On Wednesday 20th October, St John’s convened a meeting of the National Advisory Board, with representatives of nationally recognised key organisations such as the Early Intervention Foundation, Education Endowment Foundation, Nuffield Foundation and Feeding Britain in attendance.
Bringing together national experts in child and parental health, early years work and education, and food poverty, St John’s recognises the power of harnessing this collective expertise to help them reach the Foundation Fund’s overarching goal.
Established in February 2020, The Foundation Fund is a B&NES-wide funding programme set up to address the educational inequalities that exist between affluent and disadvantaged communities. The programme is specifically about supporting children from birth to 12 years old and their families, with funding being released under four key strands:
- Helping families to access nutritious food every day
- Ensuring children have safe places to go outside of school hours
- Providing children with emotional and behavioural support
- Providing specialist support with key skills in literacy, oracy and numeracy.
The group will meet three times a year to give guidance on various projects and to offer advice on the direction the Foundation Fund should take.
Bringing together experts from all over the UK, will also help raise the national profile of this B&NES project, leading to greater collaboration and sharing of best practice.
Chair of the National Advisory Board, as well as Executive Director of The Foundation Fund, Louise Harvey said “we are delighted to have such a passionate, experienced and knowledgeable group of experts supporting the Foundation Fund. This board enables us to have oversight of projects and initiatives happening all of the country and beyond, as well as raising the profile of the fund and broadening our networks and reach.”
Read about our Primary Empowerment Programme and Language for Life initiative here.
