WHAT WE DO

Some of these examples come from the work of Mulberry Schools Trust in recent years. These are the type of opportunities that Mulberry Schools Foundation will extend to partner schools and communities nationally and internationally.

REMOVING BARRIERS

Hardship grants

Mulberry Schools Foundation awards grants to current and former students of Mulberry Schools Trust who are facing disadvantage, to fund their participation in enriching opportunities or to relieve financial hardship to enable them to pursue their education.

Examples include:

  • contributions to the cost of school trips and visits
  • expenses for work experience, volunteering experience, internships, participation in conferences/seminars/ workshops
  • fees for university summer schools and work-readiness programmes
  • travel scholarships

Adult learning

Mulberry Schools Foundation will extend the scope of, and participation in, the adult learning opportunities provided through Mulberry Schools Trust and will commission and fund similar programmes in other communities. Current provision through the Trust includes literacy, numeracy, ESOL, IT skills, work-skills, interpreting and childcare.

The Foundation will also commission and fund community arts events, involving parents, past students and local community members working in partnership with professional artists. These will build on projects such as the Rightful Place Theatre Company, established by Mulberry Schools Trust in 2014 to provide a creative space for minority ethnic women in Tower Hamlets.

I have just received my Level 3 Childcare certificate. Thank you so much for encouraging me to take the Level 2 Childcare course at Mulberry, which led me to Level 3. I now have a licence to practise.

Adult learner

CREATING OPPORTUNITY

International partnerships

Mulberry Schools Foundation will have an international reach, providing opportunities for young people and adults in our communities to experience new countries, contexts and challenges. It will help students work with their peers from other countries to build mutually beneficial networks, programmes and development projects that lead to lasting change.

The Foundation’s first international study tour in October 2019 took Tower Hamlets students and staff to Singapore and Malaysia with a focus on women and young people’s leadership and voice. The study tour piloted anticipated starting points for the Foundation’s future international partnership work.

Students and staff learned from and worked with:

  • young people and professionals from a range of schools and colleges
  • the British High Commissions in Singapore and Malaysia
  • the Malaysian Parliament and its Deputy Minister for Women
  • young people’s campaigning organisations addressing climate change and suffrage
  • networks that give girls and women a voice

Wherever we met young people, our experiences related to theirs and it was easy to communicate openly with them. We have more similarities than differences.

UK PARTICIPANT

_________

I learnt that when you are really being listened to, you find you have powerful things to say.

MALAYSIA PARTICIPANT

GIVING VOICE

Global Girl Leading

Following Michelle Obama’s launch of “Let Girls Learn” at Mulberry School for Girls in 2015, the school launched Girl Leading, a residential camp which developed girls’ leadership skills, with a focus on increasing access to education for every girl around the world. The programme has since evolved into Global Girl Leading, which builds off Mulberry’s long history of conferences and the ethos of Girl Leading. It aims to build girls’ teamwork, negotiation skills and confidence alongside their leadership skills. For more information, please visit the dedicated page.

INNOVATING FOR CHANGE AND SUSTAINING IMPACT

Research

The Foundation will conduct and commission research into areas of concern for the charity, making an international contribution to educational improvement, policy and knowledge. Research will particularly focus on the potential contribution of education to the advancement of equality and social justice and will draw on the voices and experiences of young people and other communities less often heard.

Shared Resources

Mulberry Schools Foundation publishes models, resources and evaluations from its events so that others can use them in their own organisations or to inform events of their own.