As regards the latter, the Livery Companies of the City of London vary greatly: in size, by both membership and the resources available to them to pursue their charitable objectives, and in their priorities and interests, support for schools among them.

With notable exceptions, financial assistance, as such, will by and large be limited. However, the Livery world embraces many thousands of individuals, themselves with wide connections in the world of employment, and this represents a sizeable potential source of in-kind support. Projects described under Support in Practice (click here for Support In Practice) provide a snapshot of the scale of support.

In that light, and in the light of current and past Livery experience, here are some of the activities that, given the demand and given a provider, may well figure in our future portfolio of successes:

* Provision of City venues for enhancing curricular delivery, for introducing the City to pupils/students, for holding exhibitions, competitions and other special events.

* Support for staff professional development in fields common to the needs of teachers e.g. staff management, strategic planning, vision setting, etc and the experience of Livery Company members

* Linking schools in the Independent and Maintained sectors in order to establish mutually beneficial partnerships in educational provision for children taking, for example, specialist subjects, subjects with teacher shortage, and for children with specific and/or special needs

* Classroom Assistance - for both individual pupils and small groups, particularly at Primary level - in literacy, numeracy and enterprise, for example.

* Mentoring and E-mentoring (mentoring via E-mail) students at Secondary level - for example, over preparation for job-seeking and employment.

In Summer 2005, Livery Schools Link entered a brokering partnership with
the then extant Enterprise Advisor Service to establish a scheme to
attract volunteers. This continues. It is managed for us by the London
Central Education Business Alliance (also listed under Partners>Current
contacts). Please click here for details of the scheme.

* Support for fieldwork, residential courses and extra-curricular visits, e.g. museums, cultural events, etc by financing travel, accommodation or entry costs and expenditure for staff effort and support, both in preparation and on the occasion

* Increasing the number of governors on the Governing Bodies of both Primary and Secondary schools, who have business and/or current employment experience (please see Activities > Governorships)

* Provision of physical resources not covered by State funding but through which a school may enjoy a substantial multiplier on the benefits from its current facilities and thereby significantly enhance pupils' education or their work environments.