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Education Business Partnership
Autumn/Winter 2015
Director’s Update
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elcome to the latest edition of the Inspire! newsletter, the first since I officially became Director earlier this year. In fact, the past six months have seen a number of changes in our staff, and I am delighted to welcome newcomers to the Inspire! team. We have been joined by Sonia, Lew, Afjal, Dorran, Lucy and Rebecca, all of whom bring their own unique attributes, ideas and talents to Inspire!. The whole team is looking forward to getting to know them better. Four of our new team members have joined the Inspired Directions School staff – a testament to its growing reputation. The School has achieved some fantastic results recently and it’s been fascinating for me as Director to get to know its ethos, staff, and, most particularly, its students. Their presence in our Dalston office is a refreshing and humbling reminder of the importance of the work we do for local young people. Since the start of my tenure, I’ve also been privileged to watch the creativity and dedication of our staff in action as they design, develop and deliver new projects to enable us to further our mission. Our team’s innovative approaches to meeting the demands of the labour market are keeping Inspire! at the top of its game at a challenging time of austerity. Programmes like Earn & Learn, so in keeping with the apprenticeships agenda, or iDiscover,
creatively responding to the STEM skills gap, are keeping us at the cutting edge of work-related learning. I can’t wait to hear our staff’s next big project idea! I’ve also been extremely fortunate to receive so much support from our Jonny Boux, trustees. As a new Director of such an Director of Inspire! established and diverse organisation, their assistance and guidance has been invaluable in helping me to find my feet. We are all immensely grateful to have such a proactive, talented and generous group of people on our board. Finally, a word on our volunteers – our greatest asset. It is thanks to their commitment and experience that we are able to deliver such engaging and practical programmes to local young people. Their contributions are the backbone of our work, and I am truly honoured to lead an organisation that inspires so many people, from all walks of life, to give up their time in support of its mission. I do hope you enjoy our newsletter, and look forward to welcoming you to another edition soon. l
The Inspired Directions School – Succeeding for Students
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aving achieved independent school status last year, our Inspired Directions School has had a fantastic 2015. Our first ever Ofsted inspection took place in June, and we were thrilled to receive a rating of Good. The rapid improvements in our students’ behaviour, attendance and employability skills were highlighted by the inspector, who commented that “parents and carers are delighted in the excellent turnaround in their children’s attitudes to school since starting at Inspire!”. But it wasn’t just our inspection that was successful. Alicia, now studying Animal Care at Capel Manor College, became the school’s first ever student to successfully complete a GCSE course. She got a C in English, and everyone at Inspire! is extremely proud of her and all the students for their hard work. The Inspired Directions School works with young people from Hackney and neighbouring boroughs who – for a number of reasons – struggle to access mainstream education. Its programme of full-time, bespoke education offers a safe, supportive and welcoming environment for young people who have only ever had negative experiences of learning. The school’s reputation continues to spread, and this year our student numbers have increased significantly, with more referrals continuing to come through from local schools. To keep up with the increased demand, and to ensure that we can keep providing the same levels of intensive and individualised support required
Teacher Sam and tutor Marika with students Arron, Alicia, Cheryle, Shennelly and Marcus by our students, we’ve also welcomed four new members of staff to the team. The school’s Board has also grown, with our corporate partner, Natixis, now represented. Matt Shafer, Head of International Distribution, a vocal champion of our work since the start of our partnership, brings a crucial business perspective, and we are thrilled to have his support in such an important role. In fact, Natixis have been one of the school’s most important supporters this year, raising funds for its work through a company golf tournament, in the 2015 Virgin Money London Marathon and other donations towards the running of the school. Our thanks go out to Natixis and all the school’s supporters: because of them, we are able to continue our vital work to change the lives and outlooks of local young people in need. l
Inspire! says ‘Thank You!’ for Volunteers’ Week
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he first week of June marks the National Council for Voluntary Organisations’ annual Volunteers’ Week, a celebration of the enormous contribution volunteers make to their communities and the causes they care about. This year, the Inspire! staff joined in, sharing a message of thanks to the many hundreds of volunteers who give up their time to facilitate our programmes and support the next generation to achieve their goals. Without their dedication, enthusiasm and expertise, our work couldn’t take place. So once more we say, thank you volunteers! l
Inspire! staff showing their gratitude to our wonderful volunteers
Supporter Spotlight... Niu Solutions Welcome to our new feature! In every newsletter, we’ll take a look at the contribution one of our partners is making to our work.
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or our first ever Supporter Spotlight, we’re highlighting the wonderful support we receive from Niu Solutions, a technology and infrastructure company based in Holborn. Niu Solutions first became interested in our work in June, and shortly thereafter decided to make us their Charity of the Year. Our early intervention approach, particularly our Work Week and iDiscover programmes for primary pupils, caught their attention, and aligned with their corporate philosophy Lisa and Andrew from Niu Solutions meeting budding entrepreneurs at Nightingale Primary School of ensuring that all local Solutions’ PR team are also busy creating content to promote young people have the same access to the opportunities our shared mission, which we look forward to sharing over the afforded by the area’s technology boom. coming months. Niu Solutions staff have been busy raising funds to We’re thrilled to have received Niu Solutions’ support and look support our work, volunteering on a range of programmes forward to continuing to work together closely for the remainder and even – in the case of Tim Edwards – signing up to run of our partnership and beyond. Thank you, Niu! l the Virgin Money London Marathon for us next April! Niu
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Children Tackle Technological Terror at Hackney Empire 2! Photo © Alex Harvey-Brown
Children and practitioners performing together
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One of the key goals of the Families First programme is to fter a week of hard work in rehearsals during the summer boost pupils’ confidence and self-esteem, and activities such as holidays, 19 primary school pupils on our Families First this one, where students are supported to push their boundaries transition programme staged a thrilling performance at and try something new, help them to overcome social barriers Hackney Empire 2. Supported by practitioners from the Hackney and learn to make friends. It was clear from the students’ Empire Artist Development Programme, the children performed feedback that the theatre workshop achieved its aims – one said an original piece of musical theatre that depicted the triumph of that “my favourite part of the week was making friends, meeting creativity over the monotony of rote learning. new people and learning different things.” The Families First programme helps selected Hackney children Inspire!’s Director, Jonny Boux, commented: “Inspire! make a smooth transition from primary to secondary school. was delighted to partner with Working with children who have been Hackney Empire once more, identified by their primary schools as and we were thrilled by the being in need of additional support, the fantastic performance. We know project began working with this cohort Inspire! was delighted to that transition periods in a young of Year 6 pupils in January, and will partner with Hackney Empire person’s journey through school support them until August 2016. can be challenging, and this project The children worked with Yamin once more, and we were has really enabled young people to Choudury, Hackney Empire’s Associate thrilled by the fantastic build their confidence over such an Producer for Creative Learning and performance. important time.” Community, to develop his original Funded by the Big Lottery Fund, concept for the spooky show. The and working in partnership with production, titled simply ‘IT’, introduced the Hackney Council for Voluntary the terrifying ‘zombits’ – brainwashed by Service and other local community groups, this marks the end technology and unable to think for themselves, the slaves of the of the Families First programme in its current format. While it dastardly IT teachers! has been a tremendous success for the young people involved, Three intrepid children led the fight against the tyrannical and funding has been secured to support the current cohort teachers, and ultimately saved the day through their bravery and through to the end of their first year at secondary school, it is creativity, rescuing their kidnapped headmaster and freeing the not currently funded to work with new groups of pupils. We will zombits from their enslavement. therefore be seeking alternative funding routes to ensure that The performance went so well, it was easy to forget that those local young people who need it continue to receive extra the pupils had only been working on the piece for 5 days. Most support to navigate this very stressful period of their young lives. had never performed in public before the start of the week, When asked about the programme, pupils were emphatic but by Friday afternoon, many were displaying serious star about the difference it had made to them. One young person quality. “All of us at the Hackney Empire are incredibly told us “now I feel less nervous [about going to secondary proud of what the kids have been able to achieve in such school] and am actually quite excited”. The group are now all a short amount of time,” said Yamin Choudury. “Inspire!, well into their first year of secondary education, and will be back as a company, is an amazing resource for young people in together at the Hackney Empire soon for a festive trip to their Hackney and we look forward to creating more exciting spectacular pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk. l projects with them in the future.” Inspire! Autumn/Winter 2015
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Work Week - Expanded and Updated for 2015/16!
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Week, “because not many schools have the chance to do this.” his year, we’ve given our flagship primary programme, Hannah Groves, the Senior Programme Manager for our Work Week, a bit of a revamp to keep it as relevant and Primary team, said: “We’ve really enjoyed refreshing Work Week engaging as ever for local children. A new theme for Year to keep pace with the changing landscape of 5 pupils puts an ethical and creative careers in Hackney and neighbouring boroughs. spin on enterprise education and It’s a great chance for the children to see how introduces pupils to jobs in the creativity and business can come together to fashion industry. make something exciting!” Working in small teams, the pupils Work Week is a highly successful, high-impact start an ethical fashion company, programme for all the pupils in a primary school, research potential products, cost which brings careers, enterprise and the world their designs and create them from of work to life. Every year, Work Week reaches recycled and salvaged materials. The thousands of children from Hackney, Camden and week culminates in a final catwalk Islington, introducing them to a vast range of jobs show of the pupils’ designs. and career paths through sessions with employee The feedback from teachers volunteers as well as visits to real workplaces. at Thomas Fairchild Community School showed how popular the This school year, Work Week is reaching new activities have been. “Thank further than ever. New schools in Hackney and you,” one commented, “what a great Camden have signed up, and as its reputation experience to see the children be spreads it is increasingly being commissioned Year 5 pupils displaying their designs at by schools in other boroughs: in October we truly creative.” The pupils approved as well, telling us they learnt about delivered Haringey’s first ever Work Week, at The Thomas Fairchild Community School Devonshire Hill Primary School, and we are looking ethical companies, different jobs in the forward to taking the programme to Thomas Gamuel Primary fashion industry and how to work as a team. One Year 5 pupil School, located in Waltham Forest, later in 2015/16. l wrote that they were very pleased to have taken part in Work
iDiscover 2.0 – New Year, New Themes, New Funding
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nother exciting development for this school year is the evolution (!) of iDiscover, our primary STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) programme which brings a huge range of related careers to life. Piloted in three Hackney primary schools last year, supported by funding from the Mercers’ Company, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Salesforce Foundation, the project was a tremendous success. By bringing diverse volunteers from a broad cross-section of STEM-related professions into schools, the iDiscover pilots not only got children excited about the possibilities of studying and working in STEM, it also helped to break down pervasive stereotypes about who ‘should’ be doing these jobs. Before taking part in iDiscover, 52% of Year 2 pupils at one primary school responded ‘No’ or ‘Don’t know’ to the question, ‘Are girls good at science?’. After taking part in iDiscover, all but one of these students had changed their minds. The impact of the programme was clear across the board: a teacher at one of our pilot schools told us that after a session meeting a group of volunteer engineers, all of their pupils “could say what STEM careers were and most expressed an interest in doing one when they are older”. As a testament to the success of the pilot, we were thrilled back in July when Salesforce employees in London selected us to receive a grant of $100,000 – one of ten such grants made by the Salesforce Foundation to celebrate the organisation reaching 1 million volunteer hours.
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Much of the grant is going towards increasing iDiscover’s scope and impact, allowing us to make it even more engaging for local young people. Three entirely new themes are being developed for 2015/16: ‘My Biology’ for Year 2 pupils; ‘Showcase’ for Year 4; and ‘Future Jobs’, for Year 6. ‘My Biology’ will look at a different part of the body each day of the week, using hands-on activities to help children understand how their anatomy works. ‘Showcase’ will offer children a chance to see how STEM skills can be used to bring a creative vision to life, offering an insight into the science behind lighting design, sound engineering, visual effects and more. ‘Future Jobs’ will look at how STEM-related professions are changing as the speed of technological development grows ever more heady, encouraging pupils to think about how the skills they acquire at school today will help to create a better future world. Thanks to Salesforce’s support, we are able to offer iDiscover to schools at a greatly reduced cost. Five primary schools have already signed up for iDiscover this school year; we hope to deliver the programme to 8 schools between now and December 2016. We are really excited to have received funding to develop the programme further, and are looking forward to bringing iDiscover’s inspirational message and experiences to new groups of local young people. l
Students Network to Explore their Options
Cardinal Pole students discussing their options with volunteers
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ctober saw a group of sixth form students from Cardinal Pole Catholic School take part in a speed networking event, where they met with employers and training providers offering a range of apprenticeship and school leaver programmes. The event was part of our Earn & Learn provides young Earn & Learn programme, people with information and which aims to increase students’ awareness of the options at a crucial time in different paths they can their education. take after they finish their education. Many young people in Hackney don’t know what alternatives to university are available, nor how to access them, so Inspire! – funded by Hackney Council’s Community Grants scheme – created Earn & Learn to help fill this knowledge gap. Running until March 2016, the programme is supporting students in three Hackney schools: Haggerston School and Clapton Girls’ Academy are also taking part. Networking events like this one – known as Careers Carousels – are proving to be a great tool to get students thinking about their career paths. One Cardinal Pole sixth former told us that the most useful aspect of the day was the variety of subjects and sectors represented and another commented that meeting one employer “made me think about doing apprenticeships.”
Of course, we were only able to introduce Cardinal Pole’s students to such a diverse group of employers and training providers thanks to our brilliant volunteers, representing organisations including Step Forward, Willmott Dixon, London Youth, Interserve, View Training, Hackney Community College, Microsoft, Fit for Sport and QA Apprenticeships. By discussing what their organisations can offer school leavers, they were able to open the young people’s eyes to a range of alternatives to university. As one volunteer told us, “quite a few weren’t aware of the other avenues and were very responsive.” Following these introductory Careers Carousels, participating students will also receive advice on employability skills, interview preparation and applying for apprenticeships and other school leaver programmes. Sessions will be supported by a group of employee volunteers who either work with apprentices or school leavers, or are themselves enrolled in relevant schemes, and can therefore offer practical advice to the students. Secondary Programme Manager, Lauren Thomas, commented that “these Careers Carousels are a key element of our Earn & Learn programme, providing young people with information and options at a crucial time in their education. Feedback from students and volunteers has been fantastic and the whole Secondary Team is looking forward to working closely with students from all three schools over the coming months, helping them to make important decisions about their futures.” l
Inspired Volunteers Beats its Targets
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n our last newsletter, we told you about the early successes of our Inspired Volunteers project, helping 16-24 year olds not in education, training or employment (NEET) to overcome the barriers in their lives and access opportunities to work or study. Funded by the European Social Fund and the Greater London Authority, the programme is now coming to an end, and has seen some great results. Using a combination of volunteering
– through opportunities provided by Team London, the Mayor of London’s volunteering initiative – work experience, employability workshops and one-toone mentoring, the project has helped 41 young people to access and remain in employment or education for more than 6 months. This figure beats the funders’ target of 38 young people in sustained employment or education, and represents a fantastic achievement for Inspire! and our delivery partners across
north and east London. “Inspire! and our partners have worked really hard, supporting some very vulnerable young people to make enormous progress,” said Robin Childs, Assistant Director. “We’re so proud to have helped them on the right track, and are looking forward to delivering similar results for more NEET young people in the future.” l
Inspire! Autumn/Winter 2015
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Hackney Students Get a Taste of Lab Life
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he Towers Lab at UCL has been working with Inspire! a lot this year – through their links with our primary STEM programme, iDiscover, they generously offered to host work experience placements through us this year. The lab, which specialises in immunology and virology, opened its doors to four Year 12 students from the Petchey Academy and City Academy, Hackney over the summer, giving them the chance to gain first-hand experience of a real, working laboratory. We visited the lab to meet the City Academy students and find out how they’d been getting on. They had been given a project to manage Hinh and Andi hard at work in the Towers Lab over the course of their two-week placements, which involved manipulating DNA to make cells glow. “It was a Andi’s thoughts resonated with Jane Turner, big step up,” said Andi Fergusson, 17, “but everyone’s really Lab Manager at the Towers Lab: “I didn’t do work helpful, they showed us how to use all the equipment.” experience and I’m pretty sure if I’d been to Andi and his fellow student on the placement, something like this when I was Duy-Anh Hinh, also 17, are currently younger I would have taken making decisions about their a far less circuitous route into university preferences. While both are what I’m doing now.” They are part of the family, considering a range of universities, Prof. Towers was also keen and when they go to they are certain about what they to point out that hosting work want to study: Hinh is applying for experience students provided a useful university they can stay in Medicine courses, while Andi is keen opportunity for lab staff to improve touch – we’ll still be here. their communication and pitching skills. to study Biochemistry and specialise in “If they can’t explain their project to Infectious Disease later in his career. someone else it’s largely because they During their placements, the lab don’t fully understand it themselves, so staff gave the students advice on it’s a vehicle for them to improve their applying for university, helping them own project and their perspective,” he explained. draft their personal statements and conducting mock panel While the two-week placements began with a steep interviews. Professor Greg Towers, who runs the lab, explains: learning curve for the students, both Andi and Hinh felt “We sat them down with our clinical PhD students, and they welcomed and supported in the lab, and were incredibly went through the whole thing: this is how you write your grateful for the opportunity to gain experience in such personal statement, this is how you do your interview.” a prestigious environment. Prof. Towers also made the Prior to their placements, neither student had experience generous offer to them that he makes to all work of a professional environment, and both now had opinions experience students: “You know, they can stay in touch with on how all students could benefit from this kind of us, it’s not just a two-week thing. They are part of the family, opportunity. Hinh cited the chance to work independently, and when they go to university they can stay in touch – alongside professionals from a chosen field, while Andi we’ll still be here.” l suggested that work experience could act as a useful ‘trial run’ of a career before it was too late to change course.
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Inspired Directions School Students vs. the Great Outdoors!
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o get the new school year off to a great start, our Inspired Directions School’s staff and students headed out to the wilds of Essex for a day of exciting teambuilding activities! The trip to the Stubbers Adventure Centre was organised to help students new and old get to know each other better and push them to take on new challenges. The group needed to work together and use all their combined cooperation skills to scale a 10-foot wall, while their communication and coordination were tested on a giant seesawing platform. Working closely with local community organisations and training providers, the school already gives its students access to a wide range of vocational courses and curriculum enrichment activities. Last year our students had the chance to take part in community gardening, construction courses, music and film production and bicycle maintenance, among other opportunities. The day trip to Stubbers is just one more way we’re encouraging students to push A student tackling the off-road course at Stubbers themselves and take on different roles and responsibilities. The highlight of the day, according to both staff and students, was the chance to get behind the wheel of a Jeep on a closed offroad course. Recent rainy weather had left the track churned up and muddy – perfect conditions for putting 4x4s through their paces! Joel McIlven, Deputy Headteacher of the Inspired Directions School, said “this was a great day out for students and staff, giving all an opportunity to collaborate to overcome challenges whilst enjoying new and exciting activities. We got to see different sides of each other and work together in a fun environment. All the students are still asking when they will next be able to drive a Jeep!” We’re looking forward to finding lots more ways to challenge our students and enrich their learning experience as the school year progresses. l
Pitching to Perfection
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ur Secondary Work-related Learning team deliver a range of one-day programmes working with hundreds of students across Hackney and Camden. Focusing on a range of different themes, and sometimes created specifically to meet the requests of a particular school or the needs of a particular group of students, all the sessions have the common aim of bringing the world of work to life in a fun, challenging and creative way. One such programme is the one-day enterprise project, Perfect Pitch, which we delivered at Hampstead School in Camden in the Summer term. Inspire! was first invited to work in Camden back in 2011, and we have since worked with thousands of students and hundreds of companies across the borough. Facilitated by our ever-generous network of local employee volunteers, Perfect Pitch asks students to plan and market an awards ceremony and concert at legendary Camden venue, the Roundhouse. The Year 10 students who took part worked in small teams to design a set, a logo and a poster, all linked to a central concept of their choosing. A series of activities at the start of the day got the students’ creative juices flowing: one perennial favourite, the ‘Potato Pitch’ exercise, challenged students to find innovative and exciting ways to market the humble potato. The resulting strategies were then presented to – and judged by! – some of our volunteers. Moving onto the main event of planning their awards ceremonies, competition between the teams was fierce, and there was an incredibly high standard of creative output across
Happy volunteers following the Perfect Pitch session the board. As one volunteer noted, the students demonstrated “some great artistic talent”. As well as exercising their creative abilities, the day also helped the 240 students to develop a range of workrelated skills, including teamwork, planning, presentation, communication and time management. The students clearly found the day useful. One said that they “learnt new skills in what to do when pursuing my chosen career”; another commented that the session “helped me speak in front of an audience”. We were also thrilled to learn that our volunteers not only enjoyed supporting the programme, but found it contributed to their own development: “We were told if one student absorbed something from the day it was a success; it seems a lot more did which makes it all so worthwhile. I have also taken some of the skills you taught me to mentor our own young employees so a ‘win-win’.” l Inspire! Autumn/Winter 2015
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Alumni Return to Boost Their Future Prospects
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n leaving the Inspired Directions School, our students go on to further education or training. But, despite the amount of preparation we give them to confront the challenges of the next phase of their lives, we know from experience that they will continue to return to us. Some come back to seek practical support, while others simply want to My last memory of the school maintain a connection with a place where was as a student in 2009! they felt welcomed and The experience has been respected. really enjoyable so far. Thanks to a grant from the Merchant Taylors’ Company, we have now been able to formalise the support we offer to our alumni. Through the Inspired Directions: Moving On programme, we are thrilled to welcome Harley and Michael, both former students, back to the school as trainee teaching assistants. They will gain a qualification as Teaching Assistants and lots of classroom experience, as well as ongoing one-to-one support from Inspire! staff to help them make the most of their experience in their future career plans. On returning to Inspire! as a member of staff, Michael Michael, returning to Inspire! to gain new skills commented that it “offers a really interesting new perspective. It’s exciting to see how things work from the other side. My last We look forward to seeing the positive impact Harley and memory of the school was as a student in 2009! The experience Michael will have on our current students, and to helping has been really enjoyable so far.” them fulfil their life and learning goals. l
Inspire! would like to thank the following funders for their support Barclays Big Lottery Fund Business in the Community Camden Council City of London Corporation CMS Cameron McKenna Dudley and Geoffrey Cox Charitable Trust
European Social Fund and Skills Funding Agency European Social Fund and Greater London Authority Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Hackney Council Hackney Learning Trust HCVS
J. A. Clark Charitable Trust KPMG Linklaters Mercers’ Company Merchant Taylors’ Company National Youth Agency Natixis Global Asset Management UK
Niu Solutions Peabody Trust Royal Society of Chemistry Salesforce Foundation UBS
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• Registered Charity no. 1111037
Inspire! is the working name of the New Hackney Education Business Partnership Ltd. Company limited by guarantee No. 5157521. Registered in England.