Accelerate - August 2008
Welcome to Accelerate – the monthly newsletter to inform and engage partners in the ‘Yorkshire and Humber 14-19 Challenge’ programme.
Building momentum
Since the last edition of ‘Accelerate’ was published, the pace of activity has moved on considerably, and much of this progress is as a direct result of the positive interest that has been expressed by partners, both through this newsletter and otherwise.
With the landscape of 14-19 education constantly changing - bringing opportunities and challenges with it - it is more important than ever that the Challenge plays a supportive role to those that are at the heart of dealing with these changes. The Challenge will do this by ensuring that a regional framework is developed to facilitate effective planning and intelligence sharing across Local Authority boundaries. With this mission in mind, the Challenge is exploring where it can add value (and if necessary cohesion) to current initiatives that are intended to raise standards at 14-19, by understanding the networks that already exist and starting to bring together partners with common goals.
Progress to date...
Business Engagement – the first steps towards developing a Regional Employer Engagement Strategy have been taken, with a scoping exercise underway. This will identify each Local Authority’s progress towards developing their local strategy, and consider how the Challenge can develop a regional framework to support their improvement and enhancement. This might be by identifying the structures, partners and resources that are in place, and how these can be pooled to enable more employers to engage more often. A ‘pathfinder’ meeting will take place later in the month to take this work further, with the aim of having an early draft of the strategy in place by the end of September. This group will also advise on the development of simple ‘Guides to Engagement’ and a programme of events which will enable businesses, entrepreneurs, higher education, role models and advisers to work with young people in a focussed and pro-active way. Work with the Edge Foundation also continues, with the launch of the ‘Business in School’ campaign at an event on 17th September at the Met Hotel, Leeds. Anyone interested in attending should contact Alex Glover of the Edge Foundation on 020 7292 9137 or AGlover@edge.co.uk.
Regional Planning Framework – working groups to support the themes within the Challenge programme are now emerging. The NEET Challenge group has already been established, and it is intended that core groups in the areas of Careers, Progression/LMI and Employer Engagement will be fully established during early autumn. The Challenge is also supporting the work of Local Authorities to map provision until 2013.
Attainment – work continues on the analysis of data which will inform the development of ‘families of schools' that have similar characteristics relating to attainment at 16, with the first pilot workshop planned for October. To inform this work, an exploratory meeting with those involved in the London Challenge is taking place, including a visit to the London Leadership Centre to meet Secondary Heads who are involved in the programme, and also to a school that has benefited from the Challenge.
Progression and Qualifications – research into existing regional networks to support Careers and Labour Market Information/IAG is taking place. A group will meet in September to share data and information with Local Authorities with the aim of identifying the most user-friendly way of producing and disseminating intelligence that can inform curriculum planning. The NEET Challenge group will meet again later this month to share successes and challenges in delivering the new ESF arrangements in each of the sub-regions.
Up-and-coming events and meetings at a glance…
| Title | Link to Challenge Action Plan | Date and Venue |
|---|---|---|
| Employer Engagement Pathfinder meeting | Theme 4 – Business Engagement | 26th August - Government Office Yorkshire and Humber, Leeds |
| 14-19 Challenge Steering Group meeting | Theme 1 – Regional Planning Framework | 28th August - Government Office Yorkshire and Humber, Leeds |
| NEET Challenge Group | Theme 3 – Progression and Qualifications | 29th August - LSC, Bradford |
| Edge Foundation, ‘Business in School’ Campaign Launch | Theme 4 – Business Engagement | 17th September - Met Hotel, Leeds |
| Progression meeting | Theme 3 – Progression and Qualifications | 23rd September - Skillfast-UK, Leeds |
| London City Challenge Learning Visit | Theme 2 - Attainment | 21st/22nd October – Various venues |
| 14-19 Challenge Steering Group meeting | Theme 1 – Regional Planning Framework | 23rd October - Government Office Yorkshire and Humber, Leeds |
Critical to the success of the programme is the engagement and ‘sign-up’ of partners to the Challenge, therefore if you would like to discuss any aspect of the programme in more detail, please contact Janette Gudgeon on 0113 383 0205 or email janette.gudgeon@ypef.org.uk.
Please also pass on this newsletter to anyone else that may be interested in the activities mentioned above and encourage them to subscribe by emailing ‘Accelerate subscribe’ to: kate.woodcock@ypef.org.uk.
Article posted 22 August 2008