Always on
This project successfully funded on 8th May 2026, you can still support them with a donation.
THE HOLD FAST SCHOOLS MISSION CHARITY (SC054902)
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
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Aim
The Hold Fast Schools Mission Charity aims to fund every state high school in the UK with a fantastically inspiring Hold Fast Challenge day!
The purpose of the Hold Fast Schools Mission Charity is the advancement of mental and physical health through the personal development of young people, for the public benefit.
We aim to help students develop the resilience, confidence and mindset needed to navigate the challenges of education, future employment and adult life. Through shared challenge, pupils learn to communicate effectively, persevere when things feel difficult, and recognise their own capacity to succeed.
A core principle of the charity is accessibility. We work in partnership with schools, commercial organisations and community groups to ensure that young people can take part regardless of background or circumstance.
The Hold Fast Challenge day is a dynamic, fluid, and hugely rewarding experience.
The pupils are greeted by the Hold Fast team off the transport, and are given an introductory briefing on the day ahead.
This is reinforcing the core values of the day. The mindset, teamwork, fun, and focus.
(This repeats what the pupils have been told in a previous school visit)
Once they are briefed and satisfied, the pupils are split into mini teams of 4, or 5. They are deliberately separated from at least half their friends at this point, with the intention of making sure the day is spent with pupils who they might never normally interact with.
Once in their teams, they are issued wetsuits, wetsuit boots, and swim fins.
They are then taken to their challenge location where they are formed up in a hollow square in their teams with the HF team in the centre of the square.
At this point they given their safety briefing and demonstrations, followed by a pre-challenge large group photo, and then they begin!
The challenge is a continuous mix of exercises based on the Clearance Diver branches training. The pupils will perform land, and water-based exercises, always in their mini teams, with focus on communication, fun, leadership, (A different leader for each exercise!) effort, and thought.
The exercises include water jumps, finning on their backs, relay races, log carries in teams, OPPO carry’s, bodyweight exercises, and much more. The emphasis is on the mindset -
No fuss
No excuses
Just get it done
We look to develop the pupil’s self-pride, confidence, and team ethic throughout the challenge.
Some of the exercises are team based, and some are individual effort.
The challenge itself is not any kind of military bootcamp. It has a terrifically fun vibe and is always ultra positive. It does not matter how fit, fast, or strong a pupil is compared to their peers. What matters is their mindset, and this is reinforced at every step of the challenge.
Between each exercise the pupils are mustered back in their teams in the square, where they are visually, and verbally assessed for health, given fluids, and then they are given quiz questions to answer in their teams. The correct teams get to name an exercise for the rest of the pupils. It is a fantastic method to show the pupils how to maintain calm and focus when physically tired.
Once the challenge is finished, the pupils are given time to cool down, and a post-challenge photo is taken. They then attend a prize-giving and t-shirt presentation.
Nene Park Academy -
This created a fantastic environment for our students to really get involved in the well organised and greatly thought through activities the team had in store for us. The students got wet and muddy but had smiles beaming from ear to ear with lots of laughter building team cohesion, resilience, determination as well as forming new friendships. From jumping off the pontoon, crawling through the mud to carrying logs each activity allowed individuals to experience challenge and was a great induction for our year 12 student to their Sixth Form journey. We look forward to attending the programme again next year with a new cohort of year 12 students.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made