Latest blogs

Donavere Benjamin-Mahon
Wednesday 5th October 2022

Donavere Benjamin-Mahon is in his second year teaching at Ark Elvin Academy. Alongside teaching History and Sociology at GCSE level, he's also head of events, focusing on raising aspirations across all year groups.
Before going into teaching, he worked in the Ark Ventures team. Previously he had been studying Politics and International Relations at Dundee University.

GKN and Boeing logos on Ark Acton
Tuesday 6th September 2022

As the apprenticeship landscape continues to evolve, more than 50% of students say they are interested in this pathway. Ark Schools is working with employer partners to support students to secure competitive roles in their chosen sector.  

Royal National Children's SpringBoard Foundation
Monday 11th July 2022

Ali Henderson, CEO of  Royal National Children's SpringBoard Foundation (RNCSF), talks about their work to open access to the independent and boarding sector for young people facing risks at home or in areas of disadvantage. Their work targets the array of fully-funded bursary places and partnership activities for those who most need access to the opportunities. With their work closely aligned with Ark's ethos, our Ventures team have supported their next growth stage, which will see them becoming an Affiliate Venture later in the year. 

Tommy Ittu
Wednesday 6th July 2022

Ark Elvin Academy in Wembley recently won the mental health excellence accolade at the Place2Be Wellbeing in Schools Awards, recognising their work to remove the stigma around mental health.
Ark Elvin has worked hard to create a safe space where pupils and staff understand the importance of mental health, wellbeing and self-care.

Romanian orphanage
Wednesday 6th April 2022

In 2022, Ark celebrates its 20th anniversary.
This year, we’re continuing to highlight stories from our history of helping children, both in the UK and around the world.
One of the first projects that Ark supported was closing down state-run orphanages in Romania, in partnership with Hope and Homes for Children.
In this short video, we look back at how we helped to end the large-scale institutional care of children.

Oak National Academy
Wednesday 6th April 2022

With Oak National Academy now set to become an independent, publicly owned, arms-length body, we look back at Ark’s involvement in Oak and revisit the experience of contributing lessons.
Ark provided major support to Oak during the pandemic to support teachers and students around the country while schools were off limits.
Ark Curriculum Plus contributed 1063 primary maths, 432 secondary maths and 10 primary history lessons, with teachers from Ark’s schools presenting the lesson content.

Johanna Klinsky
Wednesday 6th April 2022

Literacy is fundamental to achieving your full potential, and literacy levels can impact earnings, health and even life expectancy. Being literate is a human right, and we are determined to secure this for all our children.
We spoke with Johanna Klinsky, Director of Teacher Development who’s also leading on our network reading strategy, about her journey into teaching and Ark and about our three-year reading strategy to improve our children’s ability to read at their chronological age. This is the latest in our #ArkPeople series.
Journey into teaching

Zimbabwe – training
Thursday 10th March 2022

In 2022, Ark celebrates its 20th year. We’re using this anniversary as an opportunity to highlight stories from our history of helping children in the UK and around the world. 
Did you know, for example, that some of Ark's earliest work was in international healthcare?
 
2003
One of Ark's first projects was tackling HIV in South Africa.

Ark Tindal's Shima Sinha
Wednesday 9th March 2022

Ark Tindal Primary Academy in Birmingham was recently awarded a Silver Quality Mark by the Historical Association (HA), recognising their excellent history provision. The Association said: “The subject leadership is outstanding” and praised the subject lead who had “strengthened the subject immeasurably” and was described as “a guiding light”. The report was referring to Shima Sinha, and we spoke with her about her love of History.

Mesme
Tuesday 8th February 2022

 
One of our newest ventures is MESME (Mathematics Education for Social Mobility and Excellence), which exists to support students from all backgrounds to achieve mathematical excellence so that they go on to have a greater and richer range of future personal, employment and economic choices. 

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