Another great year of Take a Chance: Students and Vodafone Business Buddies Celebrate Success!

Students from West Berkshire secondary schools recently celebrated their success on the Take a Chance Programme with their Vodafone Buddies who have supported them through the series of workshops and mentoring sessions.

Over the past eight years, the programme run by the Education Business Partnership West Berkshire has given 400 students, aged 14 to 15 years, the chance to benefit from the knowledge and experience of business volunteers, as well as to explore behind the scenes of Vodafone HQ in Newbury.

More than 300 Vodafone employees have now taken up the ongoing opportunity to give something back to the local community. After the celebratory event one volunteer said how privileged he felt to be involved in making a difference to young people, while another summed up the positive impact of providing useful building blocks for the students as they go forward to take on the challenges of exams, interviews and their future working lives.

During the final workshop the students expressed gratitude to their Buddies and said how much they valued their experience on the programme. One student described it as, “The best confidence booster ever”, which was backed up by another student who said, “It has been inspirational and incredibly helpful; I feel so much better in myself!”

Looking to the future, the Programme Manager Helen Roy said, “The EBP is delighted with the ongoing success of Take a Chance and that the Vodafone Foundation has agreed to continue its support and funding of £120,000 per year for the programme to be run in 2015-2016 and 2016-2017. This will allow even more young people in West Berkshire to benefit from this outstanding partnership within the business and education communities.”

The photograph above shows the 2014-15 cohort of Take a Chance Students with some of their Vodafone Business Buddies. Take a Chance is supported by the Vodafone Foundation, registered charity number 1089625,

Participating schools:
Park House School, Newbury
St Bartholomew’s School, Newbury
Trinity School, Newbury
Kennet School, Thatcham
The Downs School, Compton
Theale Green School, Theale
Denefield School, Tilehurst
Little Heath School, Tilehurst