Building Life Skills
Funds from the KAA Intrepidus Trust have been instrumental in enabling our students build skills for life, whether raising aspirations through the Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) Award Scheme, or getting a foothold in the world of work through mentoring, work experience and industry exposure.
Each year around 70 students acquire new skills through the Duke of Edinburgh Award.
Our students with Dyslexia benefit from specialist software that is rooted in the science of reading and proven to be highly effective as the average middle school reading intervention’written and spoken English.
Students from low-income backgrounds receive subsidies to participate in educational trips abroad to promote modern foreign language development and cultural awareness.
“Jayden was diagnosed with diabetes as a young child. He is highly talented at sports, but the challenges of managing his diabetes has meant that participating in extra-curricular activities has been limited. Jayden successfully completed the Bronze DofE Award, with the generous help of KIT’s funding. His friends gained valuable life skills in working closely with his diabetes nurse to learn about managing diabetes. They discussed how this linked directly to their GCSE biology curriculum. In addition, Jayden’s confidence within his group noticeably grew and his mother reported that “we now feel with a little planning and preparation, anything is possible”
Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme
In their own words, the DofE Award “encourages young people to gain new skills, push themselves physically, help others and explore new territories, whilst at the same time gathering friendships, experiences and memories that will last a lifetime”.
For KAA pupils, many of whom have not set foot outside the city, the DofE scheme does this and so much more. Taking part in the scheme develops students’ ‘soft skills’, such as resilience, teamwork and communication, and is highly regarded by colleges, universities and employers. The experience also offers a fantastic adventure to be enjoyed with peers and strengthens friendships, forges new bonds and unearths skills that students didn’t even know they had!
The KAA Intrepidus Trust funds the costs of the DofE Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards including expeditions, enabling hundreds of KAA students to gain valuable transferable skills each year.
One of our teachers, Miss Armitage, talks about the value of the DofE programme funded by the KAA Intrepidus Trust.
The World of Work
Over 40 per cent of our students are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups, and can be disadvantaged by the significant lack of BAME and female role models in senior professional roles.
A growing area of focus is to create opportunities for students from under-represented groups to enter professions and areas of industry that might otherwise be difficult to access. We do this by developing programmes in partnership with individuals and companies who providing mentoring, work placements and employability skills workshops.
This year, Lovat Parks and Touchlight Laboratories offered work experience to Sixth form students at Kensington Aldridge Academy. Read about their experiences here.
We have introduced students to barristers chambers to create long-term mentoring relationships and valuable contacts for students aspiring to work in law.
We also organise for inspiring speakers to visit the school. In 2020, our Sixth Form were treated to a talk by Sharon White- ex-CEO of Ofcom and new Chairman of John Lewis plc. Her story, making her way as a child of immigrant parents via an East London comprehensive and then Cambridge University, resonated with many of our students, with several students telling their head of year that it was inspiring and ‘the best talk we’ve had.’
Also sharing her personal journey in the world of journalism and film was Newsnight and BBC producer Helen Bart. She talked about her experiences, and the challenges she has faced as a Black woman along the way, and about her work on Small Axe, the much-anticipated upcoming BBC series by Steve McQueen about London's West-Indian community in the 1970s and 80s.
Educational Trips Abroad
The Trust offers subsidies to students from low income backgrounds to ensure they are not excluded from attending educational trips abroad. These are often prohibitive in cost to low-income families, yet so important academically, culturally and socially.
In May 2021, we subsidised the costs of a trip to Paris for low-income students studying GCSE and A-level French. Most had never been to France to practise their French in real life or had the opportunity to see the artwork in Paris' museums. This experience was invaluable to enriching their appreciation and practice of French.
“I’m ever so grateful for the opportunities this trip has given me and the motivation it’s given me to stay focused and strive in my French lessons.”
