Dr. Challoners High School is a Voluntary Controlled Grammar School for Girls, based in Buckinghamshire. This year they embark on their third school expedition with Raleigh. They are returning to Borneo where they will work on a gravity feed water system refurbishment. They are also going to visit the orang-utans at Sepilok which is a centre for the rehabilitation of orang-utans that have been kept in captivity or orphaned. For the adventure challenge part of their expedition they are going to make the arduous ascent up Mount Kinabalu. Have a look at some of the photos of them last year in Costa Rica where they built a school and some of the participant's comments about their experience.

Malmesbury School is a specialist school for science and the performing arts, mathematics and computing. In 2008 Malmesbury School was awarded ' High Performing Specialist School' status as a result of the exceptional progress made by their students.

Their their last full OFSTED inspection in 2006 the inspectors said that "The school thrives on shared values and common purpose" and has "A distinctive ethos in which human values and personal development are nurtured alongside a determined focus on high academic standards".

Wembley High is a thriving and happy school with a strong focus on academic excellence. Last year, it was were the highest-achieving non-denominational school in Brent.

The school's mission is to provide a structured, disciplined working environment in which every student receives high-quality teaching and is strongly encouraged to achieve his or her full potential. Alongside academic achievement the school believes that their students should work to become well-rounded and moral citizens. Social development sits alongside academic excellence at the heart of the School's ethos where strong links with the local community are encouraged and a broad and stimulating range of extra-curricular activities support wider learning.
 

City and Islington College is an award winning Further Education College based in North London. The college was judged to be ‘outstanding' in every aspect in their last OFSTED inspection in 2008. The college embraces diversity and their students are from a broad range of socio-economic and racial backgrounds. Due to this, 20 students were able to participate in our ‘V' funded programme to India in summer 2009.

Take a look at a photo of the young people from City and Islington College about to embark on a fundraising walk in London, some of the things the participants said about the experience, individual case studies from Victoria Grincisina, Nicholas Thorps and Aimee Tunbridge and Steven Kern's - Student Union Co-ordinator testimonial on Raleigh.

HEG is an association of local professionals who help young people fulfil their potential through challenging expeditions. Raleigh worked with HEG in 2007 and again in 2009 to enable young people in the Herefordshire area to take part in summer expeditions to Borneo for 24 days.

Northumberland Youth Service aims to work with young people aged 11-25 years, with those aged 13-19 as it's priority. It uses a wide range of informal learning opportunities and challenging experiences to address the needs of young people, targeting those that are disadvantaged and/or disaffected. Activities are used as a tool to challenge young people, enabling them to develop the personal and social skills which will encourage them to make informed decisions and positive choices about their lives.

St Helens Chamber is an award winning organisation that is developing the economy and prosperity of the Borough of St Helens by working with businesses, students and communities. The Chamber works on four key agenda:

• Helping businesses to grow
• Inspiring entrepreneurs and helping to set up new businesses
• Preparing a workforce for business
• Training people to improve career prospects

They offer a strong and dynamic service that provides every business with the support they need to start, grow, survive and succeed, as well as a range of employment and enterprise initiatives for local people.

The Enterprising St Helens programme gives children and young people the opportunity to experience business, enterprise and life beyond the classroom. It was developed in response to the increasing need for young people to demonstrate a diverse range of experiences and breadth of knowledge in addition to their studies. The focus of the programme is to develop transferrable skills which will enable participants to enter higher education and further employment having demonstrated these skills in practical situations. It uses its position at the heart of the businesses community to make these skills applicable to the demands of industry.

The St Helens Young Leadership Challenge, which is open to 16 to 19 year-olds in full and part-time education, or employment, is a multi-stage programme during which students undertake specialist leadership training, participate in fund raising and complete a learning portfolio worth 70 UCAS points. The focus of the programme is the preparation and experience of participating in an overseas ‘leadership' expedition.

Last year, Raleigh worked with St Helens Chamber in providing an expedition to Southern India. The young people built eco-sanitation units in small, remote tribal villages. This year Raleigh is partnering up with St Helens Chamber again to provide a three week ‘leadership' expedition in Nicaragua which will include a 14 day community project building eco-latrine units in deprived tribal districts and a five day trek in the Maribios Volcanic Range. The group will be working with one of Raleigh's project partners, The Co-operative Juan Francisco Paz Silva, and will learn about Fair Trade and how the Co-operative assists small and medium sized producers of sesame seed and coffee.

Group Leader Martin Foulkes, Enterprising St Helens Manager, said: "We ran this Challenge for the first time in 2009, with an expedition to Southern India and it proved to be a huge success. The young people came back thoroughly enriched by the experience, having built excellent teamwork and leadership skills. They have said it has changed their outlook on life. They realise how lucky they are compared to others. Some of them are changing the way they are in their home lives, and others are modifying their plans for the future and what they want to achieve. We hope this next challenge will prove to be just as successful if not more so. It will provide a fantastic opportunity for young people from the Borough to be part of something they otherwise wouldn't have the opportunity to do."

Read about Zak Nicoll's experience with Raleigh, quotes from other St Helens Chamber participants and Martin Foulkes' testimonial.  Also check out some photos from the expedition.

UpRising is a new leadership programme being developed by the Young Foundation to support and train a new generation of public leaders. UpRising identifies, recruits, develops and supports 19 to 25 year olds to enable them to play a greater role in politics and public decision-making The aim is to create a pool of talented young leaders from a range of backgrounds who can transform their communities for the better and take up positions of power in public institutions.

Last year, 12 young people from the Uprising programme participated in our ‘V' funded programme to India.