While the Step team is small we still make it a priority to do what we can to make an impact in the local community. You can read about the various activities we have got involved within the past two years across Nottingham. If you have any volunteering opportunities that you would like to let us know about, you can email the team at nottingham@step.org.uk
Sponsorship
From February of 2022, we decided to become the proud leading sponsor of Circus Starr. Circus Starr bring all the fun of the circus to children and families that may have found this difficult in the past.
They do it because nearly 1.5million UK families can’t afford a single day out together and 50% of families with disabled children say that the stigma and discrimination they face makes them feel isolated.
We encourage everyone to get involved within their local community and share their support.
In June 2024, we donated £1000 for the charity and our very own Ayden presented the money, on stage in front of a fantastic crowd!
Volunteering
In November 2019 some of the Step team volunteered collecting donations for Sharewear at the WE Day community event in Nottingham. The WE Charity aims to empower young people to bring about positive change in the community whilst also equipping them with the skills required for university and beyond. Children from local schools in Nottingham were invited to a concert to celebrate their positive actions where they were asked to bring either a food or clothing donation. The Step team volunteered collecting clothing donations for an amazing charity called Sharewear. Sharewear provides emergency clothing, shoes and bedding to people of all ages in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire in a crisis.
In September 2018 the Step team volunteered at Stonebridge Farm in Nottingham City Centre. Stonebridge Farm is a fantastic registered charity that supports many local people with a learning disability or a high support mental health difficulty. Stonebridge Farm is also home to a variety of amazing animals including chickens, cows, goats, various birds, guinea pigs and much more. In addition, they will soon be joined by Meerkats and as part of our volunteering, we helped to build the enclosure which will house the meerkats for many years to come.
You can find out more about the brilliant work that Stonebridge farm do here: https://www.stonebridgecityfarm.com/
Work in Education
As we operate in the higher education sector it has always been important to us to provide whatever support we can to young people. Mostly we do this through our day to day work, providing careers advice and guidance over the phone to students and graduates, but in addition to this, we’ve also had the chance this past year to get more involved in face-to-face support in local schools and universities.
Nottingham Free School
Step has worked with Nottingham Free School, which is local to our offices, in order to provide short-term work experience opportunities within Step for their students. Last year we took on a year 10 student who was brilliant in assisting us with our marketing activities. As well as work experience, we have also assisted in their careers days, conducting mock interview with enterprising students.
School Governor
Tamsin, our Director, is a Governor at a local school. She had this to say about her experiences:
Having two primary school-aged children and working full time, I felt disconnected from the school gates. I was invited by the headteacher to get involved as a parent governor at my daughters’ school and whilst it’s a big commitment, I felt compelled to get involved. As a governor, it is our role to hold the headteacher to account for everything that goes on at the school from teaching and learning, to budgets and wider community involvement. I’m able to share my experience in the commercial world of business as well as more specialist expertise in recruitment and it’s incredibly rewarding being able to see your skills put to good use in a different setting. One project that we are now looking at is embedding employability into the curriculum to help the children start to think about their career aspirations from an early age.