The Leodis Pledge
At Leodis, we are confident that our academies are empowered to deliver an exceptional education for each child. They know their community and their children and are best placed to help them thrive educationally and socially.
How does Leodis as a Trust add value to high achieving schools?
At Leodis, we have a vision of the childhood we want for our children. There are inescapable links to Mary Myatt’s idea around deep learning, however, this is driven by our Trust being founded on a fundamental value of equality for everyone. Why should some children experience things that others don’t simply because of where they were born?
Our Pledge is our collective vision for our children with a coherence that mirrors our cradle to career, community-focussed approach. We are a constant presence in our children and families lives from 2 years of age until adulthood which allows us to build upon experiences as children grow with us.
How can we do this?
The Central Team work hard to invest available unrestricted funds in high yield accounts and to obtain as many grants for activities as possible. We also identify opportunities for collaboration and cost-sharing across the Trust. With this, we have created the ‘Leodis Futures Fund’. Our Academies can apply to this fund to deliver activities that may not be possible for an individual school in isolation. The activities listed are not exhaustive or prescriptive but should give a feel for our vision for our children.
What does it mean to be a Leodis child?
The fundamentals:
- Nobody is hungry: all of our children have access to a high quality, hot meal every day. Where a child is not entitled to free meals but their family cannot afford a school dinner, we will subsidise the cost of a meal.
- Everyone is ready to learn: all of our children will have the clothing and equipment that they need to learn. Where they don’t, we will either provide or facilitate this. This includes making sure that free sanitary products are available at our sites.
- Everyone has the support they need, especially with mental health: all of our schools have caring pastoral teams who look after children each day. We have taken the decision to have our own internal cluster support – the Leodis Support Service - to ensure that delays accessing services are minimised and are within our control. Children learn who will help them in the community and how to access help when school is closed.
Children will have a wide range of age-appropriate experiences with us which will build throughout their education:
- Natural world: all of our children will be able to experience the outdoors. At primary this will be through all children experiencing Forest Schools. The experiences are built upon with all Year 8 children having access to an outdoor residential experience. In Year 9, children have the opportunity to undertake the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh and outdoor camping. All children will experience animals close up and learn how to be safe around them. We will support children to all have basic experiences in the natural world such as building a snowman or playing pooh sticks in a stream.
- Sport and Health: all of our children will experience a wide range of sports which will help them to find the sport that they enjoy and makes them happy. They will all experience what it is like to compete in a sports team and watch competitive sport, ideally a professional team. All of our children will learn how to ride a bike and be taught how to do this safely.
- Performing Arts: all of our children will experience live performance both performing themselves and seeing a professional performance. They will all have the chance to learn a musical instrument. Children will have the chance to visit a gallery or a theatre. They will be exposed to meaningful experiences that shape their cultural capital.
- Experiencing the World: all of our children will have visited a range of basic places like the seaside, a farm or a place of worship. Children at primary age will have the chance to go on a residential visit and be away from home.
- Festivities and life events: all of our children will experience the rituals and customs associated with key festivities for example getting an Easter egg, opening advent calendars or smelling a real Christmas tree. Children will receive a bun on their birthday or other special occasion so every child in our care will know what it is to feel special. For children who cannot afford Prom outfits or Christmas jumpers, we will help them to source these so they feel proud at events with their peers and have a sense of belonging.
- Community, belonging and finding your voice: all of our children will feel part of their school and local community. We will support everyone to champion a community cause and help to make their area a better place to live. At secondary school this can become understanding local democracy. Children will be allowed to find their voice and support causes they care about.