SHINE (Support and Help in Education)
Tel: 020 8393 1880
Registered Charity Number: 1082777
SHINE is a grant-making trust which aims to support additional educational initiatives which encourage children and young people to raise their achievement. The trust, with patrons including David Beckham and Sarah Brown, funds projects which help 6-18 year olds in London and Manchester. These are one-to-one literacy and numeracy support, Saturday learning programmes, homework clubs and internet-based study projects. The benefits of its programmes are demonstrated by improved GCSE and key stage results, higher self esteem and confidence, and better behaviour and school attendance.
SHINE’s projects aim to give children and young people the chance to find out what they are capable of - the kind of opportunity Sofronie is keen to support. ‘SHINE on Saturdays’ provides that chance by offering 30 Saturdays of extra ’school’ each year to disadvantaged children. The Saturday schools are different from but complementary to Monday to Friday school life. They are run by qualified teachers, supported by classroom assistants and older students act as peer mentors. The ‘SHINE on Saturdays’ programme is rigorously monitored and evaluated.
Sofronie is contributing to the costs of running ‘SHINE on Saturdays’ at Wendell Park Primary School in west London with a total grant of £60,000 over three years 2009/12. Each year 60 pupils from Years 4, 5, and 6 are offered the chance to attend the school on Saturdays for a programme of literacy, numeracy, science and ‘enrichment’ (film-making for example). Children are selected according to a range of criteria: economic disadvantage; academic under-performance; ‘gifted and talented’ backgrounds needing support; special needs; English as an additional language and refugees, asylum seekers and travellers. As well as providing an academically stimulating experience for the children to enjoy, SHINE on Saturdays at Wendell Park has produced impressive results, with pupils consistently achieving SATs results which match or exceed those of their ‘non-SHINE’ classmates.