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CanTeam: Something New!

Blog written by Davina, student volunteer and a member of the CanTeam Crew at Bedford Academy

Introduction

I wanted to help out with CanTeam, as volunteering in a hospitality sector was a new experience for me. I loved the idea of working to bring the community together and for nothing better than free food and fun. To register interest, I spoke to my form tutor as she was running the CanTeam events in my school. She provided me with a link to formally register interest in volunteering where I provided some contact details and my shirt size (to receive a snazzy company shirt). I was then asked to come along to the training session prior to the event. I thought this would involve me practicing my waitressing, but it was actually a casual, friendly introduction to the CanTeam external organisers and their pledge to keep school facilities open to the public to provide free, nutritious dinners. During this session, all of the student volunteers helped organise roles and activities for the events we were planning to run..

My CanTeam journey:

During this whole experience, I felt that us students had a lot more creative control and responsibility over how the events were run. This responsibility was new to me but gave me great pride, in the end. At our second public CanTeam event (aimed at primary school children and their families), I welcomed the families into the building after they registered in, informing them of the activities at the event, where they can get food and drink, and where they can sit. I also worked at the PreLoved table during the rest of the evening. Our PreLoved table was filled with clothes and toy donations that we were, slowly but surely, giving back to the community. I loved the atmosphere, with the steel pans playing, the evening went by very quickly. From this experience I realised just how well a team can work under pressure. I had never been a part of such an experience so I was very anxious, at first, about how I’d react to the unfamiliarity of it all. However, this experience allowed me to improve my communication and hospitality skills, whilst also proving to myself that I can work well in a new environment and be a valuable member of the team.

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Final Thoughts:

In the future, I definitely want to volunteer with more CanTeam events as they are so fun and beneficial to the community. I would recommend any student to participate in this event as we also had Year 10s helping out (not just Years 12s), so it is something the whole school can get involved with. If someone is interested and willing to take on a role for an upcoming event, my only advice is to make sure all roles are attended too. The only way these events can run well if is every volunteer is doing their role and doing it well (even if that means they require a little extra help). Ultimately, all of the volunteers involved in this event are a part of a team that can succeed to bring the community together for an evening of good food and entertainment.

It was so exciting to be apart of something new and bring together the community.

Background:

CanTeam is an after school social dining initiative co-designed with young people that encourages students and their families to enjoy nutritious, delicious and diverse foods together.

Launched by Future Foundations in June 2023, CanTeam aims to embed a transformative food culture within schools, enabling young people to learn and thrive.

Over the first 6 months of the initiative, CanTeam was funded and supported by the Big Change Big Education Challenge to develop the concept, consult beneficiaries and test the idea. In January 2024, CanTeam was announced a winner of the Big Education Challenge and is being supported by Big Change to scale across the UK.  

In partnership with HEART Academies Trust and Bedford Academy Future Foundations delivered a two-event pilot of CanTeam.  The first was focused on Year 7 and 8 students and the second was opened up to local primary school families.  The catering was provided in-house by Russell Abbey, Head of Catering Services at HEART Academies Trust.  Many of the ingredients were kindly donated by Allmanhall.

We are excited to continue developing CanTeam and the impact we can have on the health and wellbeing of young people and their families throughout the UK.  

BIG NEWS – CanTeam, is a winner of the Big Education Challenge 

Future Foundations, the organisation behind CanTeam, has been awarded £225,000 to develop and pilot at scale the idea. The £1m prize fund is the first of its kind run by education charity Big Change and was set up to identify, support and reward bold ideas with the potential to transform education and learning in the UK.  Click here to find out more.

Find out more:

  • Read an article published by Bedford Today about the launch of CanTeam at Bedford Academy here
  • Read about the Challenge here
  • Read about CanTeam, our BIG idea for change here

Get in touch, if you think you can help…

We are looking for schools and partners who share our vision and can help us pilot CanTeam at scale.