Work is now underway with Cardiff Council as part of the Open School initiative and at East Learning, we’re proud to be supporting its delivery.
As a delivery partner, our role is focused on helping schools build a clearer, more complete understanding of their students and using that insight to better align support across schools, services and local opportunities.
Right now, that work is centred around:
The Open Schools initiative is rethinking what it means “to go to school” for secondary-aged learners.
It recognises that learning today doesn’t just happen within the classroom and that young people need access to a broader range of opportunities, support and experiences.
Rather than replacing traditional schooling, it works alongside it connecting schools, local authorities and partners to what already exists across a region.
At its core, it’s about putting student needs first and building a more connected system around young people aligning education, services and opportunities around real student need.
Professor Mick Waters, Co-founder of The Open School, explains:
“The Open School approach strengthens how schools and partners work together around the needs of young people… helping every learner access worthwhile opportunities and feel part of a community that recognises their strengths and potential.”
Whilst the design of ‘the digital backbone’ that will form part of the Open School is still a work in progress, we have been using our Aspirations platform (modified slightly to broaden the range of insight needed for the Open School work) as a key part of the approach in Cardiff.
Matthew Lees, Founder and Director of East, has been involved in shaping the Open Schools initiative development and delivery from an early stage.
“I think everyone involved in the education sector would want it to be the case that all learners have the right mix of support for them, whenever they need it. The challenge has never been the intent, but the ability to deliver that at scale.
The intent behind East Learning has always been to provide the insight and change support to help those in the education system get closer to this goal, so when I first heard of the concept a few years ago it immediately made sense to do whatever we could to help”
Our Aspirations platform makes it possible to capture insight directly from students, across areas such as:
This student insight gives schools and local authorities a clearer, more consistent understanding of not just what’s happening, but why.
We can use the data either thematically or for particular cohorts to better tailor support either in school or as part of the review process with partners.
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Alongside this, we’re also supporting the mapping of local provision linking student insight with real visibility of services, opportunities and support across the area.
Together, this creates the conditions to move from insight to coordinated action.
The next phase of work across Cardiff will focus on:
We’ll share more as the work progresses. If you’d like to be the first to hear about updates and any useful resources we release, you can join our mailing list here we’ll only share things we think are genuinely worth your time.
If there’s something here that resonates with your setting whether it's capturing student insights at school level, across a trust or a local council, or you're interested in being apart of the Open School initiative we’d love to hear from you: Get in touch here or book a call below.