EmpowerHER Summer Programme 2026: how girls spent their summer

This summer, the girls at Baytree had three weeks packed with adventure, creativity and new experiences. It was made possible by our EmpowerHER Champions for Children campaign, which raised over £29,000 to fund the whole programme.

A week away, and a wall nobody thought they could climb

The centrepiece was a week-long residential at Cardfields in Essex with Go Beyond. There was raft building, hiking, shelter building in the woods and a fiercely contested karaoke session. But the moment that stayed with us was the rock climbing.

A lot of the girls took one look at the wall and were certain they couldn’t do it. Every single one of them had a go anyway. Watching them talk themselves into it, one by one, is exactly the confidence and self-belief we hope this summer builds.

Closer to home

Back at Baytree, the summer kept up the same pace: art workshops, cake decorating, a gardening workshop, trampolining, horse riding and bike riding. The girls also spent a day writing and choreographing their own songs with British Youth Music Theatre, performing what they’d made by the end of the afternoon.

Days out

There were trips too, to Brockwell Park, Thorpe Park, Kensington Palace, and Big Kid, a summer party bringing together youth organisations from across Brixton.

A career they hadn’t considered

One of the standout days was a Career Insight Day at King’s College London, where the girls got a first look into the world of biomedicine, meeting researchers and asking questions about a career path many hadn’t considered before.

A trip they earned themselves

Our Arrive & Thrive girls took things a step further, raising the money themselves for a day trip to Southend-on-Sea. They spent the day in the sea and the sun, having set the goal, worked towards it, and earned the trip together.

Thank you

None of this happens without the people who fund it. Thank you to everyone who donated to our EmpowerHER Big Give campaign, and to our partners for making these days possible.

Whether it was a climbing wall, a song they wrote themselves, or a trip they raised the money for, every part of this summer gave the girls a little more confidence than they started with.