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Civitas

Many London children are not reaching their potential or gaining the skills they need to help them do so later in life. Many are held back by high levels of illiteracy at home, apathy towards education or English being an additional language. Although many parents have high aspirations for their children, they may lack the skills and experience to support their learning outside the classroom. Civitas seeks to address this gap through running the Civitas Schools programme.

You can read more about Civitas in SHINE's 2011 Supporters' Magazine (page 6). Download Now

The grant recipient

In addition to conducting research on social policy issues, the Institute for the Study of Civil Society runs Civitas Schools, which aim to increase academic achievement levels among underachieving disadvantaged children, to open up new opportunities to them and encourage them to be high-achievers.

Civitas also runs summer schools which give children an intensive academic boost and offer inspirational cultural experiences to children who have limited access to both enrichment activities and ongoing learning support over the summer.

Civitas London Summer School

What it aims to do

• Improve children’s academic skills through high-quality teaching
• Increase the children’s self-confidence by helping them recognise their achievements
• Inspire the children through outings, creative workshops and presentations
• Increase the children’s enthusiasm for learning

How it works

This school takes place over two weeks each summer for 60 children from disadvantaged areas in Harlesden and Brent. Children spend the morning in small groups having literacy and numeracy tuition and the afternoon going on educational visits, taking part in creative workshops or hearing visiting speakers. The school is hosted by an independent school.

Results

In the 2010 summer school, children in the youngest class improved their reading age by 13 months. In addition, two pupils who could not read at all at the start of the school were reading at age appropriate levels by the end. Classes with slightly older children improved their reading age by 9 months in the two weeks. Children in the oldest two classes increased their maths test scores by 16% from the start to the finish of the summer school. These results will be sustained by on-going support at regular Civitas Saturday Schools.

The funding

Funding: £70,500, over three years (2009-12)

Visit the Civitas Schools’ website