Selby Trust Celebrates the Launch of the MindSpark School Awards

On Thursday 11 June, Unique West-Alese, Project Coordinator, attended the MindSpark Celebration Event in Kings Cross, London, representing Selby Trust at the official launch of the MindSpark School Awards — an initiative made possible through funding from Selby Ventures.

MindSpark secured this funding after winning at the Selby Trust's Ready Steady Pitch event, where organisations pitched their ideas for supporting the community.

Their vision for recognising and developing young people's executive function skills stood out on the day, and it has been fantastic to watch that winning pitch grow into a fully fledged awards framework.

The evening brought together school leaders, coaches and partners for an inspiring programme of talks from MindSpark's key school partners, a lively Q&A, and plenty of networking.

At the heart of the celebration was the unveiling of the new School Awards framework, which recognises schools for the work they do to develop young people's executive function skills the abilities that underpin focus, organisation, resilience and learning.

The framework has been co-produced with school leaders and offers three levels of recognition: MindSpark Schools, MindSpark Advanced and MindSpark Flagship. Eight schools have already been recognised at the first level, with case studies underway to showcase the impact of the executive function approach on pupils' learning.

MindSpark were clear about the role the Selby Trust has played, crediting Selby's funding as essential in creating the capacity to turn the School Awards from an idea into reality. The awards are set to support thousands of young people, give schools the recognition they deserve, and help MindSpark build long-term sustainability.

It was fantastic to see and hear first-hand what mindspark  has achieved. The energy in the room from the schools involved was brilliant, and it's exciting to know the Selby Trust has helped make this happen and the positive impact this will have on many young people.

This is exactly the kind of impact the Selby Trust strives to support: many cultures, one community, and brighter futures for young people.

Unique West-Alese, Project Coordinator