Travelling scholarships open horizons
Two of our current scholars, Wayne and Warren, were given a life-changing opportunity to spend July 2022 in Uganda (pictured above) working with the charity Justice Defenders (formerly the Africa Prison Project). It came thanks to our Travelling Scholarship, funded by the Henry Oldfield Trust. They joined Justice Defenders’ programme to bring education and rehabilitation to Uganda’s prisoners. Warren kept a diary during his 5-week stay: ‘This morning,’ he wrote, ‘I had the privilege to run a session on reintegration to those imprisoned, some of whom have been in prison for 20 years.’
Confident growth
We are offering online ‘confident growth’ training sessions with volunteer Nadine Shenton (right), a leading voiceover artist and actor. They provide scholars with an opportunity to develop their presentation skills for the jobs’ market. Next session August 30 at 3pm. Contact Abi Andrews
Standing Out
At the core of our Employability offer are practical training days, working in partnership with StandOut, an organisation that prepares people in prison for employment on release. StandOut helped us develop our project and their coaches’ training helps scholars focus on their strengths and skills to prepare for career success.
‘The hardest part is not getting into university or getting the degree. Believe it or not the hardest part is going on, using that degree and living a life. Supporting someone through a degree is great – with mentoring and internships and whatnot. However, the most important part is once that person has a degree helping them to go and use that degree. Others may see it differently, but that’s my opinion.’
A former scholar, now an accountant, who advises us on employability