Aspirations is designed for students to use independently as well as in a classroom setting, so is suitable for use during this period of school closures. We will also be sharing a number of free resources for all teachers and students to use, available on our blog and via Twitter
Welcome to Aspirations
An approach to personal development that's impactful for students and straightforward for schools and colleges
Aspirations takes the hassle out of planning and coordinating a brilliant and targeted personal development offer, so you can focus on delivering the support that will benefit your students the most.
It helps schools and colleges deliver careers, PHSE, enrichment and wellbeing programmes—both in person and online—based on students' interests, needs and ambitions. It does this by providing you with the software, templates and training you need to capture your students' voices and use that information effectively.
Even better, impact measurement and reporting is all built in – so you'll be able to see the difference you're making, and use that evidence to drive continued improvements
How will it help my school?
“The Aspirations Programme helps us evidence the positive impact we’re having on our students and fits into Ofsted’s Character Education framework perfectly.”
Emma Breen, Student Experience Leader at Salford City Academy
Improve outcomes for your young people
Use limited time and resources as effectively as possible
Evidence the work you are doing (and its impact)
Provide an online co-curricular offer for students
What is Personal Development?
School (and college) is about so much more than grades. It's a time for young people to explore and develop their identity and prepare for the future.
"Personal development" to us means "everything you develop at school other than academic learning".
The specific areas we target with our student assessments and planning support are:
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Character and skill development – from classroom sessions to after-school clubs
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PHSE lessons and assemblies
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Careers and "next steps" guidance
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Wellbeing and pastoral support
How it works
Aspirations is made up of three components:
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An online development coaching platform for students, teaching self-development and giving them a voice
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A suite of tools, templates and training materials to support excellent practice in each of the four stages of implementation: Understand, Plan, Act and Review
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Bespoke support to develop your capabilities and enhance your offer, as needed
Aspirations is designed to complement and demonstrate the impact of existing efforts and interventions. Meaning it is as relevant and useful for schools and colleges seeking to understand the impact of their already-rich programme as it is to those looking to make significant changes.
Aspirations will help you...
Understand the needs of your students
We use our online coaching platform to understand students’ priorities in a fun and engaging way and gather useful data.
Taking inspiration from the TGROW coaching model as well as the child-centred plan which sits at the heart of children’s social care practice, this also gives each and every student an individual personal development plan, including their priorities and goals—in their own words.
Plan targeted cohort and individual support
We help you use this insight to help you plan extra curricular, careers and pastoral programmes that meet those needs.
Detailed reporting allows trends to be understood and explored at any level you choose—for the whole school, a particular year, or Pupil Premium students.
Act to support students, making best use of limited resources
The most important part of Aspirations is the programme of support delivered by school leaders, teachers and support staff.
We help reduce the administrative burden of coordinating an excellent programme—from sharing resources that other schools have found helpful, to providing online registers for clubs.
And in the meantime, our online curriculum helps schools fill any ‘gaps’ arising, whilst also allowing them to meet new requirements for online student provision. This is a carefully curated library of age-appropriate resources covering everything from exploring career options to learning how to manage your finances.
Review impact and feedback, to make improvements
Finally, termly ‘reflections’ and end-of-year assessments capture feedback and impact data for every support programme offered.
We’ll share that with you in a number of impact reports, ranging from activity-level assessments through to higher level summaries suitable for sharing with governors or inspectors.
Pricing
There are three levels of the programme, allowing you to adopt the parts of the programme that you need most, at a price point that fits with your budgeting plans. We also offer discounts for group purchases, for example for a MAT.
As a Community Interest Company, we are legally obliged to invest every penny we earn into delivering as much impact for our schools and students as we can—so you can be confident you're getting excellent value, whichever option you choose.