1

annual report

1st

april 2007 to 31st

march 2008

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Contents

Chair‟s introduction ........................................................................................................................... 3

Director‟s introduction ........................................................................................................................ 4

Mission and Aims .............................................................................................................................. 5

Governance and Structure .................................................................................................................. 5

Overview of the year to date ............................................................................................................... 8

Summer Programme ....................................................................................................................... 12

Summer Arts Programme ............................................................................................................. 12

Summer Business Programme ...................................................................................................... 14

Summer Sports Programme ......................................................................................................... 18

Programmes throughout the year ...................................................................................................... 19

Eat London ................................................................................................................................. 19

Easter Courses ............................................................................................................................ 19

Journalism - NANG! ..................................................................................................................... 20

Music Space ............................................................................................................................... 20

Create and Chill .......................................................................................................................... 21

Job Ready .................................................................................................................................. 21

Fashion 08 ................................................................................................................................. 22

Reel Change ............................................................................................................................... 22

Involving Young People..................................................................................................................... 23

Peer Motivators ........................................................................................................................... 23

Young Ambassadors .................................................................................................................... 23

Dare London ............................................................................................................................... 23

Summer Uni London ........................................................................................................................ 24

Partners ......................................................................................................................................... 26

Funders of Tower Hamlets Summer University 2007-8 ........................................................................ 28

Financial Review.............................................................................................................................. 29

Future – the next 12 months ............................................................................................................ 31

Internal developments ................................................................................................................. 31

Core THSU programmes ............................................................................................................... 31

Summer Uni London .................................................................................................................... 31

Potential for Expansion ................................................................................................................ 32

Brand Development ..................................................................................................................... 32

Contact Details ............................................................................................................................... 32

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Chair’s introduction

On behalf of all the trustees of Tower Hamlets Summer University (THSU), I am delighted to present our

annual report for 2007/08. As you will read, the 12th

year of our activity has seen the continued excellent

delivery of innovative and exciting courses for young people in and around Tower Hamlets and the further

expansion of the Summer Uni model across London. The report really demonstrates the staggering amount

of work that THSU staff and volunteers undertake and shows that this quantity has in no way affected the

quality of what they do.

The numbers speak for themselves: 18 Summer Unis across London running a total of 1,200 courses for

20,000 young people; and in Tower Hamlets: 101 courses for 1,439 young people in summer alone, a

significant rise on the previous year. This all shows that THSU continues to reach out to more young people,

providing them with unique opportunities for informal learning, volunteering and engagement that are so

essential to the positive development of their lives.

As anyone who works with young people knows, numbers tell only a small part of the story. Reading through

this report I continue to be impressed with the range of new activities and programmes, the amount of care

and thought that have gone into their preparation and planning and the clear benefit that they will have for

the young people involved. Job Ready, a new programme started this year, is one such project that

identifies a real need and provides fun and accessible techniques for addressing that need. Working with

young people who have been out of employment or training, Job Ready introduces and de-mystifies the

subtle skills and attitudes required to successfully gain employment. From CV writing to dressing

appropriately for interviews, Job Ready plays an essential role in “filling in the gaps” left by other

employment training courses that will actually make a difference as to whether the young person can find

employment. That the programme has been delivered in partnership with Lehman Brothers and that it offers

placements at a range of different industries, adds real quality to its offer. I look forward to seeing Job

Ready develop and expand over the years and its model and ethos for engaging those unable to find

employment disseminate into the recruitment sector.

Similarly, Reel Change is an exceptional project that works across London engaging young people to find out

from other young people on how best to serve the youth of London. As this report is being written, Reel

Change is coming to a highly successful end and has raised significant interest from press across London. I

warmly encourage you to visit the Reel Change website www.reelchangefilm.org to see the products of their

work.

Another amazing achievement in the year was our young Nang! magazine journalists winning a BT Seen &

Heard Award, a Talk Talk Innovation in the Community Award and the prestigious Guardian Student

Magazine of the Year Award. After winning a Philip Lawrence Award in December 2006, they were

commissioned to write the publicity for the Awards in 2007 and THSU is exploring the potential and the

need for other successful innovative short projects to be rolled out year round to benefit many more young

people and match the momentum and success of Nang!

For twelve years we have served the community, making learning exciting, fun and important to the lives of

young people, raising aspirations and playing our part in realising their ambitions. Through our project

commissioned by London Challenge, Summer Uni London, and the additional support from the Jack

Petchey Foundation, young people across London are able to benefit through our knowledge and experience

in Tower Hamlets. They are able to influence the development of programmes in their borough based on our

tried and tested THSU model. They are supported and encouraged to share their ideas and ideals with other

young people through London-wide arts and sports activities and events, organised by our charity. Our

model is statistically proven to reduce youth crime and is now contributing to crime reduction London wide.

The partnership opportunities are being encouraged and developed between the voluntary sector, local

authorities, business and industry and to think that this is being co-ordinated and delivered by our small

east London charity is proof that we are leaders in the field and through twelve years of hard work and

experience, we are now able to lead by example without losing our core focus on local young people.

Summer Uni continues to expand, its success now beginning to gain a national interest. At the same time,

the core summer courses simply get better and better in terms of their innovation, design and delivery as

well as in the incredible range of partnerships, from across all sectors, that they attract. I salute the tireless

staff team at THSU and together with the trustees we look forward to the ongoing success of this

remarkable organisation.

Rushanara Ali Rushanara Ali, Chair of Trustees

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Director’s introduction

Welcome to our 2007-8 Annual Report. This is our twelfth year of providing innovative and dynamic

programmes for young people in this wonderfully diverse borough. Raising aspirations for our young

residents within Tower Hamlets, and way beyond the borough boundaries, is our foremost concern and

during the year we have had some great achievements, which I invite you to read about in this report.

The importance of positive activities is well documented; among other things, the participation of young

people in such activities is shown to reduce their involvement in crime and anti-social behaviour, increase

their self confidence, encourage them to engage in further learning and improve their attitudes towards drug

and alcohol use.

It is during the long summer holidays when these activities are needed most. The holidays can be an

impediment to young people‟s learning, particularly for those from lower socio-economic backgrounds and

are a time when levels of youth offending increase. Yet where Summer Unis run diversionary and aspiration-

raising activities, the crime rate can be reduced. In a recent DCSF poll, Summer‟s Coming!, 64% of people

questioned said that there are still not enough activities for young people to do over the summer holidays.

THSU‟s own experience is that some courses are over-subscribed more than twenty times; at the time of

writing there were 5,639 student applications for the 2,070 course places on the THSU 2008 programme.

What Summer Uni does is bring together, develop and build on the existing provision. Our ethos, innovation

and development ensures our programmes are popular and relevant to young people and therefore have a

greater impact. Summer Uni addresses the real needs of young people and the local area by providing

relevant, accessible, excellent quality activities at a time of year when they are needed most.

Seeing the charity grow and meeting all the young people who take part, sharing their and my team‟s

enthusiasm for all their achievements, gives me great pleasure. I whole heartedly thank all our funders who

continue to support our work; all our partners for their great contribution to our delivery; all my staff team

who show such dedication and passion for their work; all our young volunteers who work with us to make it

happen; our professional volunteers who provide crucial advice and guidance to us; and all our young

participants who make our programmes come alive.

Our plans for the next 12 months will focus on ensuring our capacity to continue the innovative delivery of

our core programmes in Tower Hamlets, support our Summer Uni partners across the capital and develop

potential new partners nationally who may be keen to adopt and roll out our ethos, values and models of

working. It‟s both an exciting and challenging time!

Sarah Davies

Executive Director

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Mission and Aims

The Mission of Tower Hamlets Summer University (THSU) is to work with young people through innovative

educational opportunities in the summer holidays and year round, helping them make informed, positive

decisions that enhance their lives and the lives of those around them.

THSU aims to:

Promote independent learning

Raise achievement

Promote racial tolerance and good community relations

Increase access to educational opportunities through creative partnerships between all sectors,

statutory, voluntary, business and industry

Involve young people in the organisation's development

Archery lesson

“The main message people need to hear is that young people have a voice and especially when they have a

dream or goal of pursuing their future ambition. They should get the opportunity. Young people have a lot

going for them and they should be determined to go through with it.” Liz and Lola aged 15

Governance and Structure

Registered Charity name: Tower Hamlets Summer Education Ltd.

The charity is known as Tower Hamlets Summer University

Registered Charity number: 1048822

Registered Company number: 2017713

Registered office: Ground Floor, 24-26 Fournier Street, London E1 6QE

Trustees for the reporting period

Rushanara Ali Chair

Renee Bernstein Resigned 11/09/07

Devinder Cheema

Nancy Cleary

Lancelot Comrie

Gary Davies Deputy Chair

Kam Fung Treasurer

Rex Hall MBE

Libby Hills

Janet Morgan

John Porter

Barnaby Shaw Appointed 12/02/08

Steve Sipple

Jimmy Tam

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Staff Team during the Report Year and to October 2008

Sarah Davies Executive Director

Management Team

Liz Jewell Development Director

Janan Smith Project Director

Anh Ly Programmes Director

Programmes Team

Maruf Ahmed Enrolment Officer (summer only)

Abdul Azim Business Co-ordinator

Tuhina Borhan Enrolment Officer (summer only)

Jenny Cater Programmes Assistant

Julia Harriman Arts Co-ordinator

Liz Millar Nang! Co-ordinator part time

Rosie Murdoch Reel Change Co-ordinator

Syeda Razzak Enrolment Officer (summer only)

Joanne Whalley Reel Change Administrator

Abu Yusuf Sports Co-ordinator part time

Youth Projects Team

Abdulla Almamun Youth Projects Officer

Lola Ahonkhai Peers and Careers Co-ordinator

Randi Baden Youth Project Officer

Jakir Hussain Trainee Outreach Worker

Ken Okolo Job Ready Officer

Emmerline Smy Accreditation Co-ordinator

Summer Uni London

Natalia Carrizosa SUL Administrator

Luke Clark Young People‟s Development Co-ordinator

Oliver Dawson Grants Manager

Sarah Murphy Project Officer

Sally Quail Grants Manager

Erika Sanger London Network Co-ordinator

Mark Waghorn London Network Co-ordinator

Working across the charity

Sally Abrahamson Events Officer

Emma Crouch Team Administrator

Graziella Doardo Finance Officer part time

Denise Drake Web Officer

Stuart Gill Information Manager

Danny Greenwood Development Manager part time

David Levantis Marketing Officer

Abdul Muiz Office Manager

Mulimba Namwenda Office Manager

Mags Ruttle Corporate Development Co-ordinator part time

Other people in the team during the year

Gultekin Irengun Web Administrator

Lee Nathaniel-Wurie Peer Administrator

Karishma Patel SUL Intern

Seth Vitalis Project Intern

Company Secretary and Executive Director of the Charity: Sarah Davies

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L – R: Maruf Ahmed, Abdul Azim in front of Anh Ly, Syeda Razzak, Emma Crouch and Julia Harriman

Auditors:

Ramon Lee and Partners, Kemp House, 152-160 City Road, London EC1V 2DW

Banks:

The Co-operative Bank, 80 Cornhill, London EC3V 3NJ

CAF BANK Ltd, 25 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent ME19 4JQ

Solicitors:

Clegg Manuel, 26-27 Great Sutton Street, Clerkenwell, London EC1V 0DS

Morgan Lewis, Condor House, 5-10 St Paul's Churchyard, London, EC4M 8AL

Governing document:

Memorandum and Articles of Association. The charity is constituted as a limited company.

Policy Statement

Tower Hamlets Summer University has the following policies: Child Protection, Health and Safety, Equal

Opportunities, Data Protection, Maternity/Paternity, Locking Up Procedure and Emergency Fire plan. These

are reviewed annually. There was no incident in the last 12 months that required us to implement

disciplinary or Child Protection or other procedures against any person or to take action on any issues that

we were directly involved in.

Patrons

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

A. Dee (Artful Dodger) Professor Deian Hopkin (from August 2007)

Dizzee (from August 2007)

Dr Tony Flower (stood down August 2007)

Baroness Kennedy of Shore

Gerard Lemos

Dame Marlene Robottom

Baroness Pola Uddin of Bethnal Green

Dr Benjamin Zephaniah

THSU Alumnus & Patron Dizzee Rascal - Summer Showcase 2007

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Overview of the year to date

Successes

We were Highly Commended in the City of London Sustainable City Awards in February 2008, for

Access to Goods & Services for Disadvantaged Communities

Our Nang! youth magazine won three accolades in the year, a BT Seen and Heard Award, a TalkTalk

Innovation in the Community Award and the prestigious Guardian Student Magazine of the Year

Award

We supported 18 borough co-ordinators to run their Summer Unis during the year and trained a

further 14 new borough co-ordinators, ensuring every London borough is running a Summer Uni in

the coming year based on our successful model

We won a contract with London Development Agency to deliver Reel Change, a skills development

and work experience programme for young people, giving them a platform to voice the issues

affecting young Londoners and to canvas thoughts on how the £79m London Youth Offer should be

spent

We carried out an independent feasibility study into the potential for national roll out of our model,

funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation

1460 individuals took part in our year round programmes, which included the fabulous Eat London

project and two successful pilot projects, Music Space and Job Ready.

Across London we achieved

18 Summer Unis running 1,200 courses

Offering 27,000 course places

In which over 20,000 young people took part

1 in 5 of those courses were accredited

Over £1m in grant funding was distributed, attracting an estimated total spend on other Summer

Unis across the capital of over £2.2m

Attendance and Statistics

2043 total no. of individuals enrolled on our programmes in the year

1651 total no. of course places available in the year

1641 total no. of course places attended

157 individuals attended our spring programme

1,830 individuals tried to access the 1,439 places on our 101 summer courses. The number of

course places requested was 4,392 proving that we could run a programme three times larger and

only just meet demand

45 young people volunteered for our summer programme

12 young unemployed people (10 male and 2 female) enrolled on our new autumn Job Ready pilot

30 young people took part in Nang! magazine throughout the year with a core team of 14

20 individuals attended our spring Saturday Fashion course as part of a pilot 14-19 Creative Media

Diploma on behalf of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets

83 young people enrolled for our Young Ambassadors programme

6 volunteers represented Summer Uni London on Dare London, a London wide advisory group

organised in partnership with London Youth and the Greater London Authority

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124 total no. of courses run at Easter, summer and autumn half term, running from one day up to five

weeks with the majority run over five days.

1,330 certificates were distributed in the year of which 14% were nationally recognised

An average of 59% female and 41% male attended our 2007 summer programme whilst other programmes

during the year tend to attract 50:50 male to female.

The percentage of young people from different ethnic backgrounds who attend THSU equals or exceeds the

borough percentage for all ethnicities with the exception of young white male and female, where our

numbers are far lower than the borough percentage. We are exploring ways to increase their number on all

our programmes.

59%

41%

Gender %

Female

Male

1.5%

98.5%

% young people identifying themselves as having

a disability

Having a disability

No disability

39.8

10.121.4

16.5

2.210

Cultural Origin %

Bangladeshi

Other Asian

Black

White

Chinese

Mixed Race

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29% of all young people coming to THSU identify themselves as unemployed, whilst only 51% are studying.

Considering the chart below, 72% are aged 18 and under and taken together, these statistics indicate that

a considerable number of this age range are not in the education system.

The following pie chart demonstrates how young people found THSU. Word of mouth is by far the biggest

influence on attendance, demonstrating that young people talking to other young people is a powerful tool.

3.1

14.4

8.5

20.3

1.9

51.7

Employment Status %

Working full time

Working part time

Registered unemployed

Unemployed not registered

Volunteering

Student

2.3 3.93.9

5.3

7.9

8.5

12.8

17.7

10

6.9

5.8

4.4

3.22.6

2 2

0.8

Ages of participants %

Under 11

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

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The majority of young people who access our activities are from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets

followed by other east London boroughs. Though the percentage looks smaller, the numbers tell a story:

over 360 young people enrolled from all other parts of London and outside the capital.

9.7

33.4

3.99.9

15.2

20.3

7.6

How young people found out about THSU %

Family

Friends

Attended last year

Referals

Media / Internet / Library

School / College / Uni

Other

5725.3

5.6

2.94.7

3.5

1

Where young people come from %

London Borough Tower Hamlets

Other East London boroughs

North London

West London

South East London

South West London

Outside London

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Summer Programme

Tower Hamlets is such an ethnically rich borough, bringing challenges as well as advantages; the main

challenge being to combat segregation. Therefore we organised the summer programme as far and wide as

we could throughout the borough with the aim to increase the engagement of a wider variety of young

people and encourage those who are not willing to travel far from their familiar surroundings, to attend.

We ran 101 courses compared to last year‟s 91, splitting the programme into three strands: Arts, Business

and Sports. Using student and tutor feedback from the previous summer the co-ordinators designed a

programme offering a diverse range of high quality courses.

Enrolment and attendance was the highest we have ever had. Community Sports Leaders Award, Boxing,

Badminton, Yoga, Learn to Fly a Boeing 747, Journalism-NANG!, Intro to Medical Science, Banking, Self

Defence, Creative Sewing, Experimental Drawing, Forensic Science, all the Cookery, Maritime Careers and

Digital Manga Arts were amongst the most popular and well attended courses.

Venues

In total 33 different venues were used, with London Metropolitan University, Ideas Store Whitechapel, City

Learning Centre and George Green Secondary School being central hubs. Other venues included Mile End

Park, who also hosted our Summer Uni London Festival of Sport; Bethnal Green Technology College; Brady

Arts Centre; Repton Boxing Club; Barclays Capital; Half Moon Young People‟s Theatre; Oxford House; Seven

Mills Primary School; The Space; Mudchute Park and Farm; Rich Mix, who also hosted our showcase event

and private Art view; Docklands Watersports Centre and Allen & Overy.

Peer Motivators helped to make all the venues welcoming and supported the tutors and young people alike,

once again proving their worth to a fantastic extent.

Marketing

The team consolidated the programmes into one brochure, allowing easy access to young people of any age

between 11 and 25. The publicity followed the theme created for our Easter programme and was well

received. We carried out extensive and focused local marketing,, taking a „road show‟ directly to young

people in their schools, youth clubs, libraries, community events, etc.

The launch of the Summer Uni London website www.summerunilondon.org raised the profile of Summer Uni

in the Greater London area, giving rise to considerable newspaper coverage both locally and London wide.

This helped to put Summer Uni on the map with the result that many more young people tried to enrol than

we could possibly accommodate. We have always welcomed young people from any London borough (and

elsewhere) onto our programmes and this year through Summer Uni London, we have been able to

encourage all the other Summer Unis in 17 London boroughs to do likewise. Through the website, we can

monitor where young people live compared with where they go to activities. This will help tremendously in

the future, for our own programmes, for the Summer Unis and for young people across the capital.

Summer Arts Programme

Funded by Mediabox, the theme of all Film and Digital Arts courses was What We Want! (www!), voicing the

opinions of young people about living in London, their lives, hopes and aspirations using a small bursary

grants scheme.

Fourteen young people aged between 14 and 25 were recruited to act as young advisors for the www!

project. These advisors attended www! courses during the summer and met to advise our team on

marketing materials. They supported tutors and students during our www! October holiday programme,

helped out at project bursary information session, created questions for the grant interviews and chose the

location for a screening event in March 08.

The advisors received in-house training in motivation skills, confidence, how to act as peer motivators, equal

opportunities and interviewing skills. Four of the www! advisors applied for a grant and others helped to

interview the other applicants. Altogether 12 young people received eight bursaries, enabling them to

vocalise What We Want! through a range of arts & media projects. This culminated in a show at Genesis

Cinema in March.

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Younger students created some great graphics in Digital Manga Arts, Animation and Short Filmmaking

which were hugely oversubscribed, underlining the current interest in film. Documentary Filmmaking young

people made a thought provoking documentary about the cult of the celebrity.

“I‟m going to do everything after this course! I‟m going to challenge myself to the max, doing everything I

love best, I‟m also gonna get more involved in things I‟ve always wanted to try out but never had the

confidence to.” Porsha, www! advisor

New for 2007 was Young Curators, in partnership with inIVA, a five week practical arts course giving an

insight into working in arts management and curating. It doubled as the working group for the Summer Uni

London Best Of Art - an exhibition to showcase the best visual art work created by students from Summer

Unis all over London.

The Fashion and Textiles programme was consistently well attended. T shirt Design and Printing and

Creative Sewing were offered for the first time. Also new, Street Fashion, led by an ex THSU student,

created some innovative and dynamic work - participants were interviewed on BBC Radio 4‟s Women‟s Hour

as part of a feature on summer learning and childcare. Jewellery Design students created some beautiful

contemporary work thanks to the fantastic resources at London Metropolitan University. Researching and

incorporating the theme of Slavery, clothes created during the three week Summer Hands On Fashion

course, run by „A‟ Team Arts, were modelled by students from Catwalk Modelling. This went down a storm at

the summer showcase with a really professional show and some awesome designs.

„I would not change anything about this course, only that it would last for longer.‟ Student 15, on creative

sewing.

Our new Publishing and Design course gave students professional design experience on the Summer Uni

London booklet Spotlight. The challenging brief enabled participants to learn both graphics and layout skills

in just 20 hours and some fantastic illustrations were created, which were incorporated by our professional

designers into the final publication and distributed into every London borough.

Live Music students formed bands and composed amazing original music. Despite nerves from some of the

young performers, the bands played at the showcase to over 200 people. Beats from the Streets was

developed in partnership with CM as a follow on to the entry-level music tech courses we ran in the spring.

Participants from Music Space were given a unique opportunity to make their own music videos during

Music Video Production, joined by young people with an interest in film.

Bollywood Dance attracted both young men and women. Their lengthy and dynamic routine was performed

to a rapturous audience at the showcase and they later performed at the Tower of London as part of the

India Now Festival. Dancefilm Documentary created a dance film based on the theme of bullying.

Peer Motivators (wearing the red T shirts) shouldering their support for Circus Space 2007

Hoxton‟s The Circus Space developed an intensive programme for students from THSU and Newham

Summer School called Circus School. After eight days young people finished in a spectacular performance

incorporating tightrope, trapeze, juggling, magic and human towers. Two participants have gone on to join

the Circus School‟s Youth Programme.

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Newham Summer School offered THSU 15 places on their Stratford Circus Performing Arts School – a three

week summer school incorporating music, dance and drama which ended in an explosive showcase event in

the main theatre of Stratford Circus.

Kazzum Theatre Company devised a Site Specific Theatre course at The Space on the Isle of Dogs and once

again, staff at Half Moon Young People‟s Theatre created an immensely rewarding and enjoyable experience

for participants on both the junior and senior Moving Voices courses for young people with physical and/or

sensory disabilities. One carer commented that the young man she works with looks forward to the week all

year and it is the only project he participates in. It is vital that we continue to source funding in order to run

these courses, seeing the benefit the young people receive from taking part.

Arts Award

For the first time, we offered a specialist course for young people who had attended any of our summer arts

courses and who wanted to receive an Arts Council accreditation. Students from a range of disciplines

attended and nine students gained their Arts Award.

L-R: Screen Printing, Street Fashion and Documentary Film Making, July & August 2007

“I‟ve learnt about how to make documentaries and get involved with skills that are needed in life” Arzum,

16, Dancefilm documentary

Summer Business Programme

Study and Explore: This popular section of our annual summer programme aims to get young people to

try new experiences, giving them life skills to move them through into adulthood. We provided new exciting

courses and refreshed the old favourites.

Three major new Higher Education partners were involved in running courses this year. Intro to Medical

Science explored the world of medical science through a series of lectures and presentations from a

professor and five undergraduate and post graduate students from the prestigious Oxford University. It was

an enormous success with 34 young people going home encouraged that they too could get into an

institution like Oxford, no matter what their background. The representatives from Oxford were from Black &

Minority Ethnic backgrounds which helped to emphasise that everyone has a chance to get in.

Funded by the Royal Institute of Philosophy, Intro to Philosophy was run by a senior lecturer from the

University of Bristol.

Oxford Brookes University, Aim Higher and Tower Hamlets Summer University joined forces to run a two day

Forensic Science non-residential exchange course for a group of young people from Oxford and from

London, the first day hosted by Oxford Brookes and the second held in east London. This covered aspects

of forensic anthropology and chromatography, practical laboratory skills, DNA extraction and analysis.

Further, it introduced young people to university life and showed that Higher Education is possible for all.

Participants visited four major educational institutions over the two days: Oxford University, Oxford Brookes

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University, London Metropolitan University and Queen Mary University of London. The final session was a

Jack the Ripper tour of the Whitechapel area.

As always, the nationally recognised First Aid was way over subscribed with an incredible 283 people trying

to enrol for 24 places. Intro to Arabic Language introduced young people to the Arabic language & culture.

Maths in a Week introduced how VAT and taxation works and Maths as a further education subject and

Think & Grow Rich, run by Services Against Financial Exclusion (SAFE), provided practical advice on how to

manage money more efficiently, how to assess financial advertising and seek appropriate advice, plus the

potential risk and return impact on financial decisions.

Discover London was run this year by two enthusiastic Peer Motivators, who planned and implemented a

lively programme, including quizzes on venues prior to visits and writing short evaluations. Following

feedback, Space & NASA was rebranded and open to all ages. 18 people attended and learnt about space

science by participating in space related challenges and team building activities.

One of our best courses, the OCR accredited New CLAIT, equipped students with the necessary processing

skills in information and communication technology. British Sign Language taught young people to sign

alphabets and colours, finger spell and sign information about themselves.

Driving Theory, one of our most expensive and popular courses, included the dangers on roads, traffic and

driving laws, signs, signals and markings. Participants examined a car engine and learnt to identify different

components. The course included green issues and government targets on reducing carbon emission from

motor vehicles. Students took mock exams and had the opportunity to take a theory test at a preferred test

centre for free.

A Girls Only! programme aimed to provide the opportunity for young women who might be reluctant to mix

with young men, or may not be allowed to be seen mixing, to attend five exclusive courses including

Mendhi, Self Defence, Body Works, Hair and Beauty and Make-up & Beauty Therapy.

Work Zone: Work Zone provides courses in industries that don‟t usually get introduced in schools and

colleges. We recognise that our „work zone‟ helps achieve one of the government aims for every child

matters - achieving economic well-being. Young people are in a disadvantaged position in Tower Hamlets;

the borough has some of Britain‟s highest earning individuals working within it, yet it also hosts the highest

percentage of recipients of job seekers allowance. Young people need the skills to compete on the global

job market in the Docklands and our neighbouring City of London. We work hard to inspire young people to

raise their aspirations, to aim higher, to pursue a higher education and to get those employability skills. We

work in innovative partnerships with the corporate sector to counter the stigma of unemployment and low

aspirations, give young people a chance to realise their full potential, have confidence to follow their dreams

and to make this learning exciting and enjoyable.

Four new courses

The inaugural Cornwall City & Sea Exchange was a great success, aimed to educate young people in career

opportunities within the maritime industry. The project promoted racial tolerance, breaking down racial and

social barriers between young people from rural and urban areas. In partnership with Lizard Outreach Trust,

the project brought 11 young people from Cornwall and 12 young people from Tower Hamlets together to

learn about the fantastic opportunities in the Maritime industry, both on land and at sea, and to have fun

whilst doing so. The success of the project was down to working with a diverse range of experts in the

maritime industry, which provided young people with an invaluable and unique insight into the range of

career opportunities available.

“This was a totally awesome trip and experience. Definitely recommend it. You learn a lot and you meet fab

people.” (Melanie, aged 16)

“I thought I‟d get lost in London, and I‟ve never been in a lift.” (Samantha, aged 15)

“I never thought about any of these jobs that exist in the sea industry. I want a job in the insurance

market.” (Abdul, aged 19)

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City & Sea Exchange - August 2007

PACE - Youth Work aimed to give young people an idea of what youth work is all about. The accredited

course covered the National Occupational Standards for Youth Work and included a series of sessions on

Participation, Activation, Communication, Empowerment and Equality. Done for the first time as a crash

course, the tutors were impressed with how hard the participants had worked: they covered a six week

course in a fun and challenging five day period.

In partnership with the Rich Mix Cultural Centre in Bethnal Green, Intro to the Advertising Industry was

innovatively designed to give participants a platform to learn about and get a taste of what it is like to work

in the advertising industry, working on a real advertising brief and designing a real campaign.

Intro to the Railway Industry (with „one‟ Railway) was another popular new course. It gave young people

from Tower Hamlets and Newham Summer Unis, an insight into the rail industry and the career options

available to them, such as signalling, cleaning, ticketing, administration, train driving, management,

engineering, refurbishment - the works. For some, this became a reality as four job opportunities arose

during the week and one young man was even invited to apply for train driver training.

Introduction to careers in the rail industry - August 2007

“I really, really enjoyed the experience. It‟s helped me think about my career as I wanna be a civil engineer.”

(Enam Hoque, aged 18)

And the popular favourites:

With Investment Banking, Barclays Capital again showed some incredible outputs in students learning.

Attracting hundreds of enrolments, 44 young people attended the courses where we only expected to

accommodate 32.

Working in the City, run by The Brokerage, gave young people a real insight into the City of London and its

history. Meeting with employees and visiting companies to understand and feel the experience of life within

the City, they undertook a range of tasks and challenges including CV writing and job application skills.

Tourism & Customer Care, Telephone Techniques and Welcome to East London. All three of these

accredited courses were popular, with emphasis this year on the possible job links with the tourism industry

to the international games London are hosting in 2012.

17

Learn to Fly a Boeing 747 attracted 20 young people. The day included an introduction to the careers

available in the aviation industry and all participants were able to have a go in the flight simulator at London

Met Uni.

Design Successful Places attracted 16 students with 3 completing work placements at Tower Hamlets,

Islington and Camden planning departments following the course. The main focus was assessing a detailed

planning application, designing models to use for a local development site and analysing maps and

drawings.

Legal Eagles gave a lucky group of young people access to an intensive week of activities at leading law firm

Allen & Overy LLP. Students were introduced to careers in law, locally and internationally, and the broad

range of opportunities presented in this industry.

Around the Courts developed students‟ understanding of the history of law, parliament and the courts. They

visited many venues and gained knowledge of criminal and civil courts, administrative tribunals and

employment tribunals and gained an insight into the legal profession and how to enter it.

Summer Business School was designed to develop communication, marketing and presentation skills

amongst young people in Tower Hamlets. It combined the practice and theory of setting up and running a

small business. The Cass Business School in the City of London provided the location and Sir John Cass‟s

Foundation funded the Programme.

Summer Cookery

Cookery is so popular that the six courses and the residential had a dedicated section in our publicity. Fully

funded by the Savoy Education Trust, the emphasis was to increase attendance and focus on participants

considering pursuing a career in the hospitality industry.

Cookery Residential

For the second year Ashlyn‟s Organic Training Kitchen hosted 12 young students in basic cookery skills,

health and safety and an introduction to organic farming. Amongst the participants, there were mixed

feelings regarding organic farming and produce, however all agreed this was an invaluable experience and

they gained knowledge and skills in an area growing in popularity and importance in society today.

Furthermore, they left with confidence in themselves to go and cook at home!

We ran three International Cookery courses, one for 11-13 and two for 14-25 year olds. The tutor used a

range of challenging recipes from around the world, introducing a broad variety of food to inspire all ages.

Curry Heaven gave young people confidence in cooking traditional Indian dishes.

The brand new Thai Fruit Carving course gave young people a chance to learn and to demonstrate skills

gained from a very experienced food carver and designer. The students demonstrated amazing skills in a

short time, creating and carving patterns on fruits and vegetables. Health and safety was fundamental due

to the specialist sharp knives and carving tools purchased for the course.

It was great to expand our range of cookery courses this year and Chinese Cuisine was yet another subject.

It was well attended and students created a variety of popular Chinese dishes.

Thai Fruit Carving

18

Summer Sports Programme

The main objective of this year‟s sports programme was to build more links with locally based clubs and

introduce exit strategies for students to follow up their interest into a more formal and structured level of

participation. The sports programme was bigger and more widespread than before, with 26 courses

compared to last year‟s 16 and with at least one course in each region of the borough. The enrolment

figures doubled on last year and attendance levels increased by over 70%, with Community Sports Leaders

Award and Boxing being amongst the most popular courses.

Community Sports Leaders Award was delivered in partnership with Seven Mills Primary School and a thank

you to Ashley Quayle for delivering a great course. 22 participants made it one of the most popular sports

courses this summer.

The 11-13 Multi-Sports programme was delivered in partnership with George Green School‟s Island Sports

Trust, a voluntary organisation founded in 1996.

Outdoor Adventure included Rock Climbing and Go Karting at Mile End Park, Horse Riding at the Mudchute

Park and Farm, and Sailing at the Docklands Watersports Centre.

Health & Fitness included four new courses to Summer Uni: Capoeira, a Brazilian form of martial arts

combining dance and combat techniques, Yoga, Boxing and Sports Massage. Held in the internationally

renowned Repton Boxing Club, Boxing was the most popular. Introduction to Bodyworks came under the

sports umbrella this year and participants learnt a range of techniques throughout the week, finishing with

an open day where friends and family were invited to come to a Friday massage session.

Other sports included Archery, Badminton, Basketball, Cricket, Fencing, Football, Table Tennis, Tennis,

Trampoline, Volleyball and Wheelchair Basketball.

Boxing at the famous Repton Boxing Club Learning the climbing ropes

19

Programmes throughout the year

Eat London

Lift (previously London International Festival of Theatre) invited us to take part in Eat London, a massive

culinary public arts/celebration event involving 14 community groups across London cooking a giant map of

London out of food. A similar event, Eating the City, had taken place in Melbourne in 2004. THSU were one

of only two youth groups to be involved. We recruited young people in February and our workshops were

held during the 2 week Easter holidays at Bethnal Green Technology College.

The workshops included a visit to the part of London our group were making out of food – Aldwych & Covent

Garden - researching and trying out recipes, food modelling, constructing iconic buildings and practicing

building the sections. Students also attended performance practice sessions for the procession part of the

event.

Rehearsals and cooking for the event took place over the following weeks leading up to April 28th

. There

were lots of challenges, including having to wait patiently for the food to arrive on the final cooking day, as

the Blackwall Tunnel was closed and the chilled food lorries had to come via a longer route! However the

young people were brilliant and spent their time chatting to other groups. When the food arrived it was all

hands on deck, using their initiative and working together well.

For the final event, the group met early, wearing THSU T-shirts and Eat London aprons and badges. There

was a brilliant atmosphere and with tourists asking questions about the event the young people were made

to feel very important. As noon approached the crowds grew and grew and finally the event began. All 14

tables were assembled together before being processed one by one back to holding areas around Trafalgar

Square. Then the queues began as hundreds of people waited their turn to eat our table full of food. It was

an exhausting and hectic afternoon but customers were not fussy; seeming happy to eat a vegetable skewer

building alongside chocolate cake Somerset House! All the food went, including the gingerbread roads, and

finally the group could stand back and breathe a sigh of satisfaction and relief.

The project was amazing and the event was an incredible experience for all involved. The hard work was

worth it. The group met twice after the event, for an evaluation session with Lift and to receive their

certificates at City Hall. Feedback was extremely positive and all talked about how much they had learnt,

how hard they had worked and how much they had enjoyed it.

16 Summer Uni individuals joined 13 other community groups in making the „food capital‟.

Easter Courses

A combination of arts and sports courses and projects made up our Easter programme, the first time we ran

a programme during the Easter holidays. Courses ran over 1 week and included Islamic Calligraphy, Digital

Collage, Documentary Filmmaking, Urban Dance, Singing for Beginners, Archery, Basketball, Volleyball,

Fencing, Tennis, Hockey, Badminton and Football.

Feedback from students was very good. All the students enjoyed their courses and expressed interest in

attending in the summer and next year. Participants especially singled out Fencing as something that they

had not tried before and would like to do again in the summer.

20

Journalism - NANG!

With a packed editorial team on call, the Nang! magazine project recruited a large number of new young

journalists to contribute to the autumn edition and beyond. Nang! students helped tutor sessions and

supported students in the „newsroom‟ at London Met Uni. The team visited News International‟s „Times‟

news room and carried out many interviews with famous people including Moazzam Begg, a Guantanamo

Bay (Camp Iguana) detainee who was held in captive for more than four years. Nang! has many things to

be proud of this year, winning four awards in less than a year, including the prestigious Guardian Student

Magazine of the Year in November 2007, against stiff competition from the University Student Union

magazines from Oxford, Hull, Cardiff, Nottingham and UCL, who were the runners up. The team were

understandably over the moon, as were all of us!

Nang! team winning the Guardian Student Magazine of the Year 2007

“If I wasn‟t doing Nang! my time would be spent unproductively. This gives young people the opportunity to

better themselves while enjoying something… it keeps them off the streets which helps reduce crime and

anti-social behaviour.” Nang! contributor, 18

Music Space

Our pilot Music Space project followed extensive consultation with local young people by Tower Hamlets Arts

and Music Education Service (THAMES), which found that young people wanted space to play and learn

music with other keen musicians and access to instruments and equipment. Working with CM (ex

Community Music) we offered grass roots practical support to young local music makers during 10 weeks

from April - June, with rehearsal, recording, music video making and gigging opportunities for 4 bands and

tutoring and access to facilities for 10 young music producers.

One pilot band, La Rouge, has already been causing a stir and our project partner CM (ex Community

Music) have given them a three year development opportunity and recorded their first album. The Orchard

are looking to distribute this record and British Underground want to showcase them.

Music technology students created and recorded at least one finished track each using Fruityloops software.

Students sold CDs and promoted their online tracks at Pulse Music Festival on the South Bank in July.

Many of the participants went on to attend our THSU summer courses and performed their tracks live at our

Summer Showcase. The participants have been asking for more provision.

Four bands, who were selected from Tower Hamlets schools through an audition process, received

structured rehearsal time. The bands each recorded at least one song at professional recording studio,

Treacle in Shoreditch and uploaded them online at www.indiestore.com/musicspace. Students also gave

away business cards promoting their tracks at the South Bank Pulse Festival. Each band has recorded a

music video this summer of their best track from The Music Space, with funding from BSKyB and Mediabox

and facilitated by On the One. Ollie and The Twists recorded for 2 days at the Roundhouse with

professionals from EMI. All four bands performed at the Underage Festival in Victoria Park, at our summer

launch party at The Spitz and at the THSU showcase at Rich Mix in August, attended by Dizzee Rascal.

21

Music Space 2 ran for a further 10 weeks from January 2008 with four more bands and ten more music

technologists taking advantage of this fantastic offer.

50 young people aged 13-19 took part in Music Space and Music Space 2

“If you want 2 achieve in life, don‟t let anyone or anything get in your way. The opportunity is not going 2

just come 2 U on a plate. If you strive for it, make sure it happens” Marcus, 17, Music Technology

Create and Chill

This was a partnership project with Step Forward, a local charity who offer free, confidential and

independent information, advice, counselling and personal development training. Bow Arts Trust delivered a

range of workshops to a small group of targeted students, who learned different skills in felt-making,

jewellery and painting over a 10 week period.

Job Ready

We devised and piloted Job Ready in the autumn 2007. Aimed at young people who are long term

unemployed and on the „NEET‟ register (Not in Education, Employment or Training) Job Ready was a

successful new 12 week programme combining „Enterprise Challenge‟ with Job Ready Skills -

Communication; Making the most of yourself; Setting Targets; Finance & Budgeting; Skills Review; Career

Development; Job Applications; Research; Successful Interview Preparation. Training took place over eight

weeks including two based at a corporate venue followed by three week work placements and a final week‟s

evaluation and progression guidance.

11 young long term unemployed people (9 male and 2 female) joined the pilot, giving them employment

skills through training, mentoring and enterprise challenges. A team of Corporate Mentors from Lehman

Brothers supported the three month programme, leading training sessions, conducting mock interviews,

visiting participants on their work placements and celebrating the participants‟ achievements at an „awards

ceremony‟ on the last day.

Participants ranged in age from 17 to 24, seven were Bangladeshi, two Mixed Race, one White and one

Chinese. All 11 completed the programme with nine gaining full time employment following the 12 weeks

and one going into further education. One participant remains unemployed and we continue to support her

progression.

Using the experience the team gained on the autumn Job Ready, we designed a spring pilot four week „Job

Ready‟ on behalf of Accent Group, Bradford, preparing 16 young people aged 16-19 for recruitment to and

employment in the construction industry.

22

ICT skills training at London Metropolitan University

“The Job Ready Programme has made me confident. I learnt that there is more to life than just sitting at

home doing nothing or getting into trouble on the streets. I have learnt how to communicate with others in

a professional setting and so many other stuff that really helped me out. If I was telling a friend about Job

Ready, I will tell them to go for it. Even if you don‟t get a job straight away, you will learn so many other

things that are really useful that are going to help you in life. I'll tell them that if I could do it, then you can

do it too.” Jakir, 18, Job Ready participant

Fashion 08

This ten-week programme, from February to April 2008, enabled participants to learn about different

aspects of fashion design, textile application and garment construction, including embellishment and

customising techniques. The aim of the programme was to equip young people with relevant skills,

knowledge and understanding to construct a co-ordinated outfit for a catwalk show.

London Borough of Tower Hamlets commissioned us to help them deliver Fashion 08 as part of a pilot 14-

19 Creative Media Diploma, the second time THSU contributed to the 14-19 Vocational Diplomas

introduced by Central Government. Twenty 14-19 year olds took part in the programme and the group put

on a fashion show at the end to showcase their clothing. The programme was delivered in partnership with

„A‟ Team Arts. Young people on the course were able to gain an accredited qualification with the Arts

Awards Accreditation programme.

Brady Arts Centre, Whitechapel Fashion 08 students hard at work

Reel Change

THSU was awarded a contract in February 2008 with London Development Agency to deliver Reel Change, a

skills development and work experience programme for young people, involving film making, events

management, journalism, public speaking, web administration and marketing administration. Reel Change

aims to provide a platform for young people to express themselves on issues affecting the lives of young

Londoners and for them to canvas thoughts on how the £79m London Youth Offer should be spent.

23

Involving Young People

Peer Motivators

Peer Motivator Volunteers are key to the charity‟s success, supporting the tutors and young people and

marketing our opportunities to schools, clubs and other places that young people frequent. We recruited 38

volunteers aged between 14 and 23 who were supported by seven „team leaders‟; young people who have

been peer motivators in previous years. Together they devoted over 200 hours of their time to ensuring the

smooth running of the programmes, with all volunteers achieving the accreditation, „Being a Youth Peer

Worker‟ or „Being a Peer Work Team Leader‟.

Youth Ambassadors

We secured three year funding from Barclays Capital to employ a Youth Projects Officer who launched the

year round Young Ambassadors programme in autumn 2007. This programme actively involves young

people in improving and developing the charity and its projects. 90 Young Ambassadors were recruited and

trained to hold their own team meetings, run their own projects and become experts in events and

marketing, representing young people in their local community and helping THSU to reflect the needs and

wants of young people. During the year the Ambassadors raised over £1,000 for cyclone victims in

Bangladesh and two Young Ambassadors raised money to help build a school for children in rural Tanzania.

Young Ambassadors hosting young Danish visitors

Dare London

Six young ambassadors represent our Summer Uni London project on Dare London, a London wide advisory

group organised in partnership with London Youth and the Greater London Authority.

In their first year, they created their own website: www.darelondon.org and assigned two young people to be

employed as Dare London officers, to manage internal and external communications, develop the website

and produce Dare London publications such as their Annual Report.

They helped in the SUL “Involving Young People” seminar by adding energy to the day through lively ice-

breakers, giving a presentation about their work, explaining their expectations and views on youth

involvement, and giving tips on how to improve future seminars.

On behalf of THSU, they reviewed the publicity of 14 Summer Unis in terms of look, feel and impact, with

findings disseminated to the Summer Unis.

Up to 10 Dare London members, Nang! journalists and Youth Ambassadors interviewed David Cameron in

November 2007, extracts of which were put on Mr Cameron‟s MySpace site and a photograph of which was

included in East End Life.

Dare London have helped design a quality mark for London Youth and are helping to deliver it at 30 youth

clubs across London. This project is supported by funding from the Jack Petchey Foundation and Mercers.

Four Dare London members campaigned at the House of Commons in November 2007 to end child

poverty. They took part in a question and answer session with Beverly Hughes and two of the seven Dare

London meetings were hosted pro bono by Clifford Chance at Canary Wharf.

24

They ran two workshops at a Participation Works event which they delivered to approximately 30 youth

workers, advising on youth democracy and how to empower young people to make decisions through, for

example, youth advisory groups.

Summer Uni London

2007 saw a substantial growth in the number of Summer Unis operating across London through the work of

SUL. Eight boroughs established new Summer Unis bringing the total to 18, 16 of which are local authority

based. Commitment was secured from all 32 London boroughs that they would run a Summer Uni in

2008, exceeding all expectations!

During the year we:

Established a professional, welcoming and supportive network valued by all boroughs

Distributed £1.05m in grant funding (from the Jack Petchey Foundation and London Challenge) to

16 Summer Unis through two funding rounds, thereby ensuring that over the summers of 2007

and 2008, all boroughs have received start-up or development funding towards their Summer Unis.

We estimate that this has attracted a total spend on Summer Unis of approximately £2m across

London for 2007

Secured an additional £400k in grant funding from the Jack Petchey Foundation, matched by a

further £400k from London Challenge, to distribute to Summer Unis for the summers 2008 to

2009

Completed our first seminar series (06-07), refining the series which we then re-ran for 07-08.

This was accompanied by the Summer Uni Manual that was completed and distributed to all 32

London boroughs to assist them running a Summer Uni as effectively as we do

Redeveloped and launched the SUL website and bespoke database that enables young people

across London to view and apply for any Summer Uni courses, and for the Summer Unis to manage

their own applications independently. The launch of the website took place at City Hall with a guest

performance from Summer Uni alumni and Dizzee Rascal (who subsequently agreed to become our

patron). As a result, we were featured on the London Tonight news, BBC London, The London

Paper, the radio and various other profile-raising media

Developed and encouraged the Summer Unis to use popular community sites, such as MySpace,

YouTube and Flickr, to communicate with their young people and establish an online Summer Uni

community

Encouraged collaboration between Summer Unis with a number of boroughs working together to

deliver programmes during the summer and to achieve Quality in Study Support status

Ran two youth-focussed pan-London events: the Festival of Sport and Best of Art

o 177 young people from 11 different boroughs attended the Festival of Sport, a day of

competitions and taster sessions, including athletics and martial arts

o The Best of Art Exhibition featured 56 pieces of Summer Uni student artwork as chosen by a

group of young Summer Uni curators (see Young Curators above). The diverse art work

attracted well over 100 visitors and was the culmination of the only young curators‟ course to

run in the whole of Europe. Patron Benjamin Zephaniah was our special guest who opened

the exhibition

Piloted the first Summer Uni Summit in which five different boroughs gave presentations about their

Summer Unis centred around the three main themes coming out of the governments Aiming High

10 year strategy. 17 different boroughs attended and the whole Summit was so well received that

we are planning more, even higher profile Summits in the future

Formalised the SUL logo and branding guidelines and all Summer Unis were requested to adopt

them in their marketing for consistency across London

Visited, interviewed and photographed all 18 Summer Unis during the summer. We then compiled

the extremely well received “Spotlight” magazine which featured all the Summer Unis, in their own

words and pictures (see Publishing and Design above)

Secured a further one year grant from London Challenge for 2008-09, covering most of SUL‟s

operating costs

25

Secured a grant from Mercers Company to employ a SUL Network Co-ordinator

Supported 18 borough co-ordinators to run their Summer Unis during the year and supported and

trained a further 14 new borough co-ordinators ensuring every London borough is running a

Summer Uni in 2008 based on the successful THSU model.

Summer Uni Summit

The first Summer Uni Summit was held in

November 2007. The 45 participants reflected all of London. The

day included presentations and case studies from Summer Unis on how they have developed and overcome

challenges and allowed representatives from the London Boroughs not yet running a Summer Uni to

network with those who are, and to refine their plans for the future. Our thanks go to Clifford Chance for

kindly hosting the event.

Independent Evaluation

An independent evaluation of SUL was commissioned which involved all boroughs and various SUL

stakeholders. Findings were extremely positive with the independent consultants, FJ Consultancy,

concluding:

“There is obvious and significant scope for the organisation‟s development. This is epitomised by SUL‟s

successful achievement of targets and highly regarded operational outcomes, all within the short period of

its existence. Rarely can a newly established London-wide organisation claim such success.”

Photograph by Jack Bruce 14 for his www! project, This is London

26

Partners

We could not run the diverse range of free activities for young people without the support of our many

partners with whom we work in a variety of ways to develop and deliver our programmes and services to

young people. This year the partners are:

'A' Team Arts

Account 3 Women's Consultancy

Actiondog

Allen & Overy

Art & Business

Baltic Exchange

Barclays Capital

Berrymans Lace Mawer

Bethnal Green Technology College

Bow Arts Trust

BP

Brady Arts Centre

Brokerage

Cass Business School

Chamber of Shipping

Circus Space

Clifford Chance

CM

ContinYou

Coverack Gig club

Coverack Watersports School

Docklands Sailing & Watersports Centre

Elite Arts

George Green‟s School

Grant Solder Sports Agency

Green Candle Dance

Greenwich Leisure Limited

Half Moon Young People's Theatre

Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust

inIVA

Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST)

Kazzum

Lehman Brothers

LIFT

Lloyd's of London Community Programme

London Borough of Barnet

London Borough of Brent

London Borough of Camden

London Borough of Hackney

London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham

London Borough of Haringey

London Borough of Havering

London Borough of Hounslow

London Borough of Islington

London Borough of Kensington & Chelsea

London Borough of Lewisham

London Borough of Newham

London Borough of Redbridge

London Borough of Southwark

London Borough of Tower Hamlets

Arts & Music Education Service (THAMES)

Connexions & Youth Support Service

Directorate of Education

Out of School Hours Learning

Social Services

Youth Offending Team

27

London Borough of Waltham Forest

London Borough of Wandsworth

London College of Fashion

London Councils

London Metropolitan University

London Youth

Merchant Navy Training Board

Mile End Stadium

Millwall Park

Minx Creative

Mudchute Park & Farm

National Maritime Museum (Greenwich)

National Oceanography Centre

On the One

„one‟ Railway

Oxford Brookes University

Oxford University

Pilotlight

Planning Aid for London

Popcorn Web Design

Repton Boxing Club

Rich Mix

Rosuic Organic Farm

Roundhouse

SAFE

Sea Vision UK

Seven Mills Primary School

Shake Ur Arts

Shoresurf Surf School

Society for Underwater Technology (SUT)

Step Forward

Stratford Circus

Subtext

Summer Uni London

Thames Festival

The Dockland Settlements

The Space

Tower Hamlets City Learning Centre

Tower Hamlets College

Tower Hamlets Education Business Partnership

University of Oxford

Volunteer Centre Tower Hamlets

VT Group

Watson, Farley & Williams

Whitechapel Idea Store

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Funders of Tower Hamlets Summer University 2007-8

We recognise that our work would be impossible without the continuous and generous support of our

funders and sponsors. Sources of funding this year were 45% Charitable Trusts and Foundations, 39%

Statutory funding, 14.5% Corporate funding and 1.5% other income.

On behalf of all of us at THSU - and especially the young people who take advantage

and benefit from our programmes throughout the year - we extend our warmest thanks

to all our supporters:

Accenture

AIG Europe (UK) Limited

Aldgate & Allhallows Barking Exhibition Foundation

Archant

Arts Council

Arup Group

Associated British Ports

Baltic Charitable Fund (Baltic Exchange)

Barclays Capital

BBC Children in Need

Cornwall Marine Network

Coutts Charitable Trust

Credit Suisse

Deutsche Bank

Esmee Fairbairn Foundation

Garfield Weston Foundation

Goldman Sachs

Goldsmiths Company

Jack Petchey Foundation

Lloyd's Community Programme

London Borough of Tower Hamlets

London Challenge

Mercers' Company

Morgan Stanley Foundation

Paul Hamlyn Foundation

Royal & Sun Alliance

Savoy Educational Trust

St. Katharine & Shadwell Trust

Tower Hill Improvement Trust

Worshipful Company of Shipwrights

45%

39%

14.5%

1.5%

Charitable Trusts and Foundations

Statutory

Corporate

Other

29

Financial Review

Summarised Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31st

March 2008

Unrestricted

funds £

Designated

funds £

Restricted

funds £

2008

£

2007

£

Incoming Resources

Donations

Grants receivable

44,101

368,491

1,000

1,546,286

45,101

1,914,777

99,621

1,513,860

Other income 33,827 33,827 32,613

Total incoming resources 446,419 1,547,286 1,993,705 1,646,094

Resources expended

Fundraising & publicity 3,764 3,764 8,170

Direct charitable

expenditure

341,111 1,417,191 1,758,302 1,384,542

Management and

administration

18,349 18,349 16,998

Total resources

expended

363,224 1,417,191 1,780,415 1,409,710

Net movement in funds

before transfers

83,193 130,095 213,290 236,384

Transfers between funds

(11,935) 11,935 - - -

Net movement in funds

after transfers

71,260 11,935 130,095 213,290 236,684

Surplus, brought forward

89,303 219,246 308,549 72,165

Surplus, carried forward 160,563 11,935 349,341 521,839 308,549

Continuing Operations

None of the charity‟s activities were acquired or discontinued during the above two financial years.

Total recognised gains and losses

The charity has no recognised gains or losses other than the above movement in funds for the above two

financial years.

Summarised Balance Sheet as at 31st

March 2007

2008 2007

£ £ £ £

Fixed Assets

Tangible assets

49,828 44,811

Current Assets

Debtors 293,007 79,710

Cash at Bank and in hand 702,630 630,747

995,637 710,457

Creditors: amounts falling due

within one year

(523,626) (446,719)

Net current assets

472,011 263,738

Net Assets

521,839 308,549

Income Funds

Unrestricted funds – general 160,563 89,303

Unrestricted funds - designated 11,935

Restricted funds 349,341 219,246

521,839 308,549

30

These summarised accounts have been extracted from the full audited accounts of Tower Hamlets Summer

Education Limited for the year ending 31 March 2007 and they may not contain sufficient information to

allow for a full understanding of the financial affairs of the charity.

For further information copies of the full audited accounts can be obtained from Tower Hamlets Summer

Education Limited, Ground Floor, 24-26 Fournier Street, London E1 6QE. Telephone number 020 7247

7900. The full audited accounts were approved by the Board of Trustees on the 9th

September 2008 and

have been submitted to the Charity Commission.

Auditors report on the summarised accounts of Tower Hamlets Summer Education Limited for the year

ended 31 March 2008.

We have examined the summarised accounts, which have been extracted from the full audited accounts for

the year ended 31 March 2007. In our opinion the summarised accounts are consistent with the full

audited accounts.

Ramon Lee and Partners

Registered Auditors

Chartered Accountants

Kemp House

152-160 City Road

London EC1V 2DW

31

Future – the next 12 months

Future Plans and Developments

The focus of THSU‟s activities over the next 12 months will be on ensuring the success of both Summer Uni

London and the continued innovative delivery of its core programmes in Tower Hamlets, whilst developing

potential new partners across the UK who may be keen to adopt and roll out our model.

Internal developments

As THSU continues to grow significantly, both in size and reputation, the charity is facing a staff

restructuring this year and we will be writing a new strategy and business plan. Learnings from the past 13

years and excellent prospects for continued growth will feature in the plan as we look ahead to a very

ambitious and exciting future.

We are seeking funding to purchase and implement a new Management Information System to improve our

internal information and communication systems.

During the year THSU will build its portfolio for reassessment in autumn 2008 of its Quality in Study Support

(QiSS) status as an Advanced centre for out-of-school-hours-learning and its Investors in People status.

THSU is developing its in-house volunteer accreditation modules into nationally recognised accreditation

which the charity can offer to other youth organisations throughout London and beyond.

Core THSU programmes

The charity recognises that its core work is its main strength. This is most effective when delivering courses

during the holiday periods, especially since this is traditionally the period that young people associate with

THSU. The charity is planning a range of programmes in 2008/9. In addition to its tremendously popular

summer programme, these include:

Reel Change, taking the project successfully to its conclusion in November 2008

Easter Revision for 15 year olds who might be struggling with their GCSE course work

Music Space running for 10 weeks, three times per year, with tutoring and access to instruments

and facilities for 12 bands and 30 young producers per year, plus a year long „graduate

programme‟ for participants following each ten week Music Space

Developing the Nang! website, broadening the magazine‟s distribution into every London borough

and involving Nang! young journalists in recruiting and training new recruits to the project

Running Job Ready three times per year in the autumn, spring and early summer. The autumn

programme focussing on skills into a broad range of employment opportunities, the spring 2009

Job Ready programme focussing on the retail industry and summer potentially to focus on the

construction industry, in partnership with a range of companies and training providers

Providing 10 new www! bursary opportunities for young people who through using film and

photography, put together an exciting exhibition of their work in spring 2009

Summer Uni London

This third year is a crucial time for SUL in demonstrating our commitment to developing excellent,

sustainable Summer Unis for the benefit of thousands of young people across London.

The SUL business plan brings to the fore the ethos of the charity: of being youth led and youth focused.

Priorities include:

Integrating the THSU ethos around young people further into the practices of the Summer Unis

Ensuring the work accomplished in our first two years – of establishing Summer Unis in every

London borough – is not lost as we now focus on sustaining and embedding Summer Unis across

the capital

Effectively assessing and improving provision

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Ensuring we remain at the forefront of encouraging, collating and disseminating best practice

Ensuring the long-term financial security of SUL specifically and THSU generally

Developing support “packages” formalising the services currently offered for free and investigating

new services, with the potential to use them to generate income streams for the charity and pave

the way for taking those packages nationally

Potential for Expansion

Given THSU‟s success and the charity‟s commitment towards raising the aspirations of as many young

people as possible, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation funded an independent feasibility study into the potential

for national roll out of the THSU model. The first phase of this was completed during the year and from June

2008 we will be embarking on the next phase to identify and develop „warm‟ partners across the country to

pilot their own SUs in future years. As part of this process, we will crucially be reviewing and developing our

capacity (see internal development above) and our brand.

Brand Development

THSU has been hugely successful, with rapid expansion in recent times. This success and expansion has

brought both challenges and opportunities, particularly in the realms of branding and communications. Our

two brand objectives will be to strengthen and develop the brand of THSU, as its own provider of services in

east London and to develop a brand that is equipped to accommodate the plans for growth outside of

London.

Contact Details

Tower Hamlets Summer University

Ground Floor, 24-26 Fournier Street, London, E1 6QE

Telephone: 020 7247 7900

Fax: 020 7377 9793

email: info@summeruni.org

web THSU: www.summeruni.org and Summer Uni London: www.summerunilondon.org

Summer Uni London is a project of Tower Hamlets Summer University

Registered as Tower Hamlets Summer Education Ltd.

Registered company number: 2017713. Registered charity number: 1048822