Early maths programme wins praise from teachers and school inspectors
“The Story Time Maths approach is giving children a rich understanding of maths and providing them with a solid foundation in the early years” – Ofsted
Impact, News
SHINE: Support and Help IN Education
Every child deserves the best start in life.
SHINE gives children brighter futures by unlocking barriers to learning.
We support children and young people in hundreds of schools across the North West, North East and Yorkshire & Humber.
We focus on areas of deprivation where we have the biggest opportunity to make a positive difference to children’s lives.
Innovation
SHINE identifies, evaluates, and scales up the most promising educational ideas.
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Philanthropy
SHINE connects donors with teachers to create new opportunities for disadvantaged children.
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Insight
SHINE uses evidence from its work to influence positive changes for children.
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Our latest impact
What we achieved over the past 12 months
SHINE's projects have made a significant impact.
We helped almost 50,000 children across nearly 500 schools, while also providing support to over 3,300 parents and 1,700 teachers.
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Information for schools
Get involved
Opportunities to join our network of successful practice across the North.
Discover our funding opportunities, the support we offer, and ways to participate in our programmes.
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Fundraise for SHINE
You could help transform young lives
It's easy to make a donation to SHINE. Even the smallest gift could make a big difference to the lives of children in the North.
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SHINE's projects
Find out more about the projects and programmes we support
SHINE backs innovative learning approaches aimed at levelling the playing field for all children.
We fund school-based projects supporting children aged 0-19, addressing a wide range of areas such as reading, maths, science, verbal communication, parental engagement, school transitions, and wellbeing.
Find out moreEducation should unleash life’s potential, but too often, a child’s future is shaped by their background and circumstances beyond their control.
Many from low-income homes start school without key skills, fall behind, and over half leave school without essential GCSEs in English and maths – limiting their opportunities for further education or good jobs.
The divide is particularly acute in parts of the North.
Quick links to our Latest Updates
Let Teachers SHINE 2026 launched: grants for teachers of up to £25k on offer
Teachers are invited to submit their innovative ideas to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds achieve their potential.
Let Teachers SHINE, News
SHINE is charity partner at BRILLIANT 2026 in Liverpool: Come and meet the team
Members of the SHINE team will be joined on the SHINE stand by grantees: Lucy Huelin, founder of Vocabulous, and Chris Williams, creator of Chatta.
Let Teachers SHINE, News
Evidence shows Fluency For All boosts reading skills, especially among disadvantaged pupils
Pupil Premium pupils' reading age scores improved by +8.5 points, compared with +0.9 in the control group
Impact, NewsInspiring Stories of impact
Lucy and Sara’s Story
We knew the main barriers would be limited resources and teachers being a bit frightened to teach science because of a lack of subject knowledge.
How a Let Teachers SHINE project in Bolton is helping istil a love of science in primary school children from a young age.
Rachel’s Story
Although she’d been nervous to begin with, Rachel soon got to know the other mums and dads
Rachel has two young children, 18-month-old Amy and four-year-old Aaron. She suffers from anxiety, and while she wants the best for her children, she is low in confidence when it comes to educating them at home. She often worries that Aaron seems to be reluctant to read.
Layla’s story
Layla was extremely shy at school. Unlike most other three-year-olds, she was not yet speaking at all, so communicating with others was very difficult.
To try and improve matters, Layla’s nursery teacher suggested she should take part in the new Family Literacy Project being run at her school. The project, which is funded by SHINE, aims to raise the literacy attainment of disadvantaged nursery children in South Yorkshire by working alongside families in their homes.