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A common phrase on a Friday in the Future Foundations office is to say, that was a big week!  It seems every week is a big week for both our office team and last week was a particularly big and special one for both those in the office and our delivery teams.

500
young people

In just 5 days, the FF Network worked with over 500 young people and the feedback has been incredible…a quick summary from last week is as follows:

  • On Monday our team travelled to the University of Cambridge to deliver a Higher Education Experience for 40 year 8 students from Wembley High Technology College.  The team led by Andy Dunn (Course Director) and our COO, Pete Cuff as Assistant Course Director delivered an incredible two day programme including our legendary Cambridge Factor challenge.
  • On Monday and Tuesday our Legacy Careers Project was delivered in two schools in East London simultaneously!  We delivered two models (a 5 day and 2.5 day programme) with Ella Simms and Steve Beckles Course Directing, supported by Shereez Dharsey and Kate Suart.  I personally had the opportunity to visit and be a ‘Business Guest Speaker’ sharing my story and pathway to my current job with students in 6 classrooms!  I have to say it was incredible to meet all the students to answer their questions and gain an insight into both the benefits of business guests visiting schools and the need to ensure young people gain an insight into the future world of work.
  • On Monday, 45 Year 11 students from schools across London joined our 5-day Summer School delivered in partnership with Westminster Summer School.  The programme is being led by Lina Akbar and Assistant Course Director Hannah Pickett. 
  • On Tuesday our 30 Day Challenge – set to all network leaders closed –well done to all of the network who achieved their goals! 
  • On Thursday evening – the National Citizen Service Team delivered their first Induction event for parents/carers and students taking part in our NCS programme this Summer. 
  • On Thursday evening – Global Social Leaders had a senior team planning meeting to work through the schedule which is coming together incredibly well.  We have also had some great speakers confirmed this week which we will announce shortly!!  Watch this space… 
  • On Friday we had our first FF Network Summer Series event – a BBQ and Party to recognise the achievements and thank all our staff for their hard work and dedication! 
  • On Sunday, we had our second FF Network Summer Series event – it was great to share the final of the World Cup with so many of the FF Network.

The feedback has been amazing, a few highlights have been as follows:

“I just wanted to congratulate you on the success of the Olympic Legacy intervention.

I was very impressed with the professionalism of the facilitators, the engagement of our students (which appeared to grow with the project rather than tail off), and the tangible outcomes in terms of prizes, presentations and most importantly raised confidence.”

I was very impressed with the professionalism of the facilitators & the engagement of our students

Denise Wisdom – English Teacher, Intervention Coordinator (Judge of presentations)

Philosophy special tutorial was great, seriously contemplating doing it at A-level now @futurefound #Westminster #summerofchange

One student wrote this on Twitter after 2 days of the Westminster Summer School!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who has helped us deliver these programmes including our coaches, tutors, teachers, partners, volunteers, our office team who have planned meticulously every element and of course all the young people who have been incredible.

The summer has just begun, and we have already delivered a number of programmes, however there is still lots to come…

The McKinsey Leadership Academy takes place next week, our National Citizen Service programme starts shortly with 3 waves, our Global Social Leaders programme delivered in partnership with the Wellington Leadership Institute starts in mid August and the Chrysalis Summer School starts the last week of August.

This summer is proving to be a summer of change for our young people and staff!  Keep up-to-date on twitter by following and sharing your stories using our @futurefound and #summerofchange tags.

What a great week!  Well done all.  Hope you had a restful weekend and looking forward to next week.

Jon Harper, CEO, Future Foundations