The programme, involving nine schools, a renowned college, and ten charity partners, also aims to address the most pressing challenges facing UK education – persistent school absenteeism and declining student engagement.

Inspiring Futures aligns with another recent Rigby Foundation funded initiative – a Centre for Social Justice report on absence entitled Absent Ambition, which revealed that nearly one in five pupils missed significant school time in 2023/24, with lifetime earnings losses estimated at £28.3 billion. Inspiring Futures aims to reconnect children with the value of education by making learning more relevant, aspirational, and aligned with real life outcomes.

The Absent Ambition report identifies deteriorating educational ambition and weak links between school and work as a major root cause of absenteeism. Inspiring Futures directly addresses these challenges by bringing together education partners with evidence-led charities, who together will deliver programmes that; inspire students about post 16 opportunities, develop essential skills, provide bespoke Maths and English tutoring and offer access to specialist mental health support; helping students see education not as a burden, but as a pathway to opportunity.

Steve Rigby, Chair of The Rigby Foundation, commented: “We cannot afford to lose a generation to disengagement. Inspiring Futures is our Foundation’s answer to the crisis of pupil absenteeism, bringing relevance, aspiration, and support back into the classroom. When children see a future worth striving for, attendance becomes a choice they will want to make.

“Inspiring Futures is an intentional belief in the potential of our region’s young people. We want every student to know that their background should never define their future. By collaborating with exceptional partners, we are creating a platform that will help young people dream big and achieve more”

Sonia Chhatwal, Executive Director of The Rigby Foundation, added: “This programme is about reigniting aspiration in our pupils. Together with our partners, we are creating learning environments that feel purposeful and empowering and that will enable our young people to succeed in life, not just in exams.”

The Rigby Foundation will invest £3million in Inspiring Futures over the next three years, with the Foundation Trustees recognising that no single organisation can solve educational inequality, but working together, we can build the scaffolding that young people need to succeed.

Our participating schools and college serve communities across Birmingham and North Solihull. They include Ark Boulton Academy, Ark St Albans, CORE City Academy, CORE Jewellery Quarter Academy, Grace Academy Solihull, John Henry Newman Catholic College, King Edwards Vi Sheldon Heath, St Thomas Aquinas Catholic School, STAR Small Heath Leadership Academy and South and City College Birmingham.

Our evidence-based charity partners are Action Tutoring, Ahead Partnership, Debate Mate, Envision, Get Further, Grace Foundation, Place2Be, Skills Builder Partnership, IntoUniversity and Zero Gravity. Together, these leading institutions will deliver the Inspiring Futures programme, but more importantly they are co-creators, shaping the support needed for their students to succeed.

Grace Academy Solihull said about their inclusion: “The Inspiring Futures project will increase our students’ ability to access mental health support, develop key skills that will directly impact their future employability and raise their aspirations.”

The Rigby Foundation, our education and charity partners, the West Midlands Combined Authority and Birmingham City Council, are all committed to a shared mission: to unlock potential, raise aspirations, and ensure that opportunity reaches every young person in our region, regardless of their background.