Inspiring success

At the heart of CCE’s work is our commitment to raise standards achieved by children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Our work instills them with greater confidence and application to their studies. This improves their employability and breaks the cycle of deprivation caused by low educational attainment.

In February 2006, the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) completed a study of 13,000 young people who had participated in Creative Partnerships activities.

NFER found that: "Young people known to have attended Creative Partnerships activities out-performed those in the same schools (but not known to have attended Creative Partnerships activities) to a statistically significant extent at all three key stages. This was evident in average scores, English, mathematics and science in key stages 2 and 3 and in total points scores, best 8 points scores and science at Key Stage 4."* Read the full NFER reports here.

In addition, young people who have participated in Creative Partnerships activities out-perform the national average at key stage 3 again by a statistically significant margin, while matching the national average at key stages 2 and 4. Since Creative Partnerships is focused on improving education in the most challenged communities in England, this is a highly significant result.

These findings were supported by an independent survey of headteachers conducted by British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) and completed in April 2006. BMRB spoke to 510 (78%) headteachers from phase one and two areas, to assess their perception of the impact of Creative Partnerships. This revealed that:

• 92% have seen an improvement in pupils’ confidence
• 91% have seen an improvement in pupils’ communication skills
• 87% have seen an improvement in pupils’ motivation.

We believe that this demonstrates the effectiveness of creative education. Improving the curriculum helps young people to succeed, and makes school a better place for everyone.

~*NFER conclusions p22 para 5.3