Partnerships


of time spent with professionals demanding standards and results outside of a typical school context really helps young people to understand the same demands that teachers often struggle to apply in regular lessons – and, equally, to understand the demands that will be placed on them by lecturers and line managers in the future. We are, of course, going to be


his absolute backing. On one of his tours around the school with prospective parents and students that week, he dropped into the dance studio where the project was taking place and was overheard saying, with some pride, that this was the kind of innovative education that the school was known for! Indeed, the learning that took place throughout the week would have been hard to replicate in individual lessons taken at different points in the timetable. It was the type of learning experience that built up knowledge and understanding in layers, unstructured at rst but with good guidance and parameters that led to a clear outcome – and, most importantly, with input from specialists in their sectors. Without the funding, we certainly couldn’t have provided a week’s residency, and without the concentrated, professional input from our partners the children wouldn’t have made the progress they did.


Measuring impact So what impact did this direct engagement from the world of work have on the school? Well, in the rst instance, the usual paperwork asking for background details and future plans showed that, yes, many of the children involved in the project did come from families where no one else had progressed beyond their school education, let alone walked onto a university campus, nor had they performed in public. For most of the children, it was an eye-opener rehearsing for


42 AUTUMN 2017 FundEd ‘My child has had the best


week of her life in school and has talked of nothing else!’


an afternoon in the campus studios, wandering across to the large, modern canteen or open study areas, then mingling with the students who would later make up part of their audience. The children were slightly awestruck at rst, and a little nervous, but soon made themselves at home and relaxed into their surroundings. The university universe had suddenly become a comfortable environment for a few hours and perhaps a less frightening thought in their minds when considering their future plans. More tellingly, however, was that


we saw a change in their attitudes and condence throughout the week. One student wrote in his feedback that he liked the way everyone came together and tried out dance moves without laughing at each other or undermining each other – and that means a lot to the condence of a 14-year-old who is struggling to express themself in their daily life. Observing the relationship the children built up with their tutors over the 30 hours was also fascinating, as it became a collaborative and equitable relationship of give and take. Even simple things such as clearing up the studio space at the end of a session became a supportive team activity, with everyone pitching in to get the job done before home time. Again, the concentration


monitoring this cohort of students and have already established what choices they have in mind for their future education and careers – if indeed they have any at the moment. We will track their responses to this question each year until they leave school and then follow up with the standard destination surveys that nd out where young people end up once they leave full-time education. In the meantime, we know that at least one of the 30 students who took part in the project enjoyed her time so much that she has asked to change one of her GCSE option choices to dance. This may seem like a drop in the ocean when you consider the numbers we have in the cohort we’re focusing on, but when you’re dealing with a real person who has been so inspired by a week of professional choreography that they have the condence to know where their passion lies and to change their own future, it makes everything so worthwhile. There were a few tears in the eyes of the tutors when she let them know what an impact the project had made on her. And, as one parent said after the nal performance, ‘My child has had the best week of her life in school and has talked of nothing else!’


Sam Baker is Head of Business and Education Partnerships at Mark Rutherford School in Bedford (1,236 pupils). He has established an award-winning education-business partnership programme with over 150 local and national organisations engaged in various ways in the life of the school and its students.


Coming up next issue… Compiling a ‘wish list’ of projects and identifying relevant partners that can provide support.


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