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Keep updated with events at Eastside

February 2025

February might be the shortest month of the year
but we managed to pack a lot into it!

This included a series on entrepreneurship looking at marketing, budgeting, business planning, financial responsibility and ethics.

The term culminated creatively with steel pan workshops led by The Steel Pan Trust. The progression from never having played before to performance level was remarkable.

During half term, under the supervision of volunteers from TimeGivers our Juniors baked cookies and made jewelry for a local charity. Students from Queen Mary’s University led a series of STEM workshops and we welcomed Dr Efosa Obasohan, Strategy Manager at Johnson Matthey, a global leader in sustainable technologies, who shared his insights and career journey.

A group of Young Leaders visited Homerton College, Cambridge for a university insight day. A highlight was meeting the Principal, Lord Simon Woolley.

January 2025

Starting the new year with goal setting

Our Young Leaders started the year with an inspiring goal setting session, exploring the power of setting clear and achievable goals. Through interactive activities, they reflected on their aspirations, learned how to set SMART goals and created actionable steps towards success. To bring their goals to life, they will be working on vision boards to map out their dreams.

They also benefitted from a Positive Self-talk session: the practice of consciously shifting our inner dialogue to be more encouraging, supportive, and optimistic. By replacing self-doubt and criticism with affirmations and constructive thoughts, we can build confidence, resilience, and a growth mindset. Simple phrases like: "I am capable"; "I can handle this"; or "mistakes help me to learn" can significantly improve motivation and overall well-being.

Anwulika from The Bank of America provided some career insights into the world of banking and opened our main theme of the term with a session on ‘The value of money’.

Leadership coaching

We were thrilled to welcome Justin Muston from Rugby School, one of our top-performing boarding schools. Justin has taken time from his teaching role to coach our young leaders, helping them grow into confident and well-rounded individuals. Through his sessions, he has been guiding students to master effective communication, public speaking and debating while fostering confidence and self-discipline. He has also helped them to explore identity, emotional intelligence and inclusion, inspiring resilience and creative problem solving. Justin’s expertise is empowering our students to embrace challenges, think critically and lead with empathy. We are excited to see how his coaching shapes their leadership journey!

Goal setting session

Leadership coaching

Self-talk workshop

EYLA appointments new CEO

Eastside Young Leaders’ Academy is delighted to announce the appointment of Carol Murraine as its new CEO.

Many will have been aware of the sad and sudden passing of EYLA CEO and Founder Ray Lewis CBE, who died in March. Shortly after his funeral the Board of Trustees began the search to appoint his replacement. After a rigorous four-month process, the Board were unanimous in their decision to appoint Carol who will take up the post 1st January 2025.

Carol Murraine joined EYLA in 2014. Over the last 10 years, she has played a leading role across EYLA’s key programmes and projects. In her current role as Programmes Director, she has led the oversight and delivery of the mentoring programmes and pastoral care for over 300 pupils and scholars. She had worked closely with Ray in setting the strategic direction of Eastside.

“Following the passing of our CEO and Founder, The Trustees and I were acutely aware that this was a crucial moment in the history of Eastside. We were determined to ensure that the first appointment since Ray was the right one needed to progress and expand upon his visionary work.

During her time at Eastside, Carol has earned the full confidence of the staff and trustees - there is no one more suited to lead EYLA into the exciting opportunities of the future. We look forward to working with her as she and the team at Eastside deliver for our young leaders.”

David Ejim-McCubbin
Chair of the Board of Trustees

“I am truly honoured to accept the position of Chief Executive Officer at Eastside Young Leaders’ Academy, and I am excited about the opportunity to continue the incredible work of our late founder, Ray Lewis.

I look forward to collaborating with the board, staff team and stakeholders to advance our vision and achieve our strategic goals. Together, I am confident that we can navigate challenges and seize new opportunities for growth.”

Carol Murraine
In-coming CEO EYLA

In May 2024, a group of Young Leaders had a fantastic enrichment day at Tonbridge School where they enjoyed a riveting maths class as well as a challenging and thought-provoking lesson in metacognition.

As they start to think about how they learn, with exams looming, they seem determined to stop procrastinating – starting from now!

In addition to a tour (including the chapel) and lunch, they got to see one of our boarding scholars competing in an athletics tournament and they joined a group of Tonbridge pupils in some friendly sport.

A huge thank you to the staff and pupils at Tonbridge who made us feel so welcome.

After the visit the young leaders spent the rest of the weekend at Hoppers in Kent where they completed a range of activities to help prepare them for future boarding school placements.

It was peaceful, sunny and fun. Below is a short video of their time at Hoppers.

A visit to Tonbridge school and Hoppers in Kent

Honouring Ray’s legacy

In May 2024 our dear CEO, colleague and friend, Ray Lewis, was laid to rest.

On Wednesday 8th May at the City of London cemetery, under the glorious beams of sunshine, family and close friends bid farewell to Ray for the last time.

Notably the venue of the funeral was only a short drive from Bignold Hall, where for many years Ray had made it his life’s work to lift young people up from their disadvantage. On a blossoming spring day, it was his turn to be lifted up upon the shoulders of those that loved him, as he made his last journey here on earth. The service that followed was a solemn time of prayer, singing, tributes, reflection and silence. It was an honour to be given the opportunity to share my own tribute to the man I owe so much to.

Later that afternoon many more gathered at Willesden to join the memorial service, held at The New Testament Church of God. The diversity of those in attendance was a testament to the man himself. Many from various circles of society, from a wide spectrum of backgrounds, reflected the sheer array of individuals that Ray interacted with through his colourful life. The man of the people, was now to be celebrated by his people. Unlike the appropriate sombre nature of the proceedings in the morning, the afternoon service was alive with rapturous joyful singing, belly-laughs aplenty and shared appreciation, as we sought to transition together from grief to gratitude. Giving thanks for the privilege of knowing Ray.

Friends, while events of Wednesday 8th May are now to be treasured in our memory banks for a lifetime, we must now capture and bring together all of the shared emotion and energy we have poured out since the day of our dear friend’s passing. We must now more than ever come together with a shared common purpose in his name. We honour Ray’s life’s work not only on the day of his funeral, but we honour him by working together to ensure that Eastside continues to exist to provide opportunity, inspiration and leadership for the young people in our broken society who Ray lived to serve. It’s our duty as members of the Eastside family to play our role. It’s our duty in honour of Ray’s legacy.

Such was his gift to become all things to all people that all who were recipients of his friendship would be minded to think that their bond with Ray was particularly special and none like he had with others. While we may not possess such a unique gift, what we do have are the lessons and learnings from our personal relationships with him.

Whatever good that Ray taught you, teach others. Whatever support that Ray showed you, show others. And however Ray championed you, champion others.

David Ejim-McCubbin
Chair of Trustees, EYLA