From Narrow to Broad: How globalbridge Delivers the Vision of Every Child Achieving and Thriving

The Department for Education White Paper, Every Child Achieving and Thriving, sets out a decisive shift in England’s education system: moving from a narrow focus on attainment to a broad, inclusive model where every child can succeed and thrive. It calls for deeper inclusion, stronger community collaboration, data transparency, enriched experiences, and a digitally connected future.

globalbridge was built for this moment. Created by teachers to level the playing field, our platform provides the digital infrastructure schools and trusts need to translate policy ambition into measurable impact.

Below is a consolidated response demonstrating how globalbridge aligns with — and actively supports — the White Paper’s current reforms and future frameworks.

Shifting from “Narrow to Broad”

The White Paper makes clear that exam results alone cannot define a young person’s potential. In an AI-reshaped economy, creativity, resilience, collaboration and inquiry are equally vital.

The globalbridge Response:

Our multimedia digital learner profiles enable students to evidence the full breadth of their development:

• Multimedia evidence

• Experience reflections

• Enrichment achievements

• Employer feedback

• Accredited awards

This directly supports the DfE’s ambition to move schools beyond “exam factories” and toward hubs of holistic development.

Through our partnership with ASDAN, students can evidence accredited personal, social and employability skills directly within their profiles. ASDAN Short Courses and Employability Awards become visible, verifiable proof of character and capability — ensuring that “character” carries weight alongside “curriculum”.

Supporting National Inclusion Standards (SEND & Inclusion Reform)

A cornerstone of the 2026/27 reform phase is the introduction of National Inclusion Standards alongside major SEND investment.

The White Paper aims to end the “one size fits all” approach and provide tailored mainstream provision for children with complex needs.

The globalbridge Response:

globalbridge offers schools a structured, evidence-based way to demonstrate inclusive practice by:

• Enabling SEND students to showcase strengths through media-rich profiles

• Providing alternative methods of expression beyond written CVs

• Evidencing personalised development pathways

• Capturing progress in social, creative and vocational domains

This supports the DfE’s call for tailored educational experiences and provides practical evidence schools can use to demonstrate compliance with forthcoming National Inclusion Standards.

Alignment with School Profiles and Report Cards

The government is replacing single-word inspection grades with more granular “School Profiles” and “Report Cards” to give parents a rounded picture of performance — including enrichment, inclusion and pupil development.

The globalbridge Response:

globalbridge generates holistic, quantitative insight into personal development, enrichment participation and employability outcomes.

This allows schools and trusts to:

• Provide real-world evidence of enrichment impact

• Demonstrate inclusive practice in action

• Track socio-emotional skill development

• Show progression beyond attainment metrics

Our analytics can directly support the transparency objectives underpinning the new reporting framework — transforming “personal development” from a narrative statement into measurable impact data.

Boosting Pupil Engagement to Reduce Absence

The White Paper highlights pupil engagement as a central lever for reducing persistent absence, with an ambition to increase attendance by 20 million days by 2028/29. It recognises that belonging and purpose are critical drivers of engagement.

The globalbridge Response:

globalbridge shifts students from passive recipients to active participants by giving them:

• Ownership of their digital identity

• Agency in curating their achievements

• Visibility of future pathways

• Direct interaction with employers

When students see a tangible link between their current efforts and future opportunities, motivation rises. This sense of agency and belonging directly supports the DfE’s strategy to move families from “withdrawn” to “engaged.”

Bridging the Enrichment Gap

The White Paper aims to halve the gap in enrichment participation between disadvantaged young people and their peers by 2035. It recognises that socio-emotional skills in England currently lag behind OECD averages.

The globalbridge Response:

globalbridge ensures enrichment becomes visible, valued and accessible by:

• Tracking participation in clubs, competitions and awards

• Recording employer engagement and work experience

• Embedding enrichment into digital learner profiles

• Supporting equitable access through trust-wide coordination

Our partnership with ASDAN strengthens this further by providing accredited pathways that formalise enrichment as a universal entitlement rather than a privilege.

Supporting RISE Teams and Trust Collaboration

The White Paper introduces RISE teams to spread best practice and expects all schools to join high-quality trusts.

The globalbridge Response:

globalbridge acts as shared digital infrastructure across trusts by:

• Centralising enrichment and personal development provision

• Sharing employer partnerships across multiple schools

• Reducing duplication of effort

• Providing cross-trust data insights

• Supporting consistent implementation of inclusion standards

This creates the collaborative ecosystem envisioned by the DfE, where schools no longer operate as isolated “islands.”

Strengthening Community and Employer Partnerships

The White Paper emphasises that schools must work alongside employers to prepare the “citizens of our common future.”

globalbridge functions as a direct bridge between education and industry, connecting students with real-world opportunities through structured opportunity matching.

Our partnerships with inclusive employers such as British Airways and Siemens demonstrate how large employers can engage early with diverse talent pipelines — from aviation engineering to AI-driven STEM careers — aligning with the government’s ambition to prepare students for an AI-dominated workforce.

Supporting the Digitised National Curriculum

The DfE is working with Oak National Academy to create a dynamic digital curriculum framework that enables better integration with EdTech platforms.

The globalbridge Response:

As a digitally-native platform, globalbridge is ideally positioned to integrate with this emerging framework by:

• Mapping evidenced skills to refreshed curriculum standards

• Supporting well-sequenced progression tracking

• Linking enrichment and curriculum outcomes

• Creating interoperability with digital curriculum resources

This ensures that what students showcase on their profiles is deeply aligned with national expectations.

Data-Driven Leadership and Impact Measurement

As the system transitions toward trust-led collaboration and evidence-based reform, leaders need clarity on “what truly works.”

globalbridge provides:

• Quantitative dashboards on personal development

• Trust-level enrichment analytics

• Employer engagement metrics

• Inclusion tracking

• Longitudinal progression data

This empowers leaders to refine strategy, support RISE interventions, and demonstrate measurable impact under new accountability frameworks.

The Road Ahead: Infrastructure for a Broader, Fairer System

Every Child Achieving and Thriving is more than reform — it is a systemic redesign of English education around inclusion, engagement, enrichment and digital transformation.

globalbridge provides the practical infrastructure to make this redesign operational:

• Making inclusion measurable

• Making enrichment visible

• Making employer engagement scalable

• Making student identity dynamic

• Making personal development quantifiable

Together, we can ensure that every young person — regardless of background, ability or starting point — has both the opportunity and the platform to prove they are more than a grade.

Want to explore how globalbridge can align with your school or trust strategy under the new reforms? Book a demo to see the future in action.

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