Using the Community Apprentice programme to improve student attainment in schools

INTERVENTION: 30 schools will recruit 26 year 10 pupils each. The total number of pupils who are able to take part in the intervention in each school is limited to 13, as this reflects Envision’s capacity to deliver the programme. Pupils will be randomised within schools ‐ 13 will be randomised into the treatment group, and 13 will be assigned to the control group. Where the number of pupils recruited exceeds 26, we will randomly select 26 pupils to be included in the evaluation, and randomisation will be conducted as described above. Where the number of pupils recruited is less than 26, 13 will be randomised into the treatment group and the remaining number will be assigned to the control group. Pupils in each school are stratified by their Free School Meals status. A random number will be generated for each student, and the participant list will be sorted by random number within each block. Alternating condition assignments will be applied to the list (an additional random number will determine if assignment begins with treatment (odd number) or control (even number). Where schools have under‐recruited, the student(s) with the lowest random numbers in the control group will be re‐allocated to the treatment group until the treatment group contains 13 students. Treatment group participants will take part in a 12‐week programme that includes several elements: a 6 hour cross school event where pupils learn about the charities for which they can fundraise; four 2 hour business mentor sessions, in which teams attend workshops with trained volunteers from local companies; eleven 1 hour sessions in school, where pupils are supported by Envision coaches to develop their ideas for fundraising; and a 3 hour 'Apprentice‐style' cross‐school event in which pupils present their results and compete against other schools in their region. Participants in the control group will not have any intervention provided. CONDITION: Overall GCSE attainment at the end of year 11 ; Not Applicable ; Overall GCSE attainment at the end of year 11 PRIMARY OUTCOME: Overall GCSE performance at the end of the 2018‐19 school year, as measured by the capped average point scores across eight best GCSEs (Attainment 8) SECONDARY OUTCOME: 1. Maths attainment at the end of the 2018‐19 school year, as assessed by GCSE point score ; 2. English attainment at the end of the 2018‐19 school year, as assessed by the averaged English Language and English Literature GCSE point scores; 3. The programme's impact on the development of three key non‐cognitive skills, assessed at the end of the 2017‐18 school year:; 3.1. Self‐efficacy, as measured by the 'New General Self Efficacy Scale’ (NGSE); 3.2. Social confidence, as measured by the 'Self‐ Perceived Communication Competence Scale’ (SPCC); 3.3. Team behaviour, as measured by the 'Teamwork Scale for Youth’ (TSY) INCLUSION CRITERIA: Students in year 10 selected by school staff to take part in the intervention in participating schools