Merry Christmas from Racing to School!
A landmark and a new record…
This year we were incredibly proud to reach our charity’s 200,000th beneficiary. This landmark coincided with our 21st anniversary, during which time we have worked with racing and its venues to inspire young minds through free, interactive, and healthy outdoor learning activities. We celebrated the day with pupils from Box Hill School at Sandown Racecourse in March, and later that month during a special event hosted by Ascot Racecourse.
The support and goodwill from our partners and donors this first year post-covid has been a huge boost to our work and has allowed us to support the learning of over 16,000 young people – a record for the charity.
Our impact
We are committed to ensuring that every Racing to School Day is inclusive, engaging and inspiring. For many young people, this is their first experience of horseracing, but for some, it will spark a lightbulb moment that leads them to a stronger relationship with the sport – as a pony racer, trainee, racegoer or employee.
Feedback is crucial in evaluating impact. As one teacher told us this year:
“When a disadvantaged child who would never have been racing says she doesn’t want to go home, you know it’s been a good day!”
Initiatives, such as National Racehorse Week, can engage new audiences
Working with our sister charities and partner organisations within the industry is the best way to make our funds go further within projects that can achieve the most. It has been another busy year with our partners in the Pony Racing Pathway Project, delivering 49 events for Pony Club members at racecourse days and camps, and supporting 14 training days led by the Pony Racing Authority and Pony Club.
The second National Racehorse Week was another resounding success in delivering community-focused events that celebrated the racehorse. We are proud to support this important initiative, taking young people outside of the classroom to inspire their learning in a unique way, thanks to the support of our host training yards.
As the horseracing world mourned the loss of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in September, we joined in reflecting on the wonderful legacy she left on the sport. In July, we were honoured to be granted a special tour of Sandringham’s Royal Stud – something that will live long in the memory of the young pupils who took part.
During what was a very busy summer, we were pleased to support the Discover Racing project, which gave a number of families of our programme’s beneficiaries a free day at the races and a behind-the-scenes tour to encourage a future interest in the sport.
Adding to our stable of unique Beacon Projects
Our Beacon projects continue to go from strength to strength, thanks to our wonderful industry partners. The Aintree Beacon Project delivered a series of 16 fun and unique curriculum-based activities that supported over 1,100 students in Merseyside and the borough of Sefton. For Year 5 pupils, our ever-popular Pony Education Days enabled young people to experience riding a pony and learn how to care for them.
In Newmarket, we were spoilt with not one, but two Dubai Future Champions Education Weeks in June and October, owing to the COVID-related postponement from October 2021. Combining our year-round Newmarket Academy Godolphin Beacon Project activities and the primary schools’ Under Starter’s Orders programme, our team worked across 60 activity days in support of Newmarket’s young people this year.
We are always seeking opportunities to expand our work and two new pilot Beacons in Yorkshire and Epsom got underway in 2022.
Our passionate team
We were thrilled to welcome Bridget Andrews onto our brilliant team of Ambassadors at the start of the year. Racing to School is very grateful to be supported by our passionate team of industry Ambassadors, helping us inspire new audiences and create extra-special experiences for our beneficiaries.
Led by our dedicated board of Trustees, our small team delivers relevant, inclusive and exciting activity days for young people across Great Britain. We work alongside so many other organisations within the Racing Together partnership to showcase the sport’s growing commitment to community engagement, no more evident with the welcome return of the Racing Together Community Day in May.
A heartfelt thanks to our supporters
We should like to say a special thank you to the Levy Board, racing stakeholders, charitable trusts, racecourses, schools and colleges.
This year we were very proud to be supported by a number of initiatives that pledged to support our charity, including the Racing League, Rainbow Applause Charity Racing Club, and the launch of the Good Racing Co.
Each time a racecourse kindly opens its doors to our team a new partnership is formed between 40 young people and the new and exciting world of racing.
As we look forward to 2023, we plan to continue to create those magical and valuable experiences and we hope that we can rely on your friendship to do this work. Please consider supporting us today through a donation to our charity, by following our work across social media (@RacingtoSchool), or by running an event or activity on our behalf (contact vicki@racingtoschool.co.uk).
From all of us at Racing to School, we wish you a happy and restful festive break and look forward to seeing you again in 2023!
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