Sector-Wide Conversation Three

Thursday 4 December 2025
University of Kent, Canterbury

SWC3 report from Christine McInnes
pink line

I was delighted to attend this now annual event, a key date in our post 16 reform programme.

Just a bit of background - KCC commissioned an external review of post 16 which was published in 2022, an executive summary and the full report are available on Kent.gov

The review identified significant gaps in our provision for a large cohort of young people as they transitioned into post 16 and the independently chaired Pathways for All Board and infrastructure were established to take forward the recommendations. The first sector wide conversation took place around this time in 2023 and honestly, we did not know how many people would attend. But people did attend and explored the issues raised, contributing ideas and suggestions about the way forward. This initial core, pioneer group together with the Board, now chaired by Charlie Guthrie, Chief Executive of the Endeavour Trust, have been instrumental in driving and developing the work to where it is today and it has been a tremendous privilege to see that flourishing and unleashing of the passion and commitment in the sector as a force for improvement.

The initial steps were about building consensus and collaboration - and my challenge throughout has been that is all very well but when do we see tangible improvement for young people? Well, boy did we see that yesterday. The complexity of the post 16 sector was clearly explained by Claire Green, Post 16 and Skills Specialist for The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) and the challenges of engaging and working with the ‘Meh generation’ was presented by Laura-Jane Rawlings, CEO of Young Employment UK. Lucy Druesne, Deputy CEO of Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce presented on the local economic context.

But working together, colleagues have successfully navigated through that complexity with determination, developing a range of solutions to provide new pathways for young people to make a successful transition to employment, education and training. The case studies illustrating the work done to support individual pupils and groups of pupils succeed were just awesome and moving. Lucy closed her presentation with a quote: "Passion led us here" and it sums up the event for me - just witnessing the passion and power of leaders with a shared moral purpose and a commitment to system leadership coming together and what can be achieved through that was just so uplifting. And we found out yesterday that Kent is leading the way in the post 16 sector, with Claire Green saying she is not aware of anywhere else in the country where the sector has come together to jointly problem solve these hugely entrenched barriers for young people to succeed. As a consequence, Charlie as chair of the Board is in discussions with the DfE about how we can support the roll out of the new post 16 white paper.

A really big thank you to Charlie Guthrie, Chair and Chris Norwood, headteacher Northfleet School for Girls; and the local partnerships lead and the Local Collaborative Partnership Area (LCPA) leads:

And to Matt Allen, Assistant VP Dartford Science and Technology College, Luci Brown, Trust Director of Sixth Form Turner Schools, Nick Holbrook-Sutcliffe, Assistant CEO of East Kent Colleges Group and Lorna Newbrook of Northfleet Technology College for generously sharing their work.

Thanks too to officers Michelle Stanley, Mike Rayner, Wendy Dunmill and Rachel Baker for their work in supporting PfA and to Cabinet member Beverly Fordham for her support.

To keep up with the post 16 developments, follow the Pathways for All LinkedIn page