00:00My name is Junior Saunders. I am a bespoke waiter for the Mitchell & Butler brand Miller
00:07& Carter. Also, I'm the founder of Making Careers Happen and also the founder and director
00:13of GCSE Boost Feel Better, which is a brand new revolution in terms of how we deliver
00:19career shows across the country. So, 2019 was the original premise of when I set up
00:24GCSE Boost as an idea. And the reason I set it up at that particular time, again, is because
00:30I saw the need for mental health services, but also the approach of employers around
00:38post-16 learners, which is an equivalent to year 11 learners that are just ready to leave
00:41school. It was very regimented. It was very direct. It was very Victorian, actually, because
00:47it's been around for over 100 years in terms of the style of classroom, the delivery of
00:51education. And because I was brought up in care, my educational experience was varied.
00:57I didn't have structure within my educational journey. What I had was life skills. So, what
01:02I tried to do was set up a GoFundMe page. I've still got £100 in the escrow as we speak.
01:08I haven't even withdrew it yet. It was there, COVID happened, then all of a sudden I'm a
01:13father myself with five children. So, I could see the emotional well-being of my children
01:20and the children that I worked with when we actually depicted back to working online and
01:26virtual learning, I could see the disparity. I could see that people wasn't even logging
01:30on. I said, I'm going to save from my card tips £200 a month. So, what happens is basically
01:37in hospitality now, if you get left a card tip, it obviously is tax deductible and then
01:42you get paid it in your salary. So, essentially what I did is I saved £200 a month for the
01:46three years and I started building boost. The advantage that I had was the trust of
01:52getting 1500 students out because the primary projection was 2000 students and the 500 students
02:01that were missing from the 1500 that attended boost, they were SEND students. So, SEND students
02:07are neurodiverse students, students that have disparities in terms of regulating how they
02:12feel and I want this to be an inclusive event. It is an inclusive event. My background is
02:16SEND. I grew up in care. I'm heavily dyslexic. I have MS. All these different titles that
02:21people tend to put on myself, I have and I wanted to create something for those 500
02:28SEND students that wasn't a part of, you know, overwhelming them too much. Allowing
02:33them to come there and be completely themselves. So, through the 8 grand, I managed to get
02:38the venue and the venue was donated very kindly from Aerospace Bristol. They saw the vision.
02:44They knew it's something I wanted to do. They said, take care of everything else and we're
02:48going to donate you the venue because we understand that this is a need for our students
02:54within the local area and I funded the stage. I funded the travel as well because the schools
02:59have limited budget in terms of resources to get to places. I gave them a travel contribution
03:04as well. I had a few business boosters that donated £1000 towards the cause and GCSE
03:10Boost was born and this is something now that I know that I've tried and it works, that
03:16I want to regulate all throughout the country because actually we have a duty as professionals
03:22as well as, you know, people that have gone through life experiences to allow those students
03:27to become the best version of themselves. You know, we need to work with students on
03:31a more one-to-one group basis than actually creating shows and then we don't see them
03:36again. It's about consistency. Schools need support. Parents and carers need support.
03:42Students need support.
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