The Extra Mile Project

Pupils from low-income families, in general terms, have poor achievement at school. Whilst most minority ethnic groups are now making good progress and narrowing the gap, there is evidence that children from traditional working-class areas are not showing satisfactory improvements. The Extra Mile project focuses particularly on the cultural barrier of low aspirations and scepticism about education which prevents some pupils from succeeding at school.

On 2 July 2008, the Department launched Phase 1 of the Extra Mile Secondary project, looking at ways to raise aspirations and attainment in secondary schools serving deprived communities. The project was the result of research completed by School Standards Advisers who visited 50 secondary schools bucking the trend by achieving high results with an intake from some of the most deprived wards in England (i.e. those with a high percentage of pupils on free school meals (FSM). The Advisers identified 12 common activities which were particularly successful in raising aspirations and attainment. In Phase 1 the aim was to see if other secondary schools, with similar intakes, could adopt these activities with the same success.

The Extra Mile activities for secondary schools were as follows:

Securing attention, engagement and mutual respect:

to increase interactive and participatory learning
to develop a listening campaign which responds to pupil and parent perceptions
to promote a culture of respect for local people, local culture and local values.

Raising aspirations:

to broaden pupils' horizons by offering experiences and opportunities they would not otherwise get
to develop a culture of achievement and 'belonging' in school
to offer a more relevant curriculum.

Equipping pupils with skills for the future:

to build pupils' repertoire of spoken and written language
to develop pupils' social, emotional and behavioural skills.

Holding them to it; no one fails:

to cultivate traditional values of respect, good behaviour and caring
to track pupil progress and intervene promptly if they fall off trajectory
to develop effective rewards and incentive schemes
to support pupils at important moments in their lives, especially transition points.

Phase 1 of the Extra Mile Secondary project ran from September 2008 to July 2009. Twenty-three participating schools reported to the DCSF at regular intervals throughout the year and the project has shown early indications of success, with positive impacts on attainment, motivation, attendance and self-esteem.

Over the summer break, the DCSF worked with 30 LAs to identify schools to join the second phase of the Extra Mile Secondary project. Fifty-one new secondary schools and their partner schools have joined the Extra Mile project from September 2009.

At the same time, the Department has set up a new Extra Mile Primary pilot, currently involving around 40 primary schools and their partner schools in nine local authorities. In the Extra Mile Primary project, schools have been invited to select from a modified menu of seven key activities, based on successful practice in 45 effective primary schools. As with the Phase 2 secondary schools, the primary Extra Mile schools began work in September 2009.