Love of learning and study support

What is love of learning and study support?

Love of learning is when individuals have a disposition to seek out new experiences and opportunities to foster learning (1). When students and young people develop a true love of learning they enjoy it intrinsically, valuing the enjoyment and rewards of mental exertion and discovering new things, rather than only enjoying it when receiving external rewards (1). Study support involves activities for students outside of normal school hours to assist pupils learning, improve academic achievement and/or to promote personal or social development (2).

Instilling a love of learning in young people and providing them with study support to ensure they have a positive educational experience is important for their personal and social development. Building a love of learning instills curiosity in young people that benefits them in the classroom and when they enter employment, as employers want curious and intrinsically motivated individuals (3). It also Research also shows developing curiosity and interest in continually learning new things promotes positive physical and mental health and helps to build resilience (3). Providing study support has similar benefits as research shows providing study support assists in building a love of learning and motivation to learn and improving young people’s self-esteem (2). Study support is particularly important for students from disadvantaged backgrounds to provide access to resources they may not have access to at home (2).

Why is this important to Ormiston Trust?

Providing study support and fostering a love of learning is important to Ormiston Trust as one of our core values is sustaining success. Providing study support in schools and building a love of learning through activities in schools allows young people to sustain success into adulthood by building curiosity, improving self esteem and resilience, and learning to actively seek out new opportunities. This builds skills for future employment and also contributes to positive personal development for young people to succeed in the future. Additionally, providing study support in schools where there may be higher proportions of students from disadvantaged backgrounds assists in bridging attainment gaps between students and ensuring these students have equal opportunities to succeed in school and beyond.

Grant programmes examples: Business mentors, online tutoring, after-school, after STEM clubs, university trips, work experience etc.

Note: While we are potentially interested in funding innovation in study support or catch up practice we would not typically cover the costs of routine practice or lessons.

Desired Outcomes:

References
(1) The University of Oklahoma Institute for the Study of Human Flourishing. “Love of learning”. The University of Oklahoma. 
(2) Department for Education, 1999. “The Benefits of Study Support: A Review of Opinion and Research”. Gov. UK. https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/4489/1/RR110.pdf
(3) Ben Dean, PhD., 2004. “Defining Love of Learning”. University of Pennsylvannia. https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/newsletters/authentichappinesscoaching/learning

Case Studies

Books for All

Organisation

Ormiston Park Academy

Years Funded

2020/2021

Amount funded

£17000

Beneficiaries

100 people

Area Of Focus

Love of learning and study support

James is the Chief Executive officer of Ormiston Trust. He has worked as an organisation advisor in the private, public and voluntary sectors, helping organisations to grow sustainably over the medium to long term. He has helped charities for over 20 years in the fields of strategic development, partnership setup, programme and project delivery.

Poppy is the Youth Engagement and Partnership Officer at Ormiston Trust, responsible for coordinating our team of Young Advisors and developing effective working relationships with external organisations. She is currently studying ‘Politics, International Studies and Global Sustainable Development’ at Warwick University and previously worked as Board Advisor for a non-profit youth-focused organisation in Croydon. She has experience in activism work – attending COP26 with environmental education company Force of Nature and had been a member of the UK Youth Parliament for many years, speaking on environmental issues in the House of Commons for its ‘Make Your Mark’ campaign.

Tom heads up Comms and Youth Engagement here at Ormiston Trust. His role focuses mainly on helping run the Youth Advisory Council, as well as heading up our social media accounts and planning events. His creative roots lie in journalism, music and theatre as well as horticulture and creative producing, having been involved in a variety of workshops and projects. Tom is passionate about the environment and politics and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Birmingham in International Relations.

Fiona is the Grants Assistant at Ormiston Trust and in her role she supports the Grants team. Previously, she worked in the City for 10 years, firstly as a dealer on the floor of the London Stock Exchange and then as an equity salestrader.  

Samia is a business and ICT Teacher with over 20 years of leadership experience in Education, working with leaders from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 5. Her experience has ranged from working as an Acting Head Teacher to a Deputy for an Education Trust. Some of the key highlights from her education career have included building schools and setting up education provisions, including a teaching school, and winning several National awards. Samia is passionate about ensuring the young people in her care have the best possible experience and has always led by example by sending her own children to the schools she has been a part of.

Ray leads the youth engagement, partnerships and fundraising work streams at Ormiston Trust, in particular having strategic oversight of how we as an organisation can embed the voices of our young people in everything we do, and how we can work with partner organisations to maximise shared outcomes and opportunities.

His background is in community project development and funding, having worked with charities, schools, and local authorities in East Anglia to develop a plethora of projects including primary-secondary school transition, award-winning youth amateur theatre, social prescribing in rural GP practices, and youth commissioning boards, for which he was recognised as a Prime Minister’s Point of Light.

Ray is a global health and medicine graduate, alongside his work at Ormiston, he is a hospital doctor and public health academic. He is also an #iWill Ambassador and national #iWill Partnership Board member.

Anne is Finance Manager at Ormiston Trust and has worked for Ormiston Trust for over 30 years, overseeing the property portfolio and asset management. She combines her work at the Trust with voluntary community work and has raised thousands of pounds to enhance leisure and education opportunities for young people in disadvantaged communities. 

Karlene is Finance Manager at Ormiston Trust and has been handling the Financial Management of Ormiston Trust since 2014. Her background is in Financial Services with 20 years working in the industry and she has a passion for systems, processes and spreadsheets to enable good finance management. 

Aneela is the Head of Education at Ormiston Trust. Prior to joining Ormiston Trust, she was Head of Professional Development and School Improvement at Beaconhouse Group, overseeing the professional development of over 8000 teachers and implementing systems for school improvement across 200 international schools, in the Southeast region. Prior to this, she worked at Universities in the UAE, where she taught on the Bachelor of Education and Diploma programmes, and previous to this she was a Lead Advisor for Nord Anglia Education services, working with head teachers and principals to raise educational standards across schools in Abu Dhabi.

Melissa is a Programme Management Officer at Ormiston Trust. In her role she supports the #WeWill programme management, and works closely with the monitoring & evaluation, social action toolkit & skills, and youth engagement teams. She completed her undergraduate degree in International Development at the University of Sussex, and her postgraduate degree in Global Health and Development at UCL. Over the last eight years, she has dedicated much of her time to working with non-profit organisations in the UK, Nigeria, China, and Tanzania.