Telmo, Kanan, Adi and Sheulee from City and Islington College

MORE than 100 students from City and Islington’s Sixth Form College attended a glitzy event at the London Business Design Centre as part of their work experience.

The networking event earlier this month was organised by not-for-profit organisation Local Village Network (LVN), which is based in the design centre in Angel and works to support teenagers with widening their horizons and getting them engaged in activities.

Lucy Edwards from LVN described the Amplify Me programme with 900 children from schools across London, including Beacon High, Acland Burghley and City and Islington College, as some of the most important work she has done.

She said: “It’s the impact we’re having. You go in on week one and they’re heads down, don’t look at you, no confidence, no engagement. And you say to them: ‘What you want to be when you grow older?’ and it’s like ‘influencer’; ‘footballer’; or ‘don’t know’.

“By week six they stand up in front of new volunteers, all these corporates they haven’t seen before or been in before, and not one of them has failed – they stand up and they give a two-minute presentation about what they’ve learned and how they’re going to change their lives.”

LVN now works with the Mayor of London and the police among other partnerships.

Codie Stubbs, 17, performed a monologue from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air TV series.

He said: “It’s a monologue about when his dad left. I remember it fondly and I found the emotion I had to convey challenging. It was fun to perform.”