Future Foundations

YOU’RE INVITED! In just 50 days, Future Foundations will celebrate 20 years of equipping young people to thrive!

We’re excited to invite you to join us in this milestone celebration with FFers old & new, near & far 💙

Together we have equipped over 100,000 young people in 105 countries to be leaders in their lives & society 🌍

We want to reconnect with everyone who’s been involved in the journey & get your input into how we celebrate 🥳

So, whether you were a…

🌟 Programme participant
🌟 Family member of a participant
🌟 Client or partner
🌟 FF Network
🌟 FF friend 🤗

We would love to hear from you ☎️

Register your interest in participating in the celebrations (virtual or in person), complete our 1 minute survey & share your FF story (optional) here:

🔗 https://score.future-foundations.co.uk/20yearanniversary

By registering interest you will be the first to hear about our celebrations, opportunities to get involved in our programmes CanTeam & Global Social Leaders & will receive an invitation to join our new online community & access a free trial at our Clapham Co-working space! 🤩

Help us spread the word 🙏 — share this post & our survey with friends & colleagues who have been part of our movement.

Thank you for being a part of our community! 🙌

Let’s celebrate together two decades of catalysing change in schools and communities 🚀

Last week, from three schools from across the UK came together to celebrate the impact their Project has had in their schools and local community. We loved hearing about all the amazing work students have been doing by uniting in compassion to make a positive difference in their school. We were inspired by all the young enthusiasm, passion and dedication.

Check out the amazing projects from these three schools below!

Dukesgate Academy focused on 'No Poverty' as they researched that 5 million adults in the UK live in clothes poverty and 300,000 tonnes of clothes end up in landfill. Students have organised clothes banks in their school which have been hugely successful!

Cottesmore St. Mary's decided to grow their own tomato plants and sell these to raise money in collaboration with a local secondary school. As part of this event students, parents and staff were also encouraged to bring in empty plastic bottles to allow people to refill these at the event. All the tomato plants were sold!

Shaftesbury High School students worked hard to reduce the amount of plastic used in their school through their project on plastic pollution. Changemakers raised awareness in their school by delivering an assembly and doing weekly litter picking, encouraging other classes to get involved!

A big thank you to all the teachers who supported students in creating their presentations and delivering their projects in school this year. Thank you to Unilever for hosting the event and Global Action Plan for supporting our students on the day.

🔎 Looking for a unique space near ?

If you or your organisation would like access to a flexible and affordable space in off Stormont Road, alongside purpose driven organisations, we have space on our floor for new individuals or a VSO/SME to join us, from 1 day to 5 days a week.

Perfect for those fed up with working from home and like to walk to work.

You will have access to meeting rooms, a private office, kitchen, shower and wider facilities including a basketball court, courtyard and commercial kitchen space.

Please check out our unique workspace overview below and register interest or PM me.

If you have friends or know of organisations that may benefit please do share the link or PM us: 👉 https://bit.ly/3KJqaE3

Thank you

Our Future Group - Clapham Co-Working Space - Register interest to join us Register interest to join our co-working space community

The is celebrating today!

This year the focus is on land restoration, desertification and drought resilience under the slogan “Our land. Our future. We are .”

Every year, a staggering 12 million hectares of land are lost to degradation, impacting food and water supplies across the globe. Every five seconds, the equivalent of one football pitch of soil is eroded. Yet, it takes 1,000 years to generate 3 centimetres of topsoil. Almost 60 per cent of all species live in soil, making land the planet’s most biodiverse habitat.

Habitats are being lost to expanding cities and increased farming endangering many plants and animals. Did you know that 15% of native UK species are already at risk of extinction?

Concerned about these and other environmental issues, at School in Romsey united in compassion to take action in the and planted an impressive 400 saplings in the school grounds. They used their lunchtimes to plant them, showing a huge amount of commitment to the project. were very proud to have established an ethos in the school that values the importance of environmental issues. Since they began the Dirt Is Good Project, further staff have addressed climate change in their assemblies and changes have been made to how they recycle as a school. It is much more on people's radar and agenda than previously.

What is your school doing to celebrate ? Share your updates on our website👉: https://www.dirtisgoodproject.com/uk/the-good-stuff
and join other schools in the UK uniting in compassion to take action for our environment.

Don't know where to start? Download our free Fact Sheet Life on Land https://ow.ly/7n1f50Ro6V8 and inspire your students to protect and take care of our environment.

Today the is celebrating 🌳 🌳

It is an opportunity for people of all ages to celebrate and learn about endangered species and how to protect them. 2024 is particularly special because it comes just after the 50th Anniversary of the Endangered Species Act in December of last year.

The Endangered Species Act is a landmark piece of conservation legislation protecting our nation’s fish, plants, and wildlife and we celebrate it–and the species it safeguards–every day.

Did you know that:

❗ In the UK, more than half of our species have declined in the last 50 years

❗ 11% of our insect species are endangered. The number of bees and hoverflies. butterflies and moths, and beetles are plummeting.

❗ Insects are going extinct eight times faster than mammals, birds and reptiles?

Do you want to find out about more interesting facts about our species and what you can do to protect them?

Download our free Fact Sheet Life on Land https://ow.ly/YuGy50Rp3K5 and engage your students to take environmental action to protect endangered wildlife species.

Sign Up to the Dirt Is Good Project here 👉https://ow.ly/FzYW50Rp3K3 and use our library of free engaging classroom resources, including lesson plans, factsheets, worksheets, and assembly packs, to guide students through a student-led, collaborative process of designing and delivering an environmental action project in their community.

Endangered Species Coalition

💚 It's ! 💚

Today the Project is showcasing some amazing work from schools across the UK who have united in compassion to raise awareness and promote Mental Health and wellbeing:

⭐ Wood Green Academy - The School Run was an ongoing activity at Wood Green Academy but attendance was always very low. decided to get stuck in promoting attendance and increasing the number of participants as they recognise that being physically active can have a positive impact on a person’s mental health. Thanks to their perseverance, they were able to motivate and encourage not only students but also teachers to join the club, with around 50 students coming along each week!
⭐ - took action with around 100 students across the school to explore the impact of social media on mental health and to take action to tackle the stigma that still surrounds mental health, particularly for boys. gained the trust of their younger peers and encouraged them to open up about their feelings. They felt confident to lead discussions on mental health promoting their key message that there is no shame in talking about it.
⭐ - asked students in their school why mental health is important and what they can do to help others. They used the responses to create their own poster about mental health and wellbeing to be displayed on the school's walls.

For more details on their inspirational stories check out the Good Stuff page here 👉 https://ow.ly/xck350Rp4mK

There is still time to sign up to the https://www.dirtisgoodproject.com/uk/sign-up and take action on Mental Health or any other social issue that your students care about. No project is too small and everything counts towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Mental Health Foundation

📣 It's next week. Running from 13 to 19 May, the theme this year will be “Movement: Moving more for our mental health".

The UK is facing an escalating crisis of mental health problems in our young people. In 2023, about 1 in 5 children and young people aged 8 to 25 years had a probable mental disorder, such as depression or anxiety. Good mental health allows children to develop resilience and grow into well-rounded, healthy adults.

This let's find moments for movement in our daily routines. When life’s busy, it can be tricky finding time for wellbeing-boosting activities. But finding moments for movement might be easier than you think. Going for a walk in your neighbourhood, putting on your favourite music and dancing around the living room or chair exercises when you’re watching television. These moments will all add up!

Is your school planning to celebrate this important week?

⭐ Why not explore our free Good Health & Wellbeing Factsheet http://ow.ly/capC50Ope7x with your students?

⭐ Sign up to the http://ow.ly/jxaN50Opeuv to access a wider range of free, high-quality resources to support students aged 7-14 to design a project that takes action for Mental Health Awareness Week.

⭐Take part in the 💚Wear it Green Campaign💚 on 16 May run by Mental Health Foundation and share your on social media

Mental Health Foundation

Today the is 💡 spotlighting St. Dominic's Grammar School Belfast. For a third year running, they took part in the Peer Coaching Programme where a group of committed Y13 Peer Coaches led younger to take social or environmental action.

Passionate about addressing poverty and helping vulnerable people, students united in compassion to complete multiple projects:

💥 Making Food Hampers to be donated to St Vincent de Paul charity

💥 Collecting money to buy toys for the local West Belfast Food Bank

💥 Holding a bake sale to raise funds for Concern.

💥 Having a fun fundraiser with ‘Guess the mini eggs in the jar” and 'Just Dance' for the charity Trocaire.

“ The Dirt is Good project is fun! We were able to plan and do tasks that really helped others!” said one Peer Coach.

We would like to congratulate St. Dominic's Grammar School Belfast for another successful year running the . You have inspired us with your commitment and compassionate values and we hope that you'll continue to take collective action on the environmental and social causes that you care about.

Feeling inspired? Find out more about this story here https://ow.ly/RLuu50RpgXy and about other schools who are taking action in the on our Website's Global Stories - https://ow.ly/w3so50RpgXw

Do you want to join thousands of other schools across the UK and get involved?

Use our library 📚 of free engaging classroom resources, including lesson plans, factsheets, worksheets, and assembly packs, to guide students through a student-led, collaborative process of designing and delivering a social or environmental action project in their community. 👉 Sign Up to the Dirt IS Good Project https://ow.ly/lCB050RpaUW

Happy 🌎

📢Remember you can download the editable 'Our Earth' assembly pack to inspire your whole school to take action for Earth Day.

Sign up today to download the assembly pack and access a library of free resources https://ow.ly/qecM50RhWE3

✨Looking for ? Check out some Earth Day stories below ✨

🌊The Regis School were passionate about protecting marine life and improving their local community. They collaborated with the Marine Conservation Society to organise a . then created fish sculptures from the litter they collected and displayed these around the school to raise awareness of the impact littering has on our ocean and the animals living there.

🌊 from Embley School interviewed a Marine biologist about the impact of waste and pollution on our oceans. They delivered a whole school assembly to raise awareness of the environmental issues facing our Earth and organised a "Trash-ion" show showcasing recycled fashion, which nearly 100 students, parents and teachers attended!

🌍Parkgate House School celebrated with a trip to their local Common, helping to mulch the earth around young trees and picking up litter. Back at school, organised a bake sale to raise money for a local organisation that plants trees to increase biodiversity in the Common.

We would love to hear about the actions your students have taken this month. Tag us using the hashtag .

🌟 Submissions for the AWS GetIT UK Competition are officially OPEN today! 🌟

We can't wait to see the brilliant ideas that students across the UK have crafted as they combine technology with creativity to design their 'app for good' ideas. An amazing 149 schools have enthusiastically participated in this year's programme, making it one of the biggest cohorts we've had in 5 fantastic years of running the programme here in the UK!

With so many innovative submissions pouring in, our AWS judges are gearing up for the challenge of identifying the top contenders. We're excited to find out who it will be.

Curious about what awaits this year? Take a look at the talent showcased by last year's winners from St George's School, Edinburgh. Check out their inspiring work here: https://bit.ly/3OJ2fWN

AWS GetIT competition aims to encourage girls into tech | Computer Weekly Winners of this year’s GetIT competition, designed at exposing girls to STEM, have been announced

Get inspired this by 's in collaboration with Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences.

started by learning about recording the weather at the Whipple Museum of the History of Science in Cambridge and then visited the to find out about extinction and the changing climate. After this, they worked with a local artist to design an art installation to tell the story of at the . This involved making hundreds of origami butterflies from recycled paper and designing protest-style banners with messages about the Changemakers' thoughts and feelings on . The installation is due to open on (April 22nd)!

You can read other inspiring stories on the website: Global Stories - https://ow.ly/8Iyn50RhXFI

Do you want to join the movement of schools taking environmental action to protect our # planet?

👉Sign up to gain access to the 'Our Earth' assembly pack to deliver an assembly on and inspire your students to take environmental action for Our Earth.

👉Download the SDG Climate Action factsheet to take action for and explore issues with your students: https://ow.ly/6mji50RhXFJ