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ince its mid-pandemic establishment in July 2020, Inner Wings’ confidence-building programme has significantly expanded its reach. In its first year, the charity supported 1,500 children aged
6–12 through its initial programme, ‘Finding Your Superpower’. The follow-on programme, ‘Finding Your Voice’, launched the year after. These programmes give children the tools to develop a growth mindset, discover their unique value and improve their public speaking skills. The latest annual report for 2023–24 now shows 20,000 children graduating from its programmes in the last three academic years. Partner schools – 95% from the state school sector – are up from 50 in the charity’s first year to 170, with 220 predicted by the end of the 2024–25 academic year.
BUILDING RESILIENCE AND INCLUSION The growth of Inner Wings reflects a real and urgent need for inclusive, flexible and free programmes like these. Children and young people have been impacted by the social exclusion and anxieties caused by Covid-19, and the equally pervasive and culturally novel influences of social media and technology. More recently, the cost of living has negatively affected young people’s mental health. All have been cited as among the causes of record numbers of children and young people struggling with their mental wellbeing, self-esteem and confidence. NHS figures in the UK show one in five young people
aged 5–16 experienced a mental health problem in 2023: up from one in six in 2020 and one in nine in 2017. Data from the Royal College of Psychiatrists also shows referrals to child and young adult mental health services increased 134% in 2020 and 2021. The figures represent childhoods in crises, which without the right intervention, group and individual support, could significantly limit social mobility and life chances. Confidence has a significant impact on self-esteem
and career aspirations. The targeted and consistent support Inner Wings offers schools, teachers and students for free is therefore important for present and
“ They are speaking out more confidently in class and have more resilience to give things a go.”
TEACHER, AFTER DELIVERING THE INNER WINGS PROGRAMME
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future wellbeing. Within this, building girls’ confidence is another core focus of Inner Wings’ work. It is close to the heart of co-founder and business and technology leader, Melissa Di Donato Roos. Inner Wings’ director of programmes and outreach,
Ellen Shustik, one of Think Women’s 40 Outstanding Global Leaders, explained why in the International Education and Schools’ Fair webinar, ‘Helping Children Find Their Inner Voice’. “Confidence drops more significantly among girls when they get to age 8–14 and by 30%. For Melissa in particular, as a very rare female CEO in a male-dominated industry, she wanted to see all children, but particularly girls, have that confidence to study STEM subjects, which are typically seen as ‘for boys’. “I think her own lived experience in working her way
up to the top was down to the confidence and self-belief that she had and the role models around her,” continued Ellen. “For Melissa, it was very important to go in early and teach children those skills and tools, learn about developing a growth mindset and why it is important to detach our value from external circumstances before things get more complicated in those secondary years at school with social media.”
Left & below: School children participating in the Inner Wings programme
GLOBAL LEADERSHIP HOT TOPIC
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