Across the country, schools are being asked to do more and more with less and less. They are expected not only to deliver academic success, but also to be the first port of call for mental health support, the safety net for families in crisis, and the place where children experience sport, culture and opportunity. Good schools are essential, but they cannot do it alone.
That is the conviction behind the Pennywell Fellowship, launched this week in Sunderland. Six schools serving the Pennywell community have joined forces with employers, charities and public services in a bold experiment: a place-based partnership that creates one unified front to improve outcomes for young people.
This is not just another initiative. It is a new civic model, and one that could hold lessons for education policy far beyond Sunderland.
Too often, support for schools is fragmented. One school manages to secure a sports programme, another gets a link with a local employer, a third relies on a single brilliant staff member to hold together a partnership with a charity.
These efforts can be inspiring, but they are rarely sustained. When staff move on or funding dries up, relationships collapse.
The Pennywell Fellowship aims to end that cycle. By creating a single structure that brings together every type of school (primary, secondary, special, academy, maintained) alongside civic partners, we make it easier to collaborate, not harder.
Employers and charities have one door to knock on. Schools have a shared forum to set priorities and pool capacity. And the whole community has a stake in shaping the support available to its children.
This a model of civic collaboration that is simple, replicable and rooted in place
Our Fellowship is starting with three delivery groups.
The first focuses on enrichment, widening access to sport, culture, technology, art and the outdoors. These are the experiences that fuel confidence and curiosity, yet too many children in disadvantaged areas like Pennywell miss out.
The second focuses on employment, connecting young people with Sunderland’s thriving industries (from advanced manufacturing to tech and health) so that the opportunities on their doorstep feel real and attainable.
The third focuses on engagement, strengthening relationships between schools, families and the wider community, tackling barriers to attendance and ensuring no child slips through the cracks.
Taken together, these strands are about more than programmes or projects. They are about building a civic infrastructure that lasts: a framework for joint action that can survive staff turnover, funding cycles and political shifts.
Pennywell is a proud community with deep roots, but like many parts of the country it has seen opportunities erode. Families face stubborn levels of poverty, school attendance is a challenge, and young people often feel disconnected from the pathways that could take them into fulfilling futures.
Yet what I see every day in schools is determination. Headteachers go above and beyond. Parents want the very best for their children. Employers and community groups are willing to help. The Fellowship is about harnessing that energy and aligning it so that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
What the Pennywell Fellowship offers is a model of civic collaboration that is simple, replicable and rooted in place. It shows how schools can remain focused on teaching and learning while still ensuring young people access the wider opportunities they need. And it demonstrates that collaboration between trusts, maintained schools and civic partners is not only possible, but powerful.
As a former headteacher, I know how lonely school leadership can feel, especially in disadvantaged areas. As a trust CEO, I know how much potential there is when we work together rather than in competition. The Pennywell Fellowship is built on a simple belief: schools should not have to face these challenges alone.
This is just the beginning for the Pennywell Fellowship, but my hope is that it sparks a wider conversation about how we structure support for young people across the country.
If we want every child to thrive, we need to move from isolated effort to collective ambition. In Pennywell, that journey has begun.
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