Cradle to Career

Why do we need Cradle to Career?

 Despite decades of policy attention, there has been virtually no change in the disadvantage gap in GCSE attainment over the past 20 years.  88% of schools are currently graded good or better by Ofsted and yet there is a 22-month disadvantage gap by the end of secondary school.  Pupil absence from school is at an all-time high. Disadvantage attendance and attainment levels are particularly concerning in the South West.  At age 11, the children of the South West are the furthest behind of any English region. At school leaving age, the young people of the South West are the least likely to move into higher-level apprenticeships or higher education. Disadvantage is complex and can’t be encapsulated by one measure, such as FSM or PP. 

 We talk about the need to raise children’s aspirations; however, this is particularly challenging given Cornwall’s geographical isolation.

The contexts of the communities we serve across mid-Cornwall are all very different. We believe that it is imperative to really get to know the communities that we serve by analysing data and engaging with families.  Addressing the challenges goes beyond education, but there are practical things that school leaders can do.

 To change this - to secure a life of choice and opportunity for every child - we believe that great schools are necessary but not sufficient.

 We believe that while schools and trusts have an integral role to play in securing lives of choice and opportunity for every child - they cannot do so in isolation.  Our CELT strategic plan is focused on accepting our civic responsibilities within our communities to drive positive change.  Schools are at the forefront of this work – the anchors of our communities!  We have a moral duty to convene organisations, health services, faith groups and local businesses with the sole aim of improving our community for our families.

What is Cradle to Career?

 CELT’s aim is to ensure that ALL our children, particularly our most disadvantaged from nursery through to sixth form and beyond have access to an equitable and excellent education. Every single child, irrespective of background, deserves the very best school experience to ensure they can enjoy future choices and opportunities.  Academic outcomes are important but not to the detriment of developing the whole child and ensuring personal development opportunities necessary to overcome our geographical isolation.  We have been developing our CELT Promise – a promise to ensure that ALL our students have the opportunity to access experiences to further develop their skill sets and open their eyes to future opportunities

 We aim to create a seamless pipeline of support for children from before birth to positive post-school destinations.

 We believe that there are five ‘key’ threads that schools need to work on to meet these aims. These threads are discrete but complementary.

1. Enacting an all-through curriculum – every child experiences a curriculum that is coherently sequenced and builds cumulatively. We have started work on our CELT InSYNC project to align the curriculum throughout our Trust.
2. Developing great teachers – ensuring every child has the best quality teacher in front of them in every school, in every classroom. Every lesson counts. We are implementing and developing incremental coaching in schools to support all teachers to continue to reflect and improve their practice.
3. Embedding strong relationships – Ensuring every child develops a strong support network based on positive, mutually respectful relationships. We have started this work by focusing on our families of children with SEND. Our special education needs coordinators are working collaboratively to review and improve processes to support families and children.
4. Serving your community – Ensuring every school develops an understanding of the communities it serves – working in partnership to strengthen capacity. We have been listening to families and have convened in Bodmin and St Austell. We know that enabling our children to access and complete post 16 education and training is a challenge. CELT has been reviewing our offer across our towns. CELT has also been working on providing further education in Bodmin. We are delighted that we also have a number of CELT staff starting a foundation degree in September.
5. Leading Cradle to Career – Ensuring that we develop the capacity and capability required to catalyse, sustain and refine effective cradle to career models. We have set up a Foundation Board enabling us to access a wider variety of funding streams to ensure that we can continue this vital work.

Schools are at the coalface within our communities. We have the exciting opportunity to work collaboratively to drive positive change for all our families.

Cradle to Career thread leads

Thread leads met in November 2024 to share their progress and discuss CELT's approach to Cradle to Career.