Big Ideas Blog
Solutions for the planet
Flying with the Phoenix
After an incredible almost two years working as part of Solutions for the Planet's core team, it's coming up to a month now since I finished in my role as S4TP Admin. The team gave me the most amazing send off – I was genuinely lost for words (a rarity, they would...
Bringing innovation and positive change
On Monday 8th November we welcomed Katie Salamon to the Solutions for the Planet team. Katie joins us as Big Ideas Programme Administrator, read more about her first month below. I was so excited to join Solutions for the Planet; my greatest career goal has been...
From Marking to Solutions
On Monday 11th October we welcomed Matt Ronayne to the Solutions for the Planet team, read more about his first two weeks below. What a whirlwind!! I started as a Big Ideas Programme Coordinator based in North England two weeks ago and the time has flown by. This is a...
The Big Ideas Competition National Final 2021!
What an event! The culmination of our first ever fully virtual Big Ideas Programme, the Big Ideas Competition 2021 National Final, took place on Wednesday 23rd June - and it was INCREDIBLE! 13 amazing teams of young people presented their Big Ideas and showed us all,...
Big Ideas Competition 2021 National Finalists!
We are pleased to announce the 13 National Finalists for the Solutions for the Planet Big Ideas Competition 2021. Between September 2020 and March 2021, in the midst of a global pandemic that made every week uncertain, more than 1800 young people across the UK...
Lessons learnt through Lockdown
As we gently ease out of lockdown, I'm looking forward to spending more time with friends and family, picking up some of my old hobbies, buying some new (or, in my case, charity shop) clothes, getting a haircut and lots more. Still, it's also crucial to cast our minds...
What mentoring young people has taught me…
Before coming to work for Solutions for the Planet I worked for one of our previous Business Partners and mentored on the Big Ideas Programme for four years. I found the mentoring experience unbelievably rewarding, personally, as a professional and as part of my...
The Virtual Big Ideas Competition National Final 2020!
What an event! In our new normal of virtual events, our National Final on Wednesday 18 November, has to stand out as of one of the best! We welcomed twelve amazing Big Ideas teams, parents, teachers, mentors, special guests, our exceptional judges,...
Big Ideas Days – Out of the Box!
How does an organisation that goes into schools to work with young people, teachers and mentors, continue in the face of a pandemic that requires us all to work from home, socially distance and exist in bubbles? By thinking "Out of the Box" of course – and...
2020 National Final Results!
How do we highlight the climate crisis during a global pandemic?
We might have expected that concern about the climate crisis would have gone down since the COVID-19 pandemic started – surely people have enough immediate concerns without worrying about the climate too? Yet this report, from the Climate Change and Social...
An Evening with Big Ideas
Due to the national lockdown, we were unable to end our 2019/20 Big Ideas programme year in the usual way and on the usual date. So instead, to mark not only the end of the programme year, but also to showcase the INCREDIBLE amount of hard work, creativity and...
A look back to last year’s National Final
In a 'normal' year, by this month we'd have already ended our Big Ideas Programme with the Competition National Final at the Palace of Westminster, and the S4TP team would be preparing hard for the start of a new year's programme - but we all know that 2020 has been...
To be or not to be? To be… definitely!
Over the past two months we have, partly, answered the question: How do you run a competition for schools and businesses when all of the schools’ doors are closed to their students and many businesses have furloughed staff and have limited capacity? The Answer: The...
Big Ideas 2020 – Reflections and Celebrations
Our first ever Virtual Big Ideas Competition 2020 is drawing to a close - 645 pieces of work were submitted; over 150 students from over 20 schools continued through the lockdown; more than 60 incredible mentors and judges were involved; and 7 live online regional...
Listen to what our teachers have to say…….
We are fortunate to work with some incredible teachers on our Big Ideas programme. If you want to find out why your school or business should get involved with Solutions for the Planet, then read what four of those teachers have to say: Here is a case study we...
Big Ideas Competition 2020 National Finalists!
We are pleased to announce the 12 National Finalists for the Solutions for the Planet Big Ideas Competition 2020. Between September 2019 and February 2020, more than 3800 young people across the UK started thinking about what issues mattered most to them. In teams...
25th June 2020 – not quite what we expected!
Today is not what it could have been, but perhaps it's something better?! Thursday 25 June 2020 was the planned date for the Big Ideas Competition 2020 National Final at the Palace of Westminster. The culmination of a years worth of work for students, teachers,...
The ‘Virtual’ Big Ideas Competition
What is a ‘Virtual Big Ideas Competition’? A good question, and one that none of us knew the answer to two weeks ago, or even imagined a month ago, but on Monday the 4th of May, like many of the seeds in my greenhouse, the Virtual Big Ideas Competition burst into...
The Phoenix Rises – adapting to 2020
When I arrived back from my three week holiday at the beginning of March I had a strong feeling that the business I would be leading over the next few months was going to be a very different business to the one I left. There was talk of schools closing, distancing...
Raise money for us while you shop online
Did you know that whenever you buy anything online – from your weekly shop to your annual holiday – you could be raising free donations for Solutions for the Planet with easyfundraising?
Click here to find out more…
