About
I Can Be is a registered charity that introduces primary school aged children to the world of work, broadening their horizons and helping them to discover the breadth of opportunity around them.
Run through primary schools, our core programme currently gives 7- and 8-year-old girls the opportunity to meet and interview a wide range of women to find out about their jobs, via live online ‘virtual visits’.
Focusing on primary schools with cohorts of pupils experiencing above average levels of disadvantage, I Can Be is enabling girls to explore jobs they otherwise may not be exposed to, building their curiosity and confidence along the way.
I Can Be is funded by charitable donations and grants and is free for schools.
We choose where we work carefully, identifying where there is less likelihood that children will be exposed to a variety of jobs or visit neighbourhoods outside their own. We are currently focusing our programmes across Greater London, but do also work with a small number of schools in other parts of England.
— Our Spring Term programme will be our final programme, as I Can Be will be closing at the end of April 2024 —
Who we are
Our Trustees:
Brikena Muharremi (Chair) is a UK qualified barrister with several years of experience in the legal sector. Brikena is passionate about giving back to the community and in addition to her I Can Be role, she is also Founder and Chair of the British-Albanian Lawyers Association and a member of Albania's Diaspora Coordination Council, which represents the interests of the Albanian Diaspora around the globe.
Will Millard (Secretary) is an Associate Director at SQW, where his work focuses on education, children and young people. He is leading SQW’s research for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) examining the impact of young people’s involvement in youth clubs on their outcomes in later life. He is also directing SQW’s work with the affiliate What Works Centre, TASO, through which SQW is providing evaluation support to two universities. A former teacher and school leader, Will previously worked for the Centre for Education and Youth, a think tank providing research, evaluation, campaigning and policy consultancy. Will is a Clore Social Leadership Fellow, and he writes and presents widely on educational issues.
Judith Pepper (Treasurer) is a family law barrister at Coram Chambers. She has specialised in this area for more than 15 years and most of her work consists of complex care proceedings. She has a particular interest in siblings in care proceedings, and adoption, and has written articles on these and other subjects. Having a professional interest in the outcomes for young people and families in the family justice system, she is passionate about I Can Be and the difference it can makes to the lives of children. In her spare time she enjoys Krav Maga, experimental cooking and is currently learning French.
Our Team:
Anastasia de Waal is Director of I Can Be. She was previously Deputy Director of think tank Civitas, where her research and broadcasting focused on education and family policy, and where she developed and set up I Can Be. A Trustee of parenting support charity Family Lives, she is also a qualified primary school teacher.
Claire Daley is Deputy Director of I Can Be. She has previously worked in editorial, research and project management roles in a national charity, a medical royal college, an education publisher and the civil service.