Springboard provides newly-arrived refugee youth ages 13-18 a vital opportunity to make friends, acquire English language and life skills, and start to rebuild their lives in the UK.
We’re a small and nimble charity that’s been busy this past year growing our programmes to support young people through the pandemic and after months of lockdown and lost learning.
This Christmas, we're raising funds to scale our work in 2022 to reach more young people and open an East London campus, alongside our North London site. Could you chip in toward this goal? We’re grateful for every bit of help.
Well, we wish we didn’t have to.
But in a country that's so hostile to immigration, at a moment when schools are too underfunded to provide adequate support to pupils with complex needs, our services are essential.
Young people who make the difficult journey to the UK, seeking refuge and solidarity, are met with disorientation and isolation when they arrive.
They’re forced to navigate complicated housing and legal systems. They’re often alone here without any family or friends. They’re also required to enrol in school right away, even if they have little to no English language skills to prepare them to succeed in their new circumstances.
Without the right educational and wellbeing support, these young people will miss their chance to progress at a natural pace and reach their fullest potential. That’s where we come in.
Our holistic programmes run between and during school terms to plug the gaps in the mainstream education system. That means every half-term, summer holiday and on Saturdays.
Young people learn English through a creative and empowering ESOL curriculum.
They receive academic and wellbeing support.
They learn life skills that are vital for independent living, but won’t be taught to them in school. Like budgeting, sexual health and advocating for their rights.
They go on trips that familiarise them with London, their new home, and help build friendships and confidence.
We’ve secured partial grant funding for 2022 but it doesn’t go far enough to meet the need we know is there. The need we hear about from young people, social workers, schools and councils we work with.
That’s why we’re asking for your support.
This Christmas we’re fundraising £5,000 to consolidate our year-round programming and open a learning campus in East London to reach young people that our North London site in Brent can’t. A new campus could help us support another 100 young people year-round.
→ In 2017 we could only afford to run summer holiday programmes.
→ In 2020 we expanded to year-round programming during term holidays.
→ In 2021 we launched a Saturday school where we’ve worked with 100+ young people in North London over a sustained period to help them build community, confidence and language.
→ In 2022, with your help, we’ll go further. All money raised will support refugee young people in London. It will fund: on-site facilitators, field trips, snacks for young people, classroom and workshop materials, PPE for staff and young people, and operational costs so we can grow.
We could talk your ear off about our unique approach to education.
From how we help our graduates become Peer Leaders who co-design our programmes and support other young people in the classroom. To our trauma-informed curriculum and training for staff.
If you’re curious, visit our website or get in touch to learn more:
https://www.springboardyouth.com
[email protected]
