Each year, we take on some students to support our work, and so they can complete work-placements that will in turn, support their...

The team at PIE started this week with a bang! In a rare moment, we managed to co-ordinate our diaries and get together - in one room! - for a team meeting & training day with our friend Nicola from Starting Point Community Learning Partnership. Here's a few highlights of the day: Ice Breaker We started by discussing what we would do if we had 'one extra hour' in our day. We thought it was a good question, and we all gave different answers - all fairly reflective of our perso

New Programme alert! We have an exciting new programme starting this week called Make Good & Listen. PIE and Make Good (our friend Jen Samani) have partnered up to deliver this programme from October to January and have received the GMCA Shaping Care Fund to deliver this programme in Stockport. The Department of Education are funding GMCA as a Pathfinder to design and deliver Greater Manchester's Regional Care Cooperative. Grants have been given to support Greater Manchester

Our September meeting at L!STEN was a jampacked one, with Stockport Youth Council joining us to see what goes on in our meetings! We first welcomed Michael Cullen (Chief Executive) and Tim Bowman (Director of Education and Skills) from Stockport Council to tell the group a little bit about what they do and their thoughts on our last set of data on Diversity and Inclusion. The group then had a chance for small group discussions with each of them, to ask some of the questions t

Anyone who works in education knows that September is the real ‘new’ year! So it’s time for a reflection on our last academic year and what we’ve got lined up this year. New programmes Following our super successful pilot of This Matters in Leeds, we delivered this programme over at Unity Academy in Blackpool. It was great to see how well the cohort responded to the sessions, considering the demographics are vastly different to our group in Leeds! Pilot programmes Our new pro

Last Thursday we hosted the first ever Enrichment Partnership Pilot Networking Lunch in Tameside which was held at the Office and Tech Space in Dukinfield. We held this event to launch the EPP project we have been working on in Tameside since February this year and to give local schools, organisations and businesses a chance to network and create relationships which will then improve enrichment opportunities and experiences for the young people of Tameside.   We had a great t

Over the past few months we have been busy looking at securing funding and contracts for upcoming projects. We have so many existing projects continuing, as well as some exciting new projects starting, and we wanted to tell you a little bit about what we are going to be up to! AutoTrader UK -  We have recently confirmed a new partnership with AutoTrader UK for PIE to deliver outreach and careers events across the North West with the support of AutoTrader volunteers. We can't

Our community programmes. this summer, have been a hive of activity, so we wanted to show you all the organisations we've been working with! Here's some clickable links! Forum Theatre Marple Regent Cinema Projekts MCR Skatepark Jen Samani Starz Dance Academy Living Nature Collective Stockport County Community Foundation Start Point Cafe Inspiring Animal Therapy RD Football Coaching Vernon Building Society Easy Peel Stockport Library Services Arc Centre Proud Trust Willmott Di

What is the L!STEN Wellbeing Event? The L!STEN Wellbeing Event is in its second year, so I guess it could be classed as an annual event at this point! The idea was initially conceived by our L!STEN Steering Group in response to the Bee Well Survey, which showed young people’s views on all things wellbeing. This year they decided a free event, the day before GCSE Results Day, is just what young people in Stockport needed! Why is it important? On the day, it was clear to see th

Our HAF Provision is nearly finished for the Summer! We have been VERY busy, as you will see, but Gemma & the team (Munji, Ciara, Helen, Mia & Rex) have put together an overview of the whole thing below. Enjoy! This year's HAF has been incredible. I’m so proud of the team we have at PIE. This summer we worked closely with local businesses inviting them in to run sessions; it’s so important for our children to experience different activities. We’re so lucky to have the relatio

It's a year since we moved into our Office at the Flourish Community Hub, upstairs at Heaton Chapel Train Station! Last July we moved in after four years of being a part of the Federation Coworking community, firstly based in the Federation building and then in the home of Cooperatives UK. But as our team grew, it was time to look for a new office space that fitted our needs! So we found our new home, as a team. Until then, we had zero storage for our many resources, so the s

Our 9th Wave of Change programme has just come to an end! We have had a great few months supporting another amazing group of women - all of whom are individual and gifted in their own ways. It is always a pleasure to work with these women to help them to reconnect with their passions and interests, and help them move to their next steps - whatever that may be.  The current cohort has seen women access the programme in different ways - many have accessed our weekly sessions, a

We started work on the EPP project back in February. This project is commissioned by NCS Trust and The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award to deliver Enrichment Partnerships Pilot for young people in Tameside. In November 2023, NCS and DofE revealed that they had been chosen to oversee a £2.7 million Enrichment Partnerships Pilot (EPP) for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department for Education (DfE). Fourteen organisations, including PIE, have now been co

This week we asked Munji a few questions about her recent days with Year 6 students at Unity, Blackpool! What are transition days all about? Transition days are supporting the huge leap that young people take from Year 6 to Year 7. For lots of students this will often mean they are going to a much larger school community, some may be leaving their friends and others may be feeling really anxious in the run up to this happening. Transition days give these future Year 7s a chan

Last week we ran our week of Next Steps activities with Co-Op Academy Leeds for the second time! These sessions are run with Year 10 students with the aim to help get them Year 11 ready, and get them focussed on their future targets and ambitions ahead of starting their final year of school. We run them in the summer term so they have the summer holidays to reflect on the sessions and take any action that will be helpful for them when preparing for exams or college and job ap

This week we’re hearing from Munji and all things Beelong Festival!   B eelong Festival is an annual event at Chorlton High School, which PIE have been helping to run for the last few years. This year I have had the absolute privilege of working with a small group of students (the organising committee) to plan and execute the festival! E ach session we focused on different aspects of the organisation process. Beginning with branding and brainstorming, we then refined our idea

Last week Beth, Munji and Ciara got to take part in Hyde High Schools activity days which was very fun and rewarding! Beth and Munji delivered sessions to Year 7 and Year 9 pupils focusing on the importance of mental health, wellbeing and managing your feelings. Ciara assisted with these sessions. The session started with asking the pupils if anyone has asked them ‘How are you?’ and if they have asked anyone ‘How are you?’. The same pupils who were asked this question were al

This programme is in it's second year at Leeds Co-Op Academy, and this time it's running with both Beth & Munji at the helm! Let's hear...

As we approach the end of the school year it means our longer programmes are coming to an end – this includes the Future Ready programme...

Over a year ago we began our project to create an alliance of young people, who's aim was to amplify and hear youth voices. The L!STEN Youth Alliance is a collaboration between PIE, Stockport Council and local community group Autisk. This work was commissioned in April 2023 and will run until March 2026. After a fantastic first year of the programme, we've made a report to showcase all that our young people have achieved! We will soon publish the full report, but for now here