Levelling the Playing Field

National reports suggest that the Covid-19 pandemic has disproportionally affected those students from the most disadvantaged backgrounds.

The Lionheart Academies Trust, a family of Leicestershire schools, holds a long-standing commitment to ensuring that every student within its 11 schools has an equal access to an equal education, regardless of socioeconomic background.

Where most students have had to adapt to a new digital norm taking their learning online, new government data has highlighted a growing achievement gap across the student population. This data shows stark disparities between the levels of engagement of students from poorer households when compared to wealthier households.

Lockdown has provided an opportunity for the Lionheart Academies Trust to collect its own data when analysing student engagement. Similarly, staff found that those who do not have access to technology are less engaged than those who do.

A huge task lies ahead in trying to level the playing field when it comes to educational engagement for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The trust, with over 9000 students, is making this its moral imperative: to ensure students in Leicestershire have the resources to engage with education so that no young person is left behind.

Unlike many other multi-academy trusts across the country, the Lionheart Academies Trust is entirely made up of schools based solely in Leicester and it’s respective county, and thus has strong ties to its local and fiercely loyal communities.

Kath Kelly, the CEO for The Lionheart Academies Trust, said: “Schools don’t function in a vacuum, so it’s our job to ensure young people are prepared for the working world. A key part of that preparation relies on touching base with local businesses, because that’s the environment our students will ultimately go into.”

Roma Dhameja, Vice Principal at a Lionheart school, said: “The team has been working really hard over the last three years to build those relationships with local businesses, because in another three years’ time, when our Year 10s leave, these are the doors they will be knocking on. It’s our collaborative duty to make sure these young people don’t fall through the gaps.”

From its central budget, the trust has successfully equipped a percentage of its Year 10 students with a Chromebook. But, in order to level the playing field entirely, it has identified 1500 students across all year groups that will significantly benefit from access to technology.

Niche Magazine’s parent company, Cross Productions, was the first to sponsor five Chromebooks. CEO Jenny Cross said: “Our team is particularly active in the business community, as Area Lead for the Federation of Small Businesses, I’m familiar with the needs of local companies, especially those that are small to medium sized enterprises. In order for the local economy to thrive, we need to invest in future workforces. This starts now. We cannot expect the future of local businesses to take care of itself.

“I would love to see the community work together to ensure all school children are given the same opportunities to grow and develop. With an even playing field everyone has the opportunity to pick up new skill sets and thrive. As a business owner myself, I know that an employee’s socioeconomic background makes no difference to the ideas they can contribute or the success they can achieve, but they do have to be given equal opportunities right from the beginning.”

The trust has since adopted a business model focused on connecting with local businesses that choose to contribute to the laptop campaign, in turn supporting some of the most disadvantaged students in Leicestershire.

Rikki Khakhar, Assistant Principal at a Trust school, said: “We’re in the public sector with public funds and we’ve got to make sure that the money is being spent as efficiently as possible. Across our schools, we are building tomorrow’s society today. As an educational institute we have this duty, but so do local employers.

“Our lead school, Beauchamp College, is quite often compared to private institutions as we believe we’re delivering outcomes on a par but with a much smaller budget and resource base. This is why we’re engaging with businesses – we know the private sector does this without flinching and we’re breaking down the idea that state schools shouldn’t be going to industry to request resources.”

The trust has a key mission: to ensure that any child from any background has equal access to an equal education. As members of the future workforce, this mission is reflected among businesses alike.

Roma added: “We hold ourselves accountable to that mission, which is why this whole campaign has come about. Because we don’t feel comfortable knowing that young people from poorer socioeconomic backgrounds are being left behind.”

To find out more about the trust’s mission, go to lionhearttrust.org.uk, or to discuss the campaign further, please email rikki.khakhar@lionhearttrust.org.uk.