No sooner had we enjoyed sharing our approach to apprenticeships during a mid-morning visit by Shadow Education Minister, Karen Buck, then we were racing across the capital for our 5th Annual Margaret Horn Lecture - as always to celebrate Social Enterprise Day, only this time as part of the regular RSA Thursday lunchtime events.

With RSA CEO Matthew Taylor as chair, LEYF CEO June O’Sullivan presented initial findings from research undertaken by our Centre for Research, Learning & Development (CRLD) together with Middlesex University into social franchising and the potential this has for tackling child poverty. 

To watch a video of the lecture, you can now click below:

Speaking at the event, LEYF CEO June O’Sullivan said:

While we have only scratched the surface with our research, with more exploration needed, it is already clear how our approach to nursery provision - namely one based on a proven social enterprise model -  has the potential to reach many more children and so help in the fight to end 

child poverty.

Scaling up and sharing our way of doing things has many potential benefits for children living in poverty across London and beyond.

Social entrepreneurs, by their very nature, are often willing to share best practice for the benefit of others, and I hope our contribution to the debate can help spark a wider conversation on how we might create a lasting change and a better future for London’s children.

After what proved to be an extremely well attended event (standing room only), Matthew Taylor added:

It’s great working with the team at LEYF and we look forward to exploring new opportunities for collaboration in the future.

To read more about the event, including the chance to download the podcast (and soon watch the video highlights), click here.