Luke Wilkinson, Author at Citywise

Conflict on the news: tips for discussions with children

With the escalating war in Ukraine dominating our news, social media feeds and conversations, many of us are feeling overwhelmed and worried. But it can be easy to forget that the children in our lives will also be aware of the news – to different degrees depending on their age and exposure to media – […]

GLASGOW PRIMARY SCHOOL CHAMPIONS CHILDREN’S MENTAL WELLBEING

All 120 children at Royston Primary School have joined Citywise’s campaign to improve the physical and mental health of children following lockdown.

11 home activities to boost kids mental health

To celebrate Mental Health Week 2021, our wonderful volunteers made videos of simple, fun, activities to boost children’s mental health.

A lockdown hug

As the UK heads into another lockdown, the team at Citywise want to send all teachers, parents and children a big lockdown hug! Yeti sends you all the love! The Citywise Yeti wants to remind you all that this time of lockdown and waiting will be over one day…but not YET! If you’re feeling frustrated […]

The year the world changed forever

(2 minute read) It sounds like the title for a dystopian movie, but reality has been far stranger than fiction. The past year has posed extraordinary challenges for everyone as the Covid-19 crisis has swept the world, but although we are all in the same storm, we are not all in the same boat. Families […]

A different kind of Christmas

A different kind of Christmas, but a very special one! Even though we can’t interact in the normal ways this Christmas we have still gathered and celebrated in every way we can! This December, children in our communities have gathered for two Christmas sessions and we’ve hosted a Family Drop-In too! We’ve been able to […]

Vote for Virtue!

As the United Kingdom heads for its third general election in four years, Luke Wilkinson considers how the British people can vote virtuously to build a country of character. As head of a charity which focusses on personal development, I spend my days considering how to help young people learn about and develop their character. […]

Summer Camps 2019

Bookings are open for our FREE summer holiday camps! Children aged 7-12 years old can join one of three camps taking place in Manchester or Glasgow this summer! Run by Citywise staff and supported by our outstanding team of volunteers, your child will make new friends, try new activities, stay active, eat healthily and have lots […]

A year of new beginnings

As our mentoring projects finish for the Christmas break and mentors head home for a well-earned rest, we’ve been reflecting on what has been an extraordinary year for Citywise. Every year is special at Citywise but this year we’ve proudly celebrated a number of first steps. We delivered our first project curriculum grounded in research […]

Pioneering family services at Citywise

As part of an exciting new partnership with the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Citywise is delighted to be able to start offering support to entire families. Complementing our existing work with young people, we’ll be designing work that helps parents raise confident, caring kids! One of Citywise’s core beliefs is […]

Launch of Citywise Centre in Manchester!

It was 24 years ago this month (it’s August 2018 as I write this) that a group of students in Manchester ran a holiday club for local children in Hulme, just round the corner from the current Citywise offices. They wanted to offer a safe, positive environment for young people during the long summer holiday: […]

Citywise Family Day

Join with other local families on Saturday 1st September 1-3pm to celebrate the opening of the Citywise Centre in Rusholme! We will have a bouncy castle, face painters, tomobola, arts and crafts, a BBQ and ***NEWSFLASH*** a team from the LEGO store in Manchester Arndale running a minibuild stall! Entry is free and includes one […]

Heroes Academy 2018: Rusholme

Superhero Summer Fun! Citywise is delighted to offer a week’s summer holiday project for children going into Y3, 4, 5 or 6 in September who live in Rusholme, Longsight, Moss Side or nearby. Using the theme of superheroes, children will have an opportunity to do sports, drama, fun games, make new friends and refresh their […]

Meet the mentor: Jack Hughes

Today we’ve been chatting with one of our Manchester mentors and hearing about how Citywise is “the most amazing thing that’s ever happened to him and he can’t imagine life without us”*. Wow, he sounds pretty full-on. Anyway, let’s welcome Jack Hughes, maybe he’s not as weird as he seems! So Jack, tell us a […]

The 12 Citywise days of Christmas

On their last week of projects all our young people set some goals for their Christmas Holidays. We’ve been challenged by this one and asked if we could share it with you… can you do 12 nice things for other people this Christmas? For inspiration why not check out our catchy, almost-rhyming version of the […]

Response to the Manchester bombing

The events of Monday evening shocked all of us, but have been especially painful for those who lost loved ones, or are currently recovering from injuries. Our thoughts this week have been with all those affected by the attack and we continue to pray for them. Several staff members and volunteers were able to attend the […]

Mentor thank you event 2017

At the end of our year of project delivery, we hold thank you events for our hard-working mentors. This post is adapted from Chief Executive Luke Wilkinson’s address to all 2016-17 mentors: While you have been hard at work in the past few weeks with your exams, the whole country has been absorbed in the […]

G.M. Citizens Mayoral Assembly

Speaking truth to power: on Monday 1st May, 30 Citywise mentors, supporters and young people took part in an historic event with the main candidates vying to become Mayor of Greater Manchester. We joined with over 40 organisations from across Greater Manchester for an assembly of music, drama, testimony and true politics: ordinary people coming […]

Lorna takes on the Great Manchester Run!

Lorna is running the Great Manchester Run 2017! I wouldn’t call myself a runner, but I’m giving this a go because I’ve seen first-hand the impact Citywise is having on young people from all different backgrounds. I want to continue supporting this good work, and I hope you will too! We’re raising funds for the Citywise ‘Heroes […]

Run Lukeyboy Run at the Great Manchester Run!

I’m taking part in the Great Manchester Run on 28th May to raise money for the 2017 ‘Heroes Academy’! The money raised at last year’s Great Run gave 120 young people in Manchester access to the free holiday club. The play-based curriculum is designed to support their transition from primary to secondary school: learning in disguise as fun! […]

When Mary met the Mayor

andy burnham

At Citywise we want to see all young people thrive and make a positive contribution to society. And that’s exactly what seventeen year-old Mary Walker – one of our junior mentors – got the opportunity to do on Thursday 2nd March when she met Andy Burnham MP. Andy Burnham is the front-runner candidate for the new […]

Entitled, narcissistic, lazy

Promoting the healthy use of digital technology is one of the big challenges facing parents, teachers and anyone working with young people today. As part of our commitment to developing holistic wellbeing, we’ll be sharing any resources we come across that help us pick a way through the #digitalmaze. A lot of people are discussing […]

Meet the Mentor: Dave Reynolds

New City, New Job, New Start… We’re kicking off our new blog with a series of #meetthementor interviews, where we go behind the scenes with some of the friendly faces of Citywise. The first one’s a bit of a cheat, but our staff members are all mentors too (they mentor the mentors)! So without further […]