SHINE
Project based in: UK
Creative Saturday classes for disadvantaged primary school children
The issue
The link between a family’s income and their children’s progress at school is well documented and deeply engrained. Every year, around 1 in 3 children eligible for free school meals leave primary school with substandard maths and English – around twice as many as those not on free school meals. They then underperform at GCSE level and, regardless of ability, are less likely to go to a top university.
The response
‘SHINE on Saturday’ programmes tackle this endemic underperformance by providing disadvantaged children with an extra 30 days of tuition every year – an increase of almost 20%.
SHINE on Saturdays targets children from low income families who are not performing to their full potential in the classroom. Every week, these children experience fun, creative learning that complements the national curriculum by taking a fresh and practical approach to core subjects, such as literacy, maths and science.
Rigorous planning and evaluation
The lessons are carefully pre-planned and taught by qualified teachers, backed up by older students acting as peer mentors. In addition, lessons are regularly supplemented with outside trips (for example, to the Science Museum) and other enrichment activities, such as swimming lessons.
The projects are regularly and rigorously monitored and evaluated. Results show that the projects regularly succeed in improving pupils’ grades, as well as their attitude, motivation and interest in learning. In particular, children attending the project part-funded by Sofronie – SHINE on Saturday @ Wendell Park School – consistently achieve SAT results that match or exceed those of their ‘non-SHINE’ classmates.
The organisation
SHINE is a grant-making trust which funds and develops additional educational initiatives that encourage children and young people to raise their academic attainment. It supports organisations working with underachieving 6-18 year olds from disadvantaged areas in London and Manchester.
SHINE funds a variety of programmes. Besides its Saturday projects, these include one-to-one literacy and numeracy support, specialist after-school and internet-based study projects. Taken together, its projects have considerable impact, as demonstrated by improved GCSE and key stage results, higher confidence and self esteem, greater motivation, better behaviour and more frequent attendance at school.
The funding
Sofronie has awarded SHINE a grant of £60,000 for the period 2009-2012. This is contributing to the costs of running a three year ‘SHINE on Saturdays’ project at Wendell Park Primary School in west London.
Registered Charity Number: 1082777
T: +44 (0)20 8393 1880
E: info@shinetrust.org.uk
W: www.shinetrust.org.uk