Improving Educational Outcomes

Helping vulnerable young people to access leading independent education

Royal National Children’s SpringBoard Foundation (RNCSF) is a social mobility charity improving educational outcomes for children from disadvantaged and vulnerable backgrounds.

RNCSF secures fully funded bursary places at independent day or boarding schools, providing life changing education for children for whom a bursary will have a transformational impact and improve outcomes.

Local authorities and charities supporting families involved with social care refer young people for the opportunity and RNCSF works to link them to available bursary places in more than 200 partner schools across the UK’s independent school sector. These placements help to keep vulnerable children safe from risks and provide the relationships and academic enrichment they need to build happy, stable futures.

Boarding places can help keep families together, allowing children in care to remain with birth relatives in the holidays to avoid foster care or children’s homes. Independent day school places, which also have a longer school day and wider curriculum offering, can provide the much-needed opportunity for vulnerable children to thrive outside of the classroom.

RNCSF provides wraparound support to ensure pupils thrive and also provides schools in its network with accreditation and access to training to promote inclusive practice to better understand and support SpringBoarders, including careexperienced and vulnerable children.

One Kinship Carer said: “We are so very grateful for everything RNCSF has done to assist and indeed spearhead something which we were totally unaware of. The effect on our family life is significant and on the boys’ lives unmeasurable.”

RNCSF’s impact:

More than 90% of SpringBoarders gain 2 or more A Levels, compared to 16% for disadvantaged pupils nationally 45% of those who have completed placements through RNCSF’s work have gone on to secure high-tariff university places, 10 times the national average for disadvantaged students.

RNCSF’s alumni programme brings together SpringBoarders to share experiences, strengthen the sense of community and provide a network to access opportunities for continued professional and personal development.

RNCSF works with independent schools in promoting broader partnerships to improve outcomes for children in care.

The ‘SpringForward’ mentoring programme addresses the statistic that less than 14% of care leavers progress to university. Since launching in 2020, over 50% of pupils that worked with an independent school mentor progressed to university and 18% went to a higher tariff university (compared to the 2% national average for this cohort).

RNCSF has ambitious plans to transform 2,000 young lives through its partnerships by 2028.

All donations and legacy pledges go directly to support vulnerable children accessing the bursary placements. Gifts have a multiplier effect, with every £1 donated leveraging around £9 of support from independent schools themselves.

For more information about the impact of our work and how to support visit www.royalspringboard. org.uk/support-us Get in touch: admin@ royalspringboard.org.uk

LAURA SLATER Head of SpringForward www.royalspringboard.org.uk