Envision
Loosely based on the TV series, The Apprentice, Community-Apprentice is an inter-school competition which requires young people to develop, and crucially demonstrate, the competencies most valued by employers. Envision run this programme in Bristol, London and Birmingham.
Can I take part?
Envision is open to all students. You just need to come to the programme with a good work ethic and be willing to work in a team.
What happens in the programme?
Students form teams in September/October and choose a social issue that they care about. The types of issues that our students have worked on over the last few years are:
- Body Image
- Young refugees integration to the UK
- Anti-discrimination
- Skin tone in the media
The students then work as a team to create a digital story, filmed on mobiles and edited by the team. There is then a pitching day where students show their digital story and present their idea. Based on the strength of their pitch they can be awarded funds to help finance their project. The teams then work on their projects with help from mentors from UWE and Envision until May, where they then have an in-school pitch. During this pitch the teams are scored on:
Fundraising
For example:
- Raising over £100 for their chosen charity
- Coordinating raffles/sales by sourcing prizes/goods and promoting to their target audience
- Using their connections to boost their funds such as securing additional sponsorship from business mentors, family and friends
Practical Action
For example:
- Volunteering their own time to litter pick or regenerate areas in their community
- Volunteering their own time at a local charity to help improve their facilities or to spend time with service users
Donations
For example:
- Identifying the need of the service users to determine what to donate
- Coordinating donation drives
- Approaching businesses for support with donations
- Volunteering their own time to sort, package and deliver donations
Events
For example:
- Events that have been attended by 20+ people from the team’s target audience
- Engaging with external charities, organisations and businesses to make the event come to life
Workshops
For example:
- Delivering 2 or more workshops within their school
- Delivering 1 or more workshops at other schools or in the community
- Producing a detailed session plan and well thought out resources by collaborating with experts such as a local charity
Awareness Raising
For example:
- Working as a team to design, produce and distribute leaflets that are well thought out with the target audience in mind
- Creating a film from scratch which is educative or thought provoking
- Being creative in how they get their message across (e.g. interactive, fun activities or freebies)
If teams do well in their in-school pitch, they can be shortlisted to one of four teams to make a final pitch to the Mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees. He then chooses the winner. Envision host a graduation ceremony at City Hall in June/July where the winners are announced.
Envisions Success Stories
2017/18 Cohort
This year we have one group called Team Body Confidence. This small group of five students met weekly after school and planned five sessions on body image to be taught to primary school children. The team met with their mentors at the Centre for Appearance Research at UWE, who provided valuable advice on their project to address anxiety related to body image. The team won additional funds at their first pitching event and they went on to design a logo and print t-shirts for the group to wear during their teaching sessions. The team produced an excellent digital story and spoke eloquently and enthusiastically about their project. The team clearly enjoyed their project, were buoyed by its success and bonded as a team. They have been shortlisted with three other Bristol teams to present to the Mayor in June 2018.
2016/17 Cohort
Envision worked with 10 schools in 2016/17, generating 21 teams who worked on a variety of projects such as urban regeneration, mental health, anti-discrimination and obesity. Collectively, these 21 teams put in over 7000 hours of voluntary work.
After the final in-school pitches, four teams were chosen to present to the Mayor, Marvin Rees. One of the four finalists was our team, We Are All One. The group were concerned about the issue of refugees not being able to integrate into the communities they find themselves in on arrival in the country. They worked with unaccompanied minors and new arrivals to Bristol Brunel Academy, running sessions supporting them with their language learning and homework, and providing them with mentors and role models. They made a booklet utilising all the languages they had as a group to provide useful phrases for refugees to use.
They were runners up and were awarded a Certificate of Achievement by Marvin Rees.
One of our students in another team, Team Anti-Discrimination, Michele Montouri, was presented with the Outstanding Individual Contribution Award for his commitment and leadership on the programme. He was chosen to receive this award from the Bristol cohort of 150 students.
Envision Graduation 2017: http://bit.ly/2ui7wL2
