Imaan Networking

Imaan Networking is extremely proud to support One Degree:

If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people”

One Degree is the notion that a meaningful but small change early on will have a deep, dramatic and far reaching impact upon a child’s future, and ultimately the fabric of society.

Aim: To raise the aspirations of failing students from disadvantaged schools through an intensive learning programme, which will boost academic performance and promote self belief.

Background
In early 2009, a group of students at John Kelly Boys School identified the need for additional help in passing their GCSE’s. With oversized classes, poor resources, and a system that doesn’t account for socio-economic differences between students, the group of students were on track to fail their exams.  In response to this need, the One Degree programme was established by a group of professionals, ranging from surgeons to management consultants, and from undergraduate students to PHD scholars. These individuals gave up voluntary time to provide intensive supplementary accelerated learning.

Participants: 25% of the year 11 group, all of whom were predicted to fail their GCSE exams. The group included children from underprivileged backgrounds, refugee origins and children in the state care system. Many of the children had challenging behavioural issues •Volunteers:  Volunteers came from various backgrounds, including:
•Bankers
•Hedge Fund Managers
•Management Consultants 
•Doctors
•University students.

The Programme:  The volunteers provided an Intensive Supplementary Accelerated Learning (‘ISAL’) programme for the participating students, over a six week period leading up to the GCSE exams. The programme ran as follows: • A rota system was employed to reduce the time commitment volunteers were required to make. •Tutorials were provided for 3 hours/day during the week, and 7 hours every Saturday, giving each student a total of 125 hours of revision time.   

Scope
Initially aimed at the following 2 schools:
i.      John Kelly Boys
ii.     John Kelly Girls

Targeted at year 11, with approximate intake of 15 students from each school.

Covers the following subjects: Maths, English Language and Science.

Structure
The programme will run from 1st March – 31st May 2010, with tuition being provided on Saturdays from 1st March-15th April, and on Saturdays and Sundays from 16th April – 31st May ( with the timing of sessions being 1030-1630).

Programme context
The programme ran from 1st May-15th June 2010 at John Kelly Boys School with great success.  We had a student attendance rate of over 95%, and more applicants for the programme then we could accommodate. Despite the short programme duration, a remarkable improvement was shown by students, with many students scoring 2/3 grades higher then predicted.

Some Feedback
"I used to see myself as a failure but not anymore, you’ve given me the tools to believe in myself. This programme has changed my life. I can make the impossible possible" Myglory Yagi, Year 11 John Kelly Boys School

“I can’t believe the help and attention the volunteers have given us. I’m going to repay you in the only way I can ... By passing my exams” Liban Mohammed, Year 11 John Kelly Boys School

"The fact that so many students were prepared to stay behind and study at the sessions showed there had been a positive shift in our students’ attitude towards their studies. Over the year heads of department had tried to encourage students to attend after school and Saturday classes without much success… the programme intervention helped the school to increase its GCSE results in Maths and Science", Wendy Wayland, the assistant head teacher at John Kelly Boys.

2010 Programme Overview
Following the success of the pilot project, we propose to extend our tutoring programme in 2010 to a three month programme, initially running in 2 schools.

The overall programme will be run by a core committee of 3 members. This committee will have responsibility for  managing teacher supply and student intake, as well as overall coordination of the programme.  

Details of the programme  2010 are as follows:
– Initially covers two inner city schools, with an intake of 15 students per school
–Covers Maths, English and Science
–Driven by tailored learning plans, based on an assessment of student needs
–Sessions will run on Saturdays from 1st March-15th April, and Saturdays and Sundays from 16th April-31st May (with session timings being 1030-1630).
–30 voluntary teachers per school.
Teachers will be recruited from university and professional networks, and will be required to ideally make a commitment of at least 6 days within the period 1st March-31st May 2010 (including 2 Saturdays and 2 weekends).  

Volunteers
The programme will run on Saturdays from 1st March-15th April, and Saturdays and Sundays from 16th April-31st May, at John Kelly Boys and John Kelly Girls 
- One degree is looking for 15 volunteers for each of the two schools (30 in total)
- Each of the volunteers will need to make a commitment of 6 days in total to the programme (2 Saturdays and 2 full weekends) 

What we expect from you
Volunteers will be asked to make a commitment of at least 6 days to the programme, between 1st March – 31st May 2010. Sessions will be running from 1030-1630 on weekends. Volunteers will be assigned 3 students each, for the duration of their commitment to the programme.Volunteers will be responsible for tutoring the students, and acting as informal mentors. Please note that the material to be taught is very basic in nature, and no specialized academic knowledge will be required.    
Volunteers will be provided with lesson plans and all necessary material prior to commencement of the programme

What we promise in return
The chance to give back to the local community, and make a tangible, meaningful contribution ; we had overwhelmingly positive feedback from the volunteers who attended the 2009 programme, with many volunteers pledging to return for the 2010 programme. An opportunity to meet like-minded people and network with volunteers from a diverse range of backgrounds. Volunteers in the 2009 programme included Bankers, Hedge Fund managers, Doctors and Management Consultants, and regular programme socials were organised.

Impressive references for CV’s/Applications

For those student volunteers who are able to make a commitment of 7 weekends to the programme, we are working in conjunction with the Institute of Education, to offer paid positions as Student Associates. These positions will be paid at a rate of 40 pounds a day (tax free), meaning the student can earn up to 600 pounds

Further reading
Please click here

Further information
Please contact Madiha Khan on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or Adnan Jaffery on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for additional information.