the way people think, act and engage. It is about understanding that there is an alternative way to live, one where everyone can succeed. My ambition for Counterpoint is to create deeply rooted partnerships that lead to improved understanding and embedded change that will benefit society in the future.
Introduction from Mr Roland Martin Headmaster of City of London Freemen’s School @HelloFreemens
Both Sonia’s story and her passion are inspirational, not least to me as an only child of a single parent who also grew up on a council estate. I was – like Sonia – one of those kids ‘born to fail’ who was – probably through serendipity as much as anything – given an opportunity to attend an independent boarding school on a free place as a scholar. I benefitted while there from developing a number of academic and cocurricular interests that have stayed with me throughout my career. While professionally, I have always worked in the independent sector, I have always understood the responsibility of advantage. Over the last twenty years I have been engaged across three schools, in partnership, outreach and bursary programmes that have given opportunities to children who were not born ‘lucky’. Most recently, as Headmaster of City of London Freemen’s School, I have the benefit of working for The City of London Corporation, a body which expects all of its employees and members to see social responsibility as a given. Its City of London Academies Trust sponsors eight academies (including three primary and five secondary schools), co-sponsors two academies (alongside KPMG in Hackney and City University in Islington) and provides governance to three leading independent schools – such connections allow for some fantastic cross-sector partnership prospects. It is a great pleasure to be working with Achievement for All in the hope that our work in counterpoint through the sectors will be transformative for young people’s lives across the country.
A Achievement for All
We believe that more can be achieved to address social mobility through a structured approach that sits outside of governance, building on common stakeholder engagement between leaders and teachers, parents and carers, children and young people, and the wider business and civil communities. Counterpoint will bring together a partnership between City of London Freemen’s School and Achievement for All (AfA) which aims to: AIM 1:
Develop inclusive practice and increase social mobility within Epsom, Leatherhead and the City of London based on AfA programmes involving leaders, teachers, carers and pupils
AIM 2:
Engage in local outreach and partnership activities within community, business and schools
AIM 3:
Implement a national pilot based on AfA programmes in c.20 independent schools to improve the life chances of all children and young people
Our Vision
A world in which all children and young people can achieve regardless of their background, challenge or need.
Our Mission
To close the unacceptable gaps at every level of the education system, empowering young people, as well as their teachers, parents and carers.
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Every Child Included Step 1: Every child included in education
Our education system has a moral imperative to ensure that every child and young person can achieve. Helping schools, early years settings and colleges to aspire and ensure access for all will help meet the needs of our future society. Step 2: Social mobility, improving the life chances of every child There is limited awareness of the employability and personal skills required in the workplace of the future. In 2016, a skills survey carried out by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) identified employers’ views on the skills and knowledge young entrants need to succeed in the labour market. According to the employers’ surveyed these include self-starting, self-awareness, research, problem solving, creativity and adaptability skills. Step 3: Development of teams of significant adults and services that support children Making changes to the future lives of children and young people can only happen if they are supported by professional, confident, and effective educators. By combining this with strong engagement with parents, carers and the wider community, an education system can be delivered that develops and shares practice, research and insights to maximise the life chances, opportunities and achievements of children and young people.
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Evidence-Based Practice
The education system is failing at least one in five children and young people - the vulnerable, disadvantaged and underachieving. • AfA has an evidence-based framework that has reached over 100,000 children and young people experiencing challenges, needs and disadvantage, improving outcomes in reading, writing and maths up to 50% higher than the expected outcomes for all children. Social mobility is impeded by poverty impacting on one in six children in the UK. • AfA’s tried and tested framework enhances the life chances of all children and young people, engaging their parents and carers, teachers and community leaders. • In partnership with education, third sector, business and community leaders, we aim to reach all local authorities in England and Wales delivering evidence informed programmes. Development of adults and services that support children and young people is fundamental to changing society. • AfA has independently evaluated programmes, reaching 3.86 million people in England and Wales since 2011, impacting on one million children in over 4,000 settings, schools and colleges. • In partnership with the education sector and evidence-based experts we aim to reach a further one million children and young people through engagement with adults and support services by partnering and developing leaders and teachers in settings, schools and colleges.
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Working in Partnership
Achievement for All coaches will collaborate closely with participating schools to enhance the goals and outcomes of their pupils in the following key areas: • Supporting effective leadership • Co-creating bespoke approaches to teaching and learning • Deepening engagement with adults including parents and carers • Widening experiences and opportunities available to all children and young people • Establishing links with the local community, third sector and businesses to increase opportunities to develop skills for employability • Expanding the evidence base for the partnership to include outreach activity and improvement measures including leaders and teachers, parents and carers, children and young people, and the wider business and civil communities. Next Steps:
• Funders to consider level of engagement for the project • Partnerships to be brokered with schools, through HMC, Society of Heads, Independent Schools Association, Local Authority, Multi-Academy Trusts and Academy Chains • Programme to be agreed and in place ready to start in September 2018 For further Information, contact enquiries@afaeducation.org
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Working with Employers The partnership will embrace Trust and Business support to facilitate pilot activity in up to 100 schools (10 primary/ secondary in 10 areas of the country). All funders will have the opportunity to contribute to the wider aims of the partnership, locally or nationally. This work will be based on best practice activities around employers and social mobility drawing on the Social Mobility Employer Index. Key findings include:
• Firms are now increasingly asking both new and current employees about their social background. A quarter ask if an employee received free school meals (26%); around one in 10 ask about parental occupation (7%) and the postcode where an employee grew up (11%) • Just under one in 5 of these firms (17%) now set social mobility targets as part of their business strategy • Nearly three-quarters of the organisations (72%) are offering apprenticeships, but 77% are at Levels 2 and 4 (GCSE or A Level equivalent) which have been shown to offer lower returns for the apprentices • 96% of firms say they accept degrees from any university, but 61% of successful applicants attended one of the country’s most selective 24 universities (despite making up just 42% of the applications) • 11 Russell Group universities are visited by employers more than all the other UK universities combined and these 11 are all in the 20% of universities with the lowest percentage of state school students in the country