The Firefly Project

🚨 Exciting News! 🚨 I'm delighted to share that last week, I received notification from the Petitions Committee that my petition to add content on death, dying, and bereavement into the national curriculum will be debated in Parliament once again! The debate was initially scheduled for the summer but was postponed due to the general election, so it’s a huge relief to know it’s back on the agenda – though the exact date has not yet been confirmed. This journey has required countless hours, and I am deeply grateful to everyone who has supported this cause. Your voices and signatures have made this all possible, and together we are pushing for a vital change in our education system to help young people navigate these important life topics. Thank you all for your incredible support – onwards together! 🙏💙 Petition Link: https://lnkd.in/eRs74T8W #DeathDyingBereavement #ParliamentDebate #EducationMatters #ThankYou #DepartmentDepartment for Education #National Association Of Funeral Directors #Child Bereavement UK #The Good Grief Trust

Our members are working on mental health and wellbeing in over 19,000 education settings - just some of the 70,000 unique partnerships shown on our updated Fair Education Alliance Ecosystem Map. Pupils from low-income households are dramatically more likely to have social, emotional and mental health needs than others. They’re three times as likely to be severely absent, and 40% of children and young people who have an education and health care plan (EHCP) for social, emotional and mental health needs are from low-income households. As a coalition of organisations working to tackle educational inequality, we’re clear that this has to change; we must prioritise the mental health and wellbeing of young people by better understanding the challenges and how to address these in school. Who do you know that is doing great work in this area? Please tag and celebrate them in the comments below! #WorldMentalHealthDay

As today is not only World Mental Health Day, but also my birthday I thought it was a great day to announce my next running adventure 🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️ In August 2025, I’ll be running 2500 miles between the four compass points of the UK. Ness Point, Dunnet Head, Ardnamurchan Point and Lizard Point to raise grief awareness and vital funds for Cancer Research UK (CRUK) It's Time Charity and The Firefly Project These causes are all very close to my heart 💛 after my mum suddenly died of breast cancer when I was just 22. I hope that this adventure run can provide hope to families dealing with cancer by funding life saving research, provide support to grieving young people who have lost one or both parents, and provide schools and community organisations with help and education to ensure that no-one has to feel alone in their grief. I am really happy to say that my challenge is being supported by givestar and I have been chosen as one of their All Stars - a community of adventurers raising money for good causes. If you’d like to donate (it is my birthday after all 😅) here is the link: https://lnkd.in/enhxMSdn I’ve been out of the running adventure scene since my failed attempt to run from London to Rome back in 2018 when I got heat stroke and had to stop (unless you include when I ran a marathon in my car park during the pandemic), so getting ready for this challenge is going to be really tough as I’m largely starting from scratch. But I’m going to document it all - the good, the bad and the ugly - so follow along on Instagram @4pointchallenge if you want to see me prepare myself physically and mentally for this challenge to the start line and beyond. #running #runner #runningmotivation #runningcommunity #adventure #adventurechallenge #runningadventure #lowestoft #dunnethead #ardnamurchan #lizard #cancersucks #griefawareness #grief #worldmentalhealthday #mentalhealth

Last week we hosted Jenna Maudlin & her team from The Firefly Project for their strategy day in our board room at Future Foundations HQ, at Devas Club Jenna was a fellow finalist of Big Change #bigedchallenge. It was great to meet her wider team & see how far her project has come 🤩 They enjoyed in true CanTeam style a team lunch supplied by Pure which contributes to our friends at Magic Breakfast 😋 If you or your organisation would like to have access to space in #clapham for co-working we have a variety of great value options for individuals, SMEs & VSOs. PM for details & we can arrange a tour & coffee with Conny D..

We’re grateful to Bervelyn for this powerful and personal message about why we're more than our grades. Let this be a reminder to be kinder to everybody but also to ourselves 💙 Read our complete chat with young people Bervelyn and Noor ➡️ https://lnkd.in/g4WFkpjw

🎉 We are thrilled to announce the 6 winners of the Fair Education Innovation Award 2024! Last night at our announcement event hosted by Bloomberg, we celebrated these incredible innovators who are tackling educational inequality with fresh, impactful solutions. This marks a decade of the Innovation and Scaling Awards, a long-lasting partnership with Bloomberg, and we're excited to see how these new initiatives will drive change in education across the country. Molly Forbes, The Body Happy Programme: Promoting body respect and positivity, addressing body image issues among young people. Jenna Maudlin, The Firefly Project: Providing grief education and holistic support to help school communities navigate grief together. Charly Young MBE, The Early Years Movement: Championing gender equity by recruiting men into early childhood education. Yusuf Ben-Tarifite and Yasmin B., The Aspiring Medics: Mentoring and supporting students from underrepresented backgrounds aspiring to enter the medical field. Alaya Holloway, FirstGens: Providing essential guidance and resources to help first-generation students access and thrive in higher education. Sean Harris FCCT, Tees Valley Education: Tackling child poverty and inequality through community-driven solutions. Each winner will receive hands-on support, including funding to scale their innovative projects. Stay tuned next week as we spotlight each of these trailblazing initiatives! You can also find out more about them at https://buff.ly/3Bfj2xu #FEAInnovationAward

I am absolutely over the moon to share that The Firefly Project are Fair Education Alliance Innovation award winners and not only that, we also won the Community Choice award! Thank you to all who voted for us. It means so much that so many people can see the need for providing grief education in schools 💛 Last night was an absolutely fantastic and inspiring event hosted by the FEA team in the most incredible office at Bloomberg. It was amazing to meet so many inspiring people who are tackling educational inequality and striving to make the education system more inclusive. It was also great to catch up with Caitlin Ross and Bakari U. from Big Change and reflect on how far we have come over the past year which could not have been possible without their belief in what we do and their commitment to back early stage ideas with funding and support from both them and The Young Foundation, especially the coaching support from Rosamund (Rose) Mosse. Since the end of the Big Education Challenge, we’ve been working hard to learn more about building a sustainable social enterprise through programmes such as Ingenuity Impact and we also graduated from Hatch Enterprise UK this week. All of which has been a huge help to shaping Firefly and leading to this incredible next step we take with the FEA. The support from the FEA innovation award is going to be exactly what we need to take The Firefly Project to the next level. It will enable me to work full-time on it from January and provide us with expert support to make sure we can build an organisation with a solid foundation that will have a lasting impact on the lives of grieving young people. We are so grateful for this opportunity and I am so excited for the next stage of this journey. #feainnovationaward #faireducation #griefeducation #grief #letstalkaboutit

Today, on National Grief Awareness Day, we wanted to shine a light on the work that we do at The Firefly Project. Watch our video to hear how we are empowering young people and educators to navigate grief through our workshops and the vision we have of a more compassionate world where no-one has to feel alone in their grief. We are also excited to share that we are one of ten finalists of Fair Education Alliance's Innovation award, and we have been put forward for a Community Choice Award which is voted on by you the public! Please consider taking a minute of your time to vote for us, and help us reach more young people and educators across the UK. https://lnkd.in/eVnKdvHP #NationalGriefAwarenessDay #GriefSupport #YouthMentalHealth #CommunityImpact #Education #SocialEmotionalLearning

Today, on National Grief Awareness Day, we wanted to shine a light on the work that we do at The Firefly Project. Watch our video to hear how we are empowering young people and educators to navigate grief through our workshops and the vision we have of a more compassionate world where no-one has to feel alone in their grief. We are also excited to share that we are one of ten finalists of Fair Education Alliance's Innovation award, and we have been put forward for a Community Choice Award which is voted on by you the public! Please consider taking a minute of your time to vote for us, and help us reach more young people and educators across the UK. https://lnkd.in/eVnKdvHP #NationalGriefAwarenessDay #GriefSupport #YouthMentalHealth #CommunityImpact #Education #SocialEmotionalLearning

We need more real-world skills taught in schools. The education system needs an update. I'm not knocking English and Maths. But here’s what should be taught as well: 1. 𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘺 • How to manage money confidently • Understanding budgeting, debt and financial planning 2. 𝘌𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 • How to navigate relationships wisely • Master empathy, self-awareness & effective communication 3. 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 • How to build valuable connections • Initiate and maintain professional relationships 4. 𝘕𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 • How to secure favourable deals and terms • Know your worth and advocate for it confidently 5. Entrepreneurship • How to seek alternative career paths • Encourage innovation and the pursuit of new opportunities 6. Mental health • How to manage stress and look after mental health • More open conversations about coping with challenges    7. Time management & productivity • How to balance work and life • Prioritise tasks and avoid unnecessary stress 8. Basic legal knowledge • How to protect your interests • Understand rights and responsibilities And how about a bonus one. 9. Public speaking • How to express ideas powerfully • Gain confidence in presenting and influencing others Education should prepare us for life. Not just to pass exams. Which subject do you think is the most important out of the list? ♻️ Repost this if you agree. Follow Adam Faulkner for more.