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At first glance, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is a picture of wealth and prosperity, with an economy ranking among the top 10% of UK local authorities in the recently published UK Prosperity Index.

However, these economic headlines mask significant variations in outcomes between different communities in the borough.

The Kensington + Chelsea Foundation commissioned WPI Economics to analyse long-standing issues of poverty and inequality in the borough, including any recent impact from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The report shows that, beneath strong economic performance, Kensington and Chelsea is a highly unequal borough, with some residents suffering from severe deprivation. One in four children (24.4%) were living in poverty in 2019/20 and the borough has the highest permanent exclusion rate in London.

Download the full report here.

The Social Mobility Comission released its annual State of the Nation report that unveils in detail the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the UK’s four nations.

According to the report, progress made in the last decade on closing the attainment gap in schools has been lost. Even before COVID-19, pupils who have spent 80% of their schooling in poverty were a shocking 22.7 months behind non-disadvantaged pupils on average.

The reports highlights that child poverty plays a significant role in limiting social mobility and asks the government to focus on reducing it as one of the most influential and cost effective policy actions it could take to improve social mobility across society.

Read the full report here.

Through the DevicesDotNow initiative, the Lightbulb Trust and the Good Things Foundation have donated 25 tablet devices to ACDA Skills Training. The tablets with connectivity were given out to vulnerable and disadvantaged individuals.

ACDA Skills Training worked closely with a number of services to help identify individuals who – like Hanane on the picture above – were eligible and who would benefit from having access to a device with internet connection. The devices were configured with the appropriate settings and apps ready for use, including information about who to contact for support and how to access Good Things Foundation’s Learn My Way programme.

Learn more about ACDA Skills on their Twitter account.

The Lightbulb Trust supported Harrow Club’s emergency fundraising appeal to buy 34 new laptops to be used by the vulnerable children and young people they work with.  Due to challenging home situations, they are unable to complete any online learning at home. According to Michael Defoe, Harrow Club’s CEO, over the last week they have also identified a further 36 young people in households where many siblings are sharing one device, making home learning virtually impossible.    One young person talked about his situation: “I come from a big family and we share a 3-bedroom flat. We have one tablet that I have to share with my sisters and we all need to be online at the same time. I’m using my phone when I can to join lessons…but I can’t see the work …so I don’t do it… I’m finding it really hard, I’m bored all the time, and getting in trouble.  If I had a laptop I would share it with (one of) my sisters.” The Harrow Club is looking to raise funds for an additional 36 laptops, which would be loaned out to these families, and are welcoming any contributions from the public. They are also accepting donations of used laptops to be loaned to young people. Donate funds to Harrow Club’s laptop appeal here. If you are interested in donating laptops, please contact Harrow Club’s COO, Ros Oxley, at ros@harrowclubw10.org.

Liz Williams MBE, Chief Executive of FutureDotNow, discusses the crisis and how it can be tackled.

According to Liz Williams, the UK is in a digital skills crisis. Over half of the UK’s workforce (17.1 million) lack workplace digital skills and 11.7 million (22%) adults are without the essential digital skills needed for everyday life, according to the Lloyds Bank UK Consumer Digital Index 2020. These figures have remained stubbornly consistent for years. Perhaps not so surprising when only 23% of the UK workforce report having had any digital skills training from their employer.

During the first national lockdown in 2020, the Lightbulb Trust worked with the FutureDotNow coalition and the Good Things Foundation to provide devices and digital skills support to some of the most vulnerable families in London. Liz argues that, “as society moves more and more online, the sheer speed of digitisation is leaving many behind. This is damaging the UK’s competitiveness and productivity and preventing individuals and businesses taking full advantage of digital technology. The UK might have a thriving tech sector but all businesses now require some digital expertise. And yet, over half the UK’s workforce is not equipped with the digital skills they need”.

Read the full blog post here.

Apps for Good have partnered with Lightbulb Trust to prototype a new way for young people to engage with industry volunteers.

Lightbulb Trust funding will enable Apps for Good to design, build and test a new Expert Feedback Tool.

Students taking an Apps for Good course will be able to post their work to our new platform at three points during the course. Industry expert volunteers will log-in and give written feedback on their ideation, wireframing and final design. The tool is designed to be flexible for volunteers. They can give feedback at any point in the week after the young person posts their work. In their next class, students will view their feedback, discuss it with a teacher, and further develop their Tech for Good product.

After announcing their support for the new project Salome and Ben Holden, founders and trustees at Lightbulb Trust, said:

“Apps for Good’s vision aligns with Lightbulb’s mission to empower children and young people through inclusive learning. The ramifications of Covid-19 upon children and educators have led to organisations with programmes that holistically join up digital and in-person learning such as Apps for Good becoming more relevant than ever.

The way Apps for Good inspires young people to use technology in order to figure out ingenious ideas that help others – in the process, enhancing the participants’ own learning curves and life skills – is itself inspirational and ingenious. We are proud to support their ongoing innovations.”

Read the full article here. To find out more about the new tool please contact experts@appsforgood.org.

Think Equal has won the 2020 WISE Awards. Each year, the WISE Awards recognize and promote six successful and innovative projects that are addressing global educational challenges.  

These projects represent a growing resource of expertise and sound educational practice. Every year WISE is building a community of educational innovators that offers a fertile environment for groundbreaking collaborations. Today the WISE Awards network comprises pioneering projects that are bringing positive change to societies and communities. 

The virtual awards ceremony will take place on 28^th October. The theme of the event, ‘Building the Future of Education’ reflects on the idea of thinking about education innovation proactively and not reactively. The discussions will highlight the efforts undertaken by educational innovators to ensure they provide access to quality education from birth until adult learning and everything in between. You can register for the awards ceremony here. 

About Think Equal 

Think Equal works with education ministries globally to adopt its free programme mediating value- based, experiential, social and emotional learning for children aged 3-6. The curriculum covers age appropriate lessons in empathy, emotional literacy, resilience, self-regulation, critical thinking, gender equality, peaceful conflict resolution, self-esteem, etc. – a total of 25 competencies and skills which we deem to be critical as the foundation for positive outcomes in life. 

The Lightbulb Trust funded Think Equal’s first pilot in London during the 2019/2020 school year. According to Think Equal’s founder, Leslee Udwin, “the partnership with the Lightbulb Trust allowed them to bring their transformatory social and emotional learning programme to some 500 children throughout the borough of Kensignton and Chelsea, in public and private early years settings. These classrooms are now equipped to transform some 5,000 children over the next ten years, with no further investment required. Without the Lightbulb Trust, this could not have happened.”

Football Beyond Borders launches ‘Beyond Lockdown’ campaign to highlight why children missing school is a critical issue for society. During lockdown, Football Beyond Borders travelled the country, meeting young people outside their homes to discover the impact the lack of school was having. The result is a stunning photographic record of our nation’s school children through this dramatic period.  

The images and quotes in the book demonstrate the incredible potential and positivity of young people; alongside their realisation of what school means to them – that school is not just about education and learning but, crucially, it is about socialising with friends and a sense of connection. 

The book is available to buy from Football Beyond Borders website. As part of the book launch, for every copy of the book purchase, Football Beyond Borders will gift a copy to a secondary school. 

About Football Beyond Borders 

Football Beyond Borders exists to change the lives of young people. It supports young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who are passionate about football but disengaged at school in order to help them finish school with the skills and grades to make a successful transition into adulthood. We do this by providing long-term, intensive support, built around relationships and young people’s passions, in the classroom and beyond.