Partnerships for Schools



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Partnerships for Schools
33 Greycoat Street
London SW1P 2QF

Press Releases

Press Releases

New national charity to make after school activities accessible to all

19 May 2009

A new independent education charity set up by Partnerships for Schools which will give young people access to opportunities and experiences aimed at transforming their futures and helping them fulfil their potential is launched at the London Eye on Tuesday 19 May.

Designed to complement the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, the Transformation Trust - which has already raised in excess of £1 million ahead of the launch – will enable every young person to have access to a rich range of opportunities that currently may only be available to some.

Projects funded will support extra-curricular activities for students in new BSF learning environments across England to help them develop new skills, new interests and to increase self-esteem and confidence.

Funding from the Trust will also help smaller charitable organisations to work with a larger number of schools and young people, and across a wider geographical area, than they are currently able to do.

Sir David Bell, Chair of Trustees said: “Every young person deserves the best possible start in life and the aim of the Transformation Trust is to help do just that: providing students and young people – no matter what their background – with the opportunities and experiences that will help them fulfil their potential.

“At the moment access to before and after schools can be patchy, based on what projects are available locally or the ability to pay. The Transformation Trust will create a level playing field so that it makes no difference whether you are a student in Durham, Dagenham or Devon, as to the opportunities available.

“Despite the challenging economic conditions, we have been overwhelmed by the level of support and interest from the private sector – both in terms of financial resources and a personal time commitment from senior individuals. Pre-launch we have already raised over £1 million from a small number of key players, enabling the Transformation Trust to begin work with the 69 BSF schools that have opened to date from the start of the new academic year in September.

“Today is a day of celebration, but it is only the start of what we hope to achieve together. Our ambition is to raise £20 million in the first five years of the Trust, with a view to it becoming England’s largest and most far-reaching education charity over time.”

Tim Byles, Chief Executive of Partnerships for Schools, the agency responsible for delivering the national Building Schools for the Future programme, said: “In the BSF schools that have opened their gates to date, students, teachers and parents all recognise BSF as a ‘fresh start’ and are reporting a leap forward in attitude, behaviour and attainment. The Transformation Trust seeks to build on this already impressive impact by offering wider projects and schemes that will help consolidate, and even accelerate, educational transformation in these schools and communities. 

 “The Trust will also provide a massive boost for the projects it will support – not only is the funding a real lifeline at this time, the network of BSF schools we can give them access to will unlock more doors and help them to reach more students than they had thought possible.”

The Transformation Trust will support individual third sector organisations, both nationally and locally. It will provide BSF schools with a menu of sporting, cultural and mentoring projects which will be available to work with their students for at least one year.

The first four projects schools can choose from are:

Magic Breakfast – A quarter of pupils in some of the UK’s most deprived areas arrive at school too hungry to learn. Magic Breakfast delivers free, healthy breakfast items to schools,  but it also helps to build leadership and social enterprise skills within these school communities to enable them to self-fund urgently needed food provision in the future;

Shakespeare Schools Festival – will work with schools to maximise their new drama facilities, and give students opportunities to work as a team, develop self-confidence as well as develop performance skills. Students and teachers will take part in acting and directing workshops, and will be given support as they produce an abridged version of a Shakespeare play to perform in a professional theatre;

Formula 1 in Schools – brings the thrill of F1 within the reach of young people. It enables schools to take part in an International inter-school competition that encourages young people to consider engineering as a career. Schools are challenged to build a mini F1 car capable of travelling at scale speeds of up to 220mph;

icould – helps young people find out more about the bewildering array of job opportunities by videoing people across the country and getting them to explain their route from school to where they are now. People already filmed include business leader Sir Richard Branson, the theatre director Trevor Nunn and TV presenter Davina McCall. The careers web resource launched this year will help young people to raise their aspirations.

The launch event in County Hall and the London Eye will see students perform their version of Shakespeare plays, a chance to sample a ‘Magic Breakfast’, a Formula 1 in Schools racing car in action, and pop-up tents where guests can watch icould’s inspirational careers videos.

The launch of the Transformation Trust will take place in London at from 9am on Tuesday 19 May at the London Eye, designed by Marks Barfield Architects who are also responsible for the design of an award-winning BSF school.


Notes to Editors:

  • The Transformation Trust aims to provide every young person – no matter where they come from, no matter what their background - with the opportunities and experiences that will help them identify and fulfil their potential.
  • The Transformation Trust will fund a blend of national and local initiatives for students in schools which have been transformed as part of the Building Schools for the Future programme.
  • Students at new and refurbished BSF schools will be given the opportunity to take part in - free of charge both to individuals and the schools - non-curricular activities to help every young person identify their talents and achieve their best.
  • The Transformation Trust has already secured funding in excess of £1 million from backers. Founding Members of the charity are: Balfour Beatty, Bouygues, Carillion, Partnerships UK, Redstone and RM.
  • The Chair of the Trust is Sir David Bell, Chairman of the Financial Times and Director of People at Pearsons. He is also Chairman of Common Purpose, Crisis and the International Youth Foundation and Sadler’s Wells. The Trustees include Baron David Puttnam, Baroness Margaret Sharp, Baroness Patricia Morris, Sir Tim Brighouse, Sir John Sorrell, Tony Hall. The Interim Chief Executive is Amy Leonard.
  • The Trust’s launch event is being supported by the London Eye, which has provided complimentary use of the London Eye, and also by County Hall. 
  • Students from: Bristol, Manchester, Bradford, Knowsley, Stoke-on-Trent, Leeds, London and Kent will attend the launch of the Transformation Trust.
  • Building Schools for the Future (BSF) is the largest single schools capital investment programme for over 50 years. The aim is to rebuild or renew England’s state secondary schools estate during the lifetime of the programme.
    Partnerships for Schools (PfS) is the delivery organisation for Building Schools for the Future. More information is available at www.partnershipsforschools.org.uk