Toynbee Hall

Toynbee Hall’s experience is that preventative work around thinking and behaviour, increasing self-worth, motivation and achievement, can empower young people to pursue new opportunities and move away from anti-social behaviour and criminal activities.

‘Aspire’ is a new Toynbee Hall initiative which provides a structured out-of-schools programme of accredited activities to raise aspirations and confidence, and divert 150 young people (aged 14 to 15) in Tower Hamlets from crime over three years. The programme is built around the following three modules: ‘Think!’ - engaging in citizenship learning, ‘Express!’ - creative music and arts with a financial education bias (with Arts Award accreditation), and ‘Achieve!’ - experiencing new outdoor activity challenges (with Duke of Edinburgh accreditation). Tom’s Trust is funding the ‘Achieve!’ module for the second year running.

Aspire intends to meet the needs of a frequently overlooked group of young people: those “excluded within school rather than from school.” These pupils may be prevented from accessing the curriculum because of behavioural issues, emotional and/or family problems, low self-esteem, and/or English as a second language. Aspire has been developed to give these young people new opportunities and the support they need with a view to encouraging them to remain in education and reach their full potential in life. - www.toynbeehall.org.uk