It has been heartening to see oracy education finally take up more space in the national discourse. Charlotte Harmer, Head of Education here at Oppidan, takes a further look.

After a brilliant launch with one of the Affinitas schools, Xabia International College, in 2024 we expanded our partnership to four schools within the group in Spain.  

Oppidan are delighted to have launched in Thailand, starting two groundbreaking programmes with Rugby School, Thailand near Pattaya and Wellington College, Bangkok.  

This Impact Report evidences a successful year of delivery from the team, standing as legacy to hard-fought progress, innovation and results for Oppidan’s work in schools. I wanted to share my personal takeaways from a happy year in schools.

Should children under the age of 15 be banned from using smartphones? When thinking of Eton College, its prestige and academic excellence often come to mind, yet its approach to pastoral care may not be immediately apparent. Therefore, the recent decision by the school to prohibit new students from bringing smartphones and instead provide them with “bricks” marks a significant and positive step in addressing the issue of smartphone use among children in our society.

On a recent 1:1 mentoring day at a sixth form college in London, everyone got a bit confused.   

Schools and parents always ask us: how do we actually create our mentoring content? 

In January 2024, a cross-party education select committee report called for an end to the single-word judgments used to rate schools in England. These judgments, which are either one or two words, have long been a point of contention. The committee emphasised that schools should not be automatically graded as “inadequate” for minor safeguarding concerns. However, it also recognised the importance of maintaining strong accountability in schools12. 

Every sixth form college leader we meet has slightly different needs, but they might include the following: Looking to motivate students who might be struggling pastorally or academically. Looking to improve student leadership and future pathways opportunities.   

Personalised, human-led mentoring. We want to improve results and affect outcomes, via character. We want to visit every school in-person, with an inspiring team of mentors who will excite students and bring something different.  

Oppidan Education supports more than 100 UK state-funded MATs, UK independent prep and secondary, and international English-speaking schools. In the UK we've built standout partnerships with MATs like David Ross, Greenwood, Unity, E-ACT, Dixons and Education South West. Whatever the demographic or state-of-play for each setting, we've found students to be similar in their engagement with us and their hunger to build skills that will serve their futures.  

Beyond our work in 100+ UK independent and state-funded schools, we've now journeyed to Spain, South Korea, Ghana and Thailand to support schools in very different contexts. Whatever the demographic or state-of-play for each region, we've found students to be similar in their engagement with us and their hunger to build skills that will serve their futures.

Oppidan Education mentors are young people in their 20s and 30s, driven by social impact but with the flexibility to work freelance in schools around the world.  

Whether in small groups of 1:8 or in personalised 1:1 sessions, Oppidan's mentoring content hooks onto our core outcomes of readiness, oracy and character.

After measuring impact with our school partners for years, we’ve settled on the key outcomes that provide the framework for our programmes in schools.

Pharmaceuticals industry here we come! Well, not quite. Here’s how our April Fool’s campaign came to be.

Eton College has partnered with Star Academies, not just to build three Sixth Forms in Oldham, Dudley and Middlesborough, but to lead a ‘think and do tank’ to ‘propose solutions and influence national policy’, showcasing the power of independent-state partnership work. It’s a big moment in the history of both organisations and its ripple effect could be powerful for the wider education sector.  

In February 2024, Oppidan launched a first of its kind peer mentor training programme with ICS Ghana with students from both the Accra and Kumasi campuses.  

On the 11th of January, we welcomed the latest additions to the mentoring team for a morning of training.

As the curtain comes down on 2023, we look back at our top five moments of the year.