eastside educational trust

excellence in arts education

our mission

To introduce children and young people to the arts, culture and heritage in London (including performing arts, visual arts, literature, spoken word, music, film and media).
To inspire and motivate young people to realise their full potential and to achieve more than they ever thought possible, through participation in and engagement with the arts.
To promote independent and life-long learning and to raise young people’s aspirations, levels of self esteem and standards of achievement.
To improve young people’s basic skills in language and literacy through the written and spoken word.
To promote language learning, intercultural understanding and internationalism.

our vision & strategy

Eastside encourages children to work together and to learn from one another, giving them the opportunity to build on what they learn at school, to acquire new skills or simply to have fun and enjoy the arts and literature in London. By enabling young people to work collaboratively and empowering students in the decision making process, we believe that young people can develop leadership skills and go on to achieve more than they ever thought possible. At the heart of every Eastside project is the belief that children of all ages and abilities have the capacity to surpass expectations and surprise us with their resourcefulness, creativity and enterprise.

our ethos & values

We believe that the arts provide powerful teaching tools that can readily engage young minds, especially those whose learning needs have been overlooked. By replacing more traditional teaching methods with creative approaches to learning, we are able to introduce educational themes without the participants even realising that the learning process has begun. Eastside refers to this approach as ‘stealth education’ which has proved to be very effective, particularly amongst disaffected teens. Engaging children’s interest has always been the key to Eastside’s success, making projects relevant to young people, giving them a clear goal, and making the learning process interesting and above all, fun.

Eastside’s ethos consists of three important elements: 1.) unlocking potential - 2.) sharing talents - 3.) raising achievement

unlocking potential
Eastside Educational Trust has a very flexible and adaptable approach to working with young people. We believe that each young person is unique and therefore every project we run is different and tailor-made to address the needs and requirements of the participants involved. We aim to introduce young people to new experiences and to unfamiliar art forms, giving them the opportunity to try new things. We encourage our students to engage with the arts in enjoyable and exciting ways and enable young people to articulate their views through creative expression. As well as unlocking their potential, we also work to develop the potential of teachers and our Associate Artists by constantly challenging them to work in new ways. In addition we also run a vibrant and successful volunteering programme which aims to unlock the potential of volunteers from the world of business and the local community. Our volunteers add value to our projects by bringing fresh perspectives and new ideas to all areas of our work.

sharing talents
Eastside draws on a great wealth of talent, experience and professional expertise and shares those talents with schools and the wider community. To do this, we encourage close collaboration between artists and teachers ensuring that each partnership contributes to the ongoing professional development of the adult educators, as well as providing unique learning experiences for all of the young participants. Eastside also offers creative INSETs for teachers and arts based training, including a continuous training and skills share programme for all our Associate Artists, volunteers and staff. This ensures that everyone working with Eastside is able to share their talents and learn from each other. Our celebrity patrons are also keen to share their talents with Eastside and the young people we work with by leading celebrity masterclasses as well as attending some of our workshops, projects and events. Often the greatest talents we discover are those of the young people we work with so the learning process is always mutual and we involve young people in the planning and development of our projects, as much as possible.

raising achievement
At the heart of Eastside’s mission, is our aim to raise young people’s aspirations, levels of self esteem and standards of achievement; this is key to everything we do. Careful preparation and well planned aims designed to raise young people’s achievement are key components of our work and it is important to us that we are able to measure the impact of our projects against our objectives. Eastside has an enviable reputation for comprehensive and thorough evaluations and recommendations from previous projects constantly inform the development of new work.

our stakeholders

young people
A quarter of the capital’s population is under the age of 20 and these young people are our key stakeholders. Eastside’s work is tailored to be responsive to the changing climate facing young people and their educational and artistic needs.

parents
Parents are also major stakeholders in Eastside – but are often invisible. We feel that it is important to engage with parents and to ensure that they understand how creativity can have an impact on their children’s education. Eastside also runs workshops which enable parents to explore their own creativity alongside their children and to validate their children’s achievements and accomplishments. These workshops also improve communication with parents who speak limited or no English. In addition, Eastside also runs drop-in family events after school and at weekends for young children and their parents at our education centre in Hackney.

teachers
Teachers are very important to Eastside’s development and form key partners in a wide range of our projects. We are committed to providing teachers with a range of professional development opportunities and creative INSETs; also to ensure that teachers have a meaningful experience when working with us and find Eastside’s projects noteworthy and inspirational. Our feedback and evaluation processes ensure that we understand the needs and concerns of teachers and respond accordingly.

schools
We work closely with schools and senior managers to help them address new educational initiatives and ways of working, whilst offering innovative and flexible projects that compliment both the National Curriculum and the school’s current priorities. We endeavour to tailor-make each of our projects and are not limited by subject or art-form. As a result, Eastside has developed a strong reputation for delivering well-researched bespoke programmes for schools and colleges which meet the diverse needs and priorities of educational establishments across the capital. Projects are currently being piloted to address issues such as; Creative Curriculums, Extended Schools and the new 14 -19 Diplomas.

funding partners
We are very grateful to all of our supporters and funding partners for the investment they make in our organisation. Eastside believes that our supporters should be given opportunities for involvement with the charity beyond their financial contributions, including employee volunteering, visiting projects, meeting participants and celebrating achievements. Where there is a true ‘partnership’ between the benefactors and the beneficiaries, the result is often a deeper understanding of the work, an increased belief in the benefits and a more long term commitment to addressing the needs. Projects benefit proportionally in relation to the involvement of the funders; thus Eastside makes every effort to work in full partnership with all our funding partners, wherever possible, to demonstrate the benefits arising from all forms of support for the arts (financial, in-kind and advocacy).

arts council england
Eastside views the position of Arts Council England as unique amongst its funders; we are a regularly funded organisation and won the tender to be the London regional agency for the Young People’s Arts Award from 2005 to 2007. Eastside’s work, naturally reflects many of Arts Council England's priorities including: Children and young people, Digital opportunity, Visual arts, London 2012 and Internationalism.

local authorities
Eastside work in partnership with different departments of many local authorities all across London, including; Education, Study Support, Arts and Culture, Music, Children’s Services, Youth Services, Gifted and Talented and Community Outreach teams as well as through Professional Development Centres, Education Business Partnerships and Summer Universities.

our creative team
The needs of Eastside’s permanent members of staff have changed and diversified as the organisation has grown over time. Eastside is committed to investing in the development of its entire staff, to offer exciting employment opportunities and excellent working conditions.

our associate artists
Eastside meets the needs of our Associate Artists through the Lower Eastside in-house arts education centre, library and training programmes which offer practical support and opportunities for creative development. Eastside also provides a programme of skills share workshops, informal networking events and guest speakers.

our volunteers
Eastside runs an outstanding volunteer programme offering work placements, volunteering opportunities and internships available to students, recent graduates and to those embarking on a career in Arts management. Opportunities are also made available to local residents and employees from businesses in the local area. Our volunteer programme is generously supported by UBS and has been awarded the Investing in Volunteers quality assurance standard by Volunteering England.