ReachOut and The Southbank

At the end of October, The Southbank celebrated the 15th anniversary of the UN's Convention of the Rights of the Child through their WHY Festival, which partnered with ReachOut. 

This convention promises children rights, from education to health. These rights describe what a child needs to survive, grow, participate and fulfil their potential. They apply equally to every child, regardless of who they are or where they come from.

ReachOut partnered with the Southbank on their "Things I Wish I Knew At 15" project, which explored individuals' experiences of being a young person. Eight young people from the Junior Mentor's project volunteered their Saturdays to engage with the public on this topic, encouraging them to fill in postcards like those shown below.

The young people filled the wall with enlightening and warming postcards and participated in the other workshops run during the WHY Festival, to great praise and success.

By Katy Belben
Bishop Challoner Junior Mentors Project Leader  

ReachOut welcomes local MP

This week at the ReachOut Club in Cayley Primary School we were lucky enough to be joined by the Labour MP of the Bethnal Green and Bow area, Rushanara Ali. Rushanara was the first woman of  Bangladeshi origin to have been elected to the House of Commons, as well as one of the first female Muslim MPs.

Rushanara Ali gets involved with mentoring.

During the session we did a drama exercise, with the girls acting like they were at an award ceremony. They first worked with their mentors to write an acceptance speech detailing: what they had won the award for; what hurdles they faced along the way in striving to get the award; and, who they would like to thank for helping them along the way. 

After this the girls dressed up in scarfs, necklaces, and other jewellery myself and the mentors had brought - after all, this was a glamorous occasion! The girls then took turns in performing their speeches. The other girls displayed great fairness in listening to each other, and self-control in waiting for their turn - just some of the character values we promote at the ReachOut Club. 

Eventual winner Sophie performs her speech.

We elected Rushanara to be the judge of which award acceptance speech was the best. In the end, though all of the speeches were very well-read and touching (with some girls thanking their mentors for their help and support), we had two winners. These winners gleefully raised the trophy to an eruption of applause from the rest of the girls. 

Question time!

Rushanara then went on to talk to the group about her role as an MP, joking she would make it so school hours were longer if they weren’t nice to her! She explained her role was to care for the community and make changes to UK law when it is needed. Her speech was very inspiring, and when at the end she asked the girls who wanted to be an MP, or minister, or the Prime Minister in the future, many of them raised their hands. At the end of the session she was even asked for her autograph by the girls! A huge thanks to Rushanara Ali for visiting ReachOut and having a positive influence on the girls. 

After the project Rushanara Ali said "I was incredibly impressed by the way the young people were responding to the mentors. ReachOut is a brilliant charity that helps build confidence, presentation skills, writing skills and more. I was also impressed by the speeches the young people gave and look forward to welcoming some of them in the Houses of Parliament as future MPs or perhaps even Prime Minister!"

Jess and her mentee Anika.

Cayley Headteacher, Lissa Samuel popped in and was surprised and pleased to see all the girls participating “I was amazed to see one of the least confident girls in the group stand up and give her presentation; she would never have done that before taking part in the ReachOut project.”

Well done Cayley ReachOut Club mentors!

By Jessica Rowbotham

Cayley ReachOut Club Project Leader

ReachOut mentors and mentees with Rushanara Ali.

ReachOut Junior Mentors visit Barclays

During school holidays we try and arrange trips with clear learning value for our young people, to work places, exhibitions, museums, sporting events etc.  Last week some great guys at Barclays invited our ReachOut Junior Mentors from Bishop Challoner secondary school to the head office in Canary Wharf to get a little taste of what it’s like to work in a huge bank and to teach some public speaking and presentation skills as well. 

17 young people in Year 10 & 11 came on the trip.  As it’s still quite early in the school year there were a lot of faces I didn’t recognise, and names I didn’t know, so I was particularly interested to see how the trip unfolded.  We arrived at Barclays at 11AM, and went up to the 30^th floor to meet our hosts for the day.  It was a bit quiet to start off with in our meet & greet session, which didn’t bode well considering the theme for the day.  However, the kids gradually came out of their shells, and in the end there were some really excellent presentations delivered, with clear improvements on practices conducted earlier in the day! They had really taken on the advice of the Barclays employees when thinking about their presentations.

The Junior Mentors also got a real treat when Anne Grim (Managing Director, Global Head of Client Services at Barclays Wealth) popped in to say hi and chat to the kids about pathways into banking. Anne showed a good understanding of the issues facing young people and even encouraged them to email her if they wanted to ask anything else. The young people were really pleased that someone so senior took the time to come and meet them, and by this time there were questions aplenty!

We rounded the day off with some mixed sports at a local centre, where Justin Pickett (Junior Mentors Project Leader), was seen demonstrating some flamboyant footwork on the football pitch. It was a great day out for everyone, lots of learning and fun as well. Huge thanks to Nick Whitbread for organising everything and all his colleagues at Barclays for helping out!

By Pete Blackwell, ReachOut London Director

Photos by Chris King http://ckpho.to

Volunteer Spotlight: Rachel Arnold

Why I began volunteering with ReachOut

For a while, I had felt like I wanted to go into teaching after university so my first motivation for volunteering was to get some experience working with children. I also knew that I occasionally needed to break out of university life!

What effect do I think I had on the young people while volunteering with ReachOut?

It was important to me that I was there as someone who would listen to the mentees and be genuinely interested in their lives. I was always there for them and I think that helped build their confidence and self-belief week by week. I’m certain I made them laugh and smile, whether it was through showing them it’s okay to dance silly or telling cringe-worthy jokes.

I know I had a positive effect purely based on two examples. The first occurred while my year nine mentee and I just went through his 6 times table, over and over. It might sound repetitive but we made it into a fast competition and without a doubt, it was the best feeling when he came back the next week and still knew them! The second was a session on the use of brackets in English with my year four mentee; on the spot I developed some very over exaggerated movements where my mentee had to fill in the gaps and throw the imagined information around the room. She had the biggest smile for two hours and I guarantee I did too!

How did ReachOut help me? How do I feel I developed while I volunteered with ReachOut and what skills did I gain? 

It might sound over-dramatic but ReachOut gave my life a new purpose. In the past, I’ve struggled with all sorts of issues, particularly in my first year of university, and in all honesty I may not still be studying here if I hadn't agreed to mentor. I had to be there for someone else for a few hours a week, every week, and it kept me going.

I have loved mentoring with ReachOut because I enjoy a challenge and like having to think creatively. It has helped me to develop most of the key skills needed to be a teacher, or for any other career for that matter! My professionalism, team working skills, communication and confidence have improved, as well as my own character traits.

Has ReachOut changed my views or perspective on anything?

Yes, I realised I enjoy the buzz of doing something for nothing more than I thought possible. One thing I can guarantee is that the ReachOut team and mentees will be just as supportive as you can be for them and if you want to help make a real difference to the lives of children of all ages, ReachOut is definitely for you!

Rowathons and Keepy Uppies

A huge thank you to the staff at Macquarie Group for organising two events in their office during Foundation Week in October, a week dedicated to raising awareness of the work the Macquarie Group Foundation does to support its partner charities, and to encourage staff to donate or get involved.

Our partnership with Macquarie has developed over the past 6 years, beginning with a few employees volunteering weekly as mentors in Hackney. The company now encourages its staff to volunteer both as mentors and fundraisers, provides bro-bono office support, training and development opportunities for ReachOut staff, as well as regularly organising workshops for the young people on ReachOut’s projects.

During Foundation Week staff organised a lunch break Keepy Uppy competition in the dining area where staff could show off their footballing talents, as well as a Rowathon in the lobby to see how fast competitors could row 1000m. The Macquarie Group Foundation generously matched all donations to ReachOut during the week 2 for 1. As a result, Macquarie staff raised over £6000 for ReachOut!

Thanks and well done to all involved! 

Watch the video here: 

The ReachOut team set the scene.

Contestants dazzle observers with their skills.

High heels didn't stop the ladies getting involved...

...though they were removed for the actual challenge!

One contestant was so keen to win that he tore open his shirt in the effort! (Thankfully he did actually win in the end!)

Macquarie employees learn about ReachOut while rowing

Maquarie CEO David Fass and Macquarie Group Foundation Manager Rachel Engel are impressed by the leader board.

The leader board at the end of an energetic lunch break!

Keepy Uppy champions Katerina and Adam pose for the cameras after receiving their prizes.