Barnado's
Barnardo’s was founded in 1867 by Thomas Barnardo, who set out
with a vision of helping the vulnerable and neglected children of
East London. Our vision today is to continue this work with
the belief that the lives of all children and young people should
be free from poverty, abuse and discrimination.
Across the UK, Barnardo’s is providing services which correspond to
the ‘Every Child Matters’ agenda including social care, emotional
well being, education and to some degree health services. These
services are often delivered in partnership with a school.
We believe becoming a partner to a trust school is a simple way to
make these relationships more sustainable. Broadly, we feel we can
offer expertise in supporting young people from a wide range of
settings e.g. challenging and deprived backgrounds, dysfunctional
families or families suffering bereavement. We also have extensive
experience in helping to create a culture of enterprise and
innovation within the community and how to operate as a
charity.
On an educational level, we can advise on or aid the delivery of an
alternative curriculum tailored to meet an individual needs. Our
work includes the delivery of vocational training, supporting the
transition from pre-school to primary and primary to secondary,
providing educational support to families from ethnic minorities
and travelling communities and providing inclusion support for
children with disabilities and poor self esteem.
Our six regional offices are now partners with 12 trusts. We look
at each potential trust partnership on its merits. It is important
to us that our support is adapted in accordance to the individual
schools unique circumstance and challenges. For example, in
Norwich, one of the issues identified was low parental educational
aspirations and lack of involvement with the school. Using our
experience in other areas of the country, we are assisting the
school to address this issue by advising on a Community and Family
Resource Centre.
Barnardo’s believes that education is the centre of every child’s
future and that there should be access to opportunities and
services for all. Becoming a trust partner helps us to fulfil this
in a flexible and innovative way.