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The Kemnal Academies Trust’s ACE (A Champion for Every Child) programme has secured a game-changing grant from Greater London Authority through the Propel initiative, a long-term funding collaboration that will give the capital’s civil society and communities the flexibility, trust and capacity to make long-term, systemic change in London.

TKAT ACE is a unique and highly successful pastoral mentoring programme that is having a significant impact on the life chances of pupils across The Kemnal Academies Trust’s 45 schools. TKAT launched its A Champion for Every Child (ACE) pilot programme at the start of the 2020/21 academic year to support vulnerable children’s development. TKAT provided pupils entitled to Pupil Premium funding at the Trust with one-to-one time with a tutor who had been trained in providing support to potentially vulnerable or disadvantaged children. The aim of the programme was to help these pupils overcome barriers to their progress both in terms of academic outcomes, and their social and emotional development. 

An external evaluation of the programme found significant improvements for participating primary and secondary students, including positive outcomes in reading and maths. Other results from the programme included significant improvements in pupils’ self-reported levels of goal-orientation, self-efficacy, and motivation. Pupils were also reportedly more engaged with school life.  The full evaluation can be found here. 

TKAT has received a grant of £472,000 which will be used to support London schools in introducing and sustaining the TKAT ACE programme. This will mean that within the next 2 years 2,000 pupils will have benefited from having a TKAT ACE Tutor.

Karen Roberts, CEO of The Kemnal Academies Trust, commented: "We are very proud of the difference TKAT ACE has made for the pupils in most need within the Trust and delighted that we have been supported by this Propel grant to take TKAT ACE into schools across London.

“Every child deserves a champion on their side, and we’re grateful to Propel for recognising the impact that this scheme could have on pupils across London.”

Propel is powered by London Funders and are being supported by a growing list of funders, including Bloomberg, City Bridge Trust – the City of London Corporation’s charity funder – The National Lottery Community Fund, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and main advice funders, such as Trust for London, coordinated by London Legal Support Trust. More information about the Propel collaboration is available here. 

If you want to find out more about TKAT ACE or are interested in becoming a partner school please contact david.linsell@tkat.org