Who's behind Number Partners and why?
National Number Partners is a consortium of organisations from
the business and community sectors. The Consortium manages the
development and evaluation of the programme.
The Consortium includes:
- Alliance & Leicester PLC
- Bank of America Merrill Lynch
- Britannia
- Business in the Community
- Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
- Financial Sector Skills Council
- KPMG LLP (UK)
- Tower Hamlets Education Business Partnership
- Education and Employers Task Force
- Towers Watson
The Moody's Foundation, Sir John Cass Foundation, HSBC,
Unilever, Edcoms and Dresdner Kleinwort have also been key to
the development of the scheme.
If you are interested in becoming a member of the
Consortium, please contact
deb.conner@kpmg.co.uk
Background to the Consortium
members:
Tower Hamlets EBP
'Number Partners has been for over
10 years a key element of the EBP portfolio of programmes we
deliver into Tower Hamlets Primary and Secondary Schools.
Feedback from Schools consistently reports on the positive impact
to both academic achievement and student self confidence. In
response to School demands, we have expanded the programme to
include financial literacy.'
BITC
'Business in the Community is committed to mobilising our
members and broader businesses on tackling core social issues, none
more so than the fact that1 in 6 young people leave school unable
to read, write and add up properly. Numeracy and financial
education are as important today as they have ever been and
Business in the Community believes that Number Partners offers an
engaging and effective way for business to tackle this.
Aside from the multiple benefits your business will gain from
volunteering with children in the community, it is in the interests
of all businesses to educate their future workforce. Although
certain sectors such as financial services, technology and
engineering require more advanced numeracy, basic numeracy is
widely recognised as a core skill for most professions. Therefore,
Business in the Community is delighted to be a member of the
consortium to raise both awareness and impact on this pressing
agenda.'
Britannia
'Britannia became a committed Consortium member of Number
Partners in 2004 and helped to design several games directly aimed
at increasing financial literacy in young adults. Over the
past five years, employees have given up their lunchtimes to visit
local primary schools to become involved in the programme -
currently we have more than 200 volunteers, with numbers growing
all the time. The programme offers volunteers an
opportunity to give something back to the community in the form of
assistance to young children with numeracy, confidence or social
skills. This is hugely motivational and rewarding for both the
children and employees alike.
One volunteer said: "It's a great way for us to give
something back to our local communities and it's so motivating and
rewarding to be able to help young children. I never had these
activities at school; perhaps if I had I would have more of an
interest in maths now."
Britannia believes it has an important role to play in the
wider community and our involvement in schemes of this kind
ultimately supports our mission 'to be known as Britain's best
mutual'. We focus both our practical and financial support
on things that relate to what we do as a business such as numeracy,
financial literacy and money advice.'
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
LLP
'Number Partners is a great way of
making maths fun, and this can make a fundamental difference to
peoples' lives. Good number skills are of course important whatever
you do in life - at home, at school, for work, for fun. But Number
Partners is more than that, the head teacher at our partner school
Redlands in Tower Hamlets tells us it can help young people to be
more confident, motivated, better communicators, and even improve
attendance. Our volunteers enjoy it too - spending a lunch-hour
once a fortnight in a classroom full of 10 year olds is a good way
of keeping gounded. Our volunteers consistently say they find it
gives them a sense of achievement, is personally rewarding, can be
a great way of meeting others in the firm, and is enjoyable as well
as worthwhile. Number Partners has the added benefit of being a
great way of investing in the local community and the next
generation - for us it is part of our wider commitment to being a
socially responsible business.'
KPMG LLP (UK)
'KPMG has been involved with
Number Partners since it started as both a Consortium member and by
encouraging our pepole to volunteer with schools close to our
22 offices in the UK.
We recognise the need for
young people to enjoy maths in order to develop their numeracy
skills; if they do not have confidence in these skills and support
is not given to young people, there can be longer term problems for
them across the curriculum and beyond. As a business, we know
how important it is to have a thriving economy with a skilled,
educated and capable workforce - Number Partners allows us to make
a contribution to building sustainable communities and positive
prospects for all.
We have been able to build
rewarding and long term relationships with primary schools through
Number Partners. Last year, our volunteers reached over 300
children across the UK supporting them through regular school
visits, dedicating time and having fun by playing the numeracy
games with the students. We have actively supported the
programme over the last 10 years as our volunteers find it
rewarding and the young people develop a core skill through the
enjoyment of Number Partners.'
Education and Employers Taskforce
The purpose of the Education and Employers Taskforce is to work
to address the needs of young people. Research has shown that
effective partnerships between education and employers can make a
real difference to young people. The vision of the taskforce is
that every school and college has an effective partnership with
employers, providing young people with the inspiration, motivation,
knowledge, skills and opportunities they need to help them achieve
their potential and in so doing help secure the UK's future
prosperity.
The Education and Employers Taskforce has been established as an
independent charity with initial funding of £1.5m over the next
three years from Government. It has been tasked with the
implementation of the recommendations of the National Council of
Educational Excellence and the co-ordination and the engagement of
employers with education.
To learn more about current
Number Partners Consortium members, click on their
logos.
