Gateway Team celebrate Kindness in Education Award

Gateway Team celebrate Kindness in Education Award

Abingdon & Witney College’s Gateway Team have recently celebrated winning a ‘Kindness in Education Award’ from TeamKind in their 2022 KindFest celebration. The Gateway team were kindly nominated by Mollie, a former student who joined the college after her confidence was knocked as a result of bullying at her previous school. Mollie thrived during her two years with Abingdon & Witney College and has kept in touch with the team since she left.

For her nomination, Mollie submitted a short video to TeamKind where she shared her personal experience of being a gateway student alongside all the many reasons she thought they deserved to win an award. Within her nomination video, Mollie shared just how much her time at Gateway had meant to her:

“Gateway and the people who work there built me back up again. Everyone that I know who is either a current student or a former student has said how pivotal and influential it was in making them who they are now.

Gateway is a course for 14-16-year-olds, but it is so much more than that. For a lot of people joining, it is their second or third chance at gaining their qualifications, so there is a lot of anxiety and vulnerability involved but that is always handled so wonderfully.

Whether you have been there for a day or a year, no matter what your circumstances are or your reason behind being there, you are always treated with kindness, respect, and support… that makes all the difference in the world for so many people. The teachers want you to get your qualifications, but I think above all else they want you to have that self-belief and confidence in yourself that you can do it; and for me that’s what makes gateway what it is"

The Kindness in Education Awards were launched in 2022 by TeamKind, a company who strives to promote the potential of kindness to change the world. The organisation was founded in 2020 when a group of volunteers came together during lockdown to inspire kindness during the difficult circumstances. They coordinated an annual event around World Kindness Day called Kindfest. Three-years later, TeamKind launched their new award, the Kindness in Education Award which celebrates projects related to kindness and compassion in schools, colleges, and universities.

The Gateway Team gratefully received their award in a ceremony hosted by Shivonne Graham, who shared the following as she congratulated the team on their achievement:

“Your film and your project really touched the panel and really touched me personally when I was watching it.

Thank you on behalf of everyone who works on Team Kind and Kindfest for giving young people like Mollie this space and this opportunity to flourish and be themselves. I think it is so important that young people are allowed to be heard and realise that they are important and that they matter. I feel like this is what this project does so thank you so much for what you are doing. It is truly inspiring."

If you would like to learn more about our Gateway Team and the provision they provide, please see the linked pages below.