Pioneering Cradle to Career initiative offers blueprint for community transformation
A new evaluation by the University of Manchester has found “much to be celebrated” in the achievements of Cradle to Career North Birkenhead.
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SHINE harnesses the power of philanthropy to give inspirational teachers the time, space, and support to develop innovative solutions that break down barriers to learning for disadvantaged students.
For 25 years, SHINE’s has invested in early-stage ideas, some of which have gone on to transform the educational outcomes of hundreds of thousands of children.
We’ve helped pioneering ideas like Times Tables Rock Stars and HegartyMaths evolve from single-classroom concepts into programmes which reach millions of children every year.
And we’re proud to be backing the next generation of potential game-changers – including Boromi, Chatta, Vocabulous, The Story Project and Are You Really Reading? – as they expand their reach and transform even more young lives.
We know that there are many barriers to learning for disadvantaged children, and we have a way to go before every child gets access to the best quality teaching. Each year we invest in more new ideas through Let Teachers SHINE and we connect teachers to existing projects that have demonstrated the strongest evidence of impact in their journeys so far.
For more information about some of the most impactful innovations we have supported to date, see the SHINE timeline.
Times Tables Rock Stars
Making maths fun
SHINE supported TTRS creator Bruno Reddy from the very beginning, helping him to develop his idea into one of the world's most successful educational interventions.
Times Tables Rock Stars breaks down barriers to learning times tables by making the process fun. Children love the app, which is now used by 1 million children a week, from 17,000 schools around the world.
Find out more
Tutor Trust
Transforming lives through tutoring
SHINE backed Tutor Trust early on, co-funding its second pilot in Manchester schools just a year after it became a charity in 2012. We later granted funding for a similar initiative in Leeds.
Tutor Trust provides affordable tuition to primary and secondary schools in disadvantaged parts of the North by recruiting and training university students as paid tutors.
Find out more
Hegarty Maths (Sparx Maths)
Building a platform for students to succeed in maths
Colin Hegarty won the first Let Teachers SHINE award in 2012. With SHINE's support, HegartyMaths evolved from a series of videos into an advanced online platform.
SHINE’s continued investment, which continued through until 2019, enabled HegartyMaths to grow into a site that was used by hundreds of secondary schools across the UK.
Find out moreThere’s still much work to do, but we’re incredibly proud of the progress we’ve made this year – reaching over 48,000 children, supporting nearly 1,800 teachers, and engaging more than 3,300 parents. These milestones reflect the strength of our partnerships and the relentless dedication of those working to break down barriers to learning.
At SHINE, we are dedicated to understanding the impact of our projects to continuously improve them and enable their growth.
All project leads are supported through hands-on workshops to understand how to effectively measure their impact. We help new innovations develop a “Theory of Change”, which provides a clear explanation of how and why their project will be designed to achieve the desired outcomes, and then we help them reflect on how successfully these outcomes were achieved.
We understand that generation of evidence takes time and effort, so we ensure that at least 5% of any grant award supports the time our project leads need to engage in this process.
Our programme team have significant expertise in impact measurement and we regularly partner with independent evaluators to ensure greater objectivity, especially as innovations grow.
Measuring impact Latest project evaluations
Study finds prolonged use of new intervention boosts reading skills in disadvantaged children
Are You Really Reading? is is helping disadvantaged children across the North West improve their reading skills.
Impact, News
Children using Boromi Play Libraries show notable communication gains
According to teachers’ surveys, participating children’s communication, language, and speaking skills improved by 19.3 percentage points.
Impact, News
Early results show The Story Project boosts pupils’ emotional skills and wellbeing
Evaluation shows project is helping pupils better understand emotions, build empathy, and manage feelings.
Impact, Let Teachers SHINE, NewsChildren helped to SHINE Changing lives
Poppy’s story
When Poppy started school, she had a vocabulary of no more than 10 words and could not speak in sentences
Before joining St Paul’s Catholic Primary School, in Billingham, Teesside, Poppy had been living abroad, where limited opportunities for interaction with other children had hindered her social and linguistic development.
Sofia’s Story
Sofia "had no idea what UCAS was" before starting her A-Levels. By the end of college, she had secured a place to study biomedicine at a top London University.
Sofia, who speaks English as an additional language, came to study at Leeds Sixth Form College. She struggled with anxiety towards learning and had low confidence in her ability, particularly when it came to attempting exam questions.
Eva’s Story
It’s amazing the sudden progress she has made. The way she will now speak to adults confidently and share her ideas. It’s just incredible.
Ever since starting reception, Eva had been very shy. She always avoided eye contact with adults and never put her hand up in class to share ideas. Both Eva’s mum and her teacher were acutely aware of how reluctant she was at school.