Absolute Return for Kids (ARK), is an international children's educational charity based in London, UK. Ark is a registered charity under English law. In its reporting year 2017–18, excluding its few subsidiaries, it saw gross income of £14.66 million and had 42 employees. Ark is the parent organisation of Ark Schools, a separate legal entity that is a

multi-academy trust Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) or school trust is an academy trust that operates more than one academy school. Academy schools are state-funded schools in England which are directly funded by the Department for Education and independent of local author ...

in the English education system, with 39 schools (as of 14 October 2022) and nearly 30,000 pupils.

History

Ark was founded in 2002 by a group of

hedge fund A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as s ...

financiers including Paul Marshall and

Ian Wace Ian Gerald Patrick Wace (born January 1963) is a British financier who co-founded Marshall Wace Asset Management, a London-based hedge fund with Paul Marshall in 1997. He and Marshall, along with another hedge fund manager Arpad Busson, co-fou ...

of Marshall Wace – and Arpad Busson of EIM Group, founding chairman of the charity's board of trustees. Its aim is to invest philanthropy (benevolence, gift-giving) to improve, greatly, the life chances of children. Since 2014, the charity has been known as Ark or ARK. Its charitable objects are: "to make sure that all children, regardless of their background, have access to a great education and real choices in life. ark incubates, launches and scales ventures that share our mission and values."

Activities

Ark operates in the UK, South Africa, Zimbabwe and India. In the US, it is affiliated to Absolute Return for Kids US, Inc. (Ark US), a US philanthropic organisation which shares Ark's mission, and which supports the work of Ark through grants.Ark: Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 August 2018. Ark works in education, health and child protection.

Schools

In England, its subsidiary Ark Schools is a multi-academy trust responsible for the schools that Ark runs which, typical of its class, has

exempt charity An exempt charity is an institution established in England and Wales for charitable purposes which is exempt from registration with, and oversight by, the Charity Commission for England and Wales. Exempt charities are largely institutions of furth ...

status since 2011.) Ark Schools was created in 2004 to work with the

Department for Education The Department for Education (DfE) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for child protection, child services, education (compulsory, further and higher education), apprenticeships and wider skills in England. A Department ...

and local authorities to create new schools for

inner cities The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists someti ...

through the academies programme. Its aim is to help close the

achievement gap Achievement may refer to: *Achievement (heraldry) *Achievement (horse), a racehorse *Achievement (video gaming), a meta-goal defined outside of a game's parameters See also * Achievement test for student assessment * Achiever The Enneagram o ...

between children from disadvantaged and more affluent backgrounds. Its academies focus on raising attainment with the aim of every pupil going into

higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after comple ...

when they complete school. The schools are frequently held up by the government as an example of a successful multi-academy trust, where at least seven others were failing. Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw stepped down in 2016 and was replaced by

Amanda Spielman Amanda Mary Victoria Spielman, MA ACA (born 22 May 1961) serves as HM Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills since January 2017. She joined the senior leadership team at Ark Schools in 2005. From 2011 to 2016, Spielman ...

, the founder of Ark Schools and an accountant. As of 2019, Ark runs 36 schools in the English education system, and plans to grow further. It has been, by a sector analyst of a periodical, criticised or seen as unusual for a record of running some schools, as at before 2020 at a deficit, relying on internal loans. In 2022, the Birmingham school Ark Kings Academy was given a funding warning after being found inadequate during an Ofsted inspection. The Ofsted report, published in May 2022, following an inspection in February 2022, said: "Some pupils, particularly those who identify as

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

, experience repeated name-calling and prejudiced behaviour. This means that pupils do not feel safe in the school."

List of Ark schools in England

Primary schools

*Ark Atwood Primary Academy,

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

*Ark Ayrton Primary Academy,

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

‡ *Ark Bentworth Primary Academy, Hammersmith & Fulham *Ark Blacklands Primary Academy,

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

‡ *Ark Brunel Primary Academy, Kensington and Chelsea *Ark Byron Primary Academy, Ealing *Ark Castledown Primary Academy, Hastings‡ *Ark Conway Primary Academy, Hammersmith & Fulham *Ark Dickens Primary Academy, Portsmouth‡ *Ark Franklin Primary Academy, Brent *

Ark John Archer Primary Academy Ark John Archer Primary Academy (formerly High View Primary School) is a co-educational primary school and Grade II listed building located at Plough Road in the Battersea area of London, England. History The school was built in a Flemish Rena ...

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Toponymy Wandsworth takes its nam ...

*Ark Little Ridge Primary Academy, Hastings‡ *Ark Oval Primary Academy,

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

*Ark Priory Primary Academy, Ealing *Ark Swift Primary Academy, Hammersmith & Fulham *Ark Tindal Primary Academy, Birmingham‡

Secondary schools

Ark Acton Academy Ark Acton Academy, is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in the Acton area of the London Borough of Ealing, England. The school teaches pupils between the ages of 11 to 18. It is sited on ''Gunnersbury Lane'' (A4000) jus ...

, Acton, Ealing *

Ark Alexandra Academy Ark Alexandra, previously known as Hastings Grammar School, William Parker School, William Parker Sports College, and later as Ark William Parker is a secondary school in Hastings, East Sussex in the United Kingdom. It was the only male single ...

, Hastings‡ *

Ark All Saints Academy Ark All Saints Academy is a mixed, non-selective school for pupils which opened as an Ark school in September 2013 with an intake of 120 year 7 students. The school grew year on year until its maximum capacity of 600 was reached in 2017. A six ...

, Southwark *Ark Blake Academy, Croydon *Ark Bolingbroke Academy,

* Ark Boulton Academy, Birmingham‡ *

Ark Charter Academy Ark Charter Academy (formerly St Luke's CofE VA Secondary School) is a co-educational Church of England secondary school and sixth form. The school is located in the Landport area of Portsmouth in the English county of Hampshire. History St L ...

, Portsmouth‡ * Ark Elvin Academy,

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

, Brent * Ark Evelyn Grace Academy, Lambeth * Ark Greenwich Free School,

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

*Ark Pioneer Academy, Barnet * Ark Putney Academy, Wandsworth * Ark St Alban's Academy, Birmingham‡ *Ark Soane Academy, Acton, Ealing * Ark Walworth Academy, Southwark

All-through schools

* Ark Academy, Brent *

Ark Burlington Danes Academy Ark Burlington Danes Academy is a Church of England non-selective, mixed all-through school located in White City, London on a site. The school is funded by the Department for Education and operated by Ark schools, a registered charity und ...

, Hammersmith & Fulham *

Ark Globe Academy Ark Globe Academy (combining the former Geoffrey Chaucer Technology College and Joseph Lancaster Primary School) is a mixed all-through school located in Southwark, London, England. The school caters for children from Reception age through to ...

, Southwark *Ark Isaac Newton Academy, Redbridge * Ark John Keats Academy,

Enfield Enfield may refer to: Places Australia * Enfield, New South Wales * Enfield, South Australia ** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb ** Enfield High School (South Australia) ...

Ark King Solomon Academy King Solomon Academy is a non-selective, non-denominational, mixed all-through school within the English academy programme, located in Marylebone, London. It occupies the site of the former Rutherford School. History The Rutherford School w ...

, Westminster * Ark Kings Academy, Birmingham‡ *Ark Victoria Academy, Birmingham‡

Boards of Trustees

As of November 2018 the Ark Schools trustees are

(Chairman), Lord Fink, Sir Paul Marshall, Anthony Williams and Anthony Clake. Arpad Busson sits on the global board and is chairman of Absolute Return for Kids, US, Inc.

References

External links

Ark website

Ark schools website
{{authority control Educational charities based in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 2002 2002 establishments in England Charities based in London Founders of English schools and colleges Multi-academy trusts