After the past two years of disruption and challenge for us all – we are pleased that this year we have much to celebrate and share with you.
A real highlight for me this past year has been seeing the Chance UK services grow and develop in line with the ambitions in our new strategy. A key message from children, families, staff and stakeholders was asking us to step forward and be ambitious in how we help children and families with the challenges faced in coming out of the pandemic and beyond. The tried and tested methods Chance UK has used to support children through intensive mentoring over the years are now helping us to do that and reach a greater number of children.
We are delighted to have grown our school workshops to now being delivered in three London boroughs – supporting over 1,000 children in primary schools this past year. In addition, we have delivered two new group programmes aimed at developing children’s social and emotional skills.
And our work has expanded to new areas across London, enabling us to reach more children with our support. While we continue to provide intensive mentoring for children in Southwark, Islington, Camden, Lambeth and Westminster, we have also launched a significant new programme providing high quality early intervention services for girls. Our work with parents continues to deepen and develop with our renamed ‘Family Support Team’ engaging and supporting parents and carers.
When I speak to parents, they tell me how they wish they were heard and that people understood the very real and devastating impact of exclusion on their children and the wider family. So, this year we have successfully focused public attention on primary school exclusions and the very real human cost of a system which isn’t working. We are grateful to those parents who shared their experiences with policy makers and in the public domain to help raise awareness.
As the full impact of the pandemic, especially on our children’s mental health, is still being understood, we have never felt better prepared and energised to face the challenges ahead. We are confident that our new direction and services will enable us to support more children to realise their potential and thrive in a changing world.
Geethika Jayatilaka, CEO
Please click here to read our 2021-22 Annual Report in full.
