Hi there!

At the beginning of this new academic year we bring you news about many programmes to get involved in. Whatever your passion – sports, art, singing,  dancing, speaking out on issues or thinking about your future career….you should find something here!

So please read the stories below and click on the links to get more information. This year is going to be spectacular!

Trudy Kilcullen MBE
CEO, Jack Petchey Foundation

Sir Jack Petchey CBE, received his knighthood at Buckingham Palace on Thursday 9th June. It just goes to show, you are never too old to be recognised for your achievements. Sir Jack, at 91 years of age, this was indeed an amazing achievement! Well done! We are so PROUD! His backing for organisations supporting young people has led to the Jack Petchey Foundation investing over £100m in such projects. Sir Jack's belief in recognising young people has led to over 150,000 Achievement Awards being given out.

Sir Jack said "More than receiving recognition myself I am proudest of  the recognition this knighthood gives to the Jack Petchey Foundation and the young people we support. I always say ‘If you think you can, you can’ whatever your background. Being recognised with this honour proves just that to the young people we work with. They can achieve, make positive contributions to society, and they will be satisfied in their lives.”

The Queen’s Birthday Honours List also revealed Trudy Kilcullen, CEO of the Jack Petchey Foundation will receive a MBE. Trudy received her award both for her work in youth charities and her voluntary service.

Trudy Kilcullen MBE, CEO of the Jack Petchey Foundation said “I was really surprised, I have always tried to ‘do my bit’ to support young people in our communities and give them opportunities to shine but I never expected to receive this honour! The award helps to highlight the value of youth work and some great charities. I would like to thank all who contribute, for their support”.

The search is on to find groups to be part of the UK’s biggest Glee Club competition as entries open for the 6th annual Jack Petchey Glee Club Challenge 2017. It’s completely free to enter and this year even more young people will get the chance to ‘tread the boards’ and share in a £5,000 prize money pot! The Glee Club Challenge is open to any group of young people with a passion for performing, aged 11-25 and based in Essex or London. Groups must be a minimum of eight and a maximum of 30 performers - the only thing needed is ambition, enthusiasm and potential.

As well as FREE entry groups also receive:

• Free assessment/ workshop visits for schools
• Free workshops and bootcamps with theatre and music industry professionals
• Free participation in Regional Finals at prestigious venues across London and Essex
• Free participation in the Grand Final at the amazing Indigo at the O2 Arena on Sunday 19th March 2017.

Celebrity judges at the Grand Final will include top TV and West End star John Partridge who played Christian in ‘EastEnders’. He is currently touring with ‘Chicago – the Musical’ and can be seen in CBBC TV’s newest talent show ‘Taking the Next Step’. John said “The Glee Club Challenge is inspirational. I have been in this business for 30 years and I am as inspired today as I have ever been by the fantastic groups we judge. It’s not about being perfect and polished. We are looking for potential so come and show us if you feel you have it. Don’t be shy come and do it. We are looking for potential with a capital P!”

Find out more

Since September 2015, First Give and the Jack Petchey Foundation have collaborated to provide schools and students in London and Essex with the tools to give their time and talent to improve their local communities.

This academic year First Give, with our support will offer 140 schools in London and Essex the chance to empower young people to engage with local charities, meaning that around 25,200 students will be responsible for distributing £120,000 to their local communities. Along the way, the young people participating in the programme will develop key professional skills such as public speaking, teamwork, resilience and leadership attributes.

The First Give programme is fully resourced with high quality hard copy student workbooks and all the electronic resources needed for teachers to deliver the programme. First Give has a small number of places left for this academic year – so if you know a school who would like to run the programme then get in touch at louisa@firstgive.co.uk by October half-term.

This programme helps young people to become change agents for the future and to continue to prove to them that if they think they can, they can. 

Find out more

The Jack Petchey Foundation is sponsoring the Anthony Nolan Supporter Awards for the first time.

Anthony Nolan, the UK charity that saves and improves the lives of people with blood cancer, is holding its annual awards ceremony on 22nd November in the House of Commons.

The ceremony recognises those who have made an exceptional contribution to the charity’s work, with 15 categories encompassing a range of achievements, from clinical research to stem cell donor recruitment.

The John Petchey Young Hero of the Year Award will be given to a young person who has shown remarkable strength and spirit while raising awareness for Anthony Nolan.

Richard Davidson, Director of Engagement at Anthony Nolan said, ‘We are delighted that the Jack Petchey Foundation has taken the opportunity to honour John’s memory in this way.’

So that more people learn about this work with blood cancer patients, Anthony Nolan has launched a bold new brand awareness campaign, with posters set to be displayed in ten major tube stations across London.

Once again the Jack Petchey Foundation is working in partnership with Media Trust, YouTube and the London Evening Standard to provide YouTube skills training.

Schools and Youth organisations can host a free one-day media workshop. Through the training young people will be equipped with the technical skills to produce vlogs (video blogs) with their smartphones, as well as taking part in character building sessions to help them discover and express their passion, providing them with valuable tools to help develop their future careers.

Pupils will also be entered into the Vlogstar Challenge competition. The winner will receive £2,000 for their organisation, camera equipment and mentoring from YouTube’s experts.

Watch a vlog made by 2016 winner Abigail from the Prince’s Trust called 

Leaving University

Find out more

Last year we celebrated 10 years of “Speak Out” Challenge workshops, training over 134,000 young people since the programme started. The training students receive is designed to build confidence, enabling young people from all backgrounds to speak with clarity, conviction and impact.

Each year over 18,000 Year 10 students participate in the Challenge! They compete in school assemblies for a chance to represent their school at one of 37 Regional Finals, 15 Regional Finalists then compete for  a chance to be crowned the Grand Champion. Last year’s winner was Ajaye McDonald of Bishop Justus C of E School, Bromley. Ajaye spoke about ‘Living your best life’ and the challenges that people face on a daily basis, particularly living with a disability, outlining his own personal experience. On hearing that he had won Ajaye said: “Wooooooow, this has been amazing. I’d advise everyone to follow their dream no matter what!”

To watch Ajaye’s inspiring speech please click here

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On 16th June more than 200 disabled children from 25 schools were in attendance at Panathlon’s showpiece event, held at the Copper Box Arena in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. 

It marked the climax of 16 qualifying events since January, which have featured more than 1,200 children from over 100 schools across all 32 London boroughs. Barking & Dagenham were the winners.

Liz Johnson, triple Paralympic medallist, said “You get so much from sport regardless of what level you play at and everybody deserves that opportunity. What Panathlon does that a lot of other charitable organisations don’t offer is the opportunity to compete. The fact that we’re in an Olympic venue is just the icing on the cake.”

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The annual Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Faraday Challenge is an engineering-based competition for schools. Six teams of six students from Year 8 compete against one another to see who can design, create and promote the best solution to a given challenge. All challenges are genuine, real-life engineering problems.

For the 2016-17 academic year the IET are working in partnership with the Jack Petchey Foundation and offering 50 Faraday Challenge Days to you at no cost to your school. All we ask is that you provide a hall or large classroom and we do the rest!

Each event is open to three schools who can each bring 12 students. If you are interested in hosting one of these special Faraday Challenge Days next season or would like to attend an event in your area we can send you an application form. Just e-mail:

faraday@theiet.org

Find out more

Time flies when you're having fun! Step into Dance will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2017. This year promises to be full of exciting surprises. Two dates have already been confirmed! Step into Battle, the day of Street Dance will be held at Stratford Circus on 14th of January 2017. Their end-of-year celebration, Step LIVE!, will take place at the Southbank Centre on Monday the 17th of July 2017, and it should be the biggest yet!

But you don't have to wait! Step into Dance is offering FREE one-off Step Together workshops to all schools on the programme during the first term of 2016/17. These workshops encourage teachers and schools to work inclusively. They bring together students from mainstream and special educational needs schools to dance together and explore their creativity.

If your school is part of Step into Dance, arrange your Step Together workshop by e-mailing: 

stepintodance@rad.org.uk

The 2015/16 academic year saw a 100% increase in the number of young people across London and Essex taking part in the Young Enterprise Interview and Employability Skills Masterclass supported by the Jack Petchey Foundation. An amazing 5,949 young people across 48 Schools and Colleges worked alongside 987 business volunteers to improve their performance at interviews, increase their self-confidence and hone their career intentions. Of the 13 skill areas tested, 95% of students improved at least two of these.  

One of the schools involved said ‘Students have picked up invaluable skills; this was a really valuable day for our students, especially getting to meet, talk to and get feedback from industry experts’.

Young Enterprise and the Jack Petchey Foundation are now looking forward to engaging a further 6,000 young people in the 2016/17 academic year. If your school would like to take part please contact your local Young Enterprise Manager or e-mail:

info@y-e.org.uk

Children & the Arts is delighted to announce, in partnership with the Jack Petchey Foundation, the Children & the Arts Secondary School Art Competition, open to 11- 16 year olds from state-maintained secondary schools in London and Essex. 

Entrants can submit drawing, painting, print-making and collage between January and March 2017.  So start thinking about what you want to create now!

Entries will be judged by a panel of celebrity experts and prizes awarded to the winners and runners-up.  Neil Buchanan from Art Attack will be on the panel! Full entry details will be available soon - to be the first to find out more, and to be added to the competition mailing list please email:

 administration@childrenandarts.org.uk

The Jack Petchey Table Tennis Programme has got a brand new website! The revamped site is now the place to go for information on the schools’ scheme, youth club scheme, schools competitions, and the latest programme news.

With the new school year underway, the Jack Petchey Schools Competitions are just around the corner. Qualifiers will be held from late October to early December. Watch out for emails confirming times and dates, whilst the information & entry forms will also be published on the programme website.

Find out more

In this regular feature we tell you how the Jack Petchey Foundation has changed the lives of people through short examples. It gives an insight into the difference the Foundation makes.

In June 2016 a £300 Individual Grant for Volunteering from the Foundation enabled Eleanor Roberts, an Occupational Therapy student at Brunel University, to volunteer with the Sri Lankan charity, the Sunera Foundation. Her duties included running therapeutic workshops that used the creative activities of music, drama, dance and art to give those taking part the chance to develop and improve motor skills, confidence and communication skills.

Eleanor  said “I feel I have learnt a great deal from this experience. The opportunity to work alongside the Sri Lankan charity the Sunera Foundation has been the most inspiring experience of my trip and from their ethos, the hard work of the staff and their skills, warmth and kindness, I have been able to learn most.”

She is now using this knowledge to help Magpie Dance, a UK charity which runs inclusive contemporary dance classes for adults and children with learning disabilities.

As you may be aware #iwillWeek 2016 is fast approaching and they want you to be involved.

We'll be taking part and between 21st - 25th November they are asking all #iwill partners, to Show & Tell others about the impact of young people leading positive change. Whether it’s showcasing youth social action at an existing gathering during the week or hosting your own event, you’ll be part of a growing UK-wide movement that is enabling young people to make a difference.

To help with this they have created an #iwillWeek resource pack.   It includes invites, posters, campaign background, a guide to running an event and much more – do take a look.

Find out more