Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust is joining The Reach Foundation’s Cradle-to-Career Partnership as part of its commitment to strengthening the communities it serves across Dudley and Sandwell.
The partnership brings together schools and other local organisations to consider how children and families can experience more joined-up support from early years through to further education, training and employment.
At its heart is a simple idea: schools are vital to improving children’s life chances, but they cannot address every challenge alone. Attendance, belonging, mental health, family support, transitions between phases and progression beyond school are all influenced by the strength of the wider local system around a child.
The Cradle-to-Career approach therefore focuses on building stronger connections between the organisations already serving children and families, rather than creating another layer of activity. It aims to improve transitions, strengthen relationships between institutions and develop more coherent local support.
For Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust, the work will initially focus on developing stronger local clusters in Dudley and Sandwell, bringing together schools and partners around the needs of the children and communities they collectively serve.
Qamar Riaz, Chief Executive Officer of Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust, said: “Our schools are rooted in their communities, and with that comes a responsibility to look beyond the boundaries of our own organisation.
“Many of the challenges facing children and families in Dudley and Sandwell are shared challenges. No individual school or Trust can solve them in isolation. What we can do is build stronger relationships between schools, services and community partners, improve the points at which children move between phases, and make better use of the expertise that already exists within our local areas.
“That is why this partnership matters to us. It is an important part of how we see our civic role as a Trust: not simply asking how our own schools can improve, but how we can contribute to stronger educational communities around them.
“We are particularly keen for other schools and Multi-Academy Trusts in Dudley and Sandwell to join us. This work will be strongest if it is genuinely collaborative and shaped by the organisations that know these communities best.”
The first phase of the programme will support participating clusters to better understand their local context, identify where children experience gaps or difficult transitions, strengthen relationships between partners and begin developing a shared approach to improving support over time.
Join the Dudley or Sandwell partnership
Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust would welcome conversations with schools, academy trusts and other education partners in Dudley and Sandwell who are interested in contributing to the Cradle-to-Career work.
To find out more or to express an interest in joining the Dudley or Sandwell cluster, please contact info@shirelandcat.net at Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust.
