Shaftesbury Homes and Arethusa
The grant recipient
The Shaftesbury Homes and Arethusa charity exists to care for, educate and encourage looked after children and children in need.
The Education Service programme
What it aims to do
- deliver an ambitious and comprehensive programme of educational support for looked after children
- markedly improve the levels of educational achievement for children in care
How it works
The Education Service is a team of professional educationalists working alongside residential social work teams and schools to provide intensive educational support and tuition for the 50-100 vulnerable young people living in Shaftesbury Homes.
The aim is not only to get young people back into mainstream education, but then to support them so that they can fulfil their potential at school. Education workers provide:
- advocacy work
- one to one support in school
- private tuition
- revision courses
- group classes
- homework clubs
- social outings
Results
Many of the young people on this programme arrive with no school place, special educational needs, little English and/or histories of exclusion or chronic truancy.
Recent results show:
- attendance – 55% of students in mainstream school improved their attendance
- behaviour – 88% of those with a known history of fixed term exclusions had a drop in exclusions
- achievement – ten year 11 students took 30 GCSEs, with all students getting at least one GCSE; all of these students gained places in further education
The funding and replication
SHINE grants have helped to fund delivery costs and the development of a business model to facilitate replication. Other funding has come from the European Social Fund, trusts and foundations and the government.
Funding: £272,000 to Shaftesbury Homes and Arethusa, over seven years (2001-08)
Visit Shaftesbury Homes and Arethusa's website: http://www.shaftesbury.org.uk
"This trust is helping us make a real difference, not only because their funding enables all our children's homes to have an attached teacher, but also because SHINE's insistence on hard outcomes has focused our minds and efforts to achieving tangible results for the children in our care."
Assistant Director, Shaftsbury Homes and Arethusa
Quotes
"This trust is helping us make a real difference, not only because their funding enables all our children's homes to have an attached teacher, but also because SHINE's insistence on hard outcomes has focused our minds and efforts to achieving tangible results for the children in our care."
Assistant Director, Shaftsbury Homes and Arethusa