About Us

We are a non-profit organisation committed to transforming education on a nationwide scale. This is for two key reasons:

• Young people from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds and those from minoritised ethnic backgrounds are currently failed by the system.
• Those working with young people within the system can feel it breaking, are exhausted and feel increasingly hopeless, lacking trust in current government-led efforts to make anything better.

Rooted in the success of Rekindle Supplementary schools, and utilising exceptional work already being done by so many young people, schools and organisations nationwide, we want to support, capture and amplify.

The Rekindle Foundation facilitates collaboration, innovation and brave steps forward, before capturing and distilling what is working and then disseminating this more widely for greater impact. And we do it for free.

The Rekindle Foundation is growing the network of those who know a change is needed, who want equitable outcomes and an enjoyable educational experience for both young people and those who support them.

We mean it when we say that ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ and we are committed to ensuring that all those passionate about the change that is needed are able to contribute, to have their voices heard and to be able to make a difference*.

Young people

The core and heart of why we’re doing what we’re doing:

• If you have strong ideas about what would make a meaningful difference in education of all young people to make learning a more joyful and successful experience for all, we would love to hear from you and find out more
• If you are 16-25 and want to apply for one of our research places to find out more about the opportunities we have to participate in and lead research, you can reach us here

Educators

A pivotal and powerful force for change without whom we can’t succeed:

• If you are a teacher, support staff member, leader or trainee, and you want to learn more about our vision or to be a part of the conversation, please reach out to us
• If you feel that you are a ‘Rekindle’ educator at heart and that we can learn from what you’re doing, we would love to hear from you

Academics and researchers

Those who provide us with the evidence-based reflection and critical thinking that we need to make our work truly impactful:

• If you are involved in academia and/or research relating to either education and/or the underserved groups above, your work could prove so powerful in our journey and we’d love to talk about how we could work together
• If you’re interested in supporting our youth-led research, we would be so grateful to hear from you

Families

Your young people thrive with your input and we grow with your input:

• If you’d like to contribute to our gathering of voices and feel that you may be able to contribute ideas, time or skills, you can help us here

Elders

Those within any community who add so much value through their insight and wisdom

• If you feel passionate about education and feel you have knowledge, experience or skills to contribute meaningfully, you’d make a world of difference to us

Corporate Friends

Without you, our dreams would never have got off the ground in the first place:

• A corporate partnership with Rekindle isn’t just about us asking you for money. A partnership with Rekindle means sharing our long-term vision to support young people to create real change and impact. A partnership with us is as much about you gaining from the relationship, as it is for us.

*A DBS will be required for any work directly related to young people or vulnerable adults

We’d love to hear from you. For general enquiries, you can email hello@rekindlefoundation.org or call 07794 871 754. There is a separate email for research-related enquiries: research@rekindlefoundation.org, and any safeguarding or child-protection matters can be sent to safeguarding@rekindlefoundation.org.

‘It takes a village to raise a child’ is our core belief. Rekindle’s ambition is to ensure that everyone who wants to be a part of this journey – in making education a more joyful and successful place – feels welcome and can contribute as much as they’d like to.

There are five pillars in Rekindle’s vision of an Educational Commons: Young People, Families, Educators, Academics, Elders. You can find out more about these here.

“THE COMMONS CAN BE DEFINED AS COLLECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF THE ‘DIMENSIONS AND ASPECTS OF OUR LIVES THAT WE SHARE AND DEPEND ON, AND THAT WE, IN TURN, CARE FOR AND CULTIVATE TOGETHER’ (Haiven, 2017)”

This way of looking at things – in a participatory approach – underpins our ethos… We believe in the power of dialogue and experiences in shaping a better way forwards. Rekindle will create spaces where we can all reflect on existing practice and policy, think about the social, historical and political contexts which provide context to these, and work towards a more just system together.

A participatory approach can promote social justice in four ways:

• Collectively defining the social problems against which an organisation is resisting
• Challenging mainstream models through the experience and knowledge of people involved
• Collectively explaining what is happening in practice and how this delivers social justice
• Identifying strategic points of social change

Ultimately, the aim is for 12 regional hubs for the Rekindle Educational Commons, but it’s a work in progress and we need more pioneers for this incredible work. If you can help, or you’d like to know more, please email: [email protected]. We’d love you to be a part of the village!