A SEA change by the sea? Taking WLZ out of London

Since starting in the White City estate in 2015, West London Zone has grown and developed and we are now providing social, emotional and academic (SEA) support to children and young people in almost 50 schools. While we are continuing to deepen our work in London, to support more young people in our community to develop the skills and relationships they need to thrive in adulthood, we are also exploring what it would look like for WLZ to work in other parts of the country.

We were delighted to be selected by the Greater Share Education Fund to receive substantial multi-year funding to expand our model of support for young people to areas outside London. Over the last few months, we have been getting to work designing the replication project and thinking about what it looks like in practice. 

Our ambition is to launch a model based on West London Zone’s delivery and collective impact principles in a number of new areas from September 2024. In selecting the new areas to work in, we have been trying to understand the needs of children, families, and communities in different parts of the country, and working with those communities to design ways to provide meaningful collective impact for children in their areas.

Our work is all about people, and we know that the only way we will grow outside of London is to work collaboratively with communities who believe in our approach.

Andrew Berwick, Director of Strategy and Impact, says “The key for us is finding local leaders who share our vision and mission, and who we can work with to design a delivery model that supports their communities and delivers lasting impact to the children and young people who would benefit from our support.”

We are currently involved in exciting conversations with local stakeholders across England, as well as participating in events that give us the chance to talk to other people working in the collective impact space. 

These are two-way discussions: we are learning about different contexts and places

and hearing from different local partners including universities, multi-academy trusts, social innovation agencies and local authorities. These conversations will develop over the next few months as we look to co-design a delivery model with local leaders in a collaborative and evidence-led way that we think can lead to lasting change for the families we work with.

Jonny Singh, Strategy and Impact Associate