London Ambitions case studies

Digital Schoolhouse is a great example of how London schools and employers are leading computer science education. It gives primary teachers the chance to work with secondary teachers through pupil workshops and develop more skills and confidence to teach the new computer science curriculum. This includes algorithms and programming through dance and magic, the science of cryptography, making music and making computer games.

Ten London secondary schools are now working with the UK Interactive Entertainment Association (UKIE) and companies like CodeKingdoms, Draw and Race.com, Nintendo, Tech Will Save Us, 3Doodler, PlayStation and the Raspberry Pi Foundation. The project is funded by London Schools Excellence Fund and through the secondary hub schools will work with 350 other primary schools, reaching over 18,000 pupils.

Visit the Digital Schoolhouse project website to find out more.

The EY Foundation – an independent charity founded by EY in 2014 – helps young people who face barriers in the labour market to find pathways into work, higher education or self-employment. We want to make a measurable, positive impact on young people from disadvantaged groups in the UK. Together with employers, social enterprises, local communities across the UK and our network of corporate partners, we have helped to benefit hundreds of young peoples’ working lives by providing skills training, paid work experience and mentoring.

Together the aim is to deliver programmes like Smart Futures that provide young people disadvantaged in the labour market with paid experiences of work; helping them to make a successful transition into their first job, higher education or self-employment.

Smart Futures is a great paid experience of work that can improve a young person’s chances of getting a job after school or going onto higher education.

The ten month programme, for Year 12 students in England and 5th Year students in Scotland, starts with paid work experience during Easter* and summer. The programme includes opportunities to learn more about professional services and work with other industries, which might include healthcare, the arts, or financial services. And every young person on the programme is allocated a mentor.

In 2017 Smart Futures is running in Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Bristol, Reading, the North West (Manchester and Liverpool), Yorkshire (Leeds and Hull), Luton, Newcastle and Southampton. Do you meet the criteria? Then we want you to apply today!

In 2016, 100% of our 223 students rated the programme as Good to Excellent, with 96% saying that programme significantly improved their networking and communication skills. If you would like to learn more about the Smart Futures programme, or are an employer that would like to be involved in the programme, please contact us. You can also find out more by visiting the EY Foundation website.

‘Aspire, Succeed, Be Excellent’ is our school motto. We believe it’s never too early to expose our students to the careers open to them, and our careers guidance programme starts in year 7.

So for example, our PE students take part in a rowing competition which includes going to a careers fair. Our science and technology students do activities to help them find out about the many careers in those fields and how to access them. We also give our students chances to learn directly from employers – from one day placements to two week blocks, which include work experience opportunities in China, France, Spain and Ghana.

We strive to do the best for our students, but can’t do this without dedicated teachers, effective careers guidance arrangements and the backing and support of London’s employers.