Cradle to Career

The Reach Foundation’s Cradle-to-Career Partnership

A national network of locally-rooted schools and trusts establishing effective place-based models of ‘cradle to career’ support in their own communities.

This a new project in 2025-2026 and involves developing positive partnerships with local pre-schools, primary schools and secondary schools to develop the seamless pipelines of support children need because:

• Schools are trusted local institutions: Schools are deeply rooted and have a visible presence in their communities. They have long-lasting relationships with families. We know that when schools truly embrace a broader role and build meaningful partnerships, they can transform children’s lives and strengthen local communities.

• Schools provide a universal service: Schools can catch everybody (and everything) early. This means they can act as preventative bodies, intervene early when needed, and create the conditions to enable children to thrive.

• Schools are transformational: Schools are often big buildings—big, transformative community assets. Schools’ physical infrastructures play a transformative role in students’ lives every day—and many maintain the potential to do this for other groups too. For example, working in partnership with other professions and the community, many schools provide the perfect setting to host activities and events to enhance the capacity of young families and other members of the community.