Our Story

YourStory was founded by Adrian Jones in 2003 in his living room. Originally used mentoring through sport to tackle underachievement and anti-social behaviour. Over the years, we have been joined by staff and volunteers from all walks of life and have worked with a variety of schools across London, and have been funded by many different organisations, for which we are extremely grateful for.

Adrian Jones
CEO and Founder

YourStory was founded by Adrian Jones in 2003. After being unemployed after graduating from university, Adrian began working in a job centre helping people to write CVs. He noticed that a lot of unemployed people had suffered due to a lack of education (reading and writing skills). This highlighted the need to Adrian to work with young people in order to stop this cycle. 

He began volunteering with young people, but discovered that there were funding restrictions limiting the help he could provide them to only mentoring, not family or education support. As a result of this, Adrian set up YourStory in order to holistically help young people across all aspects of their development and growth. 

Our Past:

Screenshot 2021-07-13 at 12.41.31

Adrian Jones (CEO and founder)

Our CEO hard at work in one of our previous offices. 

Origins

The living room of our CEO, where YourStory was born. We started with just one person working with four boys from a single school in Brixton, and YourStory now has a number of dedicated mentors.

Screenshot 2021-07-18 at 14.41.01

Mentoring through sport

YourStory originally used mentoring through sport in order to try to re-engage young people in education and keep them on the right track. 

Recent Funders:

Some examples of recent organisations that have funded our projects and programmes:



National Lottery

Our Transition Programme was funded by the National Lottery Foundation.


The Walcot Foundation

Our Walcot Programme is currently being funded by the Walcot Foundation, and has been since 2019.

The Home Office

The Home Office's Building A Stronger Britain Together Programme funded our Big Q project.

Past Work:

Schools we have recently worked with:

 
  • Lambeth Academy
  • Lilian Baylis Technology School
  • Platanos College
  • St Martin-In-The-Fields High School School for Girls
  • City Heights Academy 
  • St John Bosco College
  • Park Campus
  • Skinners Academy
  • Crest Boys’ Academy
  • Crest Girls’ Academy
  • Ark Academy 
  • Kingswood Secondary Academy
  • Westminster Academy
  • Archbishop Tenison’s School Academy
1

We work with these schools regularly, and have done for the past couple of years. We have built strong relationships with each of these schools based trust, respect and a mutual understanding of what a young person needs. 

Activities:

  • Videography 
  • White water rafting 
  • First aid training 
  • After-school clubs
  • Bowling 
  • Saturday schools
  • Mentoring 
  • School re-engagement workshops
  • Volunteering 
  • Personal development workshops 
  • Yoga 
  • Art and design
  • Cooking and baking
  • Boxing 
  • Sexual health workshops 
  • Vocational activities 
  • Work experience 
  • Wood work
  • BMX biking 
  • Sport awards and activities
  • Filmography 
  • Sewing
  • Alternative education workshops
Past Programmes & Projects:

The Wraparound Programme

2017-2020

The Wraparound Project involved mentoring 150 young people who had previously offended or were at risk of offending.

The Big Q Programme

2019

The Big Q empowered students to challenge extremist ideas through real life scenarios. Thoughtful decision making was a key aspect developed.

The Transition Programme

2020-2021

Young people were helped in transitioning from year 6 to year 7, and also with school reintegration after lockdown.

Volunteer

Paid Mentoring

June 2021

The paid mentoring of several young people occurred in two schools, and was funded separately - either by he school or by the council.

Screenshot 2021-07-13 at 12.25.22

The Hampton Project

2008-2018

Alternative education programme. Young people in secondary school excluded from mainstream education - mentoring support & education.

Year 6 Transition Project

2020

Intensive support was provided to year 6 young people progressing to year 7, and those returning to school after lockdown.

Cicley Northcote Prison Project

2019

We helped soon to be released prisoners find accommodation, employment and work on anger management.

Screenshot 2021-07-13 at 11.05.09

Sports Leaders Programme

2003-2010

Offering young people the chance to earn sports leaderships awards and gain leadership and presentation skills.

Gifted and Talented Programme

2012-2013

Gifted and talented young people who had previously offended or were seen to be at risk of offending were mentored.

Recent Schools:
Recent Funders:
Scroll to Top