We asked Philip Britton MBE, Bolton Learning Partnership Founding Member and Head of Foundation at Bolton School, and Dominic McKeon, Bolton Learning Partnership Member and Principal of Little Lever, to share the work they are undertaking as part of The Bolton Learning Partnership (BLP).
The BLP is a unique collaboration of secondary schools, further education providers, and the local authority, united by a shared commitment to improving the life chances of all 19,000 learners in Bolton. Founded on the principles of collaboration, ambition, integrity, and respect, the BLP has driven system-wide school improvement through voluntary cooperation, shared priorities, and impactful initiatives such as reducing exclusions and improving academic outcomes. While its strength lies in collective efficacy and purpose-driven leadership without formal accountability structures, sustaining its legacy amid leadership changes remains a key challenge.
The Bolton Learning Partnership (BLP). What is the Bolton Learning Partnership?
It is a partnership that covers the full spectrum of secondary and further education within Bolton.
It is unique in that it recognizes the impact and contribution each organisation plays in supporting the life chances of every learner in Bolton. It uses the power of collaboration to share best practice across each organization, understanding that each organization plays an important part in helping build greater capacity and expertise within the wider education system within Bolton. The Local Authority play a crucial role in working collaboratively with school leaders to create systems and structures that allow all organisations to improve the life chances of every learner in Bolton.
Why was the BLP established?
Initially the BLP was driven by a simple concept that each organization had a duty to support all of the 19,000 learners in Bolton. Regardless of which institution you were part of you had a duty to support every learner. The initial concept of the 19k allowed each leader to begin to break down the barriers that existed to school improvement. It allowed leaders to share similar issues and system problems, and it began to provide a forum for collaboration for co-ordinated school improvement. Leaders recognized that without working effectively together the job of school improvement across the system became harder.
How did the BLP evolve?
Secondary school leaders and the local authority created the concept of the ‘19k’ at a time when there were no Multi Academy Trusts and Academy’s in Bolton. This allowed schools to set up initial systems for school improvement to support each other. All schools agreed to pay an agreed fee to support the school improvement work beginning collaborative systems. After academization BLP evolved into an organization galvanized around a core purpose To improve the life chances of every learner in Bolton’ and four Core Values:
- Collaboration
- Ambition
- Integrity
- Respect
From this all organisations shared their development plans and a staffing structure made up of volunteers from all the organizations was established to facilitate the work of all the organisations. Its success lay in the fact that everyone ‘owned’ the priorities as these were areas that sat on everybody’s development plans.
Everything that happened revolved around the core purpose and the legacy of the 19k still remained as a driving force. All organisations still made a financial contribution which allowed subsidized access to a range of external networks the BLP had created. The Local Authority still played a crucial part. Collaboration with Bolton LA resulted in a redesigned In Year Fair Access system and a Bolton wide Inclusion strategy that has helped significantly reduce permanent exclusions across the town as well as strengthen an inclusive culture through training and developing expertise.
Impact has been significant. There are a range of impact measures the BLP use to measure the impact of its work that is representative of all its organisations. One example of the impact of the work that has taken place is to look at GCSE Progress 8 performance measures at KS4:
Progress 8
| All pupils | 2018/19 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
| Bolton | -0.20 | -0.12 | -0.08 | 0.05 |
| England | -0.03 | -0.03 | -0.03 | -0.03 |
| North West | -0.18 | -0.16 | -0.20 | -0.17 |
| Stat Neighbour | -0.15 | -0.11 | -0.11 | -0.11 |
| Disadvantaged | 2018/19 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
| Bolton | -0.49 | -0.51 | -0.53 | -0.30 |
| England | -0.45 | -0.55 | -0.57 | -0.57 |
| North West | -0.63 | -0.69 | -0.75 | -0.71 |
| Stat Neighbour | -0.52 | -0.56 | -0.58 | -0.57 |
Across the vast majority of KS4 performance measures Bolton has shown sustained improvement. Permanent exclusions have significantly reduced this year as a result of the collaborative work between all the BLP organizations and the LA. The purpose still remains though…to improve the life chances of ALL learners and the BLP will never stop in it’s pursuit of this core purpose.
Challenges for the BLP?
The BLP is fundamentally based on leader’s collective efficacy. Leaders in Bolton are driven and galvanized by a core purpose. They see it as their mission to improve the life chances of all learners.
The BLP operates without an accountability system. It relies purely on leaders ‘buy -in’ to the core purpose and the desire to effectively collaborate with each other to improve the life chances of all learners. Whilst this is a strength of the BLP it could also be argued that it could one day be its weakness. As people and leaders move on from Bolton will the legacy of what has been built remain? With accountability would the partnership be stronger? I would argue that it wouldn’t. The BLP is unique in that it gives leaders autonomy to make their own decisions within their own context. Leaders are driven by purpose and collective efficacy rather than accountability. In my experience this generates a level of thinking and innovation that is hard to stop.
