School pupils champion social change in a special Big Issue magazine takeover

• 27 schools have been involved in the special edition and 6 have also taken part in a special social enterprise event at the House of Lords, hosted by founder of the Big Issue, Lord Bird

• The Big Issue magazine has partnered with the Social Enterprise Academy to produce an exclusive edition, giving young people a platform to raise awareness of the big issues they care about

The Social Enterprise Academy and the Big Issue, yesterday hosted an event for school pupils across 6 schools, who this week took part in a special Big Issue magazine takeover where they showcased their own social enterprises. 

The event at the House of Lords included two Dragons’ Den pitches – from Beam Primary School (Barking and Dagenham) and Southgate School (Enfield). The Big Issue, Social Enterprise Academy and other partners of the programme were able to meet the young social entrepreneurs from across London who were in the special edition magazine, including: Oaklands School (Hounslow), Elm Court School (Lambeth), Millennium Primary School (Greenwich), and Sanders Draper (Havering). There were also speeches from Lord Bird, founder of The Big Issue and Neil McLean, CEO of the Social Enterprise Academy.

Some examples of the amazing social enterprises include: creating sustainable food products from waste ingredients, sharing and upcycling clothing among pupils, growing produce, reducing waste and recycling in creative ways, and using community spaces to trade fairly and improve mental wellbeing.

Each pupil involved has been thinking about the future, and what they can do to make it better for themselves and for everyone.

The Social Enterprise Schools programme was established in 2007, in partnership with The Scottish Government, and now operates across Scotland, England, and internationally. It enables young people to identify a social or environmental issue that is important to them, before designing and launching a trading social enterprise that will directly address the issue.

The Big Issue has worked with the Social Enterprise Academy for the past five years to create a ‘schools takeover edition’ of the magazine, which pupils sell in their schools to raise money to support their own school social enterprises and their wider communities.

In the coming weeks, pupils across the UK will be taking part in Sell-Off Challenges, selling copies of this Big Issue special edition to raise funds for their social enterprises.

The special edition magazine, supported by Kibble, HIE and Artemis, includes a free 24-page supplement which profiles school social enterprise projects across the UK and further afield.

Big Issue Editor Paul McNamee said: “Every year when we work with the Social Enterprise Academy we see schools’ social enterprises getting bigger, bolder and more creative.

“From growing produce to making food and sharing it in their communities, to ingenious ways that pupils are upcycling clothes, to raising awareness of rainforests and helping hedgehogs to cross the road – there is so much joy and energy in these projects.

“It’s especially exciting this year to see how Social Enterprise Schools is growing in England and much further afield. We see school students learning blacksmithing and using chook-poo for projects in Australia, and young people in Malaysia making sure their classmates are able to reach the library and don’t go hungry.

“It all shows how the brave, compassionate and creative approaches of young people actively running social enterprises can make real impacts – locally and globally.”

CEO at the Social Enterprise Academy, Neil McLean said: “We can see from the stories in this year’s magazine the magic that happens when one young person believes they can make a real difference. Their passion and purpose as social entrepreneurs is infectious and spreads to their classmates, their school and the wider community.

“We need social entrepreneurship now more than ever to help tackle the challenges facing the world. We want to make sure that every young person has the chance to take part in Social Enterprise Schools and reach their full potential – developing the entrepreneurial and core skills they need for the future while creating the meaningful change they want to see in their community.”

Leah McGee, Assistant Headteacher at Sanders Draper, said: “The students got a lot out of being a part of the Social Enterprise Academy. I had four teams of students putting projects together and they have really come out of themselves in terms of confidence. The whole idea of giving back to their community has really resonated with them and they want to take that forward into the future. And that’s not just in terms of their projects, but for the whole school community.”  

The Social Enterprise Academy also uses this week’s magazine to launch a new award recognizing schools which demonstrate outstanding financial skills. The James Fairweather Award is a tribute to James Fairweather, the late CEO of Big Issue Invest and chair of the Board of Social Enterprise Academy, who championed financial literacy and how young people can effect change in the world.

If you would like to buy the special edition, you can get the magazine from your local vendor or you can subscribe online or buy a subscription and provide a vendor with a regular income.

If you buy a subscription and allocate it to a vendor via the vendor map, the vendor receives 50% of the net profits.

For more information on how to get involved in the Social Enterprise Schools programme, please visit: https://www.socialenterprise.academy/social-enterprise-schools