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Monday 9:30am - 5pm Tuesday 9:30am - 5pm Wednesday 9:30am - 5pm Thursday 9:30am - 5pm Friday 9:30am - 3pm

Bright Futures UK

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Bright Futures UK

We support young people aged 5-24 suffering from an mental health or physical illnesses. We want to make sure illness doesn’t steal young people’s potential.

Bright Futures UK is the first UK charity to support children and young people back into education after taking time out from education due to long term illness. Bright Futures UK supports young individuals through a period of illness by providing educational, social and professional support. We provide bespoke tuition, mentoring and workshops to increase young people’s confidence and help find th

em a new normal, while resuming their education at a pace that suits them. We’ve partnered with 11 NHS hospital locations and are building relationships all over the country, and we support on average nearly 1,000 young people a year. We are creating a culture that promotes a diverse use of skills and backgrounds in volunteering. Since launching we've recruited 340 volunteers, from all backgrounds and age ranges 17-60. Want to find out more?: https://www.brightfuturesuk.org/run-a-programme

13/08/2026

Today is all about celebrating young people’s achievements! 🎉

To every student opening their A-Level results today: Congratulations!

Your hard work and resilience are truly inspiring! Studying through long-term health challenges isn’t easy, and we hope that you received the results you were aiming for! The BFUK team wish you the best of luck for the future. ✨

Thanks to our volunteers and supporters, we can keep helping young people stay on track with their education and keep working towards their future goals. You can find out more about our programmes on our website.

🔗 https://brightfuturesuk.org/

04/08/2026

BFUK Workshop Highlights 💫

It's been an incredible year of creativity, connection, and learning so far!

Across our workshops at UCLH - University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Great Ormond Street Hospital and Charity, The Royal Marsden NHS, Barts Health NHS Trust and Darent Valley Hospital (DVH), children and young people have enjoyed everything from tote bag decorating, pebble painting, and sun catcher making to exploring book fairs and so much more.

We were also delighted to launch our brand-new creative activity packs, helping us bring engaging craft activities to even more young people in hospital.

We've loved taking part in special events too, including Darent Valley Hospital's Young Person's Away Day, where we delivered creative wellbeing sessions alongside inspiring organisations including the Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity, local police, and hospital teams providing first aid training. It was fantastic to see so many young people building confidence, learning new skills, and making connections throughout the day.

Our Reach for the Sky workshops, funded by the UK Civil Aviation Authority and the Department for Transport, have also continued. Through VR, coding, robotics, and aerospace activities, young people have been discovering exciting STEM careers while having fun.

💬 One member of hospital staff shared: "Seeing the children laughing and completely immersed in the experience was incredibly special. For those moments, they seemed to forget they were in hospital."

A huge thank you to all of our incredible volunteers, hospital partners, and funders who have made these workshops possible. We can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings!

27/07/2026

Get your running shoes on for Bright Futures UK! 👟💫

We have limited places remaining for the Royal Parks Half Marathon, taking place this October.

This is your chance to raise vital funds for our charity while taking part in one of London's most iconic races. Last year, our runners raised over £2,600, helping us provide educational support to children and young people facing serious, long-term physical and mental illnesses.

Whether you’re chasing a personal best or ticking your first half marathon off your bucket list, we’d love to have you on the team.

📆 Sunday, 11th October 2026

Please complete our online form to register your interest:
➡️ https://6ds8zj68dqd.typeform.com/Fundraise

Or get in touch with [email protected] to find out more.

📸 Check out some of our pictures from last year!

23/07/2026

We'd like to say a big thank you to the British Motor Museum and their Brick Bank for their recent donation of LEGO sets. 🙌💫

We’re grateful for your generosity. The young people we support have often been out of school due to illness, and opportunities for creativity, connection, and simple fun can make such a difference.

These LEGO sets have already been bringing that spark to our online befriending programmes. What starts as a box of bricks quickly becomes shared ideas, problem-solving, and confidence-building. Having something hands-on to create helps conversations flow naturally and makes it easier for genuine connections to grow.

Last month's BFUK Social Club was a relaxed evening of building LEGO, chatting, and connecting with other young people in our community.

One young person shared:

💬 "I love LEGO so it was fun anyway, but it was also nice to talk to people who have the same interest as me :)"

Another described it perfectly as:

💬 "Fun, calm LEGO."

Thank you again to the British Motor Museum’s Brick Bank for helping us create moments that go far beyond building LEGO.

16/07/2026

We are delighted to share that Bright Futures UK has been shortlisted for Small Charity of the Year at this year’s Third Sector Awards. 🌟

Across the UK, approximately 279,000 children and young people miss over 20% of their school life due to physical or mental health conditions, often receiving little to no statutory support. We work to bridge this critical gap so that no young person's future is defined by illness.

Over the past year as a charity, we've scaled both our delivery and our influence.

🔸 We have expanded to five NHS hospital partnerships, launched a variety of new programmes, and commissioned a national report to quantify the long-term impact of illness-related educational disruption.

🔸 Alongside service delivery, we strengthened our policy influence through advocacy work with GK Strategy, including parliamentary engagement and submissions.

Our proudest accomplishment remains the real, daily progress made by the young people we support, watching their confidence, academic progress, and wellbeing grow during incredibly challenging times.

This shortlisting is a welcome recognition of our team's dedication, and we are deeply grateful to our volunteers, partners, supporters, and advocates who make this work possible.

13/07/2026

We are thrilled to announce that we recently launched Reach For The Sky, a brand new, year-long programme connecting young people in London hospital wards with immersive VR technology and hands-on robotics. 🚀

In 2024 alone, over 250,000 children and young people in the UK missed more than 20% of school due to long-term illness. This often leads to isolation from learning and exclusion from emerging career paths. We believe that a serious illness should never pause a young person’s education or future.

Through Reach For The Sky, young people aged 13 to 18 are diving into the world of STEM:

🥽 Using VR headsets to collaborate in shared virtual spaces and master 3D aircraft design.

🤖 Using block coding to pilot Sphero robots across global maps, building critical navigation and problem-solving skills.

🌌 Exploring space environments and uncovering direct pathways into the aviation and aerospace industries.

By blending creativity, teamwork, and cutting-edge tech, we aim to inspire the next generation of aerospace engineers, air traffic controllers, and pilots.

A massive thank you to the UK Civil Aviation Authority and the Department for Transport for funding this programme and making it possible.

09/07/2026

🌟 Welcoming Tanya to our Board of Trustees 🌟

We are delighted to share that we recently welcomed Tanya Shapiro as our newest Education Trustee.

Tanya is an experienced primary teacher and SEND leader with expertise in inclusive education, safeguarding, and pupil wellbeing. She is currently Head of Learning Support (SENDCo) and Head of Mental Health and Wellbeing at a London preparatory school, where she leads SEND provision and supports pupils with additional needs.

Tanya has significant experience developing whole-school approaches to mental health and wellbeing, delivering staff training, and working in partnership with families and external professionals to ensure early identification and effective support for children.

Alongside her education role, Tanya has served as a Magistrate in the Criminal and Youth Courts since 2002, bringing strong judgement, integrity, and experience in working with young people in complex and sensitive situations.

We are incredibly excited to channel Tanya’s passion, insights, and dedication into our mission to support and empower young people.

Please join us in giving her a warm welcome! 💙

06/07/2026

🌟 Volunteer Spotlight 🌟

"Just do it." That’s the first thing Sam says when anyone asks him if they should volunteer. For Sam, a Geography student at the University of Hertfordshire, volunteering has always been about connection, not just the curriculum.

Sam traces his volunteering back to when he started his Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award at age 14. By the time he arrived at the University of Hertfordshire as a first-year Geography student, he already knew he enjoyed sharing what he knew, even though teaching itself was never the goal. He found Bright Futures UK at a university careers fair and was hooked by one idea: he could make a real difference to someone's life just by sharing his love of Geography.

Having tutored two young people so far, Sam has found that the real impact lies in the relationships he’s built, rather than just the lesson plans.

💬 "The young people you get to meet are incredible. Despite the things they have gone through, they are beyond inspiring. They constantly ask questions, they make you think and adapt."

The part he values most: watching someone open up.

💬 "As they let you in, you help them with more than just the education side. You help them develop as a young person, and it is honestly an incredible thing to be part of."

What tutoring has taught Sam most is the value of believing in young people. He's seen a low mark read as proof someone didn't revise or didn't care, when the real story is almost always more complicated. Watching BFUK bring young people back into education, and being part of that himself, is, he says, the most rewarding thing he's done.

Sam is one of the volunteers making sure illness doesn't get the final say on a young person's education. If you'd like to be one too, register to join our volunteer community today.

🔗 https://brightfuturesuk.org/volunteering

We'd like to say a big thank you to Sam for dedicating his time and effort to supporting our mission! 🙌💫

03/07/2026

BFUK In-Hospital Workshop Recap 🌸

June was a wonderful month full of creativity, learning, and fun!

🐝 We kicked off the month at Great Ormond Street Hospital and Charity by creating and decorating watering bee stations, and the children and young people loved getting involved! It was especially heart-warming to hear the following week that some had placed their creations in their gardens and had the chance to see some bees stopping by for a drink! Together, we learned why protecting pollinators is so important and explored simple ways we can all help care for the environment.

🐞 Continuing our nature-themed activities, we headed to the The Royal Marsden NHS schoolroom to build and paint bug hotels. The children and young people had a fantastic time constructing their miniature hotels and painting them in bright, colourful designs ready to welcome their tiny visitors. The workshop also sparked some lovely conversations around wildlife and animals!

🎨 Back at GOSH, we explored the beautiful art of dot painting, a technique created by Indigenous Australian communities for storytelling. Whether creating their own unique designs or carefully following intricate patterns, everyone found the activity very calming. It was a wonderful opportunity to relax and try something new!

A huge thank you to every volunteer who joined us throughout June! We’re already halfway through the year, and we can’t wait to see what the rest of it has in store. 💙

01/07/2026

With GCSE and A Level Exams finished for another year, we're celebrating the amazing young people who have completed their Bright Futures UK Tutoring Programmes. 🎉

Every young person we support has missed education because of illness, making this achievement even more meaningful. These certificates celebrate the hard work, commitment, and progress they have shown throughout their journey.

We'd like to say a huge thank you to our amazing volunteer tutors, who gave their time, encouragement, and expertise to help make this possible. Your support has made a real difference!

We are so proud of every young person receiving a certificate. Congratulations, and we wish you all the very best for whatever comes next! 💙

🔗 Find out more about our Tutoring Programme here: https://brightfuturesuk.org/our-programmes/tutoring

Address

X+why Fivefields, 8-10 Grosvenor Gardens
London
SW1W0DH

Opening Hours

Monday	9:30am - 5pm
Tuesday	9:30am - 5pm
Wednesday	9:30am - 5pm
Thursday	9:30am - 5pm
Friday	9:30am - 3pm

Telephone

+442030515822

Website

http://www.brightfuturesuk.org/

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