Magazine
Growing Inner Wings: Boosting Children’s Confidence
The latest annual report from Inner Wings, the charitable foundation running free school programmes to build children’s resilience and self-belief, shows unprecedented demand for its services. In September, to help guide its growth, Inner Wings launched its new high-level advisory council, which is set to help the charity further heighten its impact.
Photo : Kate York Photography & Film
Since its mid-pandemic establishment in July 2020, Inner Wings’ confidence-building programme has significantly expanded its reach. In its first year, the charity supported 1,500 children aged 6–12 on its two core programmes – ‘Finding Your Superpower’ and ‘Finding Your Inner Voice’. These programmes give children the tools to develop a growth mindset, discover their unique value and improve their public speaking skills. The latest annual report for 2023–24 shows that over 20,000 children graduated from the programmes over the past three academic years. Partner schools – 95% from the state school sector – are up from 50 in the charity’s first year to 170, with 220 predicted by the end of its fourth (2024–25) academic year.
BUILDING RESILIENCE AND INCLUSION
The growth of Inner Wings reflects a real and urgent need for inclusive, flexible and free programmes like these. Children and young people have been impacted by the social exclusion and anxieties caused by Covid-19, and the equally pervasive and culturally novel influences of social media and technology. More recently, the cost of living has negatively affected young people’s mental health. All have been cited as among the causes of record numbers of children and young people struggling with their mental wellbeing, self-esteem and confidence.
NHS figures in the UK show one in five young people aged 5–16 experienced a mental health problem in 2023: up from one in six in 2020 and one in nine in 2017. Data from the Royal College of Psychiatrists also shows referrals to child and young adult mental health services increased 134% in 2020 and 2021. The figures represent childhoods in crises, which without the right intervention, group and individual support, could significantly limit social mobility and life chances.
Confidence has a significant impact on self-esteem and career aspirations. The targeted and consistent support Inner Wings offers schools, teachers and students for free is therefore important for present and future wellbeing. Within this, building girls’ confidence is another core focus of Inner Wings’ work. It is close to the heart of co-founder and business and technology leader, Melissa Di Donato Roos.
Inner Wings’ director programmes and outreach, Ellen Shustik, one of Think Women’s 40 Outstanding Global Leaders, explained why in the International Education and Schools’ Fair webinar, ‘Helping Children Find Their Inner Voice’. “Confidence drops more significantly among girls when they get to age 8–14 and by 30%. For Melissa in particular, as a very rare female CEO in a male-dominated industry, she wanted to see all children, but particularly girls, have that confidence to study STEM subjects, which are typically seen as ‘for boys’.
“I think her own lived experience in working her way up to the top was down to the confidence and self-belief that she had and the role models around her,” continued Ellen. “For Melissa, it was very important to go in early and teach children those skills and tools, learn about developing a growth mindset and why it is important to detach our value from external circumstances before things get more complicated in those secondary years at school with social media.”
GAINING BUSINESS LEADERS’ SUPPORT
In the last three academic years, Inner Wings has trained over 750 teachers to support children to develop their confidence toolkit and foster positive self-worth and acceptance. Over 90% of teachers say they are satisfied with the two programmes’ resources and over 80% have noticed a positive change in the students who need it most.
The same number of children also say they felt more confident after completing the programmes. One teacher commented that after delivering the programme with a small group of children, “they are speaking out more confidently in class [and have] more resilience to give things a go.” Another valued “how the programmes addressed important elements of mental health and wellbeing, which are so prevalent at the moment.”
Another measure of Inner Wings’ progress alongside its impact and reach is that it is working in partnership with leaders in business and politics to further its goals to help young people value themselves, reach their full potential and build the next generation of leaders, one child at a time.
The Inner Wings Advisory Council was launched in September at an event at the Palace of Westminster, House of Lords. Hosted by Baroness Mary Goudie, a global advocate for the rights of women and children and a founding member of the 30% Club, on behalf of Melissa di Donato Roos and Inner Wings, the Advisory Council’s launch brought together leaders committed to addressing the diverse issues affecting young children today.
The five-member globally focused Advisory Council will work to further increase the impact of Inner Wings. As well as Baroness Goudie, council members include:
- Christine Ashton: CIO at UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) and a non-executive director for Royal Bank of Scotland International. In 2023, Christine was voted 36th most influential in UK tech and nominated to the top 50 ‘ones to watch’ list.
- Iveta Cabajova: CFO and COO of technology firm 1E, Iveta is a founding member of SheSaaS, an exclusive female leadership network fostering growth, collaboration and empowerment in the private equity-backed software sector.
- Carolyn Dawson: CEO of Founders Forum Group, a global community and group of businesses supporting entrepreneurs at every stage of their journeys, Carolyn’s remit includes the broader Founders Forum business network, leading the relaunch of Tech Nation and co-founding the Miroma Founders Network.
- Graeme Lawrie MBE: Partnerships director at ACS International Schools, Graeme is a qualified teacher specialising in technology, computing, electronics and design. He was awarded an MBE in 2020 for his services to education.
“The Advisory Council will help guide our work, expand our network of schools and beneficiaries, and increase our impact,” says Ellen Shustik. “It will support social mobility and gender equality, with input from the worlds of politics, academia and business.”
To find out more about Inner Wings School Programmes contact Ellen Shustik
Building the next generation of confident leaders one child at a time.
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