What have we been up to? L!STEN ACT CHANGE Engagement sessions - We're recruiting for our new project and have been visiting other local groups to drum up some interest. This month we have been at Groundwork's Women Warriors group and Stockroom. It has been great hearing the views and opinions of young people across Stockport who we don't usually get to meet! Unity Academy Blackpool Our Future Ready project has started this month in Blackpool with 2 groups of Year 9. We have

The Step Up Mentor group have had a fab start to the Step Up Mentor programme so far. The Step Up Mentors are young people who took part in our Step Up transition programme last year and have now volunteered to support our 2026 Step Up cohort as peer mentors. It has been brilliant to see them stepping into leadership roles and embracing the opportunity to support others who will be making the move to secondary school in September. During the first session, the group explored

Our third consecutive year delivering a hate crime awareness project is something we genuinely look forward to, and this year was no exception. Thanks to funding from Manchester City Council, we were able to work with the EAL department at Chorlton High School, focusing particularly on international new arrivals and students who have joined the UK education system at different points in their journey. The project combined informative workshops with a powerful youth-led outcom

We’ve recently wrapped up an exciting Climate Project with students at The East Manchester Academy (TEMA), and what a journey it’s been! A huge thank you to Manchester City Council’s Neighbourhood Investment Fund for making this project possible – funding like this allows young people to take real action on the issues that matter to them, and this group definitely did just that. The project brought together a core group of students who met weekly to explore climate action and

what we've been up to this month: Here's our full monthly update on our projects! -Climate Project @ TEMA: This month we have been completing some speedy social action at The East Manchester Academy. After the huge success of this project last year with Stockport schools we have ventured into Manchester time time. The group have been amazing - buzzing with lots of ideas. Their campaign on paper waste and recycling has led to them getting new paper recycling bins for each cla

We're pleased to publish this year's Youth Summit Impact Report in full! Here at PIE, the Youth Summit is a big date in our calendar! We spend weeks visiting schools and laying the groundwork, liaising and planning with partners and funders to make the Summit as successful as possible. This year's Summit was bigger than ever, so give our report a read below, and scroll to the end for a quick update from Evie about what has happened since.... Youth Summit Follow Up - from Evie

On Wednesday 25th February we had the pleasure of delivering a Positive Futures Day at Bridgehall Primary School for all of their Year 5 and Year 6 pupils. The day was coordinated by PIE (Pursuing Individual Excellence) on behalf of the AdsBridge Youth Connection partnership, bringing together several local organisations to run a series of interactive workshops for the young people. In total, 46 pupils took part in the full-day programme. The aim of the day was to give youn

From December to February, we’ve been busy delivering Creative Launchpad with Chorlton High School and Burnage Academy for Boys — and what a few months it’s been! The aim of the project was simple: to help young people understand what a career in creative communications actually looks like, and to give them the chance to experience it for themselves. Creative Launchpad was delivered in collaboration with Tangerine , a leading PR and social agency based in central Manchest

On Tuesday 10th February, the stunning Ballroom at Stockport Town Hall was filled with energy, ideas and ambition as we hosted the third annual Youth Summit, delivered in partnership between PIE, L!STEN and Stockport Council. With over 200 young people, educators, community organisations and local leaders in attendance, the summit demonstrated the strength of youth voice across Stockport. From the moment schools began exploring the vibrant marketplace of local opportunities,

Each year, we take on some students to support our work, and so they can complete work-placements that will in turn, support their research. Since October Emily, Tilly & Holly (find out a bit more about them here ) have been getting stuck in with day-to-day PIE life, but they are soon delving into their own research and dissertation writing, so we thought we would take a look at their plans and themes and see how they link to our work! ----------------------------------------

We're really proud to share our latest impact report! Compiled from our data over the year, we are so pleased that our work as a team of 5 is translated into these numbers. You can take a look at last year's report here if you fancy comparing. Well done to the whole team and here's to another exciting year!

The West Hill Tameside Tracks group had a fantastic day last Thursday as they hosted the Tameside Tracks Community Day at Stalybridge Train Station! Tameside Tracks is a brilliant social action project driven by a passionate group of West Hill School students. Since May, they’ve been working with PIE and bursting with ideas on how to brighten up Stalybridge Train Station and make a real difference in their community. The project gave young people the chance to develop new ski

It's time to welcome some new faces to PIE for this academic year, welcome to Emily, Tilly & Holly!

Our Digital Leap Pilot has been a great success! Working in partnership with Starting Point Community Learning Partnership, we’ve been delivering this new digital confidence programme in Stockport thanks to funding from the GM Strengthening Communities Fund. Planning began in May, and in June, members of the PIE and Start Point teams had the incredible opportunity to attend the FOSI 2025 European Forum at Netflix’s EMEA Headquarters in Amsterdam. The forum, themed “The Philos

The end of summer means the ‘real’ new year is beginning! We always find September a great time to reflect on the school year that has passed. 2023-24 was a busy one in the education strand of PIE, but we’ve nearly doubled the number of participants and have been in 50% more schools in comparison to last year! It’s really hard to summarise all that we do in schools – so in addition to the drop down days, 6/12/24 week programmes, transition events, careers events, teacher trai

In July, the whole of Fairfield High School for Girls came together for a fantastic drop-down day during their final week before the summer holidays. It was a brilliant opportunity for students to celebrate their school community, explore different aspects of wellbeing, and challenge themselves by trying something new – including a wide range of physical activities. The event also highlighted the importance of giving young girls the chance to try activities they may never hav

Summer terms are always particularly busy in the PIE school calendar, as it’s usually the ending of many of our programmes/projects, transition events galore and when most of the exciting whole school events take place. This year has been no different and Munji is going to give us a run through of everything that has taken place in schools during June and July! Leeds Positivity PIE trip to Manchester The Year 7 girls from Coop Academy Leeds had their long-awaited rewards tr

Here at PIE we keep busy through the summer break with a whole range of activities! We've put together a little overview and a flyer for those of you who might be interested in attending our free family activities: HAF: We've got a great programme of activities lined up for HAF this holiday, ranging from dancing to pond-dipping, culminating in a big party! If you think you might be eligible for a place, please contact gem.piper@live.co.uk Walking Wavers: Our walking group has

The Enrichment Effect , has now been available for a month! You may have seen on our socials that we've released a podcast, focussed on enrichment in it's many forms. Join our fabulous hosts, Beth Collins and Katie Lang , as they take you on a journey through the transformative power of enrichment that goes way beyond the traditional curriculum. It’s all about creating opportunities that shape lives, boost skills, and foster a genuine love of learning. Co-Ordinated by PIE's v

New Project Alert! Tameside Tracks is our brand new project. We are working with West Hill High School in Stalybridge on this community project which will last for 12 months. With funding from Transpennine Express, Tameside Tracks is going to be a student led social action project with the aim of improving the area in or around Stalybridge train station and will also look to try and encourage young people to use public transport. We had our first session with the group of Yea