Three places where schools stopped working alone
Great schools are necessary but not sufficient. These films follow heads, families, employers and community partners in Chard, Middlesbrough and Bligh who decided to do something about the rest.
Start with Why schools can’t do it alone (13 minutes), then choose a place.
Chard, Somerset
Be the glue, not another service
Holyrood Academy started with a letter inviting organisations across the town to breakfast. Since then the school and Chard Community Hub have shared the work of supporting families, from free books for babies to volunteering for sixth formers.
Try the tool for your own place“It all started by being brave enough to get people in a room.”
Middlesbrough
A bigger organisation with more levers
When a Middlesbrough secondary school asked local employers what they could offer, the employers chose to work with the young people most likely to leave without a grade 4 or a next step. The result is a post-16 course built with employers, and young people starting to see a future in their own town.
Try the tool for your own place“You could build your future here.”
Bligh, Medway
Get in early
At Bligh, the relationship with a family starts long before Reception. Baby groups, Time to Play and the six-week Ready, Set, School programme bring families onto the school site from birth, working alongside health and council services rather than replacing them.
Try the tool for your own place“I don’t think I’d have survived the last year without those baby groups.”
Now look at your own place
Cradle to career in your place is a short, free tool for school and local authority leaders. It gives you:
- a picture of what is happening to children, from birth to first job
- how a cradle-to-career approach works, phase by phase
- eight prompts to help you decide where you would start
We ask for your details so we know who is using the tool and can follow up if you would like us to. What you write in the tool stays on your device, and you can save it as a PDF.
Talk it through with Leonie
Leonie Ratty leads our Cradle-to-Career Catalyst programme. If any of this is live for you, she will talk through what it would take in your place and whether this work is a fit.