SOCIAL Enterprise Schools, a Scottish-based programme which empowers young people to set up socially conscious businesses, is expanding its programme to London and the South of England.
The Social Enterprise Academy (which runs the Schools programme) already delivers programmes as far afield as Australia, Egypt, Malawi, Malaysia and South Africa, and after a successful pilot in Lambeth and Greenwich in 2020, is broadening its reach in England.
The organisation aims to reach 50 schools across the region by 2023 having already reached more than 1,100 schools in Scotland and overseas. It also aims to reach every school in Scotland by 2024.
Through giving young people a real-life experience of running their own social enterprise, Social Enterprise Schools delivers transformational learning which impacts students, their school, and their community. In particular, the programme enables young people to their financial literacy, engage with their community to become more active citizens and thoughtfully explore important social issues – all key features of the English National Curriculum Framework and Citizenship Curriculum.
The English programme is being developed and rolled out by Matt Nicol, a former English and History teacher, and Policy Designer at the Department for Education. He said: “Having seen the success that the Social Enterprise Schools programme has had on Scottish school pupils’ engagement with education, improvement in well-being, and attainment outcomes, it’s very exciting to be giving English school pupils the same opportunities.”
Neil McLean, Chief Executive at Social Enterprise Academy, added: “Social Enterprise Schools gives young people the opportunity to make real change to issues that matter to them – whether that’s tackling poverty, climate change or intolerance – while giving them hands-on experience in running a business. The young people take the lead on the programme with our facilitators, avoiding any additional burden for the already pressurised workloads of teachers.”
“We look forward to rolling out the programme in England and supporting the next generation of socially conscious business leaders.”
To find out more about Social Enterprise Schools, please visit:https://www.socialenterprise.academy/social-enterprise-schools
