Mark Unwin - Changing Lives
Hello,
As we enter Spring, with a little more warmth in the sun and a few spring bulbs poking through, I wanted us to think this month about what we do within Create Partnership Trust.
At Create Partnership Trust, we aim to create the best possible education for children in areas of deprivation in Birmingham.
We chose to work in these areas even though we know that it is very challenging - because we are driven by a moral purpose to help these children and these communities. We value the inclusion and diversity of our city and we have built up an enviable track record and strength in educating children from these backgrounds.
I have spent most of my educational career working with children and schools in deprived communities in Manchester, London, Liverpool, Stoke and now Birmingham.
In my experience, there are very great differences between these cities and the challenges that schools face within them.
For instance, schools with similar levels of deprivation in London and Stoke have huge differences of educational aspiration of schools and parents; of parental support and the status of education within the community.
Similarly, schools serving communities with similar levels of deprivation in Liverpool and Manchester have significant differences in the services that schools can access for safeguarding, SEND or behaviour support caused by the higher council tax income that Manchester enjoys because of its resurgence over the last 15 years.
In Birmingham, we face challenges across the city with Safeguarding, Social Care, Children & Adolescent Mental Health Services and support for Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities overstretched, under-resourced and inadequate and children don’t always receive support when they are most vulnerable. Basic services - like refuse collection – are impacted by the size of the city and its difficult economic situation and children see that impact in their streets and their parks and playgrounds. Despite living in Britain in the 2st Century, many of our children live in poverty and some don’t have their basic needs met.
However, we are also fortunate in many ways. We do have high levels of educational aspiration within our schools and within our parents; we do enjoy a high degree of parental support and we have maintained an important status within our communities. This is down to the hard work each of you do daily to model our value of Aspiration; meet the needs of children; engage with the community; model professional behaviour and command respect.
There IS a similarity between all the cities in which I have worked. Without a doubt, it is the role that we play – as people that work within schools – in meeting the needs of children and filling in the gaps that exist in their experience compared to children from more affluent areas.
I passionately believe that every time we do this, we change lives.
Every time we provide a reading book for a child who has fewer books at home;
every time we provide a child with knowledge that they wouldn’t learn from a family member or friend;
every sporting opportunity that we offer that wouldn’t be provided in an expensive out-of-school setting;
every opportunity to experience music, dance, art or drama that a family wouldn’t necessarily access;
every gardening experience we provide to a child without access to their own outdoor space;
every trip;
every residential experience
and in every other way – we change lives.
The wealth of opportunities that we give our children are a testament to your hard work and I implore you to do more; go even further and create the best education for children from these areas that we serve.
I can’t wait to see what you have in store for the children for the rest of the year.
Best regards
Mark