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Bulwell Cradle to Career

Nottingham Trent University is working with One Vision Partnership to bring together local organisations, families and educators to enable young people in Bulwell to flourish.

Bulwell Cradle to Career Initiative Logo

The Bulwell Cradle to Career initiative is managed by One Vision Partnership (OVP) and facilitated by NTU’s Collective Impact team. The initiative brings together local cross-sector partners, families, educators, community organisations, and institutions. The initiative is aiming to co-create systemic solutions that span the entire lifecycle of learning for young people in Bulwell; from early years through to career preparation.

Key priorities for the Bulwell Cradle to Career initiative

Guided by community input and systems thinking principles, we have identified five core areas of focus that underpin a long-term change strategy.

  1. Parental engagement.
  2. Improved collaboration between schools and with community.
  3. Creating opportunities for young people.
  4. Bulwell place making.
  5. Building system leadership capacity.

The work so far

The impact can already be seen on children’s learning and wellbeing, family confidence and resilience, stronger schools, a more connected community, and deeper, more effective professional collaboration. The following sections break down the work and progress so far across Bulwell.

  • The initiative conducted a listening exercise across the Bulwell community, involving one to one interviews, focus groups and town hall events. This enabled the community to shape key priorities for action.
  • The initiative has forged closer relationships with Bulwell Academy who have committed a senior leader to support the Cradle to Career initiative.
  • Bulwell Academy have developed a Community Hub in 2025, which creates a safe space for families and local residents to spend some time working towards goals through a variety of fun and helpful activities.
  • The initiative has created opportunities for a Bulwell Academy Youth Leadership team to influence policy and practice by submitting proposals to the Police and Crime Commissioner.
  • The initiative is creating opportunities for parent engagement including recruiting volunteer parent organisers and attending family events in Bulwell.

  • NTU Collective Impact partnered with One Vision Partnership with whom we developed Cradle to Career.
  • One Vision Partnership released an updated strategy by the community, for the community which provides the opportunity for people to work together to see Bulwell residents flourish.
  • The initiative collaborated with City as Lab to develop a Bulwell Projection Augmented Relief Model (PARM) to enable storytelling through data.

    • The initiative has established a diverse steering group who focus on systems change for Bulwell families.
    • The initiative has embedded Cradle to Career as a strand of the One Vision Partnership strategy, a purposeful group of residents who work together to see Bulwell flourish.
    • The initiative uses systems maps to visualise and understand complex challenges in Bulwell.

    Bulwell Cradle to Career

    To find out more about the Cradle to Career initiative in Bulwell and plans for future developments email: CenSCE@ntu.ac.uk