Otherwise Engaged - Arts, Education and Heritage

Otherwise-Engaged is a multi-award winning organisation started in 2006 as a community resource to organise and co-ordinate educational activities and projects for home schooled students, since then the scope of our activities has expanded into heritage and arts projects of wider community interest and benefit.

Over the years we have built up a wealth of experience in successfully organising community projects; engaging funding, sponsorship and community support, and have worked with organisations such as Young Enterprise, Arts Award, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Natural England, The CBSO and The Royal Horticultural Society.

Our Otherwise-Engaged team of students was delighted to have received two awards at the Malvern Spring Festival 2014 - Schools Garden Challenge. We were awarded "Highly Commended" by the Royal Horticultural Society for our Garden "Digital Growth", and presented with a Certificate of Excellence: "Winner Project Management and Health and Safety" by Phil Eves of Schools Garden Challenge sponsors BAM Construct. This was a great result and testament to the team's hard work, partciularly as weather conditions have been decidedly challenging. We'd like to thank everyone involved at the Three Counties Showground and all our sponsors and supporters for making this achievement possible.

The RHS award was presented by Blue Peter gardener Chris Collins. After the presentation Chris visited our garden and chatted to the team. 

Digital Growth Blog

On top of their success at the Shropshire County finals the Otherwise-Engaged Young Enterprise company, e-Go, are delighted to have won the Cisco "Human Networking Award", which meant a trip down to London for the National Finals and Awards ceremony.

The prize, which was open to every team in the country, was awarded to the team who made the best use of ICT to connect people within their Young Enterprise business. Our team are pictured here at the awards cermony on 1st July 2013 with Duncan Innes, Regional Sales Manager of Cisco who awarded the prize, and Steph McGovern of BBC Breakfast who presented the awards ceremony. The students are all home educated and this was the first time Shropshire had been represented at the national finals.

We are delighted to be able to report that the Otherwise-Engage team, "e-Go", picked up two awards at the Young Enterprise Shropshire Celebration of Achievement at The Shropshire and West Mids Showground in Shrewsbury on 15th May 2013. e-Go won the awards for "Best use of ICT" and "Best Online Presence".

This was a great achievement for the team after a really busy year setting up and running their business. The standard was high with some impressive teams taking part. Only nine teams out of the twenty seven entered came away with an award, and only one other team won more than e-Go and they went on to win the overall competition, so well done e-Go!

Malvern Spring Show

Earlier in the month e-Go had also won the award for "Best Trade Stand" at the Malvern Spring Garden Show, this was competing against teams from across the West Midlands.

Young Enterprise

Young Enterprise is the United Kingdom's largest business and enterprise education charity which every year helps 220,000 young people learn about business and the world of work in the classroom under the guidance of volunteers from 3,500 companies. As far is we know this is the first time a Home Educated group has participated in Young Enterprise. 

Gold Arts Award Leadership Challenge: Film Project "Sofa in a Space ship"

A number of Otherwise-Engaged students have been involved in a range of "From Script to Screen" projects leading to a Gold Arts Award.

Fair Trade and Millennium Development Goals Projects

Students working on our millennium development goals project, Spring 2012, which culminated in a mini UN Summit and local exhibition of outcomes. They also worked on a Fair Trade project ending in a public presentation and display with home made fair trade refreshments.

As part of the Woodland Trust's "Jubilee Woods Project" to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen's 2012 Diamond Jubilee Otherwise Engaged planted a copse of native saplings in the corner of this Shropshire field. The students have worked towards a range of environmental awards with their countryside conservation activities.

This was a project to explore wild places and to discover the wealth of colour and beauty in the natural environment of Shropshire.

The project was created by "Otherwise Engaged" and displayed in various venues in South Shropshire, culminating in an exhibition and presentation in Chelmarsh Village Hall on the 28th April 2011. The exhibition included a display of outcomes, models, photographs and a slideshow. A separate award presentation was held on 17th May 2011.