The Inspirational Learning Group (TILG) is delighted to announce a 3-year partnership with The Oli Leigh Trust, to include training programmes and resources for both students and adults encouraging self-awareness of one’s own emotional health. 

As part of the new partnership with The Oli Leigh Trust, which will be announced formally on 10th September – World Suicide Prevention Day – schools across the whole of the UK will be able to access the valuable resources at zero cost.  Bespoke training will also be available for all adults in educational settings to ensure a holistic and well-rounded approach to mental health training from January 2025.

The Oli Leigh Trust was set up after Trustee, Michelle lost her son Oli at 16 to suicide.  Oli to everyone who knew him was polite, confident and full of love –  a leader among men.  His friends looked to him for both inspiration and support and he was the friend that everyone referred to as their best friend. In remembering Oli and partnering with companies such as TILG, Michelle and the trust are able to celebrate and remember Oli’s life by helping other teenagers see through the fog. 

Rebecca Clarke, Head of Curriculums, Education and Quality at TILG said, “Mental wellbeing is an incredibly important topic for young people and we believe that it is everyone’s responsibility to recognise the signs that someone may be struggling with their emotional health.  The 3 year partnership with The Oli Leigh Trust will encourage everyone to develop self-awareness of one’s own emotional health.  Participants will also be provided with strategies that they could utilise to support a young person who may be struggling with their mental health and signpost them to support that they can access”.

Michelle Leigh, Chair, The Oli Leigh Trust said: “We are thrilled to partner with Inspirational Training Group to expand our suicide prevention training efforts. By combining our strengths, we can reach more people and provide them with the tools they need to make a real difference in their communities. This partnership represents a significant step forward in our mission to reduce the stigma around mental health and empower individuals to take action. Together, we can save lives by providing critical support where it’s needed most”.

Alongside digital access to resources for all schools, The Oli Leigh Trust are also sponsoring 10 schools to receive a free, in-school delivery day with facilitators from The Inspirational Learning Group. TILG are asking schools who have been directly impacted by the themes of the challenge to contact them to discuss this opportunity using https://form.jotform.com/242463009682053.

Following the success of last year, The Inspirational Learning Group were delighted to welcome 100 aspiring engineers to Stafford Education and Enterprise Park to the second Engineering Camp.

Across the month of August, young people from all over Staffordshire came together to participate in the Next Engineers Engineering Camp.  Participants were immersed in the engineering design process and completed design challenges inspired by real-world scenarios.  The young engineers forged connections that sparked their curiosity and transformed them into enthusiastic explorers for the future!

From building the tallest tower to support a golf ball as high off the ground as possible,  to building their own very big wheel out of spaghetti (!)i and designing a way to safely drop a cup of water from a height of at least 2 metres whilst spilling as little water as possible, our young people were well and truly tested across the fortnight.  Our facilitators were blown away by the young people’s determination and application of engineering concepts and had a tough time when awarding our “Engineer of the Day!”.

A particular highlight of each week was the field trip to Staffordshire University and GE Vernova site, which sparked our young people’s interest in higher education and career paths within their chosen engineering routes. 

Alongside a fantastic facilitation team and GE volunteers, we were also pleased to be joined by Xanthe and Emily, recent graduates of GE Academy Cohort 1.  Xanthe and Emily were a real asset to the GE Academy and were a wonderful addition to our facilitation team, passing on their real-life experience and knowledge to our aspiring engineers. 

Xanthe said, “I have enjoyed helping out at the summer school as I have been able to put the skills and knowledge I have learnt from my own Academy experience to good use. I have loved seeing how each team comes up with such unique ideas as they are all tasked with the same problem but the final ideas are all completely different! I have loved teaching people that you will fail sometimes but that doesn’t mean you can give up. You have to learn to fail fast. That way you can learn from your mistakes to make your final product as good as it can be.”

Emily added, ““I have also loved helping out at the summer school. Seeing the kids come in with such curiosity and interest in the course makes helping out worth it. I have enjoyed the range of jobs I have had while volunteering, from setting up to being a shop assistant there is always something fun to do. The tasks that the kids have done have been so fun and exciting to help with and I am so pleased that I had this opportunity”.

Of course, programmes rely upon the support of parents and guardians and we were thrilled to welcome them to the showcase event on the Friday afternoon.  Our young people showcased their ideas and prototypes to their nearest and dearest, before taking to the stage and presenting their findings from the week in their groups.  Each participant confidently took to the stage and  demonstrated their passion for engineering through engaging presentations to our audience.  A huge congratulations to each of our participants!

As the 24/25 UK academic year starts, we are now beginning our Staffordshire school delivery sessions as part of the Next Engineers Discovery programme.  The Discovery programme is an amazing opportunity for Year 9 pupils to expand their engineering knowledge and is free to schools in Staffordshire.  To learn more about the programme and book in a school session, contact nextengineers@tilg.co.uk.