My First Month with First Give

Insights from our Programme Delivery Officer based in Yorkshire and the Humber, Gee Bedford.

Before I joined First Give, my work in education was rooted in helping young people who don’t always find schooling straightforward. I was a KS3 Teacher in a setting where the barriers were high and students didn’t always get opportunities to venture out of the standard curriculum. That experience shaped how I think about confidence, inclusion, and what “progress” really looks like for young people. I saw how powerful the right project can be when it comes at the right time.

Students at Ark King Solomon hold £1000 cheque to winning charity St Mungo’s

When starting my new position as Programme Delivery Officer with First Give, something that struck me the most is that the programme doesn’t just ask young people to care, it shows them how to. Students are very aware of the issues in their community and feel so strongly about the unfairness and injustice they see. First Give provides a structure to take those social issues and allows them to actually do something about it. And once students realise that their actions will be seen, heard and taken seriously by real adults, real charities and their peers, something special happens: It stops being a school task and becomes their project.

The thing about First Give is, students aren’t just repeating information about a cause. They’re communicating what it means, why it matters, and what they’ve done about it. Often with a level of care that is far beyond what most people would expect from teenagers.

On only my second day with First Give, I was given the opportunity to attend this year’s Final at Ark King Solomon Academy in London. The event was warm, joyful, and clearly embedded in the life of the school. In conversation with the principal, Beth Humphreys, she described First Give as something that doesn’t rely on one staff member to survive, it has completely become a part of the school’s culture. When students reach that year group, they do First Give; It’s expected, valued, and protected.

“When you reach Y9, you do First Give. It’s a rite of passage.”

Beth Humphreys, Principal at Ark King Solomon Academy

What stayed with me most was the sentiment behind what she said: “give them a chance to be compassionate and generous and they won’t disappoint.”

Young people often rise to the standards we set when we give them a reason to do so. In a school climate where staff are balancing so much (curriculum pressure, behaviour, attendance, wellbeing), it was refreshing to hear a leader speak about social action not as an extra, but as something central to what young people need.

One month in, I’ve seen enough to feel confident in saying this: the impact isn’t hard to find. It’s in the student who speaks with more confidence than they thought they had. It’s in the group who realises their idea has value. It’s in the pride of a year group applauding their peers. And sometimes, it’s in a moment where a young person gets to give something back to a charity that supported their family. Getting to see, in real time, why social action matters.

By Gee Bedford- First Give Programme Delivery Officer for Yorkshire and the North West