We were delighted to host grantees and our learning partner the Centre for Education and Youth (CfYE) for our annual Transitions Special Initiative Learning Symposium at Mercers’ Hall on Monday 20 November.

Our Transition Special Initiative supports young people in secondary education facing disadvantage and barriers that hinder successful transition to the next stage of their lives.

The symposium brought together our second cohort of grantees funded by the Mercers’ Company, (as trustee of the Charity of Sir Richard Whittington and the Mercers’ Charitable Foundation).  There were panel discussions on programme successes and challenges with active Q&A between grantees, generating ideas and lessons learnt for the transitions sector.

Young people in the Transitions Special Initiative programmes also shared their experiences including:

• Mentoring helping younger people to assess their interests and skills enabling them to feel empowered to go back to college and choose a career path that made them feel valuable and engaged; and
• Workshops with employers helping with CV writing and speaking with recruiters, made them feel more confident applying for work.

Cohort 2 grantees included Community Sports Trust, Dallaglio Rugby Works, IntoUniversity and Young Westminster Foundation

Read more about our Young People & Education programme and Transitions Special Initiative here.