Kickstart for the future: how schools can make a difference in young people’s lives

COVID has presented many challenges to schools and academy trusts over the last 18 months, including working with and being at the heart of the local community. We could support our pupils’ learning by providing strong distance learning resources, access to the internet and devices to work on, but what else could trusts do to support our local families? 

This is the question we asked ourselves at LEO Academy Trust and we started to think about the impact COVID has on local families and our pupils. Many people had been furloughed and some made redundant. Young people leaving college or university and those made redundant because of COVID, were finding it difficult to find employment. This put a financial strain on both them and their families.  

Our trust was able to offer over 60 young people a chance to gain valuable work experience and new skills through the government kickstart scheme. This initiative, although exciting and worthwhile, did have some bumps along the way, but now, when our first kickstart employees are moving on, we are very proud of what we have achieved  If you would like to hear more about our kickstart journey and the young people we supported please join us at EdExec LIVE South by clicking here to book or emailing us at [email protected]