SMASH (Southwark Movers and Shakers) brings together students and business partners to help young people tackle issues in their communities - issues they have identified are important.

Business partners act as Community Motivators to provide advice or support for the young people.

What happens?

SMASH (Southwark Movers And SHakers) is an active citizenship education project designed to provide opportunities for primary and secondary school students to experience the processes and practices of active community involvement. 

Three principal elements:

Schools
Over one school term, schools set up small teams of eight students, called SMASH Squads, to research, document and take action on relevant community issues chosen by themselves.  They analyse and report their findings to their peers, relevant bodies, individuals and organisations at the end of the term.  These could be issues such as local litter, graffiti, noise, pollution, local amenities, food safety and hygiene, local transportation, recreation, drugs, racial hate crime, and abuse.

Partner organisations 
Local public, private and voluntary sector organisations are engaged as partners, mainly providing individual volunteers to work as “Community Motivators” advising and supporting the school SMASH Squads once a week over eight weeks.

SMASH

• Is run by the Southwark Council’s Education Business Alliance in partnership with north Southwark schools and business partners.
• Operates in both primary and secondary schools.
• Runs over a period of six-to-eight weekly one hour sessions.  Is organised in teams of students called SMASH Squads, who concentrate on a public issue of the students' choice as a way of learning about citizenship. Is supervised by teachers and a fullt time SMASH Project Manager who provides support and guidance for the duration of the project
• Culminates with a presentation of findings and recommendations to politicians and relevant organisations. 

Smash aims to

• Develop skills and personal qualities which will enable participants to become active citizens
• Provide opportunities for Southwark's young people to understand and participate in the democratic process by identifying and addressing community issues
• Promote the innovative use of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) as a tool for active citizenship in the 21st century.

Business benefits

If you are a business interested in providing Community Motivators:

Your employees have a unique opportunity to act as advisor, guide, mentor, coach, and devil’s advocate to a small team of students who have selected an issue about which they feel passionately.  They will get to know the local community and will develop their skills and knowledge about mentoring as well as their views of local students.  Motivators will be paired with another volunteer and will be given guidance materials each week by the SMASH Project Manager.  Their time commitment will be over eight weeks and will usually entail two hours a week during school hours.  There will be an informational session at the beginning of the programme and possible visits out of the school depending on the circumstances and willingness of your business. 

If you are a business interested in being a Partner Organisation:

Not all businesses can provide a volunteer to be a Motivator every term.  However, you can arrange and/or host visits and provide information over in the course of the programme. 

Organisations and volunteers benefit by

• Building links with local schools, and gaining a better understanding of young people’s perspectives on local issues and organisations, including their own
• Developing their mentoring skills through acting as Community Motivators. Earning enhanced local visibility and reputation.

If you want SMASH at your school:

We will work with you to decide which class would be most appropriate for SMASH and can run SMASH in a variety of different class sizes, age groups and subjects.   SMASH will expose your students to local business volunteers, enhance their knowledge of citizenship, and will develop their problem solving, group working and IT skills. We will install NetFolio on your schools IT system which will enable your students to create digital portfolios of their SMASH project but also other school work.  We provide training on NefFolio for your teachers and students and will provide ongoing support from the SMASH Programme Coordinator for the overall running of the programme.

Students benefit by:

• Understanding their rights and responsibilities as citizens and community members, and how to exercise them
• Learning about practical citizenship and democracy through addressing real issues in their community by consulting and engaging with relevant local people and organisations
• Developing skills in curriculum-related areas such as problem solving, team-working, gathering and recording information, analysing data, making presentations, communicating and negotiating, and using technology.

Current partners include:

ü     King’s College London

ü     Ernst & Young

ü     London Underground

ü     PriceWaterhouseCoopers

ü     Timebank UK

ü     Trading Standards, Southwark Council

ü     Drug Education Team, Southwark Council

ü     The Haven

ü     Community Wardens, Bermondsey Team

ü     Metropolitan Police Service, Southwark Partnership Team

Interested?
For further details on the benefits SMASH can bring to you and your organisation contact: 
Andrew Alleyne, SMASH Project Manager
Telephone - 020 7525 2864
Email - andrew.alleyne@southwark.gov.uk