We had a chat with Caroline Hardcastle at Rollits and Sarah Young of Young Plus Ltd about a new partnership that benefits the regional education sector.
Following an impressive career as an educator and school leader, Sarah Young recently launched YoungPlus Ltd, an education consultancy that focuses on leadership development, crisis support, project management and sustainable school improvement. By partnering with Young Plus Ltd, leading law firm Rollits has enhanced its services to education clients as well as organisations in the public and private sectors.
Working closely together, Rollits and Young Plus Ltd are now offering unparalleled support to senior leadership teams and governors who are facing a range of issues, such as academisation, GDPR, safeguarding and SEND. We asked Sarah what this partnership means for the region:
“It’s very unique that Rollits is prepared to make such a large investment in supporting the education sector in what has been and still is a challenging time for teachers, parents and leaders, including those responsible for Governance. It’s crucial that the covid legacy doesn’t affect the life chances of young people as they enter adulthood, and it’s great that Rollits has that moral and ethical purpose to support schools, colleges, multi-academy trusts and universities early to try and avoid them requiring crisis intervention.”
“There are many young people who have or will be returning to school in Reception through to Year 13 following a greatly disrupted education period, which affected everything from exams to daily learning. As such, there’s a huge weight of responsibility around wellbeing, anxiety, unemployment rates, and the opportunities they will have access to when they leave education. The role of education professionals is to reduce this anxiety as much as possible through targeted and proactive advice and support. Our partnership endeavours to support those who support our children and young people”
Though the Government recently released the Schools White Paper, which set out plans to ‘make sure every child can reach the full height of their potential’, Sarah believes that areas of it lacked detail and left school leaders waiting for a more in-depth strategy and evidence to support some of the claims. However, she recognises that encouraging collaboration and education providers working together can only be of benefit.
“We hope the partnership between Rollits and YoungPlus Ltd will further enable educational organisations to anticipate challenges that might arise and effectively avoid periods of crisis,” explained Sarah.
Caroline Hardcastle is a Partner at Rollits and has extensive experience within the education sector. We asked her for some thoughts on how this partnership will benefit the law firm’s clients:
“We were looking at offering something different and more than the ‘usual’ offering available from other law firms – something that would, in addition to the legal advice, provide additional support on wider issues, including health and wellbeing and the cost of living. Partnering with Young Plus Ltd makes this and many other objectives possible. We’re now also looking into operational support in terms of safeguarding and SEND and how they can be effectively applied in schools and other environments.
“Following the white paper, many schools are also researching ways to create or join multi-academy trusts. Sarah knows the education landscape inside out, so together we can support school leaders, offer insight to those responsible for governance, and make the transition a smooth process from both a legal and operational perspective.”
Rollits and Young Plus are planning on running free workshops for education leaders and governors throughout the new academic year that starts in September:
“We’re holding a series of highly focused 90-minute breakfast briefings,” said Sarah. “These will include insight from inspirational keynote speakers, as well as valuable legal input from the specialists at Rollits in regard to hot topics such as corporate law, commercial and contracts, land management, governance, HR and equality agendas. We will also be providing breakfast to help people engage in the session.
“There will be a wide range of information to take away, such as an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy Template that’s robust and customisable. Subsequent topics will include how to avoid the common governance pitfalls faced by multi-academy trusts, methods of developing an effective wellbeing strategy, and how schools and other educational organisations can navigate any changes that are on the horizon.”
Caroline added: “We would encourage all those involved in the leadership and governance of education providers to get together and share advice, best practice and suggestions on how everyone can support one another. The events launch in the autumn and are open to everyone. They can be booked by following the links below.”
Find out more about how Rollits supports schools, colleges, multi-academy trusts, universities and the wider education sector.
SAVE THE DATE – Education Breakfast Briefings
Thursday 20 October 2022 – Focus: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/403398394457
Friday 2 December 2022 – Focus: The importance of employee well-being strategy
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/403413910867
Thursday 9 February 2023 – Focus: MAT Governance – how to avoid the much publicised pitfalls!
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/403424352097
Thursday 15 June 2023 – Focus: Through the keyhole!