Macclesfield and Bollington Education Improvement Partnership

EIP Gains Government Funds for Alternative Curriculum Projects

 

Announcement of Major Development in Partnership with UK Youth

As a partnership of schools, we naturally wish to respond creatively and confidently to the behavioural challenges being faced by all our schools.  Two years ago, our Group circulated a proposal for how we might do this.  Amongst other things, we proposed a base for the use of students attending schools in our EIP which would offer alternative solutions, to both schools and students, for the most challenging children and young people in our schools.   Our proposal sought to reduce and eventually eliminate permanent exclusions from our schools and aimed to create a more dynamic and positive outcome for both individual students and school communities. The first stage of this has been the MAP – the Macclesfield Alternative Project – which we have been running in partnership with the LA, during the last three years, for about a dozen Year 11 students from our four secondary schools.

Last summer, with the Cheshire Youth Federation, we sought the support of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation (EFF) to help us further develop this innovative educational approach here in Macclesfield.  The DCSF (Department for Children, Schools and Families) had sight of our EFF bid and were impressed.  Before Christmas, they invited the partnership to submit another bid to The Youth Sector Development Fund (YSDF).  The YSDF wishes to set up Pathfinders of 10 Youth Achievement Foundations™ which will put more young people aged 13 -19 who are at risk of exclusion or are not in education, employment or training (NEET) on the pathway to success. 

UK Youth – of which the Cheshire Youth Federation is a partner – has developed a proven alternative curriculum model elsewhere in the country that has been successful in meeting the needs of hard-to-reach learners and providing better outcomes for young people.  

The proposal last summer to the EFF was led by UK Youth in partnership with Clubs for Young People, two of the largest National Voluntary Youth Work Organisations in the UK, who, through their local agencies such as our Cheshire Youth Federation, work with close to one million young people across the country.  

Three important elements underpinned the proposal.

• In 1995 UK Youth with ASDAN developed a social skills curriculum for young people in non-formal education as the basis for the Youth Achievement Awards.

• The Youth Achievement Foundation model has already proven highly effective in creating positive outcomes for young people especially those who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) and in reducing risk factors (such as teenage pregnancy, substance misuse, involvement in crime or becoming homeless). UK Youth has a four year evidence base to support this through their collaborative work with 7KS Enterprise College in Lincoln (see below).  To date over 600 young people have benefited.  The model works; it is cost-effective and sustainable.  UK Youth are now ready to scale up the provision.
  
  
• All the partners in this proposal have worked together before.  We know we can deliver the proposed programme and that is further supported by increased partnership working and a possible merger in 2008 between UK Youth and Clubs for Young People.

The DCSF (Department for Children, Schools and Families) had sight of our EFF bid and were impressed.  Before Christmas 2007, they invited the partnership to submit another bid to The Youth Sector Development Fund (YSDF).  The YSDF wishes to set up Pathfinders of 10 Youth Achievement Foundations™ which will put 500 more young people aged 13 -19 who are at risk of exclusion or are not in education, employment or training (NEET) on the pathway to success.  This will be supported by a Gold Star community mentoring service attached to the Foundations which will reach an additional 150 young people identified as being most in need.  Moreover, the Pathfinder will enable UK Youth to replicate this proven, non-formal education approach and to offer the Youth Achievement Foundation model and associated services to all local authorities across the country for purchase.

7KS (Seven Key Skills) Enterprise College is an independent education provider which:

• uses UK Youth’s Youth Achievement Award programme and a curriculum approach to offer an alternative educational pathway (still linked to Key Skills, COPE and national QCA standards);
• operates a highly successful college in Lincolnshire for hard-to-reach learners;
• has received an excellent OFSTED report which describes the provision as ‘outstanding’;
• has agreed to provide training on-site to youth workers and support staff who wish to work in the ‘Youth Achievement Foundation’ model;
• will also provide on-going training and support to the pilot Foundations;
• is a more successful model than the traditional Pupil Referral Unit or PRU.

 

The Inaugural Meeting of the local Steering Group was held on 24 January 2008 and included:

• Dave Packwood, Cheshire Youth Federation and Chair of the Fermain Centre
• Dave Richards, LA Locality Manager, East Cheshire
• Stuart Webster, LA 14-19 Manager
• Linda Trump, LA Behaviour and Exclusions Manager
• Tony Ryan, Manager, CAMHS
• Jane Edwards, CAMHS
• Ged Ward, Headteacher, Macclesfield High School
• Andy Robinson, Headteacher, Tytherington High School
• Peter Rubery, Headteacher, Fallibroome High School
• Ian Williams, Assistant Headteacher, All Hallows High School
• Also represented were the new Integrated Youth Support Service – an amalgamation of the Connexions and the Youth Service

 

Possible funding is available from:

• Esmée Fairbairn:  £40-50k pa for 3 years
• DCSF/YSDF:  £150k in Y1,  £160k in Y2,  £50k in Y3 and then self-financing
• KS4 Engagement Strategy:  £1000 per student to be match-funded by the school

We were informed in early March that UK Youth has been awarded £4.1m by the DCSF.  This means that our EIP can now plan with certainty.  UK Youth is working with different organisations to deliver this programme, including 7KS Enterprise College and a range of local partners. One of these is now the Macclesfield and Bollington EIP.

UK Youth has been selected as a Youth Sector Development Fund Pathfinder to develop a series of 10 Youth Achievement Foundations across England.  These Foundations, which are based on UK Youth's successful alternative curriculum approach and Youth Achievement Awards programme, will support young people at risk of  becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training) and help put them back on the pathway to success. 

The programme will be independently evaluated by the Social Futures Department of Teesside University.

Derek Casey, Chair of UK Youth and Bid Director of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, said:

"We are delighted to be one of the first organisations to receive support from the new Pathfinder Fund. This will further develop the success of The Youth Achievement Awards and scale up the alternative curriculum work that we have been developing in North Lincolnshire, in conjunction with 7KS, with great success".

John Bateman OBE, Chief Executive of UK Youth, said:

"We are very proud to be selected as one of the first organisations to receive support from the Youth Sector Development Fund and we look forward to working with both the DCSF and the new body itself in developing Youth Achievement Foundations in conjunction with our partners both nationally and locally. The most important aspect of this support however is that we will be able to bring the successful approach developed within a Youth Achievement Foundation to many more young people across the country".

Andy Robinson, Chair of the Macclesfield and Bollington EIP, commented:

"Macclesfield and Bollington Education Improvement Partnership are delighted that we have been successful with these bids.  We are really excited that we have been selected as one of the Government's first Pathfinder projects, to work in partnership with the Cheshire Youth Federation.  This will give us the opportunity to provide a much better service for those students who find mainstream education so difficult.  There will be benefits for the students themselves, for their schools and of course for the wider community." 

Chairman of the EIP Improving Behaviour Group
April 2008

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