Too often, Key Stage 3 is treated as the time between primary school and the serious busines of GCSEs, rather than as a distinct and important stage in its own right. The KS3 Alliance exists to change that...
About the KS3 Alliance
What is the KS3 Alliance?
The KS3 Alliance is a sector-led improvement network, co-chaired by Lift Schools CEO Becks Boomer-Clark and CEO of the North East Learning Trust (NELT) Dame Lesley Powell DBE, which brings together schools, trusts and system leaders to strengthen the quality of education, engagement and outcomes for young people in the Early Secondary Years 7-9.
Through a network of Regional Alliances, we will create strong local partnerships that work together to identify shared challenges, test approaches, evaluate their impact and develop practical tools and resources that can be used regionally and nationally.
The KS3 Alliance is not an accountability mechanism, inspection framework or compliance process. It is a collaborative improvement community, built around evidence, disciplined innovation and collective problem-solving.
A time of enourmous change
The years between 11 and 14 are some of the most important in a young person's education. They are a time of enormous change, when young people are developing greater independence, forming their identities and beginning to make choices that will shape their futures.
We believe the Early Secondary Years should be where trajectories are transformed: where strong prior attainment is built upon, lower prior attainment does not become a ceiling on expectations, and every young person develops the knowledge, confidence, belonging, independence, curiosity and agency they need to thrive. Because what happens in these years matters, not only for outcomes at 16, but for attendance, engagement, equity and young people's life chances.
What will the KS3 Alliance do?
Bring together schools, trusts and system leaders around shared challenges in Years 7 to 9
Identify and describe excellent practice already happening across the system
Bring together schools, trusts and system leaders around shared challenges in Years 7 to 9
Test promising approaches at a manageable scale
Evaluate what works, using quantitative and qualitative evidence
Refine and scale approaches where there is evidence of impact
Develop practical tools, resources and exemplification that can be used by schools and trusts across the country
Share openly what we learn, including where approaches have not worked as intended.
Why Key Stage 3?
Key Stage 3 is the last universal stage of education before young people begin to follow different pathways. It is also a period when too many young people's engagement with education starts to decline. Belonging and motivation can fall during Years 7 to 9, attendance challenges can intensify and gaps between groups of pupils can widen.
What a child achieves at the end of primary school can too easily become a predictor of what they will achieve later. We want the Early Secondary Years to be the point at which trajectories can change, confidence can be rebuilt and ambitions can grow.
There is well-established improvement infrastructure around other phases of education. The same has not historically been true of Key Stage 3. The KS3 Alliance exists to help fill that gap.