Ambition 1

Within our ambitions is a key focus to ensure that those groups who have been traditionally ‘underserved’ by society. This includes a wide range of definitions, but in particular we want to focus on those with special educational needs, those who are economically disadvantaged and those from marginalised ethnic groups.

Over the coming year we’ll be exploring each of these ambitions in more detail, explaining the rationale for the ambition, our plans to achieve it and how you can contribute

Given the Trust was founded foundation by the Diocese of Birmingham you will not be surprised to see that our first ambition puts being a truly inclusive Christian organisation as our first priority.; our key focus is to ensure that all pupils are supported and can achieve their potential.

In recent years the term ‘disadvantaged‘ has been widely used to describe pupils that face additional challenges to their peers. This is demonstrated by the inequality gap in academic attainment that is so often referred to. Pupils living in deprivation perform worse than those that aren’t. Pupils with additional needs (SEND) perform worse than those without additional needs. Pupils who do not speak English as a first language perform worse than those that do.

Like everyone working in the sector, we don’t accept this inequity is a ‘given‘, and want to support all pupils achieve. We feel that the term disadvantaged has been so commonly used that its meaning has become diluted and, unfortunately, it has developed some negative connotations. We believe the term underserved better captures the reality – that groups of people have not been equitably and fairly supported and offered the same opportunities as others as so eloquently explained by Olivia Taylor in her speech.

Of course there remain significant social, economic and political barriers for many groups. Our ambition is to remove the negative impact of these barriers on our children, allowing them the opportunity to flourish throughout their education.