Oppidan Mentoring for UK state-funded MATs and schools: Key Stages 2-5
Why would a school need Oppidan?
Every school leader we meet has slightly different needs, but they might include the following:
Looking to motivate struggling students in need of higher expectations.
Looking to improve academic outcomes at GCSE.
Looking to find a low-cost and more objective way to personalise learning.
Looking to improve and innovate their personal development agenda for Ofsted.
What is Oppidan all about?
Personalised, human-led mentoring. We want to improve results and affect outcomes, via character. We want to visit every school in-person, with an inspiring team of mentors who will excite students and bring something different.
What is Oppidan focusing on?
Readiness, oracy and character are our three outcomes. That’s consistent across Key Stages 2-5, with variation in content and activities pitched to each stage. Settling at secondary, building communication skills, developing the right study habits and attitudes pre-GCSE and eventually working out who they are and what they want to achieve; all of this is part of the Oppidan Journey for those on our programmes. See more about our outcomes here.
How does Oppidan deliver?
We always start in-person, in groups of 1:8; students experience several hours of hands-on modular workshops. Follow-up days move to a 30-minute 1:1 format, with a personalised report and action plan. We want to triangulate our feedback to support teachers and parents with every student.
What and how do schools pay for Oppidan?
Our typical journey for a school sees students termly, at a cost of £50 per student, per term. We don't want cost to be a barrier, so Oppidan champions a co-funded model for state-funded schools. Eligible schools may apply for up to 50% of programme cost through Oppidan Foundation, an independent grant funder adjacent to our delivery. In real terms, many state-funded schools are spending no more than £30-40 per student per term on our provision, including limited travel costs.
Who are Oppidan’s mentors?
Successful, youthful and inspiring; our mentors hail from diverse careers outside of their work in schools. See more about our mentors here.
What kind of content is Oppidan using?
All our content is our own, built for our outcomes with the research and support of key organisations in character like The Oxford Character Project (University of Oxford) and The Association for Character Education (Jubilee Centre, University of Birmingham). See more about our modular content here.
Where is Oppidan working?
Oppidan Education supports more than 100 UK state-funded MATs, UK independent prep and secondary, and international English-speaking schools. In the UK we've built standout partnerships with MATs like David Ross, Greenwood, Unity, E-ACT, Dixons and Education South West. Whatever the demographic or state-of-play for each setting, we've found students to be similar in their engagement with us and their hunger to build skills that will serve their futures.