The school you wish you'd attended.

Support Rekindle

 

 

By purchasing Rekindle merchandise you are supporting our new school and a fresh attempt to educate differently. This school has been created by young people from Manchester, with lived experience of how the UK school system lacks soul and fails to nourish all.

What is Rekindle?

Our origins

Rekindle was born from the dreams of an award-winning charity founder and former teacher, Ruth Ibegbuna. The supplementary school is essentially led by an active, young management group from South Manchester all aged between 17-24. We have all grown up attending South Manchester schools and understand the tensions between underfunded schools and young people; many of the problems have been worsened by the pandemic. A pure love for education and the opportunities it can provide has been caught in a crossfire. That is why we have set up a supplementary school that will focus on providing Support, Nourishment encouraging Achievement and to Protect young people.

Our goal

Rekindle recognises it takes considerable understanding to ignite the embers of soulful learning: communities, families, day schools, role models, nutritious meals, an awareness of physical and mental wellbeing and the creation of flexible networks to support young people. With a rounded and responsive team of dedicated professionals, we’ll encourage young people to dare to aspire to achieve their highest potential. Daring to dream is the beginning of our young people achieving things they may not yet understand is theirs for the snatching. Put very simply; we are a group of young people and radical teachers forming the school we all wish we’d attended!

Where Are We Based?

St Mary's Courtyard, St Mary's Street, Hulme, Manchester, M15 5WB

Job Opportunity

Rekindle Foundation  -  Director 

£40k per annum 

Initially Interim 2-year Contract

Reporting to CEO

Remote working

In response to an education system that is failing both its young people and their educators. The Rekindle Foundation is being created to be a virtual home for our teaching, learning, teacher-training, youth-led research, impact assessment and all Rekindle associated activism around education reform. A home away from our beautiful Manchester school but also completely connected to it. 

Our primary mission is to ‘Rekindle a love of learning’ in the young people who attend the supplementary school. Previously, the barriers the young people may have faced could have been negative relationships with teachers, a rigid education system, or blatant bias in how certain students are treated. We aim to embrace those who feel disenfranchised by the educational system and encourage them to find new friends and new confidence in their abilities - in their own way and at their own pace. 

However, this mission is only stage one in the change that we seek for UK education. We are ambitious and plan to create three Rekindle Schools in three different cities by 2026. 

At heart, we are committed experienced educators, convinced that the system needs to be overhauled - from the grassroots up. Currently the attainment of young people from racially minoritised and working class communities falls well below where is acceptable. 

We are now looking for a director to drive Rekindle’s real long-term mission to start to push the dial into focusing first on the needs of the child, rather than their educational outputs. To first make our children happy, confident, and feeling connected to a wider society that cares about them, before expecting them to excel academically. For an effective educational changemaker to make the case, motivate others to join our mission and then lead the charge for a fairer educational future, for pupils, teachers and parents alike.

This is a high-profile role that requires an exceptional leader who is passionate about making effective change across the UK education system.

Role Responsibilities:

  • Network with key stakeholders in Education on a national and regional level
  • Co-design and co-deliver (alongside young people) PGCE teacher training 
  • Engage with a wide variety of media to promote Rekindle’s mission.
  • Set out an achievable plan to deliver Rekindle’s mission.
  • Recruit, train, and coach the team to ensure they fulfil their potential and achieve all organisational objectives.
  • Manage the team effectively.
  • Set out objectives for the team.
  • Manage projects to ensure objectives are delivered.
  • Ensure communications fit with Rekindle’s values and mission.

As the Foundation Director you will:

  • Be a natural leader.
  • Be a likeable, warm and friendly colleague
  • Understand current educational practices and processes.
  • Be politically astute and understand the national context
  • Have experience in an educational setting.
  • Be passionate about making change happen in education.
  • Be fired up around issues of social justice.
  • Have experience of project management
  • Be organised and focused on delivery.
  • Have outstanding influencing and communication skills.
  • Be confident when dealing with the media.
  • You will enjoy the responsibility and accountability of making decisions.

Please apply for this role with a CV and a one page cover letter.

Application process ongoing until we source the right candidate.

Please contact Nigel: nwimpenny@eosrecruit.com or 07495336675

W: rekindleschool.org

T: @RekindleSchool

Our thoughts

Read the latest articles from our in-house team on the topics that we think are interesting.

9 February 2021

The school I wish I’d attended.

I’ve never been naturally academic. At school I struggled with the structure, the random cruelty of a 1970s South Manchester state primary school and the seemingly unseen background trauma of a deeply abusive home life. I was never excluded from school, at least formally, but I didn’t feel part of it and […]
15 January 2021

Swimming against the tide

Sometimes one must swim against the tide, disrupt the system and create a change that has passion at its core. That is exactly what Founder Ruth Ibegbuna did when she handed over the baton to a group of 8 young people and told them to build the school they dreamed of when […]
8 November 2020

Why I support Rekindle

Growing up on the Holmewood estate, in Bradford, I saw how even the smallest amount of encouragement can have an overwhelming positive impact on someone’s life. A lot of young working-class people haven’t had the opportunity to express just how brilliant they could be because they don’t see the support they need […]

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