Final Envision School Team Report 2010

Since the start of the academic year, 16 young people from Highams Park School have been among the thousands across the UK making a difference in their schools and communities. The Envision programme supports well over 100 teams of 16 and 17-year-olds in London, Birmingham and Leeds to plan and implement social and environmental projects. This year these have ranged from organising multicultural food festivals to renovating community gardens.

The team at Highams Park has been supported by Helen Thomas, Events Coordinator for Envision and two trained Envision volunteers: Mohini Chatlani and Angela Foster.

In the beginning

The team at Highams Park started the year with a series of discussions about issues from animal cruelty to water conservation, and after only a few weeks they settled on the idea of supporting Tommy's - a charity working to support families affected by premature birth, stillbirth and miscarriage - and Haven House, a local children's hospice.

Several team members had personal experience of the work that these charities do and their passion quickly convinced the rest of the team that their project should focus on raising awareness and funds to help them continue their work.

  Pitch 4 Change

The team were nervous but excited when they learned they had been selected for Pitch 4 Change. They prepared an excellent presentation and spoke convincingly and professionally to the panel of Dragons, who awarded them £400 to make their event a success. They also passed on the benefit of their experience and gave the team valuable advice about running the event and making sure they raised as much as possible. With these funds in the bank, the team could make even more ambitious plans for their event – assigning stalls, finding materials and designing posters and flyers.

Achievements

To ensure their project would genuinely benefit their causes, team members met with the head of Tommy's and a representative from Haven House to discuss their ideas.

They decided to hold an Easter fete which would bring people together for an enjoyable day and raise awareness about Tommy's and Haven House, and would also be the focus of their fundraising activities. Through Mohini, one of Envision's volunteers, the team were able to find a venue - the Tom Oakman Centre Hall - which was donated for their event.

A huge success

As the event approached, other fundraising activities continued: film nights at the school, selling charity badges and a sponsored 10k walk, starting at 5am and with most walkers in their pyjamas!

The success of the Easter fete on the 17th April added to the already substantial total. The team have raised almost £1400 from their project, and will be presenting the two charities with their donations soon. The team have impressed us all with their ambition and organisation, and have all improved in confidence, public speaking and planning skills. They should be very proud of what they have achieved this year!

Envision has been working at Highams Park School for several years, supporting teams of Year 12 students to set up and run their own projects to tackle issues from street crime to climate change.

The team is supported by Envision staff and a network of volunteers who give up a couple of hours a week to sit in on the teams' meeting and help them develop their ideas.

We are looking to recruit volunteers to start supporting a team at this school (and others locally) in October 2009. For more details take a look at our page about volunteers on our website or call the office on 0207 253 1677.