Students enjoy end of term tour at Arsenal

Arsenal fans, fans of rival clubs and even non-football fans all enjoyed a special tour of the Emirates stadium in north London, home to one of the country’s most famous premiership teams.
 
ThinkForward young people from three schools in London – Highbury Grove, George Green’s and City of London Academy, Islington – were joined by five students who travelled from Kent to take part. Young people from Strood Academy, Folkestone Academy and the Marsh Academy in New Romney all made a special trip to London for the visit.
 
Jack Ferguson, who works on the community programme at the club, hosted the hour-long tour which began in the directors box. With it’s plush dining room serving a three-course meal before games, and the best view in the stadium, students saw how the people who run the club enjoy match days in comfort.
 
There was also the chance to sit in Arsene Wenger’s seat in the dug out and imagine what it must be like to hear the roars and chants of more than 60,000 fans.
 
A highlight was getting an insight into the away and home team dressing rooms. The home team’s pre and post-match prep space was certainly superior with its physio tables, a large hot sunken bath and padded seats.
 
Jack told us how Arsene Wenger had an interest in feng shui after spending time in Japan, and was involved in designing the changing room so it was horseshoe shaped – a sign of good luck – rather than square like the away team changing room – a sigh of bad luck.
 
There was also a visit to the media room, with seating for 150 journalists, where the manager hosts post-match press conferences. Impressively Wenger speaks six languages.
 
Students were fascinated to hear just how many people work for Arsenal to keep things running smoothly. With 4000 match day staff and 500 non-match day staff the club is a major employer in the area.
 
Liam Kennedy, a Year 9 pupil from George Green’s School said: “I was surprised to find out how many people work at the club and also how may questions Arsene Wenger has to answer from journalists at the end of games.”
 
For Arsenal fans and Highbury Grove students Hisham Bernasko and Zinedine Ferroukhi the behind the scenes visit was inspirational. One wants to play for the club and the other wants to run it.
 
Zinedine has dreams of being a professional footballer and playing for his team, while Hisham said: “I really enjoyed the visit. I want to work in the marketing team and I want be the boss here one day!”
 
Mickey Ambrose who organised the visit and who works at ThinkForward as the employment and education coordinator in London commented: “The trip to the Emirates was definitely fun and interesting but it also had a serious side, showing young people how a big football club employs a really wide range of people. It could be somewhere for them to work in the future, whether they are interested in hospitality, media or being a electrician or plumber. It was a real eye-opener for the students to realise that.”

ThinkForward students visit Google for Internet safety workshop

Fourteen young people from ThinkForward were thrilled to attend a workshop for secondary school students at the Google Academy in Victoria, London.

Internet Citizens is an initiative run by  Google and YouTube in partnership with UKYouth. Aimed at 13-18 year-olds, the workshops are designed to help young people navigate the internet in a safe and positive way.

Our students, seven each from City of London Academy Islington (CoLAI) and George Green’s in Tower Hamlets, were welcomed to the beach-themed offices (complete with beach balls, beach huts and giant deckchairs) with a delicious breakfast, then it was down to business with around 100 other young people from the capital.

Energetic hosts Alain Clapham and Efe Ezekiel kept the momentum going throughout the day as they led four sessions covering areas including hate speech, echo chambers, emotional manipulation and fake news. Young people were given support on how to participate safely and responsibly on the web and tips on how to use tools such as comment moderation and flagging.

Lauren, a Year 10 George Green’s pupil said: “I learned new things especially not to believe everything that goes on in social media. I won’t trust everything I read on social media now.”

Her fellow George Green’s student Georgia said: “I learned about the difference between hate speech and free speech. It’s important to understand so you don’t get into trouble. Also, I wouldn’t have checked information before, but I am more likely to check it now. It’s important to know if something is true because if someone has spread something that’s not true it could really upset someone.”

Kieran from CoLAI took part in an interview with YouTuber Nadir Hahdi who has his own YouTube channel Beni, and who produced a video to Happy by Pharrell Williams – Happy British Muslims -that’s been viewed more than two million times.

After the day, Kieran commented: “I think that it’s really good to show people the difference between hate speech and free speech and that you should not cross the line. I understand that a lot better now. I also learned now to recognise fake news which is a good skill, and to make sure you look into news before you share it, to make sure you don’t spread things that are wrong.”

Robbie, the ThinkForward coach at CoLAI felt the day had been useful for his students on two levels: “I feel comfortable now knowing that they are better equipped to navigate the web and social media content more safely.  They have a good understanding of how to deal with negativity they may face online and have an insight into how their comments may affect others.

“Another benefit was that the students got to see a new office space, which gave them exposure to a very different – and trendy –  working environment.”

 

ThinkForward celebrates National Mentoring Day

At ThinkForward we really value our amazing business mentors. They contribute a huge amount of advice and support to the young people we work with and provide important insights about what it’s like to be in a work environment.

We are celebrating National Mentoring Day by hosting a meeting of a group of our business mentoring partners, and the Communities and Enterprise Company who support us to do our mentoring work. We’ll be welcoming Nomura, ICG, Blackstone, EY and Ardian to share best practice and thank them for allowing our young people to benefit from the personal and professional experiences of their talent pools.

One of our major business mentoring partnerships is with the asset management company ICG. They have been partnered with us for four years and have around 18 mentors working with ThinkForward young people who go to LEAP (London East Alternative Provision).

Head of HR, Jo Zendel explained why ICG takes part: ‘This is good for our more junior employees to develop their management skills and their coaching skills, while for some of our colleagues it’s more about them giving a bit back. But above all, it’s about developing skills for the young people.

‘Our employees get a lot out of this because they build a relationship, they see the kids develop and they see the impact. They give their time because they enjoy it too.’

Long-serving mentor Andy Lewis, is ICG’s chief legal officer. He said: ‘It’s the one chance we get to do this kind of thing.  I have been mentoring with ThinkForward for four years. It has been really good to see the different classes come through. Every year I can see positive changes in the young people, and we do see their development. It’s very different from everything else I do and for me that makes it very interesting and worthwhile.

Imogen Lush, who works in HR and payroll, believes that mentoring breaks down barriers and prepares students for the world of work: ‘I think it helps young people see that people who work in offices are approachable, we are just people like them. It’s important that young people feel comfortable coming into this sort of environment. If they have a job interview in the future they will be more relaxed and can see it as a normal experience.

Feedback from the LEAP students demonstrates just how much they get out of the sessions.  Rahat said: “I learned that you have to be brave when talking in public, it was scary but I felt proud after.”

Naheedul, who was partnered with Andy Lewis commented: “My mentor was calm. This was his fourth time doing mentoring and he had so much knowledge I can learn from him.

The final word goes to Ellis who said after his business mentoring session: “Today was wicked as I got to be around successful people who really want to help me in my future, I just want to say thanks to my mentor for all his advice.”