Matt Silver is the Head Teacher of Shaftesbury High School for complex needs children.  He sets out the problems that this marginalised group of children face as they end their schooling and move into the job market.  While most students face the prospect of never being employed, Matt and his team have found a way to turn this model the right way around with an approach that could put 95% of the children graduating from a complex needs school going into paid work.

By triangulating the efforts of the teachers, students and parents, the school has developed a culture of bringing innovation into the classroom with incredible results for the students, teachers, parents and business.  

Matt and the team are able to guide students towards digital businesses they can set-up and run during their last 2 years of school spending 400 hours learning the skills and building their business.  The school is currently building a series of hot desks for students  to continue their businesses from in familiar surroundings once they have graduated.  Is this a future model for schools to incubate the digital businesses of the future?

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