Business-savvy schools recognised
Lauren Higgs
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
A school that quadrupled its extended services budget by courting big business is among the examples held up in a report aimed at inspiring schools to enhance their extended school offerings.
The Every Child Matters Premium Project report, issued last week by the National College for School Leadership, highlights the ways innovative schools have approached extended services.
Among the schools mentioned is Seven Mill Primary School, which boosted its extended services budget by wooing businesses in London's Canary Wharf.
Mike Thurley, head teacher at Seven Mills Primary School in Tower Hamlets, east London, raised cash and resources worth £140,000 from businesses including Canary Wharf plc, Lloyds TSB, Credit Suisse, Lehman Brothers and KPMG.
Pupils at the school, which is in England's second most deprived local authority, and next to Canary Wharf, have benefited from homework clubs, lunchtime French classes, football and cricket coaching and a new school minibus. Canary Wharf plc alone pays for more than half of the primary's out-of-school learning programme.
Thurley attributed his success to the school's strong Every Child Matters ethos and his business savvy-board of governors, who supported his decision to engage with local businesses. He said: "Lehman Brothers paid for sports and Canary Wharf plc help us offer healthy breakfast clubs. Everything we have done through our partnerships with businesses contributes to the five Every Child Matters outcomes."
Despite the collapse of the Lehman Brothers bank last week, Thurley said the school's sports programme would be unaffected, because the cash for that particular scheme had already been spent.
Maggie Farrar, strategic director of policy, research and development at NCSL, said: "School leaders that look outward and work with a range of partners are able to meet a wide range of needs more effectively."
While all the schools in the report succeeded for different reasons, all those featured were found to have a flexible and unconventional approach to working with external organisations, an awareness of the school's profile in the local community and a desire to secure financial sustainability.
- www.cypnow.co.uk/doc.
