Returning to William Ellis School
Recently I had the chance to return to William Ellis School for Boys (WES) in Camden, London, 9 years after I first visited and worked as the Team Leader for the founding WES City Year UK team — Team Pride.
Over the past 9 years, City Year has served at WES for 7 of them, and I have been fortunate to go back and say hello to each and every City Year team during this time.
Keeping that connection over the years has been so meaningful for me on a personal note and has enabled me to see the partnership between the school and charity go on a journey together, not without both its ups and downs, and today stands in a strong position. It all started with small beginnings and a year of many firsts, all those years ago.
Let’s start at that beginning. That very first year at WES for my team in 2012/13 was very much a ground breaking year. Not just for what we achieved at WES, but also across the wider City Year programme here in the UK. Here’s why:
· We were the first City Year team to serve at William Ellis
· We were the biggest City Year team in the charity’s short history in terms of numbers, with 12 of us starting the year (11 graduated)
· WES was City Year’s first all-boys school partnership
· WES was also the furthest north of any of City Year’s schools in London and the UK
In many ways that first year felt like a blank canvas for us as a team to find out things about the school, build the initial relationships and connections with students and staff members, but equally we understood that we served in the school with a specific set of purposes and were required to deliver the support that the school had asked for.
From arriving early each morning to meet and greet our students when they first arrived at the school gate, to leading breakfast club to help ensure all students had access to a decent breakfast before starting the day of learning ahead, to supporting students in lessons and providing 1–2–1 support, mentoring those boys who needed that extra support in the school day to succeed, to leading enrichment clubs and activities on the playgrounds at lunchtime and after school. From Day 1 we threw ourselves into every layer of school life with the goal to build rapport and become a part of the school’s community, not just for that first year of partnership, but also, we hoped, for the years to come.
But imagine this — tomorrow, at your place of work, 12 new people turn up all wearing bright red jackets, walk straight through the front door and tell you they are they are here to volunteer.
“Who are you?”
“Why are you here?”
“Why are you wearing Baywatch jackets?”
“Are you a spy?”
We were often asked in those early days, by students and some staff members (it was mainly students asking if we were spies…). Explaining that we weren’t spies, or California beach lifeguards, took a lot of time and effort in those early days to help people understand why we were in the school. The dedication shown by my team, being there for their students consistently each day, supporting the teachers and school staff as needed, through all of the early starts, late finishes, the cold winter months, and those days where you questioned if you were making an impact or not, this is what ultimately helped us to become impactful and a part of the school’s community. It built our resilience and ability to work as a team, together as Volunteer Mentors (or ‘Corps Members’ as VMs were once known) and with the school staff. If through any of those challenging moments we had chosen to turnaround, say this wasn’t for us, and walk away, I’m not so certain the partnership would still be going strong 9 years later. And for that I have always been proud of my team.
Fast forward to modern day — returning again all these years later, all of those original experiences flashed through my mind as I jumped on the C2 bus from Kentish Town up to Parliament Hill, seeing the familiar sights and sounds of such a vibrant and multi-diverse part of the UK, walking through the school gate, seeing the school sign, Hampstead Heath just around the corner, it always brings back a lot of good memories.
We are living in extraordinary times right now with all things COVID which meant it wasn’t as simple as contacting the school / CY, asking to to visit and turning up on the day. COVID tests and negative results were required with careful planning and communication with the team’s Impact Officer, Indra, before the visit. I can’t imagine how difficult it has been for schools and teachers over this past 18 months (because I do remember how challenging it can be working in a school at the best of times!) to have gone through the experience of this pandemic.
I was also super lucky to be joined by one of my original team members from 2012/13, Chelsea, who (and she might not actually know this until she reads this blog piece!), was the very first member of my team that I met during the CY Basic Training Academy in the August of 2012. It felt fitting to return to the school together all these years later.
A big thank you to Indra and William Ellis for coordinating our visit and hosting us at the school.
Walking back into the school, the old wooden doors have been replaced at the front entrance and throughout the building with new metal and glass ones. Many areas of the building have been revitalised with new paint and repairs which help to bring a more modern feeling, a feeling of freshness. A brand new drama and creative arts blocks has been built with further physical landscape changes made to the playground. It was amazing to see how so many parts of the school have been modernised compared to that first year and serves as a great example of the pride in which the school take in their surroundings. It definitely makes the school feel even more forward thinking and sets aspirations high for all of the boys to achieve in a positive learning space.
With this said, as much as some things change, so many things stay the same. All of the students that my team and I would have worked with are now long gone, into work, college, university… although the faces may have changed, the characters in essence are very much the same. If you’ve ever spent 1 hour on the playground of an all-boys school, like Chelsea and I were able to do once again at lunch time on this recent return, given the boys a football to play with, or a set of table tennis paddles and balls, you will know exactly what I’m talking about. The same scuffles, arguments, and disagreements, but also the same amount of fun, enjoyment and friendships.
During my visit I was lucky to spend some time talking with one of the Heads of Year who was there all those years ago when CY first started in the school, Mr. Altman, the same original Deputy Head, Mr. Lane, and our original Point of Contact for the City Year team, Hayley. I really enjoyed working with them all and it was nice to recall and remember old names, students and team members, how things were during that first year and how things have changed since. Hayley was instrumental in embedding City Year within the school and I was lucky to work with her each day in our shared ‘City Year / Mentoring’ office. From pulling together timetables, to identifying the students we mentored and worked with 1–2–1, it just wouldn’t have worked without Hayley’s support. A special thank you also to Sam White, the Headteacher at the time who was responsible for bringing City Year to the school. Sam was always a great support and sounding board for our initiatives in the school.
It was great to hear that City Year continues to be thought of highly by the school, and that the first team really did help to ‘break the ice’ in terms of integrating CY programme.
I was able to spend some time with Indra who shared her experience as the current Impact Officer in the school and I was so pleased to hear that on the whole the experience has been a good one, for her and her team, and that an impact is being made. Equally, to hear how some things with the City Year programme have developed over the years, and some things have stayed the same, was such a great conversation to explore. It feels great to know some of the original initiatives my team started all those years ago are still going today, but it feels even greater to hear that the current team have helped to move things along and they’re making their own impact.
It was so nice to meet the current Team Pride — Alfie, Ben, Hannah, Leena, Kal, Nour and Alice. I was really impressed by how professionally they represent themselves in the school, the great questions they asked about Chelsea’s and my own experience at WES and with CY, and were able to share their hopes, dreams and fears about all that is to come next once they graduate the programme. The City Year experience is such a unique one and I’ll always have the greatest respect for anyone who takes it on and sticks the course. They really are such a great team and wherever the roads takes them next, I feel confident that even on a small level, their year at WES will serve them well in the years to come. Meeting with, talking to, and working with such young people will always be one of the best jobs anyone could ever have in my opinion.
And of course, it was such a pleasure to say hello once again to the school’s dinner ladies and head chef, Tony. I can remember arriving at the school at around 7am on many a cold, dark, Monday morning to ensure I was one of the first faces that both the students and my team would see when they arrived to school. I’d head straight to the canteen and start setting up breakfast club, arriving at the same time as one of the dinner ladies, Mercy, and together we’d start getting our own various items of food and equipment set up for the day ahead. It’s these moments and shared experiences with people where you build those connections and start to become engrained within a school (a company, a place, a team…). It was so nice to receive a nice hello and warm welcome back all these years later, and that they still remember those early days and all the teams that followed. The best school lunches I ever had!
And just like that, the day came to its end. But before departing, there was one final thing Chelsea and I needed to do. To rewind even further, before my Team Leader year at WES, my original service year, 2011/12, was at a secondary school in Brixton. The original Team Pride. It was an amazing year, working with amazing people that inspired me to want to stay on and become the Team Leader. Sadly, City Year’s programme did not continue in that school, and Team Pride (and my job…) transferred to Camden with WES waiting in the wings, ready to receive a City Year team. But I didn’t want that first year in Brixton to become forgotten so I started what has come to be known as the ‘Pride Book’. I asked every member of that original team to write an entry in the book about their experience as a Corps Member, for the next Team Pride to pick up and read, to understand about that journey we went on together in Brixton, and to share tips and insights on what it’s like to ‘give a year’. Every year since, Team Pride and its CMs/VMs have entered their own accounts from their year of service at WES, and passed the book on to the next team. I’ve kept a track of the book’s whereabouts over the years, and Chelsea took very good care of it most recently, but now was the time to pass the book on to the next team. I really do hope the current team have enjoyed looking back through the history of the team, and feel ready to write their own entries, to be passed on to the next Team Pride.
Truly, a massive thank you to the staff of William Ellis School, Indra Mitra-Duggan and the 2020/21 Team Pride. And all of the teams throughout the years. I have always been made to feel welcome each time I’ve returned, and hopefully I’ll make it back again one day soon.
Joey
City Year UK 2012–2015
Corps Member, Team Leader, Programme Manager
