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Rotherham Ready

The problem

The idea

‘Rotherham Ready’ is Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council’s innovative strategy for developing a culture of enterprise in education. The programme works with teachers responsible for students aged 4-19 to create enterprising and entrepreneurial learning that equips young people with the skills and qualities they need to face the challenges and opportunities of life in the 21st century. It also connects education with business through employer engagement and entrepreneurial role model programmes - inspiring young people about enterprise and the future they can create for themselves.

Through this programme ‘Enterprise’ has become a vehicle of transformation in Rotherham, and the town was recently acknowledged as ‘The Most Enterprising Place in Britain’, for developing a culture of enterprise. Rotherham, despite its post industrial slump and concentrations of deprivation, was recently reported to have the second fastest growing regional economy in the country; and has seen 232 youth businesses created in the last five years.

These trends make people and communities less dependent on public and welfare services and develop human and economic capacity. We have worked with a number of councils to replicate the programme successfully in other areas. However, this has depended on Rotherham Ready team members delivering training programmes. In the current public sector financial climate, a significant problem has emerged in that associated costs and capacity issues have put the programme out of reach for many councils who would have otherwise wished to become involved.

So our starting point for this Creative Councils project is a question – how can the transformation achieved in Rotherham and the other ‘Ready’ project areas be taken to scale in a way that is affordable and accessible to all councils?

What we need

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NESTACC

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council