Empowering education and sustainability

Over a third of children in the UK are currently living in poverty. Barriers like this prevent children from reaching their academic potential, and without intervention will have a detrimental impact on their choices for the future.

BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions’ mission alongside Teach First is to invest in the recruitment, training and placement of teachers, who possess the expertise and ambition to create lasting change.

To support this, BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions have designed a series of four Sustainability lessons in conjunction with environmental consultancy GemServ, including ‘Sustainable City Design’ and ‘Sustainable Lifestyles for Climate Action’. These will be delivered in 10 Teach First partner schools across the UK.

Directly involved in creating tangible change, nine members of BNP Paribas’ UK Leasing Solutions team have volunteered their time towards the teaching program so far and have delivered lessons to students in the Bristol area. Six co-workers have already taught their first GCSE classes, with another set of sessions planned for the Autumn term.

Hannah Terry, Funding Department Manager, Technology and Lifecycle Solutions at BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions UK commented: “Volunteering with Teach First to deliver a lesson to students was such an engaging and enjoyable experience. Not only were we able to help towards their GCSE curriculum, but we also had time to answer their questions about working life and what we find are the most challenging and enjoyable aspects of our job. It was also great to deliver the lesson with colleagues from TLS that I don’t interact with daily, and I can’t wait for another opportunity to participate again.”

Tom Williams, Head of Transformation and Teach First Sponsor, Technology and Lifecycle Solutions, BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions UK said, “The goal of Teach First is both very simple and incredibly difficult to achieve: “give children with the biggest barriers the chance to fulfil their potential”. As the LSUK sponsor of “Leaders for a Changing World”, I’m excited and determined to do whatever we can to support their goal. Thanks to our fantastic initial cohort of volunteers, the delivery of these first lessons was an important (and very successful!) first step. I can’t wait for the new academic year so we can take our partnership to the next level and do more to help this fantastic cause.”

Through the initiative, BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions aim to play a key role in inspiring the next generation of students and industry leaders and to support them in obtaining the education they deserve.