Kingston Hub: 21-22 Impact Report

IMPACT REPORT 2021/22

Welcome

Welcome to the 2021-22 Kingston Hub Impact Report, an opportunity for us to celebrate the incredible impact created by students in their local communities, the personal growth of our students, and a space to explore the future direction of Kingston Hub.

Kingston Hub works in partnership with Kingston University to design and deliver activities collaboratively with the local Kingston community in line with Student Hubs' double benefit model. We provide tailored development opportunities to students through volunteering, leadership roles and in-curricular activities as well as one-off activities.

Our Local Hub has a focus of four core opportunities: Schools Plus, Empower, Service Learning, and Give It A Go. This report will showcase our impact and projects.

The 2021/22 academic year was the first year operating in-person after Kingston Hub delivered our engagements remotely due to the pandemic and this year, we have delivered our projects in a mixed format; both in-person and virtually.

Going into the next academic year, we are excited to broaden our reach and support our students and community further.

Why does it matter?

Kingston Hub inspires students to use their power and potential to shape a better world, connecting them to opportunities to make a difference during their time at university and encouraging students to become active citizens for life. By providing a safe, structured and impactful environment through our programmes, students can test out new skills, hone their abilities and put into practice the ideas that will help drive societal progression for years to come.

Through all of our opportunities we believe that students learn about social issues, connect with one another and develop valuable skills and experience. At the same time communities benefit from fresh perspectives and added capacity and resources.

You can find a plain text copy of the impact report here.

Kingston Hub is a part of Student Hubs, a registered charity in England and Wales, number 1122328.

VISION MISSION

VALUES

Kingston Hub is a part of Student Hubs, a registered charity in England and Wales, number 1122328.

Kingston Hub is a part of Student Hubs, a registered charity in England and Wales, number 1122328.

Schools Plus recruits student volunteers to tutor and run clubs at primary and secondary schools and local colleges, with the aim to tackle educational disadvantage.

We worked with schools to provide tutoring for pupils each week. Over the past year, we have seen more students showing increased passion to support the education of young people and commit to long-term volunteering.

This year, we operated remotely and looking to next year we aim to provide a more blended learning experience for students to facilitate optimal learning and teaching conditions.

Key findings from the Schools Plus programme highlight that our flagship tutoring programme commits to Student Hubs' double benefit model with volunteers, pupils, and partners benefiting greatly from our programmes.

Looking to the next year, we aim to continue building our partnerships and support students & young people with our flagship tutoring programme. In the next academic year, we are working on piloting creative expansions to incorporate alternative tutoring such as, art, music, coding, etc.

"Volunteering has certainly boosted my resume I gained many skills that are important in a professional setting such as clear and consistent verbal and pastoral communication Moreover, volunteering with the Hub boosted my confidence to take on challenges and put in my most effort in every work I do: I have been involved in a lot more activities, competitions and student roles this year "

"This is the first time I get involved in a volunteering experience that tackled social issues I now feel confident to volunteer more and give back to the community thanks to the positive volunteering experience I had on Schools+ The rewarding outcome made me feel that I contributed towards something good that makes a difference in society It is definitely a rewarding feeling of accomplishment"

Fatma Tawfeeq

Law with Placement (2nd Year) & Schools+ Tutor

Kingston Hub is a part of Student Hubs, a registered charity in England and Wales, number 1122328.

Business Administration Student & Schools+ Tutor

Empower provides same-gender mentoring in local schools and community centres. Our mentors are trained with the aim of supporting all young people to reach their academic potential and to be engaged in further education, employment or training upon leaving school as

Looking to next year, we aim to continue our partnerships with building community amongst student volunteers to optimise impact for all involved in Empower.

learned the importance of relying on myself and trusting it instead of just following instructions It also helped me with my studies; I learned that working in a team is much more beneficial than doing things alone I felt more empowered to share with other people and get involved in study groups "

Kingston Hub is a part of Student Hubs, a registered charity in England and Wales, number 1122328.

Give It A Go

One-Off Volunteering allows students to engage in social issues seamlessly alongside their studies whenever they have free time, bringing in a number of students who have never engaged in social action before. As an organisation, we aim to mainstream social action among students and Give It A Go provides us an opportunity to involve students in a variety of social action - with lower barrier of commitment.

This academic year, we delivered our first Charity Challenge project as part of our One-Off projects. The Challenge aims to encourage students to consider and contribute solutions to the problems that local charities are facing. It aims to have a dual benefit of offering solutions to local charities’ problems whilst also offering opportunities for students to develop their skills, and encourage them to consider careers in the non-profit sector in the future.

The impact

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5 125 students partners

Over the year, we have received an incredible amount of interest for our one-off projects and we have rebranded our Local Action projects under the title 'Give It A Go'.

"As local action coordinator it was my role to encourage and support students to get involved in the local community by organising and hosting micro- and one-off volunteering opportunities. This involved me researching local organisations and projects, building relationships with them and coming up with ideas of how we could get students involved in these causes."

Emily Hill Human Rights and Social Justice (3rd Year) & Local Action Coordinator

Next year, we are developing our Give It A Go project to deliver more opportunities for students year round, taking into consideration the social issues our students want to support further. Furthermore, after our trial with Charity Challenge, we will be offering this opportunity to more students to engage with community organisations, gaining experience while developing their future skills.

Kingston Hub is a part of Student Hubs, a registered charity in England and Wales, number 1122328.

As an in-curricular opportunity in an assessed and accredited module, Community Engaged Learning is able to reach students who most struggle with barriers to extracurricular opportunities, and provides a gateway for a community-based experience which supports students’ academic and graduate skills.

By working in partnership with academics within Kingston University, Kingston Hub is able to provide students with training and experience with third sector organisations that meets their learning objectives throughout the course of their degrees.

This year, we partnered with the Dance module to incorporate our Empower project as part of a professional placement. In this project students incorporated dance workshops into the mentoring programme to support the young people with their aspirations and self-esteem.

Community Engaged Learning The impact partners

625 20 students

Next year, we will work on extending our Community Engaged Learning programme to more departments at Kingston University in order to give more students the opportunity to gain social action experience as a part of their studies and embed various opportunities into the curriculum.

"Students are on my course to prepare for frontline work with young people in need. Embedding community engaged learning means they develop their skill, passion, and knowledge as they journey through the degree, engaging in both the realities and the joys of this work.

It brings employability to the fore: students joined my Course because they want to work directly with children and young people, and this Community Engaged Learning gives them the chance to do this already – it is the best, most exciting way to learn. "

Yvalia Febrer

Working with Children & Young People, Module Leader

Kingston Hub is a part of Student Hubs, a registered charity in England and Wales, number 1122328.

Want to work with us?

We are always looking for new partners

Access student volunteers

Join one of our programmes as a partner. You can receive consultancy support, recruit volunteers for a community project or collaborate with us to run a one-off volunteering event. You can join our Partner Network and sign up to our Partner Newsletter to get more information regarding our impact and projects. Get in touch at info@kingstonhub.org

Programme sponsorship

We offer programme sponsorship options for corporate organisations. Our range of volunteering programmes can be sponsored by corporate partners to connect you to students and socially impactful work in the Kingston community. Get in touch at info@kingstonhub.org to request our partnership brochure.

Fundraising

Fundraising is key in supporting the development and growth of our work and we need your help to do it! Fundraise with your friends, staff team or by yourself for Kingston Hub. Get in touch at info@kingstonhub.org to request our fundraising information pack.

Training and consultancy

Our background and extensive experience in designing and delivering in-curricular and extracurricular programmes for students means we have a wealth of training and expertise to offer for your student cohorts. We have packages designed for students and a separate staff package, supporting your staff to scale and deliver high quality, accessible and meaningful volunteering opportunities for students. We also have an offer which is directed at the charity sector. Get in touch at info@kingstonhub.org to request our training brochure.

Please contact info@kingstonhub.org, we're always happy to chat.

Kingston Hub is a part of Student Hubs, a registered charity in England and Wales, number 1122328.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to everyone who has been a part of our journey this year. To find out more about how to work with Kingston Hub, contact Unsal Kaynak, Kingston Hub Manager at manager@kingstonhub.org.

Strategic Partners

Kingston University Careers and Employability Service

Ali Orr

Paul Clatworthy

Olivia Trodden

Employer Engagement Team & Careers

Advisors

Student Enrichment Team

Julia Millette

Hannah Law-Hing-Choy

Community Partners

Getting Together Matters Karen Bowlas

KAG Advocacy - Sue Boakes

Ham Youth Centre - Ben Skelton

Action on Disability - Brittany Granda

Hubbub - Jess Wiles

Fairbeats - Louis Gilbert

Superhighways - Sorrel Parsons & Phillipa Leary

Break3 Francesca Geraci

Community Brain Robin Hutchinson

Refugee Action Kingston Ben Charman

Voices of Hope Ruth Dawson Change for Good Josh Brettel

Creative Youth Archie O'Neil

Spires Pamela Mhlope

KL Settlement Annabel Bennett

Student Leadership Team

Kevissen Venkiah

Dina Ibn Hssein

Eleasha Tersigni

Vivian Uzomba

Emily Hill

Georgina Edward Jade Marshall Nasra Hersi

Victoria Bogle

Academic Partners

Emma O'Dwyer

Amanda Rotella

Peter DaSilva

Anthony Lam

Yvalia Febrer

Mary Kelly Maria Mencia

Thomas Mower

Francis Dodsworth Stephen Mason Graeme Jones

Staff Team

Unsal Kaynak, Kingston Hub Manager

Ewelina Paclawska, Kingston Hub In Curricular Programmes Manager

Farah Nehme, Kingston Hub Extra Curricular Programmes Manger

Mahalia Marsh, Kingston Hub Evaluation & Development Intern

Jenifer Balgobind, Kingston Hub Comms & Marketing Intern

We believe that when students are supported to tackle social challenges, learn about issues and connect with each other, both communities and students benefit.

Student social action creates positive change now and in the future, enhancing communities and equipping young people to become active citizens for life.

Kingston Hub is part of the Student Hubs network and is a registered charity in England and Wales, number 1122328.

info@kingstonhub.org | www.kingstonhub.org