Education alliance for life chances
Act Locally: Central Keighley
Central Keighley is an urban area in the Bradford district which was chosen as one of the three areas for the Act Locally program because of its high levels of deprivation and the strength of its community and voluntary sector resources. You can read more about our Act Locally programme here.
Central Keighley is one of the most deprived areas in the Bradford district with over half of families classed as living in a low income household. It is ranked sixth most deprived ward in the District by the 2019 Index of Multiple Deprivation and has an average life expectancy which is 7 years shorter than those living in Wharfedale (Bradford's most affluent area.) Keighley also scores highly on related markers of food deprivation in comparison to the rest of the UK, for example 8.2% of adults experienced hunger in 2021.
Keighley also has a strong history of community organising and many effective voluntary organisations, especially within youth work. The Keighley convening partnership is made up of Local Authority, Bradford Children & Families Trust, schools and Multi Academy Trusts (specifically the schools that make up Keighley Schools Together), VCS organisations, Public Health, ICB, Youth Service, Family Hub/Early Help, Born in Bradford and Age of Wonder research, NHS England and Bradford District Care Trust. By working together in Central Keighley Act Locally will achieve it's aims through 'collective impact', you can read more about our Collective Impact approach here.
The Central Keighley convening partnership has prioritised food insecurity and poor diet and nutrition
The central Keighley convening partnership for Act Locally was created at our first meeting in September 2023. Schools, local policy makers, university researchers, frontline professionals and residents came together to agree a priority for the central Keighley area - poor nutrition and food insecurity. This provided a mandate for change from the community, empowering the partnership to speak as one to local commissioners and decision makers, and to seek resources, permissions and support for change.
Food insecurity and poor diet and nutrition has been identified as the priority issue in Central Keighley for a variety of reasons. Firstly, the data shows that food insecurity is prevalent in the area with nearly 20% of families struggling to access food. Food insecurity also effects mental health and in Keighely 11% of adults described themselves as ‘worrying’ about not having enough food. School leaders report that children are arriving to school without eating properly and therefore not ready to learn. This is backed up by the data which shows that Keighley has higher levels of obesity compared to the national average (higher by 6.5%) and 6.4% lower levels of healthy eating (defined as eating 5 portions of fruit/veg a day) compared to the rest of the UK.
Our Central Keighley Journey
2018 - 2022
2019 - 2022
August 2022
April 2022 - June 2022
July 2022
6th October 2023
19th October 2023
24th November 2023
23rd February 2024
26th April 2024
7th October 2024
Delivery of our £15m DfE funded predecessor Programme ‘Bradford Opportunity Area’ to improve the social mobility of Bradford’s children and young people.
ActEarly: Holme Wood Project. Aimed to empower the community and stakeholders to incorporate data science into public services and policy. It created a replicable model 'Act Locally' which aimed to better align and target services based on local circumstances.
Published our 12 point plan to improve social mobility and lessons learned from the Bradford Opportunity Area Programme.
Act locally ‘place based’ engagement to identify key issues in Keighley. Key priorities: Food Insecurity/ Diet and Nutrition Lack of aspiration and role models Supporting Neurodiverse children
Launch of the our ambition and intent to continue to tackle structural inequalities and improve social mobility through a partnership vehicle - the Education Alliance for Life Chances (EALC).
Learning Symposium to focus on key priority: Food Insecurity/ Diet and Nutrition To agree a set of local actions and recommendations for commissioners
Act Locally: Keighley is awarded ‘Highly Commended’ at the Celebrate as One Awards by the Bradford District and Craven Health and Care Partnership in the Research of the Year Initiative
Act Locally: Keighley Keighley convening partnership meeting.
Act Locally: Keighley Keighley convening partnership meeting Focus: Superbised tooth brushing (BRUSH) and recording school absences for dental reasons.
Act Locally: Keighley Keighley convening partnership meeting Focus: community dental service, healthy start vouchers, Bradford Food Survey.
Act Locally: Keighley Keighley convening partnership meeting Feedback from session with commisioners and next steps Feedback from Keighley Food Conversation Our convening partnership capability analysis
Please view our key documents below
You can also download the High Level Summary and Statement of Intent for our Act Locally programme in Central Keighley, as well as our Early Impact document.
Our next Act Locally Central Keighley are: