NEW BF PARTNER MULBERRY SCHOOL FOR GIRLS

BF is delighted to announce a new, two-year Licensed Partner agreement with Mulberry School for Girls.

The partnership welcomes Mulberry School for Girls as the first secondary school in East London. They join a growing number of both primary and secondary schools that fall under the We Are Forging Futures, in association with BF, partner family. Partners receive the support from BF to deliver various personal development- and education- aligned programmes underneath the wider British Fencing License Partner Programme (LPP), which is a family of training and delivery partners first established in 2016.

Mulberry School for Girls operates in East London and is a safe creative space where children can develop their ambitions and the power for self- determination. The BF Personal Development Programme will complement the school’s ethos and values.

Harry Brown, National Partnership and Engagement Manager with BF, said,

“We are delighted to be working with Mulberry, and this will grow the relationship that BF already has started through the Muslim Girls Fence project. We are thrilled to be able to support the school on their fencing journey and to enable staff and pupils to grow as resilient members of the school community and beyond.”

Ayan Abdi, Director of Enrichment at Mulberry School, said,

“We are so excited to start this partnership. We anticipate this will make a wonderful addition to our school’s enrichment offer. Most importantly this partnership will give our students key skills including resilience, and self- determination while also gaining an insight into fencing.”

Mulberry School for Girls is a comprehensive school for girls aged 11-18 in the heart of Tower Hamlets. The school are the founding school of the Mulberry Schools Trust. They aim to provide all students with the best education, regardless of their starting point. They do this by nurturing student’s talents and abilities in a safe, creative space where they can develop their ambitions, creativity, leadership and the power for self- determination.

British Fencing is the National Governing Body for the sport of fencing in the UK. Partners are equipped with the knowledge, support, and training to deliver the We Are Forging Futures Ofsted-aligned Resilience and Self-efficacy personal development programme, which is a researched and field-tested bank of 36 lesson plans, aligned with the British Fencing philosophy around a participant’s journey in the sport of fencing. The lessons align with the British Fencing Achievement Awards of ‘MiniSwords’ (foam delivery aimed at 5-7 year olds) and ‘Go/Fence’ (plastic delivery aimed at 8+).

Partners with access to the programme attend a rigorous 2-day training process that provides the insight and knowledge into how to use games and swordplay fun to introduce the sport of fencing to 4 to 14 year olds. The training explores how to use the resources effectively to develop the young participant’s resilience and self-efficacy and contribute to teachers’ CPD, widens and deepens the quality of a school’s PE, School Sport and Physical Activity agenda.

The personal development programme has been developed and road-tested for two academic years and provides schools with a route to engage young people, even if they don’t identify as ‘sporty’.

James Craig, Commercial Director with BF, says,

“We know fencing is a great tool to combat the notion of ‘sporty’ versus ‘non-sporty’, and we look forward to working with all our delivery partners to evidence this more widely.”

If you would like more information about our work in schools, please contact Harry Brown, National Partnership and Engagement Manager [email protected] or 07840 856370.

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