As we embark on a new academic year, things are a little different to normal. Students have had their education disrupted in a way that no other generation has experienced. Over the last few months the pandemic, coupled with the Black Lives Matter movement have made young people hyper-aware of social issues and injustices that exist in their community. It is even more important than ever that First Give continues to provide the opportunity and platform for young people to make a real, tangible difference to their communities.
We, like many others, have been forced to furlough staff over the last few months. Nonetheless, we have continued to look at how we can support schools to deliver the First Give programme in the coming academic year. Not least by creating this brand new Teacher Hub. In previous years we have provided teachers with a suite of resources on USB sticks. For some time we have debated how we can move towards a more ethical and environmentally friendly way of providing you with resources. And here it is! On the Resources page you can see the briefing video for each lesson, plus download all the resources you need to run First Give at a click of a button.
As we developed our new Teacher Hub, we thought about what other features we could offer here. On top of being able to access all of the resources, we want to keep lead teachers (who coordinate the programme at your school) and class teachers (who teach the First Give lessons) up to date with news, stories and tips from other schools on running a successful programme. Step forward the new Teacher Hub blog. It can be difficult to explain the impact of the programme across the growing First Give network, but we hope this blog will help. We plan on sharing updates, good news stories and best practice guidance from the 180+ schools running First Give this academic year. If you have stories you think we should share with others, we want to hear about them so we can feature more of what young people and schools are doing for good.
You will also notice our new Support Centre, where you can find a set of FAQs, plus search for the details of your school’s Programme Manager. This will make it easier than ever to access the support and guidance you need from your First Give Programme Manager.
And finally, we know that a lot of you love First Give and the impact it has had on your students. We are ambitious about working with more schools and more young people, and your recommendations are vital in helping us grow the First Give network of schools. Do you have friends working in other schools in England or Wales? Would you be happy to recommend First Give to them? If so, we’ve made it really easy by creating a ready made tweet and pre written email that you can send from our Refer us page.
The First Give Teacher Hub is brand new, so if you have recommendations or suggestions of other things we could include, please do let us know at info@firstgive.co.uk or by talking to your Programme Manager. We hope the Hub is a helpful addition and that First Give continues to be a positive part of your school’s curriculum offer.