The Educational Challenge and How We Are Meeting It

Too many of our children still face a tough and sometimes bleak start to their lives.

Consider the following current startling facts:

• Of the 6% of secondary schools which are still rated as failing, the majority are in the 5% most deprived areas of the country.
• Only 17% of children from disadvantaged backgrounds enter higher education compared to 50% from the upper and middle income brackets.
• The richest 10% have a 65% better chance of getting five A*-C grades at GCSE than the poorest 10%.
• Almost a fifth of children in the UK live in the bottom 10% of deprived areas.
• There are 28% more teenage pregnancies in the 10% most deprived areas compared with the national average.
• Almost 18% of children live in households where there is no wage earner.

Despite educational spending on a par with the rest of Europe, the system is too often failing those for whom education should be one of the few escape routes into a life that is personally and professionally rewarding. If left unresolved, this unhappy start in life feeds through to a cycle of multi-deprivation, continuing to deepen the economic divisions between those who prosper and those who fall behind.

ULT is determined to be in the forefront of breaking this cycle of decline by promoting and delivering high quality education. We have a clear vision for change, which we are both very passionate and very focused about. Our academies provide students with a rigorous and inclusive education; one that is in tune with the needs of the local communities and has a clear spiritual and moral dimension.

And, from a standing start, after four years we have made real progress. Out of our 8 academies taking GCSEs in 2007 the overall increase 5A*-C was 22%. If you include Maths & English, the figures improved 29%.

These results have been achieved with children, many of whom are socially disadvantaged. We have an average of 37% of pupils receiving free school meals against a national average of 14.3%.

Most of our academies are over-subscribed as soon as the local population realises that there is genuinely new management and that an academy is not just a makeover of a previously failing school.

We still have a lot to do. But, across the country, we are making a real positive difference to the lives of a generation of students.

Much of what we are achieving is down the calibre and leadership of our staff. If you are interested in finding out more about a career in ULT please click here.