Dick Chamberlain is Extended Schools Co-ordinator for the Isis partnership of schools in Oxford. He is based at Oxford School (OS) – Oxford’s Business and Enterprise Specialist School. Situated within East Oxford and Cowley the school forms the hub of the schools’ cluster partnership. OS has the strong ethos and the right infrastructure to underpin the development of the Extended Schools agenda in this part of the city. 

Dick has a background in education, youth work, arts administration and local government service delivery. His early career was as a Youth and Community worker in Yorkshire and Manchester. Following five years as Director of Inter-Action in Milton Keynes he became Assistant Director of Eastern Arts, and then County Arts Officer for Buckinghamshire. 

In the recent past Dick has been a freelance project manager and consultant in the education, arts and cultural industries sectors. 

Past work includes: development of the “Art & the Travelling Landscape” programme for Sustrans – Routes for People; a research & development project for the youth music Soundhouse Trust in Plymouth; preparation of a Borough-wide youth arts development strategy for London Borough of Barnet; and specialist school development work for Lord Williamss’ School in Thame.

Work for the National Association of Youth Theatres (NAYT) has included editing ‘The Big Youth Theatre Manual’; writing a paper on ‘inclusion’ following a large ‘action research’ project; and organising aspects of NAYT’s research programme.

Dick is author of ‘Intention to Reality: developing youth arts policy’, published by Youth Clubs UK.

e-mail – dick@chamberlaind.freeserve.co.uk