About the NRC

Who we are

The NRC is a national programme based within ContinYou. It is the first national agency ever to campaign on behalf of supplementary education. It began as the Resource Unit for supplementary and mother tongue schools, which had already developed nearly ten years of experience in supporting supplementary schools across London before becoming national and merging with ContinYou in 2006.

What are supplementary schools?

What are the strengths and challenges of supplementary schools?

We aim to work with supplementary school leaders, education professionals and campaigners to:

• raise standards
  
• raise profile   
• build support

The NRC’s core work is currently funded by the DfE and by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

If you have any more questions, please feel free to contact us.

What we do

Supporting local authorities

Working together with local authorities, we are able to provide trainers and training materials free of charge (for a limited time) for a wide range of courses to develop skills within supplementary schools. We can help to support forums and work with local mentors to support schools through the quality framework. Find out more about our work with local authorities.

Supporting supplementary schools

In areas where there is no support via a local authority, we will work directly with supplementary schools. This can include support with the quality framework at bronze level; thereafter a local mentor will be needed, and we can help identify one and/or support funding applications to engage a mentor. We provide a number of online resources to support schools including policies and procedures, sample forms, funding advice and information on volunteering. Find out more about our work with supplementary schools.

Supporting newly arrived communities

'We have moved house so many times it has been very hard. I have had to change schools three times and this [supplementary] school has helped me a lot. I still have my friends here and the teachers are nice.’ - 12 year old boy whose family is seeking asylum.

Find out more about our work with newly arrived communities.

Training

Funded through the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and DfE, we are able to provide free training to supplementary schools until March 2011 in the core areas of safeguarding, quality assurance and fundraising. These open courses are available each term in Northern, Central and Southern England. Find out more about our open training programme and book a place

We are also available to deliver our full programme of training on request. Please contact your Regional Strategic Adviser to discuss booking a training course.

Quality Framework

The NRC has developed a nationally recognised quality mark for supplementary education. The Quality Framework for Supplementary Schools is a voluntary quality recognition scheme, which is independent, peer-assessed and self-regulated. It is run for and by supplementary schools and those who support them. It aims to recognise, celebrate, record and improve the achievements of supplementary schools. Find out more about the quality framework.

Partnerships and projects

We aim to work in partnership wherever possible because together we can make a difference. We are currently in the process of developing numerous partnerships with local authorities and funders to support supplementary schools and their development.