We are delighted to announce that Jacob Adedeji (Y7) has been awarded a Queen’s Award Badge for his work with the charity: Women’s Inclusive Team (WIT).
During the COVD-19 crisis, Jacob joined his mum in volunteering for WIT, a small grassroots charity supporting black and ethnic minority women and their families in Tower Hamlets. While working with the charity, Jacob was very busy indeed, helping to pack food bags for the charity’s food bank and lending a hand in cooking community meals to support the most vulnerable and isolated people in the area. Cooking pancakes was just one of many new skills Jacob picked up!
Talking to us about his experience, Jacob explained, “I felt excited about being able to make a difference. I learned about how different people are really struggling and about the decisions in their lives that led to homelessness.” Throughout his time volunteering with the charity, Jacob was touched by the kindness of all the volunteers who gave their time so freely. And his advice to others about supporting charities is, “It’s a really good opportunity to see and understand the difficulties that others face and how to help make a difference.”
Headmaster Ian Silk told us, “It is so wonderful that WIT gained The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK, for all their brilliant work. We are equally delighted to see Jacob’s hard work as part of the group recognised with a Queen’s Award Badge. We should also mention that Jacob has not restricted his charity work to WIT, in the last year he also took part in the 10k London Legal Walk to raise funds for those who cannot afford to access legal services. At Bedford Prep, we hold dear our values of endeavour, integrity, curiosity, responsibility and, above all, kindness, and it is uplifting to see Jacob embodying all of these. A heartfelt well done from us all.”
