Published
By Ashley Cox
As a purchasing consortium, purchases are at the heart of what we do, with CPC helping facilitate better buying across the UK's education sector. Some institutions might not be aware that, when spending through a CPC framework (or one of our other procurement services), they are helping us on our mission of Giving Back to young learners. Indeed, in essence, each of your purchases as a CPC member is ultimately adding to the financial total available to our CPC Giving Back programme.
Effectively, such purchases can be considered as doubling in their social value. This is because they enable Giving Back to fund additional purchases for a host of eligible institutions, each one of whom will have successfully applied in one of CPC's periodic funding windows. In recent times, Giving Back has been able to green-light a variety of charitable purchases, including these...
Snug students enjoy funded wellbeing benefits
A one form entry, and voluntary aided, Church of England school, Trinity St. Mary’s CE Primary can be found in the small Essex town of South Woodham Ferrers, a few miles east of Billericay. Becoming CPC members in 2020, the Christian institution carries a memorable motto of ‘many hearts make a school’, promoting its values of love, sharing, honesty, forgiveness and dedication.
Preceding CPC's adoption of wellbeing as a central tenet of the Giving Back mission, we were pleased to support the school's funding application for a dedicated wellbeing 'snug', with purchases of new furniture, blackout blinds and sensory equipment helping the institution turn a previously blank space into an altogether more welcoming and enriching area to be in.
The new and Giving Back funded snug area at Trinity St. Mary's CE Primary is now able to better cater towards the needs of neurodivergent pupils and those with disabilities, as well as providing a comforting retreat for other children, when needed.
"Despite not being in place for very long, our new wellbeing snug has had a really positive impact on our children", noted Michelle Barnett, School Business Manager. "We have a neurodivergent child who really struggles to come into school in the mornings and settle straight into the classroom. Instead of going into the classroom when first arriving in school, he now goes straight into the snug with his 1:1 Teaching Assistant, where they undertake a number of activities, including using the sensory toys. This enables him to start the day in a calm manner before transferring to the classroom.
"We have a child who uses this room to have their sessions with a counsellor, to support them with emotions and feelings. We have another child who sometimes needs time out of the classroom, to regulate their emotions. The wellbeing snug has really helped him with this, as he knows that he can use this space whenever he needs to and, once he has calmed down, he can then return to the classroom, ready to learn".
Collective trusts in CPC for laptop support
Previously operating as Stockton Riverside College Group, the Education Training Collective (or ‘ETC’) represents a handful of colleges and training providers across England’s North East, encompassing Stockton Riverside College and Redcar & Cleveland College, plus Bede Sixth Form College, County Durham. The ETC became members of Crescent Purchasing Consortium in 2007.
Falling under the ETC banner, the ETC King's Trust team is one of the very largest providers of King's Trust programmes in all of England, delivering this difference-making programme to thousands of young learners, over a spell of more than two decades.
Giving Back was able to buy a number of laptops for the team, empowering young people in Middlesbrough, Darlington, Stockton, Catterick and Bishop Auckland with invaluable ICLT resources. With many of the team's learners lacking internet access at home, the technology served as a helpful and accessible gateway at a number of community locations, enabling important learning and development advances and prising open doors to previously untapped opportunities.
The North East learners also used Giving Back's laptops to complete a Dragons' Den project, with units available for their associated research and compiling final presentations, adding to the range of skills acquired as a result of the purchases.
"The young people who engage on our King's Trust Team programmes in community locations are aged 16-25 and from a variety of backgrounds", said Gillian Hutchinson, Head of Department. "Many have had negative experiences with education and do not utilise ICLT for learning. Additional laptops enabled learners to enhance their employability activities, to use them for research for projects and work placement opportunities. Personal development teaching sessions using online activities were embedded into the course with the additional ICT resources and it made the sessions more interesting and engaging.
"The staff have all agreed the laptops purchased through this grant have been a huge asset to their groups and have really supported the young people in their personal development".
Funding breakthrough enables Wisbech lab
With its various campuses spanning the towns of Kings Lynn and Wisbech, as well as the village of Milton, the College of West Anglia is another institution to have grown through mergers, having originally opened in 1894 as Kings Lynn Technical School. Advocating ‘changing lives through learning’, the college counts Stephen Fry and Martin Brundle among its recognised alumni.
CPC members since 2005, Giving Back funding enabled this institution to develop a new laboratory area within its Wisbech site.
Their specific objectives were to enhance science elements within the college's animal care sessions, helping various students to increase their skills and understanding and develop higher-order thinking. By complementing theory with practical science, the college ultimately looked to help a specific cohort of learners enjoy a more comprehensive/linked education experience.
Approving its request for financial backing, Giving Back funding helped the institution cover various electrics, sink, extractor fan and bench work, with a high standard of equipment procured and CPC supporting the college with a slight budgeting setback.
Programme Manager Donna Woodruff said: “Despite being at an early stage, the project has already shown promising results.
"This project has the potential to transform the way we approach science sessions".
CPC instrumental in Giving Back gift of music
At the tip of the village and civil parish of Penkridge, south of Stafford, Penkridge Middle School is a popular institution, home to pupils aged 9-13. Overseen by the Penk Valley Academy Trust, the institution signed up as members of CPC in 2019 and is steered by their principles of ‘Effort, Encouragement and Excellence’, words duly emphasised inside the school’s circular crest.
While the days of the nearby Bingley Hall and legendary concerts from The Jam, The Rolling Stones and KISS might be sadly gone, CPC was delighted to support young, aspiring musicians in the area, in wake of Penkridge Middle School's Giving Back application. Providing the institution with the necessary funding to acquire new electronic drum kits, CPC contributed valued assistance in broadening the school's day-to-day music curriculum delivery, as well as enabling extracurricular offerings.
Moreover, the kits' more portable nature now allows for easier use on site, in school assemblies and drama productions.
Jan Marson, Chief Finance Officer, commented: "The drum kits act as a sensory release, as well as a curriculum activity".
"Students unable to access drum lessons at home are now able to take lessons at school, at far less expense to families. Students are able to have lessons during their school day as 'noise pollution' is significantly reduced, using headphones".
Fresh furnishings for Sixth Form student area
With its student houses taking identities from the Alps, Pyrenees, Himalayas and Rocky Mountains, Wolgarston High School of Penkridge, Staffordshire helps children make the climb from age 13 to 18, typically welcoming students from Year 9 upwards. Members of CPC since 2019, both the upper school and its relatively large Sixth Form fall under the parent Penk Valley Trust.
Considering an ethos of coupling discussion with quiet space opportunities, an application was made for Giving Back support that could enhance the Sixth Form's specific break-out zone and private study provision, to the benefit of Year 12/13 students.
After the school already invested in developing a clean, safe, suitably decorated area, CPC's Giving Back funds enabled them to buy the final items of furniture, completing a dedicated Sixth Form space, well-equipped for relaxation and lesson preparation.
Trust CFO Jan Marson, who also oversaw this particular project, commented: "The different teaching/learning style within our Sixth Form centre encourages independent learning - and our students now have a place to do that without interruption from the lower school students, or indeed their own family, as some students are not blessed with their own study space at home".
iPad procurement puts skills at the fingertips
One of the five institutions that comprise the Pendle Education Trust, Casterton Primary Academy in Burnley, Lancashire has been under the Trust’s stewardship since 2017. Registered as members of Crescent Purchasing Consortium the following year, this inclusive academy welcomes applications and caters to roughly 300 pupils, across the 5-11 bracket.
In this instance, the institution applied to Giving Back for new iPad tech provisions. Previously, they had found that apps used in lessons were not working on older models, with many apps today requiring the iOS 14 operating system and the academy's older hardware limited to iOS 12. After staff successfully applied for CPC Giving Back support, pupils at Casterton Primary were able to benefit from smoother and better-working apps in class, making use of the likes of Times Tables Rock Stars and the IDL literacy/numeracy/wellbeing app, as well as the internet and integrated camera technology.
Principal Paul Whaling reported: "The purchase of the iPads has significantly improved access to a variety of learning resources.
"The iPads have ensured that the children can swiftly access the required resources, to enable good progress to be made in the core curriculum of reading, writing and maths. Teaching staff are confident in using iPads in their lessons to make the learning experience that touch better. The setup prior to the purchase of the new iPads was one between a table of six. Now, this is one between two, which provides a better pupil experience, with learners working in pairs on tasks/projects across four classes".
Empowering outdoor activity and wellbeing
Found walking distance from California’s Great Yarmouth namesake and less than a mile from the sands of Norfolk’s Caister-on-Sea beach, John Grant School is a dedicated SEN institution, offering specialist provision for pupils with autism, as well as for those with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD). The school would become CPC members, for free, in 2017.
Subsequently, John Grant School applied for Giving Back funding for outdoor gym and activity equipment and our panel was pleased to be able to assist. Enabling the creation of a new and secure space for both physical exertion and social interaction, CPC's funding was able to make a real, tangible difference to the children, who were particularly keen on the installed swings.
Providing sensory and wellbeing benefits, the shift from zero equipment to what the school has today has been a significant one and serves as another demonstration of the good work undertaken around the UK via funding support from Giving Back.
School Business Manager, Judy Ellis, said: "The students in the Woodpecker class are loving the new swings. These students have a primary diagnosis of autism and we are already observing the swings meeting some of their sensory needs, helping them to regulate, which in turn enables them to better focus in class".
Read on for more about CPC's Giving Back - and watch this space for reports on our latest purchases, projects and events.