Read It is one of the many volunteer programmes run by Learning Partnerships (formerly Leeds Education 2000) which, for over a decade, has been responsible for the design and delivery of a range of highly successful projects in areas of inner-city Leeds.

In a new venture Learning Partnerships has recently become the lead organisation in a new small education action zone in an inner-city, multi-ethnic area of Leeds, working with six local schools and the local education authority as part of the Government's Excellence in Cities initiative. This is the first voluntary sector-led education action zone in the country and builds on the strong relationships the charity has developed over more than a decade with local schools, businesses, communities, the LEA and voluntary organisations.

Learning Partnerships has worked hard, through consultation and representation opportunities, to ensure there is ownership of the zone by the communities surrounding the schools. The EAZ programme aims to help young people to fulfil their learning potential. This will be achieved through seven strands: continuing professional development; accelerated learning; curriculum plus; learning support team; early years learning; extending learning opportunities; and learning partners - a mentoring scheme. Learning Partnerships' considerable experience within Leeds of recruiting and supporting volunteers has enabled it to develop an accreditation strategy to celebrate and recognise volunteers' own learning.

The zone also has an early years focus. This will incorporate The Home Early Learning Partnership - HELP, a project run by Learning Partnerships in conjunction with the Government's Sure Start strategy team. HELP supports the learning of children under three by working with parents and encouraging them to read and enjoy books with their child.  Parents will also be encouraged to develop their own learning. A project run in conjunction with Swarthmore education centre and Leeds TEC, 'I, Too Parent/Carers Project', provides parents and carers with opportunities to access accredited learning in informal settings.

Projects headed by Learning Partnerships are wide-ranging and aim to accommodate the needs of all members of the community. Changing Communities, for example, provides local groups with advice and financial backing to set up projects for the benefit of their community. This is being thought of as our 'community action zone'.

Learning Partnerships is the umbrella group for the delivery of the DfEE Neighbourhood Support Fund in Leeds and coordinates Changemakers, a national initiative that supports youth-led projects. It also runs the Millennium Volunteers programmes in Leeds.

The charity's main objective is to develop learning communities in which individual and collective learning is valued as a force for change. This objective is achieved through research into the key principles that underpin effective learning, which leads to the design and delivery of innovative projects as exemplars of good practice. A very important part of Learning Partnerships' work concerns dissemination of knowledge and increasing awareness of the role that lifelong learning has in debates about regeneration.

The charity continues to expand thanks to the support of partners in business, education, the statutory sector and, most importantly, the local communities themselves.
 
More information about Learning Partnerships

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