For the start of 2016 please meet the new Young Ambassadors for the Send My Friend to School campaign; Samina Begum and Jessica Hardy, both in Year 10 at Limehurst School in Loughborough.

The Judges were particularly impressed with the girls’ passion and knowledge, their humour, self motivation and the work they had already done in campaigning and making their MP, Nicky Morgan, aware of this important global issue.

Samina and Jessica’s year-long role will be to inspire thousands of other young people around the UK to speak out and make sure that no child is forgotten. There are currently 124 million children up to the age of 15 out of school and the children missing out most are children with disabilities, girls and children affected by war, conflict and other emergencies.

As winners of the Steve Sinnott Award, Jessica and Samina will travel to Kenya in February, with Deaf Child Worldwide and the Global Campaign for Education UK, to investigate the country’s progress in delivering the right to education for every child. They will learn from a range of professionals about the barriers to education for deaf children and meet deaf children who have been denied the chance to go to school.

Samina, 14, said, ” I still can’t believe that we did it! I am now really looking forward to learning sign language and to communicate without spoken language. It’s going to really help me understand the situation that some children face in Kenya.”

Jessica, 15, said, ” We are so grateful for this opportunity. …. I’m really looking forward to being able to get my voice heard and see what change we can make.”

On their return from Kenya, Samina and Jessica will speak about the issues they have witnessed at national and regional events and help promote the campaign through mainstream and social media.