Wings of Hope Achievement Award (WOHAA) participants celebrate in style at the The Royal College of Surgeons.

On 2 May 2013, the most awaited day in the calendar of the Wings of Hope Achievement Awards finally arrived!
 
The Royal College of Surgeons where the Awards ceremony was held was packed with half a dozen Head Teachers, 25 Teachers and over 300 students and their parents from Schools all over the country.
 
The evening began with a fantastic performance by dancers from the world famous Pineapple Studios, whose high octane performance got the crowds up from their seats, clapping and cheering.
 
Wings of Hope was very privileged and honored to have Lady Juliet McNally – wife of Lord McNally, Deputy Leader of the House of Lords, attend the ceremony and hand over prizes.
 
Senior members from our Corporate partners also attended the event and handed over the prizes, Mr Damon Clark CEO of Brandwith, and Mr. Simon Ayoage from Barclays Bank was also amongst them.
The talented and upcoming, British Boy band – The Parades, all mesmerized the crowd with their powerful singing.  They also did an impromptu song titled ‘ WOHAA’ !
 
This year for the first time, ‘The Best Teacher ‘award was introduced.  This went to Mr. Giles Tilbury of St.Mary’s Church of England School in Hertfordshire.

 
 
 
“We had a wonderful time last night and the children so enjoyed the experience. Obviously, the icing on the cake was the winning of the award for runners up ‘Best Presentation’. They are now thoroughly enjoying the attention this is causing at School!”
 
Mrs. Green – Year 9 Manager at Collingwood College
 
 
Thank you so much for the wonderful hospitality last night – the warm welcome, the delicious supper and the fabulous award ceremony. It was superbly organised and we enjoyed some fantastic entertainment as well as the inspiring stories of the award winners.
 
Ms. Lucy Elphinstone, Head Mistress – Francis Holland School
 
 
I just wanted to thank you again for the opportunity of being involved with Wings of Hope
 
It has been a wonderful experience for the students from Nower Hill to be involved with and in particular for team Shooting Stars.
 
The awards ceremony was great – really enjoyable – you have some brilliant links with other companies.
 
Anna Dunne
Teacher – Nower Hill School
 
 
It has been a pleasure and a privilege for Hasmonean to work with you on this project and we look forward to our continued relationship in the future.
 
Mrs. Rachel Fink, Head Mistress- Hasmonean School for Girls
 
 
“What a night Thursday night was! … Thank you for the fantastic opportunity you have given Anna and her friends … The youngsters featured at the finals showed such energy and enthusiasm for their individual projects and it was fascinating to see the scope of their imaginations. All groups were winners in what they achieved and I’m glad so many prizes were awarded.
 
With many thanks”Mel Lawson – Parent
 
 
 

Awards were given to the following teams in different categories:

 
 
 
Overall Winning Team:
- Team Unity, Hasmonean High School

Overall Runners up:

- Shooting Stars, Nower Hill

Best Presentation:

- Winners: Encore, Heathfield School

- Runners Up: Lord of the Wings, Collingwood College

Most Innovative:

- Winners: Team Spark, Tormead School

- Runners Up: Congeniality, Latymer Upper School
 
 

On the 18th of April 2013, 22 teams, from different schools participated in the semi-finals of WOHAA 2012-2013 at the House of Lords. The day commenced early in the morning with teams arriving to present their WOHAA journey to top CEOs and celebrity judges.

This year’s judges included: Alok Sharma (MP, Vice Chairman, Conservative Party) Jackie Cooper (Global Chair, Creative Strategy), Edelman Baroness Verma of Leicester (Minister at the Department of Energy and Climate Change) Suzanne Avery (Managing Director, Real Estate and Sustainability at RBS) Sir David Jason, Dr Sri Ram (Co-Founder of The Wings of Hope Children’s Charity) N Shankar (Managing Director of Tata Consultancy Services, UK & EIRE), Rajni Sriram (Co-Founder of The Wings of Hope Children’s Charity), Justice Ebrahim (Supreme Court Judge NSZimbabwe), Mrs Ebrahim Lady Gill Hinchcliffe, Ruth Amos (The Youngest Entrepreneur) and Clarke Carlisle (Chairman of the Professional Footballers’ Association).

Each team was given a 5 minute slot in which they had the chance to present their creative WOHAA achievements and even failures to the judges.

Suzanne Avery, Managing Director, Real Estate and Sustainability at RBS:

“Thank you for inviting me to be a judge at Semi Finals for The Wings of Hope WOHAA. I was so inspired by the young peoples’ creativity, hearts and resourcefulness. Also by the blessing circle, ie young people growing in our schools and in so doing helping young people in Malawi and India to have a better education and future. This is very close to my heart and to RBS.”

Jackie Cooper, Global Chair, Creative Strategy, Edelman:

“Congratulations on another terrific event. I thought the standard of entries were quite amazing and as ever, the whole experience was superb.”

Lady Gill Hinchcliffe:

“As always, very well organised and a great success for the students. I hope the rest of the day went well.
Just a reminder that there is a very easy way for ALL the students to raise money with no input from themselves other than letting their friends and relatives know about the website EASYFUNDRAISING.
Always thinking of ways your wonderful charity can raise money”

Alok Sharma (MP, Vice Chairman, Conservative Party):

“I was very pleased to be asked to be a panellist and sit alongside Sir David to judge the presentations. The Wings of Hope Achievement Awards are a fantastic initiative that not only encourages charitable giving to an extremely worthwhile cause, but also provides young people with an excellent opportunity to develop important transferable skills.”

Teams that got through to the semi-finals: 

Team Inspiration - Claremont High School
Shoop’s - Bentley Wood High School
The Legacy - Francis Holland School
Remedy - Abbey School
Unity - Hasmonean Girls' School
Inspire - Nonsuch High School
Team Awareness - Newstead School
Encore - Heathfield School
Spark - Tormead School
Shooting Stars - Nower Hill High School
Majors - Tiffin Boys & Tiffin Girls
Aspire - Valentines High School
Ignite - Tendring College
Quench - Clapton Girls' School
ACE - Langley Park School for Girls
Lord of the Wings - Collingwood School
Go! - Merchant Taylors' School
Congeniliaty - Latymer Upper School
Jump for Joy - Featherstone High School
Devoted Voices - Islamia Girls' School
Rise to Help - Alperton Community School
Spirit - Surbiton High School
Little Muffins - St Mary's School

The First Round of Teams Getting Briefed by Dr Sri Ram:

Sir David Jason, Baroness Verma of Leicester & Suzanne Avery Looking Very Pleased with Team Awareness:

The Judges:

Team Ace: 

Team Ignite Mid Presentation:  

Team Ace & Their WOHAA Banner:

Clarke Carlisle: 

The Little Muffins:

Ruth Amos:

Lord of the Wings:

Jump for Joy:

Team Go! :

Team Remedy:

Team Shoops:

Studio schools are a new concept for education, whereby students from the age of 14 are taught a mixture of academic subjects and work based training. Local employers become involved in the schools, so pupils leave with valuable ties to the world of work as well as practical skills focusing on specific jobs.

Some new employers getting involved include: Barclays, The National Trust and the RSPCA.

 
Critics say that these schools can limit young people’s opportunities by forcing them to begin on a particular path too early. However supporters claim that these skills are essential for helping them learn useful work skills and improving their chances of finding a job in a competitive market.

Around 14,000 students will attend the 40 studio schools open across the country from September 2013.

  

On 27^th February and 20^th March 2013 Wings of Hope hosted two fantastic industry skills
workshops in conjunction with corporate partner Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Lucky
WOHAA participants were invited to spend the afternoon at the impressive TCS offices in
Central London and learn more about the company, as well as the IT and Technology
sector in general. These students were given the opportunity to explore the kinds of
careers that they could have with a company such as TCS and were given the opportunity
to fire direct questions at the panel of presenters! Many were surprised to hear that you
don’t just have to be a computer-genius to work for TCS and were excited to learn about
roles in the legal, sales, HR and corporate sides of the business. The afternoon was rounded
up with an insightful talk from HR experts from the organisation, who gave a number of
‘insider tips’ on CV writing and interesting advice on job applications and interviews.

who is a past participant of the Wings of Hope Achievement Awards has

taken the initiative to build a primary school in Malawi.

Jamie Proctor, along with a group of his University friends who are

doing a degree in Engineering, are taking a year out after their degree

to build this school. Jamie believes that the Engineers, Architect and project manager make up a significant part of the budget. The raw materials and lower level labor is very cheap.

Therefore, by taking a team out unpaid it would dramatically cut the cost required to deliver an area a school, whilst at the same time giving newly qualified graduates vital work experience to put on their CV.

Building a school would benefit a community in Africa, and benefit the team going, by giving them essential, highly converted work experience.  

This is in line with our ethos-  Empowering through education !!

Watch this space for more updates!!!

Here is an article about WOHAA winners Team Aquila’s visit to Buckingham palace back in November 2012. Her Majesty invited the team to present their Diamond Jubilee card, which they had made for as part of their fundraising project to celebrate the occasion.

The afternoon was a tremendous success. The feedback from the students was extremely positive, who commented they found the workshop informative, inspiring and engaging. Students were given the unique opportunity to access the expertise and knowledge of top professionals from the banking sector. Not only will such workshops provide students with invaluable advice and understanding of finance within their fundraising projects but also with their personal lives – skills that they will not learn in school!

The Wings of Hope is proud to be able to put on such incredible events for our participants, our aim is to empower through education by developing key transferable skills and building work related skills which will equip youngsters for the world of work.

The story in pictures:

Bollywood songs and dance

A game of musical chairs