Envision Project

Since the Autumn Term, year 12 students at Maria Fidelis have been taking part in Community-Apprentice, an extra-curricular programme run by the youth charity Envision (www.envision.org.uk).

Running in schools across Hackney and Camden, Community-Apprentice gives young people a platform to tackle a community issue they care about. With weekly support from Envision, the students design and carry out their own social action project.

The programme features several challenges to help young people develop the skills they’ll need for their projects to succeed. These skills, such as communication skills, will also contribute to their employability.

Last term, the students had the first of their challenges; Meet the Street, where they went out on the streets of Euston to establish what community issues local residents felt needed combating. The feedback that they got helped them decide that they want to tackle the issue of unhealthy relationships in young people.

The students have decided to plan a variety of workshops that they will run with Years 7 & 8 across three schools, including their own, to educate them on healthy relationships and how to be aware of abuse in relationships. To prepare for this, the group have been working with Tender, a charity that works to promote healthy relationships based on equality and respect. Alongside Tender, they will put together resources and create activities for the young people to do during these workshops. The group, under the name Re(a)lationships want the workshops to be both informative and interactive to promote their message; “Reject disrespect in order to protect”.

The students recently had their third challenge, Rep-Present, which took place at the Abbey Community Centre in Kilburn. At this event, they joined students from schools across Camden to pitch their project idea to local community leaders, in a bid to win funding. The judges included Councillor Leila Roy, Belsize Ward and Tulip Siddiq, Parliamentary Candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn.

The Maria Fidelis students were delighted to win £100 which they will spend over the course of the term to turn their project into a reality.