Our History

2020

In January 2020, stories of budget cuts that saw primary schools ‘rationing’ paper used for colouring, and secondary school teachers purchasing glue sticks out of their own pay check, ‘Markers for Mindfulness’ was formed…
The Project collects and distributes stationery donated by the local community to schools! – All in the hope that in providing the basics, funding can be allocated to support student mental health…
19 fully-stocked boxes of stationery worth £250 each were sent to all schools in my local town of Didcot.
The Lockdowns of 2020 called for a change in our methods – a collection box outside of my house enabled the project to give nearly 500 students pencil cases to support their ‘home learning’!

Following the lockdowns of 2020, budget cuts in education only increased as schools re-opened, underfunding that left schools in Oxfordshire in a deficit up to -£1,188 per pupil…
Following a summer of collection through a new system of pickup points across the local area, the project began to take requests from beyond Oxfordshire – the result was over £10,000 worth of stationery donated to schools, from London to Edinburgh, in 2021!
By the end of 2021, 48 boxes of stationery had been delivered to schools, alongside hundreds of pencil cases for individual students, and dozens of fully-stocked school bags!

2022 saw a new method trialled… The ‘School Supplies’ Larder which removed the need for shipping boxes, and enabled school teachers themselves to collect exactly what their school needed most!
The ‘Supplies Larder’ unified all 23 local schools in one place, to champion the mental health of their students, speak to local counsellors, and return to the classroom with a cupboard-filling haul of stationery!…
It proved much more effective than shipping large boxes of stationery!

2023 saw ‘Markers for Mindfulness’ grow and revolutionise…
New contacts ranging from individual families to Football Clubs such as Queens Park Rangers, Hereford, and Barnet F.C., reached out inspired to run the project in their local areas!
Access and outreach took new forms, with companies re-branding at a local business park providing over 5,000 highlighters and 5,000 pens, all saved by the project from a fate in landfill…
‘Markers for Mindfulness’ put on a Charity ‘Quiz Night’ in the summer, raising over £700 which has been match funded by local counsellors to support mental health in local schools…
Fundraising from the Quiz will be used to culminate four years of effort in my local area through a Free ‘Mental Health First Aid Training Day’ for 60 teachers from all local schools in March 2024!

The past four years of ‘Markers for Mindfulness’ have been an invaluable learning process – a ‘trial’ that has demonstrated the profound power this project can have in a local community…
It is my ultimate dream to create a network of ‘Markers for Mindfulness’ franchises run across England, connecting the nation in a drive to support our schools! Local communities giving back to their own teachers and students…
Now in my first year at University, I am launching the project in Oxford in the hope that this will ‘model’ to the other 165 Universities in the U.K. the impact this project can have…
University cities are often those with the highest wealth disparities, and by calling on the infrastructure and student body universities provide, my hope is that the greatest change can be made in local communities across the nation!
If you believe in this vision, would like to learn more about running a ‘Markers for Mindfulness’ franchise to support your own local community, or can help realise my greatest aspiration, please contact the project through:markersform@gmail.com