A fourth round of ideas, projects and resources funded via the Staff Innovation Fund
By the William Ellis Trust
The fourth round of our Staff Innovation Fund has awarded £13,570 to ten applicants across the school. The vast majority of funds the Trust is able to provide through this fund come from donations made by alumni, parents and other supporters. It is a wonderful example of how people have invested in our pupils through the years, and continue to do so today.
The fund is truly coming into its own now, and playing an important role in providing access to funding for teaching and supports staff with good ideas they want to trial to being benefit to pupils. It also plays a secondary role in helping ensure equitable opportunities through purchasing resources required to access both core and extra-curricular opportunities for pupils.
A panel of three trustees and headteacher Izzy Jones met on 15 October to consider thirteen applications. Trustees were struck by how much the quality and scope of applications have grown since the fund began. A range of projects will help build connections with cultural organisations and our local community, while providing pupils the opportunity to develop their skills and confidence while experiencing new things.
The successful applications were:
· Power 2 Thrive: Toddlers and Teens – a programme that will see a group of Year 8 and 9 pupils attending local nurseries or 15 weeks where they will support and mentor pupils, and achieve a qualification while doing so.
· Barrier Breaker – a new programme being launched by the Bridge provision in the school supporting pupils facing additional barriers to their schooling, and increasing their sense of belonging
· Music support and connections – funding increased support time from a musician with strong links to the creative industries to build songwriting and composition strengths, and relationships with local organisations. First up, a trip to Ronnie Scott’s for Year 10 pupils.
· A wheelchair-accessible picnic table – ensuring the playground is inclusive of all pupils, including current and future pupils who use wheelchairs
· National Theatre Connections funding – providing a budget to ensure pupils get maximum benefit from this programme, and can produce high-quality work
· Lauderdale House partnership contribution – helping secure the future of this valuable partnership which delivers a wonderful mixed media programme to budding artists within the school
· Reinvesting in Kerboodle – following its successful reintroduction to the teaching of modern foreign languages we have extended our funding for a second year. Speaking other languages with confidence opens up whole new worlds of opportunities
· Resources for art teaching – tools to better bring artwork to life, and allow for detailed examinations of the work of pupils and professional artists
Additionally, we were also able to fund two further requests for new laptops to increase access to key resources for all pupils within the school. This was largely down to a generous donation from a supporter, and our modest investment fund performing better than forecast over the past six months.
· Laptops with photoshop capability – a vital resource for the new course being run in LaSWAP in partnership with University of the ARTS, London. It also supports all art and design, and our upcoming photography programme which builds on the work done via From the Boys.
· Laptops for Applied Sciences – ensuring all pupils have equitable access to the needed resources to fully access their course, and support.
For the first time, applications to the fund have significantly outstripped the funding we have available to commit. The fund provides a wonderful way to invest in the ideas that passionate staff within the school have for creating lasting impact on our pupils. The fund is next scheduled to run just after Easter, and if you would like to make a contribution to helping us back even more great ideas we would love to hear from you.
You can learn more about how to donate to our work via our Ways to Give page, or by reaching out to our Director, Will Durham, who will be delighted to discuss our fundraising opportunities, and current needs. You will find him at wdurham@williamellis.camden.sch.uk
We can’t wait to see all the projects and resources above in action soon.
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